512 On the Mineral Productions of Shropshire. 



nated wiih salt ; and there is no doubt but this commodity . 

 could be gotten in this county, though its proximity to the 

 extensive and established salt-works of Cheshire may pre- 

 vent anv profit fVon an adventure of this kind. At Kingley 

 Wick, about two miles west of Lilleshall Hill, is a " spring 

 of salt water that yields 4 or 5000 gallons in the 24 hours. 

 It is an impure brine, but v.as formerly used : the salt pans 

 and buildings are still remaining. It flows out of a reddish 

 sandstone rock, which rests upon a reddish chert, like that of 

 the Wrekin*. And at AdmaL-ton, near Wellington, only two 

 miles from Kinglev Wick, there is a salt medical spring, cha- 

 lybeate and hepatic. There are two springs : the one contain- 

 ing carbonated iron and lime, selcnitc and sea salt; the 

 other, hepatic air, aerated lime, selenite, and sea salt f. The 

 MS. history of Bradford hundred, before quoted, says, " at 

 Moreton Say is a n:iineral \va<er that purges those who drink 

 it." There is also a well, not far from the parsonage-house, 

 that 1 am pleased to record, as it was fenced in under the 

 directions of the late archdeacon Clive, and which conti- 

 nued to partake of the care and consideration he had for the 

 thine;?, as well as the persons around him. Dr. Darwin 

 informs me that this spring is valuable as a strong chaly- 

 beate, but that it has no other peculiar qualities. There is 

 a spring near Ludlow that contains a very little fixed air, 

 some n)agne8ia, a little lime, and a good deal of sea salt. 

 Its strength is irregular as a medicine; it is sometimes about 

 as active as sea water, I am told, but frequently weaker. 



* This brine is now used for ihs making of soda at a work established 

 r.t Wormbridge, on the banks of the canal there, as will be seen by the 

 followinz note, which is one of mnny favours I have received from Mr. 

 Dugard, of the Salop Infirmary. 



" At Wormbrids^e, near Wellington, as well as at several other col- 

 lieries in the neighbourhood, martial pyrites are found in considerable 

 quantities. After being cleared from the coal (sulphaieous coal) in which 

 ti'ty are found, the lumps, which arc perhaps from twelve to fourteen 

 pounds weight each, are dispo'-ed in loose heaps, upon a bed, or large 

 area, paved with bricks, and inclining from the circumference to the 

 centre. \o allow the water, with wlnc)i the whole is repeatedly sprinkled, 

 ultimately loflow into a large reservoir which is constructed at this place. 

 The pvntes are thus exposed to the action of the air, as well as frequent 

 waterings; the .^ecomposition of them, produced by this process, fornns 

 sulphate of iton (martial vitriol) in considerable qusntities, and was a 

 few years ago evaporated and trysrallizcd, and allowed to be, by the con- 

 sumcis, as pure a salt of iipn as rny ever made in Great Britain. The 

 dcuund for it was greater than the work, in its infant state, could sup- 

 ply. It is now no longer carried on as a vitriol manufactory, but the acid 

 obtained from the pyrites is who! I v consumed in getting the soda from 

 rock sail and tlic brine of Kingley Wick. 



-)■ Towr.ion's Tract;, p^ 179. 



A pint 



i 



