440 J. Prestwich, Esq.^ on the 



Camden states^ that before his time, coal and iron were worked at the 

 Oaken Gates. As this place, the Usocona of the Romans, is situated at the 

 foot of a hill, upon the sides of which the Penneystone measure and the flint 

 coal crop out, it is very probable, that these minerals were worked during the 

 occupation of Britain by the Romans, who had also another important station 

 at Uriconium, now Wroxeter, opposite to that on which the Oaken Gates 

 are situated. 



It is certain however fliat, of late years, the collieries have been so indus- 

 triously and generally worked, that almost all the best seams, both of coal and 

 iron, to the west of the Lightmoor fault, and south of Ketley, are nearly ex- 

 hausted. To the south of the Severn, in the vicinity of Broseley, there were 

 formerly eight or nine furnaces; but they are now all blown out, for want, 

 principally, of the proper description of fuel. A valuable supply of coal and 

 ironstone, however, yet remains in the districts east of the Lightmoor fault, and 

 at Donnington. Still, from the limited extent of the coal-fieLl, as now known, 

 and from the great activity with which it is worked, it appears probable, that 

 the materials for the manufacture of iron will be exhausted in a very few ge- 

 nerations. The iron masters must then continue their works under the new 

 red sandstone, beneath which it is to be hoped that they will find, although at 

 a great depth, a new and abundant supply. 



Organic Remains of the Coal- Measures. (Plates XXXVIII. to XLI.) 

 The paper on the Ganister Coal Series in Yorkshire, by Mr. J. Phillips*, 

 contains an interesting account of numerous marine remains found in those 

 coal- measures. While reading that paper, I was struck with the analogy be- 

 tween the Yorkshire field and that of Coalbrook Dale, similar alternation of 

 beds containing marine and fresh-water exuviae occurring in both localities. 

 These phenomena are supposed by Mr. Phillips " to indicate a periodical 

 return of the marine element into its ancient receptacle, after it had been for 

 some time occupied by fresh water, and its few inhabitants." I am inclined, 

 however, to consider, that the measures of the Coalbrook Dale field were de- 

 posited in an estuary, into which flowed a great river ; that the latter, during 

 periods of tranquillity, carried down the silt forming the present beds of 

 shale, enclosing, at the same time, the marine inhabitants of the estuary; and 

 that during floods, the river drifted along vast quantities of uprooted plants 



several implements used in mining, evidently of considerable antiquity ; they were all constructed 

 very rudely of wood, merely edged or bound with sheet iron. 



* Phil. Mag,, Nov. 1832, Vol. 12., p. 349. The occurrence of these marine remains near Hali- 

 fax was noticed by the late Mr. James Sowerby. See Min. Con., Ammonites Listen, Pecten pa- 

 pyraceus, and Orihoceras Sleinhaueri. 



