of the Neighl our hood of Bristol. 245 



inclosed by the two ridges of limestone, as described above, is, 

 according?' to Mr. Townsend, another instance of the basin- 

 shaped formation of coal. In other parts of the counti7 the 

 coal does not occur in any regular form. 



Kingwood, from which Bristol has been so long supplied with 

 coal, is a tract to the cast of Bristol, about four miles broad. 

 In this space the coal beds are very numerous, and follow each 

 other in very quick succession. I have been informed by se- 

 veral old colliers, that in this district there are upwards of thirty 

 veins of coal. A gentleman of my acquaintance told me, that 

 his estate at Kingwood, in breadth about 1100 yards, contains 

 twelve veins of coal, four of which are six feet in thickness. 

 The beds in general are not of any considerable thickness, and 

 are always inclined seldom Ic^s than 26^ or 30", and the pre- 

 vailing dip is to the south, as is also the case with the veins 

 worked at Bedminster. It sometimes happens that the veins 

 are much impaired in quality, and sometimes completely in- 

 tercepted by a loose kind of rubble, but faidts of this kind 

 are seldom of any consideraljle extent. The most remarkable 

 instance in this district of a fault, that I am aware of, is in some 

 collieries belonging to the Duke of Beaufort, about two miles on 

 the Pucklechurch road, where the coal is thro'vV7i into a saddle- 

 shaped form. On one side of the saddle a sliaft has been suidi 

 which meets with the coal at the dc])th of 147 fathoms. The 

 strata that accompany the coal consist of micaceous sandstone 

 (Pennant stone), indurated clay, here called duns, and bitu- 

 minous shale. The micaceous sandstone is met with most ex- 

 tensively, and occurs in beds of great thickness. I know of pits 

 that are sunk upwards of 20 fathoms through it. It is very 

 well exposed in many quarries about Bristol, and is seen to great 

 advantage along the bank of the river at Crew's Hole and Han- 

 ham, where it forms high and beautiful cliffs. 1 shall omit men- 

 tioning any particulars respecting the collieries at Stowey and 

 Farrington near the Mendip"*, as they have been fully described 

 by Mr.To'.vu'^fiid, and bv a .Mr. Williams, in the xxxth volume 

 of the Philosophical Trausactimis for 171f. ^ 



Having now described the inclined strata, I Iiave next to take 

 notice of a class of rocks which is always seen lying horizontally 

 upon the tops of the elevated strata. 



In Farcy's Derbyshire and Mr. Townsend's work above al- 

 luded to, this series, which is distributed over great part of the 

 .?outh of England, is fully detailed. I shall mention generally the 

 places where in this neighbourhood the different members of this 

 rlass occur, and the relation they bear to each other. The 

 lowest beds of this arrangement and those which rest imme- 

 diately upon the incliired rocks are described by Townsend and 

 9 "i others 



