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XXXV. A h'lef Account of the Mineral Productions of 

 Shropshire. By Joseph Plymlet, A. M. Archdeacon 

 of' Salop, and Honoranj iMemter of' the Board of Agricid- 

 ture*. 



JL HERE are mines of lead ore, of a good qualilv, on the 

 vestern side of this county, which have been very produc- 

 tive. The bog mine, in the parish of Wentnor, and the 

 white grit mine, in the parishes of Slielve and Worthen, 

 adjoin the Stiperstones : thev are high hills, witli bare and 

 ragged sumnnis, resembling the ruins of walls and castles: 

 they aie a " granulated quartz, much harder than common 

 sandstone, but apparently not stratified f.'* The bog mine 

 has been worked to the depth of 150 yards; a solid lump 

 of pure ore of 800 lb. has been gotten up there : the vein is 

 in some parts three feet thick, and generally bedded in white 

 spar. One ton of this ore will run 15 cwt. of lead, besides 

 slag. Dr. Townson says, " these mines are in argillaceous 

 schistus, and produce galena lead ore;}:, sometimes spatous§ 

 lead ore, and blende ||." The ores at the white grit mine 

 are the common galena and the steel-grained ores ; some- 

 times the white spatous ore, and considerable quantity of 

 black jack ||. The ores from this mine are not smelted se- 

 parately ; they difier much in their product, and little ex- 

 periment has been made to ascertain it. I have been in- 

 formed that they produce from 10 to 13 cwt. of lead, be- 

 sides slags, from a ton of ore, and rarely more %. At Snail- 

 bach, in the neighbourhood of the same hills, but nearer 

 Shrewsbury, lead has been gotten for a long time. '* The 

 vein was in some parts four yards wide. The vein-stones 

 arc heavy spar, mixt with calcareous spar and quartz. The 

 ore here is the conuDon galena and the steel-grained, and 

 sometimes the white spatous ore **." It has been " worked 



• From riymhys General View of the Agriculture of Shropsh'ire. 



+ Dr. Tdwnson. 



X This is lead mineralized by sulphur., and is the most common kad 

 ore. It ii somLtimts tailed potttis' led ore. 



§ Tliis tcr.n is not in NiclioKoii's Dictionary, or in the octavo edition 

 cf Kirwan : it means lead ore ti vstallized in the form of spar. 



II Tracts and Ob ervaiions in Nat. Hist. &;c. p. 1S4, 



^f Mr. Pennant, in his Welsh Tour, vol. i. p. 4 +7. says, " the lamel- 

 laied, or common kind of lead ore, usually named potters' ore, yields 

 from 14. to i6| twt. of lead fiom 20 cwt. of the orej but ihc h^t produce 

 »> fare.'" 



^* Dr. Townson\ Tracts, &c. p. 183. 



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