564 MB. C. DAWSON ON THE DISCOVERT OF [Aug. 1898^ 



35. On the Discovert of Natural Gas in East Sussex. 

 By C. Dawson, Esq., E.G.S., E.S.A. (Eead June Sth, 1898.) 



I. Various Discoveries of the Gas. 



The first record of the discovery of an inflammable natural gas 

 in East Sussex is contained in Mr. Henry Willett's 18th Quarterly 

 Keport of the Subwealden Exploration (I^etherfield), 1875. It 

 is there stated that in making experiments on the temperature, etc, 

 at various depths, and on lowering a light in the bore-tube, an 

 explosion occurred. Strange oscillations in the depth of the water are 

 reported to have been noticed, which at the time were attributed 

 {inter alia) to the discharge of inflammable gases derived probably 

 'from the petroleum-bearing strata beneath' (the Kimeridge Clay). 



Another discovery of inflammable natural gas occurred in the 

 year 1895, when a deep artesian bore-tube (6 inches in diameter) was 

 sunk in the stable-yard of the New Heathfield Hotel, close to the 

 Heathfield Station of the London, Erighton, & South Coast Eailway 

 Company (Eastbourne & Tunbridge Wells Branch) in the parish of 

 "Waldron, East Sussex. At the depth of 228 feet, the foreman of the 

 work noticed that the water which had been put down the borehole to 

 assist the working of the tools was ' boiling.' As he was about to 

 lower a candle to discover the cause, the gas arising from the 

 bubbles caught fire, and burnt ' to about the height of a man.' 

 Subsequently the foreman attached small tubes and ignited the gas 

 at a distance of 15 yards from the borehole. Although he appears 

 to have reported the details of the strata traversed to his employers, 

 he does not seem to have mentioned the discovery of the gas until 

 enquiries were made by the writer, who had heard of it from other 

 eye-witnesses. This boring was not carried any deeper, as no water 

 had been discovered. The borehole has now been covered over, and 

 the upper part cemented and used as a sump. 



The third and last discovery was made in August 1896 ^ at a 

 site about 100 yards distant, on lower ground than the last, in 

 the railway-cutting between the north-eastern end of Heathfield 

 Eailway-station and the mouth of the tunnel, by the side of the 

 permanent way. The Eailway Company desired to obtain a better 

 quality of water for their engine-tank, than that afi'orded by the 

 present surface-spring supply. Accordingly a 6-inch bore-tube wa& 

 sunk, commencing at the bottom of a sump 73 feet deep, into 

 which the surface-water had been allowed to flow. The details of 

 the boring are appended (see p. 570). Gas appears to have been 

 discovered a long time before its inflammable properties were tested, 

 a strong odour of gas having been noticed for some days, but 

 the smell was attributed to the presence of ' foul air ' in the bore- 



^ A preliminary note of this discovery was given by the Author in ' Nature ' 

 of Dec. 16th, 1897 (vol. Ivii, pp. 150, 151), with illustrations. See also Proc. 

 S. E. Union Sci. Soc, June 3rd, 1898. 



