A HISTORY OF GLOUCESTERSHIRE 



Parsons, in his MSS. collections, 1 mentions 

 argentiferous tin-ore at Siston, but the vein was 

 probably quite inconsiderable, and the same may 

 be said of the copper 2 lying in small perpendicu- 

 lar fissures, discovered in the eighteenth century 

 by one Pope on a high hill towards the Severn, 

 about half a mile from Henbury. The famous 

 copper works at Bristol were certainly supplied 

 with ore from Cornwall, and possibly from other 

 places outside the county. 



The last of the mineral products of the county 

 which demands mention here is celestite, or 

 strontium sulphate. The neighbourhood 3 of 

 Bristol, even at the beginning of the last century, 

 was known as one of the few localities in England 

 where it was found, and about a generation ago 

 large quantities were discovered in the course of 

 excavations at Clifton, between Alma and Oak- 



1 Cited by Rudder, op. cit. 270. 



1 Brist. and Glouc. Arch. Soc. Trans, iv, 325. 



' Cotsviold Nat. field Club Proc. x, 73. 



field Roads and at Gotham. Much of this, 

 however, was mixed with barium sulphate, the 

 proportions varying from 99-1 of Sr.SO 4 to -5 of 

 Ba.SO 4 at Clifton Grove, to 89-1 of Sr.SO 4 to 

 10-9 of Ba.SO 4 at All Saints Road, 4 while in 

 specimens found to the north of the mouth of 

 the railway tunnel at Clifton, barium sulphate 

 furnished a percentage of 74- 1. Celestite has 

 also been found in considerable quantities some 

 miles to the north of Bristol, especially at Wick- 

 war and Yate, and is worked commercially in 

 shallow pits in the Keuper Red Marls. Indeed, 

 in 1902 over 32,000 tons are said to have been 

 raised in the Gloucestershire district (which, 

 however, includes Somerset), but in 1905 the 

 amount shipped from Bristol Docks had fallen 

 to 14,294 tons with an estimated value of 

 ^13,936. This mineral is in demand amongst 

 both the sugar refiners of Germany and the 

 cotton manufacturers of northern England. 



4 Brist. Nat. Sue. Prof, ii, 299 (new s:r.). 



238 



