98 J. McC. Meadows — On the Leinster^ Coal-field. 



and as for the most part these lower beds dip or incline moderately 

 towards the interior, a considerable portion of the formation referred 

 to is met with in the exterior, which is devoid of workable Coal, 

 although inters tratified with a few thin seams six inches and under 

 in thickness. For this reason, amongst others, out of the total area 

 of 200 square miles comprised in the district, not much more than 

 one-fourth represents in the interior the Coal-field proper, or that 

 portion of the formation within which the lowest workable seams 

 of Coal have been found. 



The strata in general undulate, and on all sides finally dip or 

 incline to one common centre. This centre is in appearance basin- 

 shaped, and it forms the main Coal- basin of the Lordship of Castle- 

 comer and Doonane, with the detached basins of Clough and New- 

 town. 



In this paper these Coal-basins will first be referred to, and after- 

 wards the seams of Coal in the exterior of the field. 



Interior of the Coal-field. 



In these central basins once lay the celebrated " Kilkenny Coal." 

 An exceedingly pure anthracite Coal, it varied from two feet six 

 inches to three feet four inches in thickness, and is known as the 

 three-feet seam. 



Commencing at little more than a mile north-east of the town of 

 Castlecomer in the Co. of Kilkenny, this seam of Coal extended 

 into Doonane in the Queen's County, a distance of about four miles. 

 Narrow at both ends and irregular in shape, the main central basin 

 of the Lordship of Castlecomer had, however, from east to west, 

 a maximum width of more than a mile and a half, and the entire area 

 was favourably circumstanced for working, as the seam lay at com- 

 paratively shallow depths below the surface. The pits or shafts 

 seldom exceeded sixty yards in depth, while the majority ranged 

 from twenty to forty yards each. 



With the exception of the northern end at Doonane, this central 

 basin forms part of the Lordship of Castlecomer; and it may be 

 said that the system of working by a number of small pits which 

 was adopted more than 150 years ago, on the opening out of the 

 seam by the then Sir Chr. Wandesforde, continued to be followed 

 until its exhaustion within the last 25 years. During that period 

 this seam of Coal was generally worked by the successive pro- 

 prietors of the estate upon a system of contract with tenants and 

 others, under one general engineering superintendence and manage- 

 ment. 



In addition to this principal basin, there lay two smaller basins of 

 the same seam of three-feet Coal immediately near it. One was the 

 Clough Colliery on the west, and the other that of the Newtown 

 Colliery on the north. At one time, all formed a single basin ; but 

 owing to undulations of the strata and subsequent denudation, these 

 smaller basins are now found detached. With the exception of 

 some portions of the seam which were left in the Clough Colliery, 

 owing to insufficient power for keeping the workings unwatered, 



