SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



i57 



THE KENT COAL-FIELDS. 

 By Edward A. Martin, F.G.S. 



T N this and the following number of Science- 

 Gossip will be found an important series of 

 diagrams, illustrating in detail the whole of the 

 strata which have been 

 passed through in the 

 making of the now famous 

 boring for coal at the foot 

 of Shakespeare Cliff. Dover. 

 This is, I believe, the first 

 time that the details here 

 given have been allowed 

 such wide circulation, and 

 acknowledgments are due 

 to Francis Brady, Esq., 

 M.I.C.E., for permission 

 to reproduce the diagrams 

 which, on a larger scale, he 

 has published as engineer 



w 



==§3-. 



bottomed), at a depth of 931 feet. Another 



boring was made at St. Margaret's Bay, starting 



this time at sea-level. Here the bottom of the 



Chalk was reached at 



54S feet, the boring leaving 



off in the Gault. 



The now famous boring, 

 at the bottom of which 

 coal has been reached, is 

 situated on the Great Fall 

 at the foot of Shakespeare 

 Cliff, to the west of Shake- 

 speare Tunnel. Being close 

 to the outcrop of the 

 impermeable Grey Chalk, 

 it is peculiarly favourable, 

 from an engineer's point 

 of view, for pit-sinking. 



Lcwrr Grey OtaJJi. 



Park Grern. and Iihich. 

 Stt/y Sand, 



Ordinary Sprtna 7UI.V 



DESCRIPTION 



InJurmlat OuOXiiaH. 



).I.r,t„ .\t.,rl 



■•J. Cmult. 



■ C — 1 ' 



f* 

 l'j 



Section of Boring for Dover 

 Colliery. 



to the Channel Tunnel Com- 

 pany. 



It will be unnecessary to 

 do more than remind readers 

 that the occurrence of an 

 ancient underground surface 

 bearing detached coal-basins 

 was predicted by Godwin- 

 Austen and Prestwich. The 

 latter reported very fully on 

 the subject in his communi- 

 cation to the Royal Com- 

 mission on Coal, the results of 

 whose investigations were pub- 

 Ushed in 1 Jyi. He thought 

 that the coal area might ex- 

 tend for 150 miles, with a 

 breadth of two to eight miles. 



Previous borings have been 

 made at Dover. Thai at the 

 convict prison started from a 

 height of 280 feet above sea- 

 level, reaching th<: base <.f th<: 



[eel 1 

 through the ' ranll (143 fi el 1 

 and 



tfai 

 feet, noi 



flhie Grey day 

 Orr.cn sand, 

 ftlacJc Sandy (lay 

 White Sand ajtd SandftrW 



Hark Gir\ \itmutaiat 

 Sift and 'Sand, 



hnr. lytui, SUt 



l\,rl. '/m attitmuxau X'ljl 



Mark l^immalrrl Shal/ 



/ "' 



