

CLACKMANNANSHIRE. 



till the north field approaches the Ochill 

 when th- dm suddenly chang- >, and the itrata 

 rise towards the mountain*, so thit at their fo t the va- 

 rious coal strata ai.d coal* air found confirming to the 

 acclivity of the mountain face, and perfectly rejrttlar. 

 Coal Mnu. Thr coal strata are cut through in many of the tjlens by 

 the water, exposing to view object* highly interesting to 

 the RroKigin The junction of tlie coal utrau with the 

 mountain rocks is mot distinctly seen at the Wester- 

 town Glen of Till)c>.ultrv. The Ochills are the boun- 

 dary line of the great coal field of Scotland upon the 

 north, nn coals having been found beyond them. The 

 strata which compose this coal field are. varieties of sand- 

 atone, reddish, white, and grey colours, some of which 

 are excessively hard, various kinds of shale or arg'lla- 

 cecus shistus, band* of ironstone, and fire clay ; green- 

 stone, from its situation, may also be reckoned amongst 

 the coal strata ; as in one of the hill glens, it is either the 

 lowest of the coal strata, or the first or uppermost of 

 the mountain rocks, balls of ironstone are found abun- 

 dant in the schist or shale. In the lowest series of the 

 strata, and upon the verges of the coal field in the line 

 of bearing, limestone is found, which arrangement agrees 

 with many of the coal fields in Great Britain. Organic 

 remains are found very abundant in the strata, particu- 

 larly of the fresh water muscle in the ironstone, and of 

 tree* and plants in the sandstone, schist, and coal ; many 

 of these are of plants which are not found growing in 

 Grrat Britain, but appear to belong to the equatorial 

 region*. There has been ascertained in the Clackmannan- 

 shire coal field a great number of seams or beds of coal, 

 varying in thickness from an inch to nine feet, amount- 

 ing in the aggregate to fifty-nine feet of coal : the thinnest 

 seam which has been wrought is twenty-seven inches thick. 

 All the coals arc of the open burning kind ; and in ge- 

 neral both cubical and slate coal are found in the same 

 bed, which, in working, turn out in large quadrangular 

 masses. None of the Scotch smithy coals are found 

 here, or any in quality similar to the Northumberland 

 caking coals. Many collieries have been opened and are 

 now carrying on here ; they are in every parish, Logic 

 excepted, which lies west of the verge of the workable 

 coal seams. Some of these collieries have been open for 

 two centuries, and are wrought to a considerable extent, 

 the deepest pit being about fifty-five fathoms. The col- 

 lieries, as to the ecale of working, stand thus : Alloa, 

 Sauchy, Clackmannan, Dollar, Kennet.Tillycoultry. The 

 present annual output of coals may be taken at 130,000 

 tons, the greater part of which is exported to Leith, Tay- 

 water, and Dunbar. The noxious air commonly gene- 

 rated in the coal mines i* carbonic acid gas, termed 

 choak damp ; it issues continually from the fissures of the 

 whole (heai) coal and from the strata adjoining. Atten- 

 tion requires to be paid to the ventilation of the pits, 

 otherwise this gas would quickly accumulate, and pre- 

 rent the. workmen entering the mine. No vestige of (in- 

 flammable air) hydrogen gas was ever seen in the coal 

 mines till lately, when, in driving a stone mine at Old 

 Sauchy colliery, it accumulated and exploded without 

 producing any bad effect. The water produced in the 

 mine* i* very hard, being in general much impregnated 

 with lime and sulphur. Ironstone is the only other mi- 

 neral wrought to any extent, which is used at the Devon 

 iron furnac , in the parish of Clackmannan ; it is of the 

 common argillaceous kind, and yields from 25 to 30 per 

 cent, of iron. Freestone is found in abundance, but none 

 of it I* remarkably fine either in colour or quality. 

 Large block* of greenstone arc found thinly scattered 

 over the surface of the county ; but as no rock mass of 



I rout one. 



that k'nd rs found nearer than six miles to the westward, Clachmin. 

 many theories hive been givrn by philosophers, a* to the im^i'ire. 

 natural m< ans by whu-h they have been transported from > ""Y~^ B ' 

 their original r.n-k. The gi ->f greenstone rock in 



t-iiiC'iunty I* Ahbvy Cra>g m-ar Stirling; it is bold, rug- 

 ged, and precipitous towards the south-went, and slopes 

 or dips to the north-east, having no superincumbent rock 

 strata. The bottom of th<- precipice is coverrd with huge 

 blocks of this >ock, which in farmerages mut have fallen 

 down. This rock, in its general structure, is rudely co- 

 lumnar, above 100 feet thick, and rests upon the com- 

 mon alternating series of coal strata, composed of sand- 

 s'one, shale, and coarse limestone, mix. d with ir.m. In 

 this last, petrified shells are abundant. The surface slope 

 of this immense rock seems to conform with the dip of 

 the strata on which it rests, a point in the mineral held, 

 worthy of the attention of the geologist. This rock, in 

 its fracture, is found both of an open and close grain, 

 and of crystallised appearance, composed of feldspar and 

 hornblende, with minute crystals of pyrites. It is diffi- 

 cult to break under the hammer. It is tough rather than 

 splintery. It dresses with a regular face, similar to the 

 Aberdeen granite ; but its particles are much more co- 

 hesive than the granite : this superior quality induced 

 an ingenious miller, of the name of Brownhill, to try this 

 rock as a substitute for French burstoncs in the manu- 

 facture of flour, as the burstones, on account of the war, 

 had become very high in price ; he succeeded beyond his 

 expectation. And so much are these millstones approved 

 of, that they are in general request both for flour mills and 

 distilleries for gristing. They are built in pieces, similar to 

 the burstones ; are uniform in the cutting surface, and dress 

 well, a quality deficient in the burstones. As a proof of 

 their utility, above 300 pairs of these millstones are now 

 used in Scotland and England. They sell at from six- 

 teen to twenty guineas a pair, whereas burstones cost 

 about sixty guineas ; hence an important acquisition is 

 made, and also a great saving of expence. The Society 

 for the encouragement of Arts, presented Brownhill 

 with one hundred guineas for the discovery. 



As to the manufactures carried on in the county, that Manufac- 

 which is upon the greatest scale, and in which large ca- turn, 

 pitalaare embarked, is the distillation of spirits, (whisky.) 

 There are no less than six large distilleries in this small 

 district : Kiibagie, in the parish of Clackmannan, is the 

 most extensive. These works yield to government a 

 revenue of about L. 723 per annum, on each gallon of 

 the licensed still, when working from grain, and em- 

 ploy a great number of people ; part of the spirits is 

 sent to London, but the greater pSt to Leith and 

 Glasgow. When the distillation from corn is allowed, 

 great numbers of cattle are fed at these works from 

 the grains and dreg, and the consequent produce of ma- 

 nure, has greatly contributed to the high improvement 

 of the adjoining lands. It is estimated that every gallon 

 of licensed still will produce grain and dreg to fatten, in 

 the best manner, two oxen of 40 stones (Dutch) each ; 

 but when sugar is used in distillation in place of grain, 

 no cattle are fed. These works arc carried on in the 

 most scientific, regular, and systematic manner ; and, it 

 is remarkable, that the workmen employed at them are 

 a very sober set of people, notwithstanding the free ac- 

 cess they have to spirits at all times. 



Ales are made to a considerable extent iu Alloa : they 

 have a name in the market, and are in great request both 

 in Scotland and England. 



The making nf pig-iron is carried on at the Devon 

 iron-works, in the parish of Clackmannan, where there 

 are two blast furnaces, impelled by a powerful steam en 





