IRISH MINERALS AND BUILDING STONES. 19 



very slight acquaintance with the fossils of that locality will prevent the 

 repetition of so futile a speculation. 



The coal that is often mentioned in the County of Cavan has a somewhat 

 curious history. Part of the Lough Allen coalfield lies within the county ; 

 and true coal exists, in a limited amount, in a patch of Coal-Measures lying 

 just beyond the eastern border. But curiously enough, bands of anthracite 

 ari here and there traceable in County Cavan in the Silurian strata, and were 

 favourably reported on by Mr. J. L Whitty in 1854.* The seam was in 

 places four feet thick, and trial shafts were put down near Kilnaleck. The 

 beds are, however, almost vertical, and the anthracite is much broken by 

 masses of shale. Seeing that the strata are, at the latest, of Llandovery 

 age, and that no plants likely to form coal existed at so remote an epoch, 

 the continuity of the deposit is most improbable. It may, indeed, be, like 

 the graphite of Bavaria and Ceylon, entirely of mineral origin. Near Bally- 

 jamesduff, the beds seem impregnated with quartz and anthracite, while 

 iron-ores occur at hand in the same series. Mr. Whitty's report seems to 

 have been over-sanguine as to the value of the material as a fuel. 



The Kilkenny coalfield, with its seams of anthracite, has its commercial 

 centre in Castlecomer, and occupies a high synclinal basin, like the Forest of 

 Dean in England.! Means of transport are still in a backward state ; the 

 upper and thicker seams have become already exhausted ; and the coal as a 

 rule contains a deleterious amount of sulphur, in the form of iron pyrites. 

 It is possible, however, that the anthracite of Leinster may come into further 

 use for commercial purposes, when better communications are established 

 between the coalfield and the limestone plain. Already, 180 persons are 

 employed at the J arrow colliery alone. 



The Coal-Measures of North Kerry and Clare cover a large area, but 

 contain only a few thin coals. The iron ore associated with them was for- 

 merly smelted, especially in the seventeenth century. Mr. G. H. Kinahan, 

 in his essay on Irish Mining, gives no ground for hope that this region will 

 ever become productive. Anthracite occurs also in North-west Cork, and 

 has been worked recently ; but the spots where development may be best 

 expected are in Tyrone, and on the hill-sides near Lough Allen. In the 

 latter region, the associated clay-iron stone has always been highly spoken of. 

 Bog iron ore, the limonitic deposit of existing bogs and stagnant pools, 

 occurs where the waters of the locality are or have 

 Bo^ Iron Ore ^^^^^ ^^^^ charged with salts of iron. This material 



° • has been found of use in the purification of gas, for 



which purpose it is exported from the County of Done- 

 gal, and from Mountrath in Queen's County. 4,321 tons of bog ore were 

 raised in 1 899. Ochre, for paint, is raised m County Wicklow, in connection 

 with the Ovoca mines. 



The only other iron ores regularly worked in Ireland in recent years are 

 those formed in the lakes of Eocene times, and found 

 Sr.f«5m T««r, n«.»c intcrbeddcd among the Antrim basalts. The official 

 Aninm iron ures. reports of the Inspectors of Mines record no " iron- 

 stone " as raised in connection with the coal mines in 

 Ireland during 1900, but 102,941 tons of iron ore are recorded from the 

 metalliferous mines. Practically the whole output, say 100,000 tons, may be 

 annually credited to County Antrim. 



* Journ. Geol. Soc. Dublin, vol. vi., p. 187. 



t For details of coals, see G. H. Kinahan, Journ. R. Geol. Soc. I., vol. vii (1886), p. 20. 



