202 A brief Account of tkti 



to the depth of 180 yards. The matrix of the ore is cry- 

 stalHzcd quartz and carbonate of lime. The ore is, 1. Sul 

 phmet ot lead, both galena and steel ore, which latter con- 

 tains silver : 2. Carbonate of lead, crystallized : 3. Red lead 

 ore*: 4. Blende, or black jcck f." Lead ore has been met 

 with in many other places in this part of the county. As 

 far west as Llanymynach lend is found in small quantities, 

 and copper, which the Romans are supposed to have worked 

 to a great extent. Tools, judged to be Ronian, have been 

 found in these mines, and some of them are preserved in 

 the library of Shrewsbury free-school. In this hilt the lead 

 J3 met with in bellies of ore; that is, a small string leads 

 often to a body of ore about four or five yards in diameter, 

 but from which there is no vein issues that may lead the 

 miner to the other bodies of ore remaining in the hill. Ca- 

 lamine, also, is here met with. The rock at Pimhill is 

 strongly tinctured with copper. Symptoms both of copper 

 and lead appear also in the Cardington hills, many miles 

 south-east of the spot we are speaking of, and not very far 

 south of the centre of the county. " Lead is also found at 

 Shipton, in the road from Wenlock to Ludlow, but never 

 vet in sufficient quantities to reward the adventurers J." 

 Full as far north of the centre, it is reported, in a MS. his- 

 tory of Bradford North (A.D. 1740), that " Henry Teni- 

 son, esq. got copper ore in his estate about Red Castle; 

 but it lav so deep that it turned to little account:" and I be- 

 lieve we may apply the following paragraph, from the same 

 MS., to many adventures in mining in this and other 

 counties ; for the author proceeds to say, that " the Rev. 

 Mr. Snelson expected to find this hidden treasure at Weston, 

 but had his labour for his pains, and iiis expense for his 

 trouble." 



Coal of an excellent quality is gotten on the eastern side 

 of the county, particularly in the parishes of Wellington, 

 Lilleshall, Wrockwardinc, Wombridge §, Stirchley, Daw- 

 ley, 



• Mr. Aikin says this ore wns disco"ered in these mines by Raspe, a 

 German. Mr. Nichfilson, in his Chemical Dictionary, 1795. remarks 

 that this ore ha.l not then bucn found, except at Catharineburgh, in Si- 

 beria. I do not know that these two red lead ores have been ascertained 

 to be precisely the same, or that any difference between them has been 

 discovered. 



f Fiu'e Aikin's Tour, p. 203. 



X Mr. William Reynolds. 



§ In this parish Mr. \\' . Reynolds, about ten years ago, put in prac- 

 tice an idea he had conceived some years before, of uncovering the strata 

 . t ironstone and coal whicli lav near the surface, so as to get the whole of 

 6 ' thr 



