15'^ COAL UNDER SOUTH-EASTERN ENGLAND. 



basin, if any, may be out ai sea. But Bradfield, about half way between Col- 

 chester and Harwich, is an excellent spot for testing the question whether 

 available Coal Measures exist near the Lower Carboniferous rocks of Harwich- 

 In the area of earthquake damage between Colchester and Mersea Island, I 

 should anticipate that Paiccozoic rocks, older than either Lower Carboniferous or 

 Coal Measures, would probably be met with at a less depth than at Harwich or 

 Bradfield. But, as I have already remarked, I should 7iot expect to find Coal 

 Measures specially near the surface, /or Palcvozoic rocks, but quite the reverse. 



" In short, in endeavouring to ascertain the whereabouts of coal-basins — if any — 

 in the Eastern Counties, it seems to me that we cannot have a better place for a first 

 boring than a spot where we are six or seven miles only from a place (Harwich) where 

 Lower rocks of the same series have been met with, especially as Harwich is the only 

 place in the P/astern Counties where they (the Lower rocks) have been found." 



Addendum. — It is but right to add that the general concurrence 

 of opinion in favour of a site near Harwich for an experimental 

 boring is combatted by Mr. W. H. Dalton, F.G.S., who was the 

 geological adviser for the Culford boring, and whose opinion is 

 undoubtedly entitled to considerable weight. In a letter dated 

 December 12th, 1892, Mr. Dalton thus states his view of the 

 matter : — 



" Allow me briefly to indicate the position of this most important question. 

 We have beneath us, at from 500 to 1,500 feet below the sea level, a region of 

 rocks classed as Palasozoic, divided into Silurian slates, Devonian shales, and (let 

 us hope) Carboniferous Limestone and Coal Measures. These are hidden by the 

 Chalk and London Clay, and but few borings have penetrated to the ancient 

 series. In Woolwich Marshes, in London, and at Cheshunt, Devonian beds have 

 been found, and at Ware, Silurian. At Culford, near Bury, and at Harwich the 

 rock found is regarded as Carboniferous by some, as Silurian by others. I hold 

 the latter view, and think that but for the commercial glamour attaching to the word 

 Carboniferous," that age would not have been suggested by the samples obtained, 

 and which no authority of weight has decisively pronounced to be Carboniferous. 

 Seeking further evidence, we find that in Leicestershire and Warwickshire and 

 near Boulogne the tendency of these old rocks is to occur in belts or streaks of a 

 north-west trend, and for a dozen years past I have maintained that this trend is 

 continuous under Essex, in opposition to the orthodo-x theory of an east and west 

 course, which has no facts in its favour and many against it. The bearing of this 

 on Essex is that the possible Coal Measure area of the county lies between the 

 Silurian ranges of Ware and Culford-Harwich, and trial borings should be as 

 central as may be in the intervening space. I trust no funds are being or will be 

 wasted in further boring at or near Culford or Harwich. Geologists, of course, 

 are glad of any boring yielding interesting facts, but if the result be fuel, other 

 research is guaranteed, while if only useless rock be struck, investigators will be 

 discouraged. Therefore, the most likely point for Coal Measures, and not any 

 spot whose owner may be willing to permit boring, should be selected." 



7 Inasmuch as a Carboniferous fossil was found in the Harwich boring, Mr. Dalton must 

 surely intend this remark to apply to the Culford boring only. — Ed, 



