736 REPORT—1863. 
In these expectations, as had happened to their colleagues on the Tyne, they 
were disappointed, and, like them, they had recourse to Whitby. In one 
respect, however, their position differed from that of the ironmasters further 
north. Ina voyage of fifty miles, ten miles more or less is a small sacri- 
fice compared with securing a good harbour ; but where the ironstone-mea- 
sures were known to run close to the mouth of the river upon which the 
works were placed, it was obviously a matter of importance to draw the sup- 
plies of ore, or as much of it as could be obtained, from the nearest point. 
Examination of large detached masses which had fallen from the cliff led 
Messrs. Bolckow and Vaughan to Skinningrove on the coast, at which place, 
to their surprise, they found the bed had thickened out from 41 feet to nearly 
143, and instead of 25 per cent. of iron it contained 31. So far was acci- 
dent ; but that firm, experiencing the usual inconvenience arising from an 
exposed place of shipment, sought for, and found in 1850, the position of the 
ironstone inland. It is not pretended that the merit of original discovery 
belongs to Messrs. Boleckow and Vaughan in reference to this extraordinary 
deposit of ore. On the contrary, Mr. Jackson, the father of the present 
owner of Normanby Hall, sent, in 1811, two waggons of it to the Tyne Iron 
Works. Mr. Bewicke, senior, was also, a year or two before its position in- 
land was recognized by Messrs. Bolekow and Vaughan, aware of its existence 
near Guisbro’. Indeed, so early as 1839, a Mr. Neasham had despatched an 
entire cargo to the Devon Iron Works at Alloa, in Scotland, at which estab- 
lishment it met with an indifferent reception, being tipped over the rubbish- 
heap very soon after its arrival. In the minds of none of these gentlemen, 
however, did the mineral excite that confidence in its value which the sub- 
sequent labours of the Middlesbro’ firm ascertained it possessed, and to 
whom undoubtedly, therefore, is due the merit of having introduced it to 
the immensely important place it now occupies. The las rocks contain 
other beds of ironstone, to which reference will be hereafter made, when the 
composition of the Main Cleveland seam, and its use as an ore of iron, are 
spoken of. 
We have thus seen that, in a district embraced within the four counties of 
Northumberland, Durham, Cumberland, and Yorkshire, the coal-formation 
contains the usual clay ironstone; the mountain limestone has furnished 
to a limited extent some black-band and nodules of ironstone, and is now 
affording spathose ore and brown hydrated peroxide of iron, as well as very 
large quantities of the finest red hematite; lastly, in the lias beds of York- 
shire there are found inexhaustible deposits of argillaceous ore. Besides all 
these, and profiting by the return of light colliers, some small quantities of 
other ores, both foreign and British, are conveyed to the Tyne, but not to an 
extent to render them worthy of more especial notice. The composition of 
the various minerals now in use will be given when the subject of their 
metallurgical application comes, in its proper place, to occupy our attention. 
Historical Account of the Manufacture of Iron in the North of England.— 
It is now proposed to show in what order, and in what manner, the various 
ores of iron, met with in the different geological measures in the North of 
England, have been made available in a metallurgical point of view. 
Before entering on this part of his task, the writer would take the oppor- 
tunity of expressing his acknowledgments to Mr. Hodgson Hinde, to whose 
antiquarian researches he owes some valuable information respecting the 
earlier production of iron in the North of England. 
Notwithstanding the varied character of the different ores of the district 
under review, and the want of indication of metallic contents of some, the 
