[ 321 3 



LlX. The Reports of Mr. William Smith, and Mr. 

 Edward Martin, to the Bristol and Taunton Canal 

 Cumpanij, on the State of the Collieries at and near Nail- 

 sea, in Somersetshire. 



JL HK Committee of Proprietors under an Act of Parliament 

 passed last sessions, for the Bristol and Taunton Canal, 

 in Somersetshire; having resolved, in June last, to take the 

 opinions of two eminent mineral surveyors, whether the coal- 

 field around Nailsea, across which their line of canal is to 

 pass, was likely to furnish such a supply of Coals, as by the 

 tonnage on them, to pay interest to the proprietors for the 

 expense of executing this part of their line, about eight miles 

 in length from the river Avon at Morgan's Pill, near Bristol, 

 with cTbranch to the- eastward of about two miles in length, 

 to Nailsea collieries : I am happy in bein^ able to present 

 the Reports of these two gentlemen, conceiving that they will 

 be read with interest by a considerable class of my subscri- 

 bers : and I beg to solicit the communication of similar do- 

 cuments, from time to time, respecting other coal and mi- 

 ning districts. Editor. 



To the Committee of Management of the Bristol and Taun- 

 ton Canal. 



Bristol, July 1, ISII. 



Gentlemen, — Agreeably to your order of the 13th of 

 June, requesting my assistance to examine and report on 

 the probability of a sufficient quantity of coal at Nailsea, 

 and the neighbourhood, to induce the Company to proceed 

 with the canal from Morgan's Pill to Nailsea, immediatelyj 

 I am happy to state that my Survey of those works has beea 

 highly satisfactory; and, that a sufficient quantity of coal 

 may thence be obtained, is more than probable. 



This coal district is of much greater extent than is ge- 

 nerally imagined, and, like the great coal-field at Newcastle- 

 upon-1\ne, becomes flatter in the deep than at the outcrops* 

 From this favourable position of all the coal (which I have 

 most clearly ascertained), and from the great difficulties 

 which were likelv to happen, with respect lo water, being 

 successfully encountered by the engines lately erected, there 

 can be no doul)tnf the persnanency of the works. From the 

 extraordinary hardness of the roof, and the easy working of 

 the coal, I have no doubt but the Nailsea Pits will produce 

 the quantity stated. 



In my Survey of the Backwell Common Works, I also 

 found many favourable circumsiaaces belonging to those 



V'ol. 38. No. \G3.Nuv, 1811. X veins 



