182J. 



Excursion through North Wales, 



weight of the lime so formed would 

 again increa«e, as, for instance, to 600 

 or 700 lbs., as the case might be, as 

 would seem to be intimated by the 

 words of your coiTespoudcnt. I f, there- 

 fore, Mr. R. S. should have witnessed, 

 or knows of any experiments, or well 

 attested facts, which shew this to be <he 

 case, in any instance, myself, and, I 

 dare say, many others of your readers, 

 would be thankful if he would com- 

 municate these particulars ; adding, at 

 least, the names and situations ot the 

 quarries and kilns, where the same 

 may have been tried, and any other 

 particulai-s which he may be able to 

 supply, as to the colour, specific gra- 

 vity, and composition, of the stone ex- 

 perimented upon ; also, to which of 

 the strata depicted on William Smith's 

 maps, such limestone may appear to 

 be referable, and as to the degree of 

 repute or otherwise, in which properly 

 burnt lime, from the same stone, may 

 be held by the agriculturists, the ma- 

 sons, or others who may have used it. 



The truth, I apprehend, will gene- 

 rally turn out to be, not that the actual 

 weight of the lime has been again in- 

 creased by over-burning, but that its 

 comparative weight, or specific gravity, 

 through the concentration, or closer 

 running together, of each lump of lime, 

 (or shelly of tlie Scotch Limeries) has 

 been increased by this partial melting; 

 and whereby, a bushel, or any given 

 measure of such o^-er-burnt lime, will 

 be found to weigh more than a liushel 

 of (hat which is properly burnt from 

 the same stone. 



After giving attention to several in- 

 stances," wherein dead, or over-burnt 

 lime has been produced, I had drawn 

 the conclusion, that such lime had jiot 

 been too long, but, on the contrary, 

 too short a time in the fire. An inju- 

 diciotis lime-burner, by increasing the 

 intensity of the fiie, having, as it ap- 

 peared to me, attempted to turn out a 

 greater quantity, in a given time, than 

 stone of that quality he was using was 

 calculated to produce, of marketable 

 lime. The form of the kiln, and the 

 managing the draught of air through 

 the Siimc, so as to avoid too intense a 

 heat, liaving, at the same time, tlie 

 power of prolonging an equal and mo- 

 flerate heat, through a sufficient length 

 of time, for effectually expelling the 



• See some of ibcni meiilioned iu vol. 'I, 

 p. 415, of my " AgrieiiKiiral Report on Der- 

 byshire: whh Useful Hints to LimL'-bumers," 

 in ]). 41 1, and otLers of iLat volume. > 



311 



water and carboh!<r^as ft'oiii (he lime- 

 stone; and often, also, the sizes of the 

 lumps witli which the kiln is cliarged, 

 have all appeared to me matters of 

 weighty consideration with the burner 

 of the ordinary limestones, and morecs 

 pecially so with those who have to deal 

 with the inferior or less pure of our 

 limestones. 



The subject is of great practical im- 

 portance, and I will not doubt, that 

 having been started in your useful 

 Miscellany, the same will receive a use- 

 ful elucidation from someofyour many 

 able, scientific, and practical readers. 

 I am, yours, &c. John Fakey, skn. 



Howland-st rect^Feb. 10, 1821. 



For the Monthly Magazine, 



EXCURSION through NOKTH WAIiE.S, 



in 1819. 

 (Continued from No. 350, p. 33.J 



AS we wished to see Powis Castle,* 

 which we passed as we entei-ed 

 Welshpool ; about a mile on'our left, we 

 followed a path issuing out of the road, 

 near the town, which soon brought us 

 to it, and we were so fortunate as to 

 procure admission, although our ex- 

 pectation was by no means fulfilled to 

 the extent we had anticipated. With 

 the word castle is associated a number 

 of chivalrous and pleasing ideas ; we 

 do not expect to see painted wainscots 

 and gilded ceilings; these we may 

 look at every day in London; but we 

 wish for something in the venerable, 

 rough, unostentatious, substantial style. 

 Hence, however, we were gi-ievously 

 disappointed. Powis Castle has been 

 modernized, by, we believe, its present 

 proprietor, and occasional resident. 

 Lord Clive, and contains little worthy 

 of remark, if we except a small gallery 

 of choice paintings, among which we 

 observed two fine landscapes by Salva- 



• This castle was founded in 1110, by a 

 Welsh Prince, named Cadwgan ab Bleddyn 

 ab Cynfyn. In oldLeland's time, however, 

 there seem to have been two fortresses on 

 the spot now occupied by Powis Castle. In 

 his Itinerary he writes thus : — " Welsch Pole 

 had two lord's Marcher's Castells within one 

 warlle, the lord Powys, named Greye, and 

 the Lord Dudley, called Sutton; but now 

 tLe Lord Powys hath both in his hande. 

 The Welsch Pole Castell is in compas almost 

 as much as a litlel town. The Lord Dudley 

 Iiis parte is almost fallen downe, the Lord 

 Powys his parte is nearly goode." Of 

 these two castles no one but the Mriler just 

 quoted and Camden make any mention ; and 

 the learned have not yet determined upon the 

 authenticity of their statements. 



tor. 



