Mr. Buddle on Mining Records. 



319 



burns white. An enormous quantity of inflammable air is discharged from 

 this seam. The precise character of all these seams of coal is more clearly 

 shown by the preceding sections. 



The Beaumont Seam has only been bored to in this colliery. 



5. — The Winning of the Colliery. 



The first le of this colliery was taken by Messrs. Chapman & Co. in 

 1778, and the winning of the High Main Seam then commenced. The 

 seam was sunk to in 1781, when Messrs. Chapman & Co. sold their interest 

 in the concern to Messrs. Russell and Wade, by whose families it has since 

 been held, under successive renewed leases. 



The winning of the colliery was effected by two engine pits placed at 

 95 yards asunder, called the A and B Pit (Plate XV.). Those pits are placed 

 just within the western boundary of the Roman Fort of Segidunum, at the 

 east end of Severus' wall. The chief difficulty met with in sinking those pits 

 was a quick sand, at a few fathoms from the surface. The first pit that 

 was attempted to be sunk was lost in this sand, and the A Pit nearly shared 

 the same fate. This shaft was sunk through the sand by piling, which 



