734 REPORT—1863. 
to 25 per cent. of iron; but instead of 2 tons of raw mineral producing 1 ton 
of calcined, as in the case of Scotland, 3 tons were required at Chesterwood ; 
so that the richness of the calcined stone was about the same, viz. 60 per 
cent. Mr. Bigland states that for several years they obtained 20,000 to 
25,000 tons of the raw stone, until the bed was exhausted in that locality in 
1855, after less than ten years’ working. The deposit has been traced to 
other places, but in each case it is thin and poor in metal. 
In Alston Moor many of the mineral veins traversing the mountain lime- 
stone contain a considerable quantity of a hydrated peroxide of iron, as well 
as amorphous carbonate of iron. <A bed of the latter lying on the surface, 
but of very limited extent, was worked by the writer’s firm at Nent Head, 
and smelted at Wylam. The iron produced from it, as well as from other 
carbonates and oxides from the same district, was of excellent quality; but 
unfortunately the supplies were too uncertain and too costly. The ore in 
the veins themselves at one time was tolerably pure carbonate, yielding 
perhaps 30 per cent. or more of iron ; but it gradually passed into carbonate 
of lime, from which it was with difficulty distinguished. At the present 
day only a small quantity is worked at Alston. On the other hand, at Wear- 
dale the veins contain so much carbonate and oxide of iron that furnaces 
have been erected at Tow Law, by Messrs. Attwood and Baring, for their 
reduction. 
The small district of mountain limestone spoken of as stretching from 
Penrith to Whitehaven contains very large quantities of most valuable red 
hematite, containing 60 per cent. and upwards of iron. It is sold at White- 
haven at about 10s. per ton. Its position is uncertain in a mining point of 
view, occurring in detached masses of varied thickness. This locality, as 
well as that near Ulverstone, of a similar character, is of importance in con- 
nexion with the northern coal-field, inasmuch as considerable quantities of 
the hematite ore are brought over to the east coast as a mixture with our 
own ironstone; while, to the furnaces smelting the produce of the White- 
haven mineral field, coke from our side is conveyed. 
Tron Ores of the Lias Formation.—The Lias rocks of Yorkshire constitute 
by far the ‘most important source from which the needful supplies for our 
furnaces are derived. The seams of ironstone belonging to this formation 
crop out on a considerable extent of the coast-line of the shale beds, which, 
in addition, contain large balls of the same ore. In rocks so liable to disin- 
tegration from atmospheric influence these have fallen away, and in conse- 
quence considerable quantities of ironstone, freed from the adhering shale, 
are to be found on the beach as rounded pebbles, and even as masses of rock, 
In modern times the ore so separated from its parent bed attracted the atten- 
tion of those ironmasters who commenced smelting the ironstone of the 
coal-field. Mr. Joseph Cookson, in a very interesting document drawn up 
for the writer, mentions that for the Whitehill furnace, built in 1745, and 
abandoned before the end of last century, ironstone was gathered in Robin 
Hood’s Bay, and conveyed by water to Picktree, on the Wear, near Chester- 
le-Street, and carted from that place to the works. Soon after the year 1800 
the Tyne Iron Company obtained ironstone in a similar way from the beach 
between Scarborough and Saltburn ; and, according to Bewicke, in his work 
on the Cleveland ironstone, that firm commenced, between the years 1815 
and 1820, to tear up the stone from its bed at different parts of the coast. The 
exposed character of the Yorkshire shores and want of shelter rendered the 
conveyance of ironstone to the Newcastle furnaces a task of great difficulty 
and of some danger; and, therefore, it was not until the stratum furnishing 
yh 
