On the Prospects of Coal South of the Mendips. 503 



Another boring in searcli of coal has been made about three miles 

 north of Langport, near High Ham ; but this also was given up after 

 it had been carried down to the depth of 90 feet. Begun in the 

 Khastic beds, it was only carried a little way into the Keuper Marls, 

 in which beds of Alabaster, 20 feet thick, are said to have been met 

 with ; and it was probably the presence of the black paper-shales of 

 the Eh^tic series which led to this trial for coal. 



An attempt to find coal was made in the Lower Lias at Badgworth, 

 near Wedmore, but of this we have no details. 



The most vigorous attempt, however, was that made at Compton 

 Dundon, in 1815.^ The lower beds of the Rh^tic series were passed 

 through, and the shaft was then sunk for nearly 600 feet in the 

 Keuper beds. 



These borings are of no value as regards any information they 

 might be expected to afford as to the possible occurrence of coal 

 under the Secondary rocks at the places where they were made. 

 Probably they originated from some misapprehension of the depth 

 of these rocks, or of their identity ; but in any case they should have 

 been continued to much greater depths to have thrown any light on 

 the question, as the Coal-measures could certainly not be expected to 

 occur at a less depth than one thousand feet below the surface.^ 



It would seem to be highly probable that a coal-basin may set in 

 south of the Mendip Hills, beneath the flat alluvial lands of Sedge- 

 moor, and the course of the Eiver Brue ; but how far it may extend 

 in this direction, or to the east, it is very difficult to imagine, as there 

 is no evidence to show. The prevailing dip of the Mountain Lime- 

 stone along the southern flank of the Mendips is in a southerly 

 direction ; we have noted the Millstone G-rit to appear in two places. 

 The probability, therefore, seems to be that in the rolling over of the 

 Mendip range, the PalEeozoic strata on its south side have been 

 thrown into a great synclinal trough, and thus have been the means of 

 preserving the Coal-measures from the enormous amount of denuda- 

 tion which, as Professor Ramsay has shown, the same rocks have 

 been subjected to that formed the anticlinal ridges.^ 



At some future time, when the increased price makes it worth 

 while, or the adjacent Coal-fields approach exhaustion, this district 

 will not fail to attract the attention of enterprising persons interested 

 in coal-mining. To prove the question trials might be made near 

 Meare, Wedmore, Poisham and Pilton, which are all places favour- 

 ably situated for the purpose, and where the Coal-measures might 

 reasonably be expected at a depth of 1000 feet, estimating 100 feet 

 for the Lower Lias and Rhaetic beds where present near these locali- 

 ties, and 800 feet for the Keuper beds. 



1 Recorded by Mr. C. Moore, Quart. Journ. Geol. See, vol. xxiii., 1867, p. 457. 



2 In Mr. Prestwich's opinion, coal would not be found at a depth less than from 

 1500 to 2000 feet. Eeport of Coal Commission, p. 163. 



3 Mem. Geol. Survey, vol. i. Mr. Prestwich thinks " it is possible that the great 

 thickness of the Secondary strata south of the Mendips may arise from a greater de- 

 nudation of the Palaeozoic rocks on the south than on the north of the Mendips, in 

 which case a larger portion of the Coal-measures may have been there removed." 

 Eeport of Coal Commission, p. 163. 



