1864. ] Hott on the Coal Resources of Great Britain. 29 
mian beds, and there can scarcely be a question that the coal-formation 
extends underneath over the whole area (as represented in the map), 
though often at very great depths. The following diagram (Fig. 3) 
will give an idea of the manner in which the Carboniferous beds rise 
from beneath the newer formations at the eastern and western sides of 
the basin. 
Fia, 3.—Section of the Western Coal-group. 
North Wales Derbyshire 
Hills. Hills. 
Cheshire Plain, 
The mineral resources of this vast area, which is not less than 4,700 
square miles, are practically inexhaustible were it possible to work the 
coal over the whole of it, but such an idea is altogether visionary, as 
the overlying formations often attain a thickness of 5,000 feet, which 
would have to be passed through before reaching the first seam. I 
shall hereafter endeavour to show that such a depth is probably 
beyond the reach of mining enterprise, at least with our present 
mechanical appliances. I therefore pass at once to the Hoe ociee 
of the available portion near the margin. 
South Lancashire.—Owing to the creat demand for coal arising from 
the extent of population and manufactures in this country, this coal- 
field is being heavily taxed. The area of the coal-bearing portion* is 
192 square miles. The field extends from Rainford and Prescot on 
the west to Ashton-under-Lyne on the east, at which place it bends 
southward into Cheshire, and throws out a small arm as far as Poynton. 
The general dip of the strata is southward, and the seams descend 
under the Triassic rocks of Cheshire. Within a vertical limit of 4,000 
feet there is an available quantity of coal to the extent of 3,700 mil- 
lions of tons, and the quantity raised in 1861 was about 12 millions, at 
which rate of consumption the coal would last for about 300 years. 
The Burnley Coal-basin.—This tract lies considerably to the north 
of the main field. It is in form a half-basin, bounded on the south- 
east side by a large fault. It has an area of 20 square miles, and a 
combined thickness of 40 feet of coal. The available quantity is about 
270 millions of tons, and the annual yield about one million. 
Flintshire and Denbighshire Coal-fields—These two fields occupy 
the same general range of hills, rising above the Triassic plains of 
Cheshire and Salop. The former is rapidly approaching exhaustion, 
owing to the fact that the seams nowhere descend to any great depth, 
but are repeatedly brought to the surface by faults; consequently 
they have been largely worked in the days of shallow pits. At 
Mostyn, coal is worked under the sea, and attempts have been made to 
reach the seam beneath the New Red Sandstone. The area of the field 
is 35 square miles, and there remains for future supply little more than 
20 millions of tons, of which the present generation may see the end. 
* This is exclusive of the hilly district, in which there are occasional thin 
seams, known as “ mountain mines.” 
