27 



The members may consider themselves very fortunate in not being at 

 fontj-pool on such a day. 



In 1798 Capel Hanbury, the proprietor of the Pontypool estates, took the 

 name of Leigh in consequence of the wiU of the late Lord Leigh 



f r^ur'l? r T "^^""' °^ *^' ^'*' ®^ ^"^^^ Humphrey Mackworth, 

 III Lrnoll Castle, Neath. 



_ In 1799 Pontypool had its theatre, and on December 8th an address was 

 given to the inhabitants by Mr. Thomaa Thomas " On the rise and progress of 

 the "-on w k3 ,„ that town and its vicinity," a copy of which was given to 

 me by the late Mr. William Llewellin of Glanwern 



Wallf ,T,7'"t'r' """ """"^^ ^ few remarks upon the South 

 Wa es Coal-field m which we to-day hold our meeting, and to illustrate which 

 Ia.sk your attention to the Ordnance Geological Survey Map and Sections 

 which are placed upon the walls, and also to a longtitudinal section of the 

 minerak on the South crop near Caerphilly, as proved by the tunnel of the 

 new Rhymney railway, which is kindly lent me for our use to-day by Mr 

 Comehus Lundie, C.E., the engineer of the railway. ' 



The tunnel has parsed through nearly the whole of the coal measures of 

 the eastern part of the coal field, the miU-stone grit, carboniferous or mountain 

 limestone and some depth into the old red sandstone or Devonian formation 

 Ihe dip of the strata here is towards the north at various angles from 30 to 

 49 degrees. 



This coal field had very early attention given to it, first by Mr George 

 Ou-^n of SteaUys, Pembrokeshire, who wrote an essay on the basin in 1570 

 having examined its north and south outcrops at the junction with the hme- 

 stones, and extending throughout its entire length over 100 miles 



He mentions two descriptions of coals which he calk the " stone coal " and 

 ring or " running coal," and describes the mode of mining at that time 

 Th^ paper was not published until the year 1796, when it appeared in the 

 Cambrian Register, communicated by his grandson, Mr. Richard Fenton 



I have m my possession, and now exhibit to members, a letter from 

 .Sir Richard C. Hoai-e, Bart., who was a companion of the Rev. Mr Coxe 

 m the commencement of his tour in Monmouthshire, written to Richard 

 J-enton, Esq., Fishguard, Pembrokeshire, as foUows :— 



"Dear Sir,-I beg your acceptance of our Tour in Monmouthshire and 

 hope you will like its plan and style. The modern style of To^...^^U^ru; 

 IS really dreadful, and the generality of Countt, ffistories are so dn, that they 

 may be considered more as Books of Reference than of amusement ; it has alwav. 

 been my opinion that something between the two was the happy mediuml 

 History and Anecdotes judiciously blended with local descriptions of scenery 

 &c., and I thmk my friend Coxe has been very happy in this particular. Th^ 

 puzzles are not yet ready. Let me hear of the safe arrival of my packet. 



Yours Sincerely, 

 26th November, 1802. ^,,^^^^ Hoaek." 



