428 IRON IN THE CARBONIFEROUS LIMESTONE. 



Eisen hill, and in the Brendon hills. The ore is partly carbonate of 

 iron, rich in manganese and partly brown oxide. These ores are found 

 in the Morte slates which belong to the middle of the Devonian rocks. 

 The ore chiefly occurs in veins and pockets. The produce is about 

 thirty-four per cent, of metallic iron, and nine to ten per cent, of man- 

 ganese. Hematite iron ores are also worked at Yatton, Windford, 

 and in the Mendip Hills. 



On Exmoor iron ores are found near Combe Martin, and in 

 the Valley of the Exe, and north-east of Simon's Bath. It is usually 

 a brown oxide. Some of the lodes are from nine to twenty-five feet 

 thick. 



Iron Ores in the North of England. The iron ores of the 

 North of England are chiefly obtained from the Carboniferous lime- 

 stones of "Weardale, Alston Moor, Haydon Bridge, Whitehaven, and 

 Ulverstone. They consist partly of carbonate of iron and partly of 

 hematite. The clay ironstone or argillaceous carbonate is contained 

 in some of the bands of shale in a similar way to the ores of the coal 

 measures. This ore is sometimes known as ballstones. Brown iron 

 ore sometimes forms regular layers in the rocks round Alston Moor, 

 and sometimes the brown iron ore occurs in the lead veins of Alston 

 Moor, instead of fluor spar and quartz. Thus the lode of Eodderup 

 Fell, where it crosses the valley of the Tyne, is a vein of brown iron 

 ore sixteen to twenty feet thick, and similar veins occur in other 

 parts of the same district. The carbonate of iron or sparry ore also 

 appears abundantly in the lead veins, and is termed the rider or vein 

 stone ; and near Weardale, about Stanhope, the veins are so " rid- 

 ered " with this ore in interlacing strings, that the rock has been 

 absolutely carried away. The brown peroxide of iron is frequently 

 mixed with the sparry ore ; its existence is attributed to the decom- 

 position of the carbonate of iron. 



This is the ore which is worked in Carinthia, Styria, and Siegen. 

 The carbonate of iron frequently invests previously-formed crystals of 

 fluor spar and galena. The hematite or sesqui-oxide of iron is chiefly 

 worked at Whitehaven and Ulverstone. 



Cumberland Hematite. The Cumberland hematite deposits 

 occur in granite, Skiddaw slate, the Borrowdale series, Coniston 

 rocks, and Carboniferous strata. In the Eskdale granite, the 

 principal workings are near the Boot and the King of Prussia. The 

 direction of the vein is north and south. The ore occurs in 

 bunches on each side of a leader. This deposit is usually earthy, 

 and sometimes contains decomposed felspar. Hematite has only 

 been worked in the Skiddaw slate near Knockmurton, on one of the 

 hills near Ennerdale Lake. Some of the veins run north-west, 

 others north-east, and are quite as irregular as at Eskdale. 



In the Coniston limestone, hematite is found at Water Blean, 

 near Millour. The ore is free from mixture with the associated 

 rock, and occurs in veins from a few inches to nine feet thick. 

 The most important deposits of the district are in the Carboniferous 

 limestone, and these present several different forms, occurring some- 



