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rock, made room for the supposition which has since proved to 
be correct, namely, that the Coal-bearing strata extended south 
of Kingswood and St. George, under the river Avon, and on 
(so far as I know) continuously to -the Mendip Hills. That 
discovery has had an important bearing on the mining industry 
of this district, and will help, in the future, to unlock the mineral 
resources of the neighbouring county of Somerset south of the 
Avon. . 
But to-day it is my good fortune to be able to tell you of a 
discovery I have lately made that will, I think, have a much 
more important bearing on the future mining industry of this 
district than the one I have already referred to. 
And first, let me trace the steps by which I have been 
able to make the discovery which I am about to explain; and 
to make it quite clear I must ask you to remember that the 
Kingswood section of the Bristol Coal-field contains the most 
ancient Coal workings not only of this county, but probably 
they are older than those of South Wales, Somerset, or 
Dean Forest. We have authentic records of Coal workings 
as far back as 1371, when Epwarp III issued a mandate to the 
Keepers of the Chase of Kingswood to allow Epwarp the son 
of Huexu Buunt, Lord of the Manor of Bitton, to take, sell, 
and carry away wood, gorse, and sea Coat found within the 
demesne, and by the second half of the 17th century I see 
by a map (that has passed to me as Lord of the Manor) that 
in the year 1672 there were no less than seventy small Coal 
pits at work in the Chase of Kingswood. 
The workings down to the early part of this century were, 
of course, confined to shallow depths, chiefly drained by levels 
into the Avon or the Frome rivers, and were mainly confined 
to the upper section of the seams now working in the district. 
About fifty years ago the Great Vein Series was discovered, 
and have been largely worked ever since on the south dip and 
over a considerable area. 
Some time ago I resolved to explore the whole of the area — 
(about 2500 acres,) the mineral freehold of which I purchased _ 
some years ago. To do this I commenced an exploring drift to — 
