CHAPTER VIII 



CARBONIFEROUS SYSTEM {continued). 



Clee Hill Coal-fields ; including the Titterstone Brown Clee ; with descriptions 

 of the underlying formations of Millstone Grit and Carboniferous Limestone. 



The Clee Hills consist of two separate mountainous masses, the most southern of 

 which, called the Titterstone Clee, lies upon the confines of Salop and Hereford, five to 

 six miles east of Ludlow ; and the other, or the Brown Clee, is nine to ten miles north 

 of that town. The summit of the latter is 1806 feet, and that of the former 1730 feet 

 above the sea. These hills, chiefly composed of carboniferous strata, are surrounded 

 by Old Red Sandstone, and lie contiguous to the Silurian rocks which form the special 

 object of this work : As they have not hitherto been fully described, it is essential to 

 dwell upon them at some length. 



The summits of these ridges are, for the most part, formed of hard and pure basalt, 

 locally called " Jewstone", which being spread over a large portion of the coal-bearing 

 strata in thick tabular masses, is pierced through at many points by shafts for the ex- 

 traction of the subjacent coal. In the sequel it will be shown, that this basalt has 

 risen up through the carboniferous strata, and has then overflowed their surface. Let 

 us, however, now proceed to view the mineral composition and general relations of the 

 coal measures of these hills, beginning with those of the Titterstone Clee 1 . 



Coal measures of the Titterstone Clee. — Under this term are comprehended all the 

 carboniferous strata which adjoin the Titterstone Clee Hills, and the Jimits of which 

 will be seen in the map. Within this area lie the fields of Cornbrook, Treen pits, 

 Knowlbury, the Blue stone, the Gutter, and Horse-ditch. All these so-called fields 

 belong, however, to one and the same carboniferous tract, which is of an extremely irre- 

 gular outline, and is, in fact, divided into several masses, one of which lies in a very 



1 The Clee Hills have been partially described by Messrs. Robert and Rowley Wright, attached to the Ord- 

 nance Survey, who also made a geological map of the environs of Ludlow, embracing these hills. Though 

 executed before I had worked out the subdivisions of the Silurian System, this map, which is now deposited in 

 the library of the Geological Society, is very accurate in its general features. 



