A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Loss in Working due to faults and other natural causes in Seams of: 



Estimated net available Tons remaining unworked, 4,238,507,727. 



The output of the Lancashire collieries for the year 1903 was 24,517,761 tons. At the 

 same time there was also raised 24,442 tons of clay and shale, 190,406 tons of fire-clay, and 

 287 tons of iron pyrites; giving a total yield from the mines of 24,732,139 tons, and finding 

 employment for 93,912 people. 



The clay, shale, and fireclay are all used in the manufacture of bricks, tiles, coarse earthen- 

 ware, and pottery. The fireclays are capable of withstanding an intense heat after they have been 

 moulded into bricks without much material change, hence the bricks manufactured from fireclay are 

 much used in furnaces, hearths, and other places where there is great heat. 



Iron pyrites is worked for the manufacture of sulphuric acid and sulphate of iron. 



Clay. Lancashire being a most densely populated county, and the solid geology to a large 

 extent obscured by thick deposits of boulder clay, it has naturally followed that the latter has been 

 made good use of in the manufacture of bricks. Temporary brick-kilns are frequently established 

 in the vicinity of large towns where building operations are in progress, the clay being obtained 

 close to the site of the kilns by removing the surface soil. The bricks thus obtained are not so 

 close in texture or so durable as those manufactured from the better class of shales and are chiefly 

 used for internal walls. In many cases, the coal shales are quarried at the surface and moulded 

 into bricks, and it is probably clay obtained not merely from the Glacial drift but also from the 

 clayey shales which goes to make up the 1,418,340 tons of clay which represents the output ot 

 Lancashire for 1903. 



Sandstone. The main supply of sandstone in Lancashire is obtained from the Millstone Grit series, 

 many of the beds being massive, and nearly all exceedingly durable. The sandstones of the Lower and 

 Middle Coal Measures are worked to a less extent, those of the former, whilst of fair thickness and 

 fairly durable, at times being even equal to the Millstone Grit, yet, being also more current-bedded 

 and jointed than the former, can only be worked with a greater waste, and are therefore not so 

 economical. In most cases also where Lower Coal Measure sandstones occur those of the Mill- 

 stone Grit are not far off, and almost invariably at a greater altitude on the flanks or tops of the 

 hills, from which the stone can be conveyed by its own weight down inclined rails to sidings 

 connected with the railways which traverse all the chief valleys. Most of the stone is used for road 

 and street paving in the large towns, or for building stones, whilst the thicker and more massive 

 beds furnish huge blocks for engine beds, foundations, retaining walls, and structures requiring great 

 weight and strength. Many of the beds both of the Millstone Grits and Lower Coal Measures 

 split up into slabs of from two to four inches in thickness, and are cut up for flagstones. 



The readiness with which the stone can be worked, and its nearness to the towns, accounts for 

 one feature of Lancashire towns which often puzzles visitors from other counties : in nearly all 

 the towns the great bulk of the buildings and dwelling houses have the outer walls built of the 

 local rocks, houses entirely constructed of brick being not so numerous. One other feature to be 

 seen in the agricultural districts surrounding the large towns is the prevalence of stone walls 

 dividing the meadows, which are mostly laid down in grass. The multiplicity of these walls of 

 dark weathered stone, and the absence of the pleasant hedgerows and earthen banks which are so 

 common a feature in most counties, give the landscape a hard and chilly look, and lead one 

 erroneously to suppose that the industrial districts are barren and devoid of shrubs, trees, and copse. 



Sandstone quarries are numerous, especially in the hill ranges north of Manchester, which 

 stretch on to Rochdale, Littleborough, Whitworth, and the spurs running into the Rossendale 

 valleys. The industry is a very important one, no less than 760,534 tons being quarried in 1903. 



Limestone. The quarrying of limestone is not much behind that of sandstone in the weight of 

 output, 612,427 tons being quarried in 1903. Much of this is burnt for lime, used in the towns 

 or on pasturage, and a great quantity is used as building stone. In the limestone districts, the lime- 

 stone is used in the construction of nearly all buildings, and also for rough walling. It thus takes 

 the place of sandstone in other parts of the country, and being of a light grey colour the towns are 

 much cleaner looking and more cheerful. 



The Carboniferous Limestone in Lancashire is not so metalliferous as we find it in Derbyshire 



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