lit 



YORKSHIRE. 



YORKSHIRE. 



1300 



.id. of U,. 



r. twi'i-M 



Carboniferoui Sytiem. 





Bradford, Halite, Huddersfield, Pemstone, and 



e, , , 



Sbffi.W e .taated near the curved lower edge of the coal strata 

 Aberford, Kippax, Pontefract, Elmsall Com.bon.ugh, and 

 Uuehton k M.rtb are near its straighter eastern boundary. J he 



of thi. laive area (600 square miles} yields coal ; the 

 of strata is about or above 4000 feet thick ; and of th 



J he 

 whole 



a coal 



whch. in\hi. series there are .bout 20 workable bed*, yi.ld.ng 

 Soul feet of coal, generally of good quality. Ironstones of c,l- 

 *,nt quality accompany the lower parts of this coal deposit, and the 

 tircumstance. of the country permit the full attainment of these 



^irthiTgreat coal-6eld the most useful classifications e founded 

 on the nature and accompaniments of the beds of coal The most 

 wmplete general view yet made public is that given by Dr. Wm. 

 S, in his valuable Geological Map ' of the county founded on the 

 accession of grit-rocks and shales containing coal and ironstone. 



The following is the classification of Dr. Smith, proposed in 

 1821 : 



a. Pontefract rock. 



'. Shalt and coal beds. 



t. Ackwonh rock. 



i. Shales and coal. 



. Chetct rock. 



/. Shales and coal. 



e m id W ay part thick beds of hard coal, 6d 

 (or furnaces. 



The upper part of the coal series contains thin 

 beds of swift-burning coal, which leaves white 

 ashes. 



g. Bfd rock. 



. Shale* and coal. 



i. Bradgate rock. 



\Thei 

 f for 







Silkstone, Flockton, &c., accompanied with 

 cancel coal and. ironstone. 



i. Shilfs and coal (the") _ h j , excellent bituminous coal, as at 



hrll ironstone). 

 I. Wortley rock, 

 m. Shales and coal, 

 n. FUptonc and other") On thc extremity of the coal-field a thin coal 



rock. > extends north-west to some of the moors. 



.0. Shales and coal. j 



The Pontefract rock is here ranked by Dr. Smith among the coal- 

 measures. 



Below is the millstone-grit series. 



The Ackworth rock yields soft freestone, and grindstone occurs at 

 Ackworth, Kirkby, Mexborough, and Denaby. 



The Chevet rock is of limited range nnd little value. 



The red rock, often a coarse gritstone, occurs at Woolley kdge, 

 Newmiller Dam, &c. 



The Bradgate rock yields freestone and grindstone. 



The Wortley rock is in thin beds. 



The flagstone is evenly laminated, micaceous, and yields fine paving 

 and roofing flags. 



Beds of coal are worked in the west of Yorkshire as thin as II 

 inches (near Halifax and Penistone), and one as thick as 8, 9, or 10 

 feet (BarnMey), but the average is from 3 to 6 feet. The finest coal 

 of Bradford (called the ' better bed '), and some of the finest Silkstone 

 coal may vie with all but the very choicest Newcastle and Durham 

 coal ; the furnace coals of the middle series are excellent ; the upper 

 swifter-burning coal is in general of less value. There is no anthracite 

 bd in the district, and very little cannel coal. The dip is generally 

 to the east-south-east, aud very moderate. There are some very great 

 and many small dislocations, sometimes accompanied by pyritous and 

 .parry veins, and even by galena. Over several beds the large stems 

 of Lfpidodendra and Siyillaria; stand vertical : under some coals the 

 fitiymaria spreads in much abundance, especially in the beds below 

 the flagstone, which have a rock floor called ' ganister,' or ' galliard.' 

 The shelly ironstones of Tankersley Park, Ac., are much esteemed in 

 the furnaces, from the lime which the shells yield. 



A valuable deposit of iron-ore in the Cleveland district, between 

 GnUborough and Stokesley, has been recently discovered. It is said 

 that the ironstone contains between 30 and 40 percent, of metal; 

 that it lies at a very small depth below the surface ; that the bed or 

 seam varies from 12 to 20 feet in thickness ; and that the yield is o: 

 considerable value. The ironstone is combined with calcareous mattei 

 in rather a peculiar way. Some thousands of tons have been smeltec 

 in Northumberland, affording an average yield of 33 per cent, of iron 

 The proprietors of the seam have contracted to supply an iron-work 

 with 200,000 tons per annum for seven years. It is regarded as very 

 probable, from iron being on the spot, aud coal not far distant, tha 

 iron-works may be profitably constructed, and iron smelted at a cos 

 which will successfully compete with that produced elsewhere. 



There is a small detached coal-field in the line of a fault south 

 Ingleton. 



The organic remains of the Yorkshire coal-field consist of fishe 



(Coilacanthiu, liohptychiui, .Mr<i<ib'-bhy. Palaonitcut, Ac.), and many 

 hrll*, the most numerous and diffused being Unitmid r of various 

 species, such as are common in coal-fields ; but the most remarkable 

 group of fossils is that which lies in a very thin band in the part of 

 the series below the flagstone rock, and consists of Qoniatila, Ortho- 

 ceratitci, A vicula; and other marine genera, such as occur in the moun- 

 tain limestone strata fur below. The fish remains form tuin beds (as 

 in Lancashire) over the Middleton coal, near Leeds. The plants are 

 variously distributed in the shales, sandstones, and ironstones. 



The ifillitone Grit, a series of coarse and fine and laminated sand- 

 stones and shales, with poor ironstones and coals, generally thin and 

 bad in quality, surrounds the true coal-field on all the west and north, 

 from Sheffield, by Huddemfield, Keighloy, and Otl.-y, to H.irwood. 

 It spreads to the boundary of the county, constituting the mountain- 

 ous border ngainst Lancashire, and occupies along the confines of 

 Westmorland and Cumberland the summits of all the great ridges 

 about the sources, between the dales of the Kibble, liother, WhurlV, 

 Nidd, Swale, Greta, and Tees. Where these rivers puss away from 

 the highest ground to the south aud east, they enter a connected area 

 of millstone-grit, which thus appears to occupy a very large space iu 

 the West and North Ridings. It in fact constitutes most of the high 

 healthy moors of these districts, and contributes much both to their 

 barrenness and their picturesque effect. The most characteristic rock 

 i the quartzose conglomerate, still used in making millstones ; ami 

 here, as in Bramham Crags, the atmosphere has produced unusual 

 waste, the appearance of the huge blocks is mo*t singular and im- 

 ircssive. The whole series is about 1000 feet thick, aud contains, 

 resides the beds already named, a few thin limestones and cherty 

 sands. IU fossils are like the shells of the mountain limestone, aud 

 ike the plants of the coal series. 



Mountain Limestone. Yoredale Series. This is about 1000 feet 

 hick, and consists of five principal bands of limestone, alternating 

 with gritstones, shales, thin coals, aud some ironstone nodules. This 

 8 the character presented along all the northern dales ; but iu Nid- 

 derdale aud towards Craven the limestones lose their importance, and 

 ,lmost vanish as we proceed south ; the coal also vanishes, and the 

 jritstones become less frequent, till the whole assumes au argillaceous 

 ;ype, aud is called in Derbyshire the limestone shale. 



Many of the magnificent mural precipices (' scars ') which surround 

 ;he great mountains of Ingleborough, Penyghent, Pen Hill, and ilk-k- 

 efell, and range along the sides of the romantic dals of the Swain 

 and the Yore, are formed of the limestones of this series ; and many 

 of the finest waterfalls (Hardrow, Millgill, &c.) happen whei-e th.y 

 cross the rivers. Swallow-holes abound on the edge of the limestones, 

 and receive the water of rains and small streams. Some of the lime- 

 stones (especially the upper thick belt, called the main, or twelve- 

 fathom limestone) are very rich in lead-ore. The flagstone aud some 

 of the building-stones are" of excellent quality, aud the farther north 

 we go the better is the quality of the coal. The lowest limestones 

 yield black marble, and the upper ones encrinal marble. 



Mountain Limestone. The Lower Series. This is in the south of 

 Yorkshire, almost wholly calcareous, and makes iu the vicinity of 

 Clitheroe and Settle, round Pendle Hill, Ingleborough, and Penyghent, 

 mighty ranges of rock 400 or 500 feet thick, aud nearly perpendicular. 

 Farther north and west, near Kirkby Stephen and lirongh, it begins 

 to admit shales, sandstones, aud beds of coal ; and as we advance into 

 Northumberland these interpolations grow more and more important, 

 the limestones grow thinner and less pure, and the whole group 

 resembles closely the Yoredale rocks as they are seen in Yorkshire. 

 The grandest exhibitions of these rocks are at Greenhow Hill in 

 Nidderdale, in Wharfedale, in Kibblesdale, about Settle, Clapham, 

 Ingleton, and Kirkby Lonsdale. In these parts they are full of 

 caverns of great size aud beauty, sometimes giving subterranean 

 passages to the rivers, and forming enormous breadths of baro 

 weather-worn rock. Lead and copper are found in veins in thh lime- 

 stone, but not very frequently. Calamine occurs in it, in the district 

 of Bowland Forest, and oxides of zinc on Malham Moors. The 

 organic remains of the mountain limestone in Yorkshire are extremely 

 numerous and interesting. 



Old Red-Sanditone. 



This rock hardly occurs in Yorkshire except as a conglomerate, 

 locally accumulated in the valley of the Rothrr, near Sedbergh, and 

 not in connection with the mountain limestone which rests on the 

 slaty Silurian rocks, aud in its lowest beds contains pebbles of those 

 rocks and lumps of quartz. 



Silurian System. 



This class of strata appears to be unconforined to the limestone 

 series above. It is found in two separate districts : one near Sed- 

 bergh, west of the summit of drainage, and naturally associated with 

 Westmorland, rising into a characteristic group of hilla called Ilowgill 

 Fells ; the other a narrow band exposed along the line of an enormous 

 dislocation on the south side of the mountains of Graygarth, Ingle- 

 borough, and Penygheut. In both localities slaty cleavage disguises 

 the original stratification of the Silurian sediments. Fine blue flags 

 are dug at the Crooks of Lune, near Sedbergh, an 1 about Horton in 

 llibbesdale, and at Ingleton a greener rock is cleft into tolerable slate. 



