1848.| ORMEROD ON THE SALT-FIELD OF CHESHIRE. 271 
A partial analysis by Mr. Whittel gave as the ingredients of a gallon 
of water 109 grains of solid dried matter, besides carbonic acid and 
perhaps other gases. Of this solid matter about 50 grains appeared 
to be purgative salts, containing a few grains of muriate of lime; the 
remaining 140 grains are composed of about 120 grains of sulphur, 
and 20 of carbonate of lime. (Ormerod’s ‘ Cheshire,’ vol. 1. p. 159). 
From Audlem to Nantwich the superficial coverimg is deep sand : 
this is cut by the brooks into small dingles, and forms a gently un- 
dulating surface. 
For a short space to the north of a line drawn by Spurstow, Bad- 
deley, Nantwich and Broad Lane, the salt has not been proved. 
Between these places and the Wheelock and Lower Dane the country 
is flat, and continues to be covered with drift in the varieties of gravel, 
sand and marl. At Church Copenhall, in a gravel-pit, several teeth 
and bones were found about seventy feet below the surface. One 
tooth was three inches long (Thomas Hodgkinson). To the north 
of this district the salt is again met with. The most easterly place 
at which salt is found is Lawton. The gypseous beds, as before men- 
tioned, here abut against the coal, millstone and limestone of Mow 
Cop and the Cloud. Rock-salt was worked here in the year 1779. 
This rock-salt is described as being equal in quality to that at North- 
wich. The mine has not now been worked for many years. The 
sinkings were through— 
Soil and gypseous marls . . 126 feet. 
malin Say 
SF he al Be es are 
Tnduraved Clay 7 5 ove nant OU 
SUL See Aare Biome a 9 
Tnidurated clay’. 5. 9 95). 45 
alt sume UitO) Um He et ee 
Total . . 289 feet; 
the highest bed being about 290 feet above the level of the sea. 
Brine is worked in the neighbourhood of Church Lawton, on the 
north-east and south-west sides of the Wheelock. The depth to the 
brine-spring is 225 feet; the level at which the brine stands is 210 
feet from the surface, or about 200 feet above sea-level. It rises from 
one spring, which is copious and strongly saturated, and has been 
worked for a considerable period. 
Near Hassall Green a shaft was sunk to the depth of about 190 
feet, or about 84 feet above sea-level, without finding brine. The 
measures passed through were gypseous, with little specks of salt. 
The works were abandoned, being unproductive. At Malkins Bank, 
to the north-east of the Wheelock river, three pits within a short 
distance of each other are in constant work, at the same depths, with 
copious supplies of strong brme. The engines when at work can 
only lower the level of the brine in the pits 9 feet. The depth to the 
spring is 185 feet, and the depth to the level at which the brine stands 
84 feet below the surface, or about 70 and 171 feet respectively 
above sea-level. ; 
