35 



is most distinct. These veins are from two inches to four or five 

 feet thick, and universally run from east to west." In this descrip- 

 tion they had the reasons for giving up the Ballintoy beds. They 

 took fire, and the top falling in, the working of them was stopped. 

 The property at that time was sold into other hands, and his suc- 

 cessor, living in England and elsewhere, did not prosecute the 

 working of them, so that from that period to the present the Ballin- 

 toy beds had remained unworked.* 



The bed of Lignite occurring at Ballintoy varies in thickness 

 from one to five feet ; it occurs close under solid trap rock, resting 

 on clay beds, and is sometimes divided into two separate beds by 

 partings of clay ; in the pits over Ballintoy there are two such beds, 

 each about sixteen inches thick. The upper bed is very much 

 better than the lower bed, the latter being mixed with clay, and 

 the three feet bed of clay parting is highly carbonaceous. The 

 lower bed at Ballintoy yields very good impressions of plants, 

 which Mr. Baily, of the Geological Survey of Ireland, considers 

 identical or closely allied to leaves figured by Heer as M Clintockia 

 Lyellii (Fossil Flora of North Greenland, Phil. Trans., 1869, p. 

 52). The upper bed at Ballintoy, and all the Lignite at the west 

 end of the field, is quite solid, black, and glistening, like true Coal. 



The discovery, and more or less successful working, of what was 



* Since this paper was read, Mr. Gray called a Public Meeting at the Belfast 

 Chamber of Commerce, with the view of ascertaining the desirability of getting 

 the Ballintoy Lignite Mines worked. The meeting approved of the suggestion, 

 appointed a committee to test the quality of the Lignite as a fuel, and opened 

 a Subscription List to defray the cost. As the subscriptions did not amount to 

 ^50 (whereas Mr. Gray stated that it would require about ,£200 to start the 

 mines), the Committee were disposed to give up the matter ; but, at Mr. Gray's 

 request, the small sum subscribed was expended in opening the mines, and 

 about 20 tons of Lignite were brought to Belfast within one month. The sample 

 of Lignite thus obtained was distributed for the purpose of testing its quality 

 as a fuel, and the reports on the experiments confirmed all Mr. Gray stated 

 regarding it. Since then, Mr. Fullerton, of London, one of the owners 

 of the royalties, has continued to work the Lignite mine on his property, and 

 Lord Antrim has let his portion to some Coleraine gentlemen, who are now 

 making preparations to work the more extensive mines of Lemnagh, near 

 Ballintoy. 



