132 



COAL OF B1LLINGSLEY, ETC. 



cornstone actually occupies the top of Chelmarsh ridge, at the western sides and at the bottom of 

 which these coal seams and associated strata are exposed beneath an actual cover of red rock. As 

 there is a perfectly conformable passage, in descending order, from the lower beds of the red sandstone 

 through stiff argillaceous shale, greyish white sandstone &c, into the coalbearing strata, we have 

 here an additional example to the many cases of similar passage observed in Salop and in Stafford- 

 shire. The uppermost coal, called the little coal, is worthless, — the second, or the top coal, is 

 occasionally worked, and is here twenty-two inches to two feet thick. In the bed of the brook and 

 dipping beneath this coal is a band about a foot and a half thick, made up concretions of impure 

 limestone, a complete coal measure cornstone. It is of a mottled grey colour and much resembles 

 the calcareous zones, in similar geological positions, between Hales Owen and Hagley in Worces- 

 tershire. (See pp. 56. et seq.) 1 The lowest coal has been worked at a depth of about forty yards 

 beneath the limestone, and is two feet six inches thick. 



At Billingsley there were formerly extensive speculations, and shafts were sunk to considerable 

 depths, through three beds of coal, the lowest of which was said to be a sweet coal. The most va- 

 luable mineral, however, of these works was the ironstone. The operations, however, terminated 

 in the ruin of all concerned, owing to the impure nature of the coal, and the very dislocated condi- 

 tion of the strata. The carboniferous strata of Billingsley extending to the south, surround the hills 

 of trap rock in which the park and house of Kinlet are situated. There are some fine escarpments 

 of sandstone exposed on the sides of the small brook near the New Buildings. Lower Harcott, 

 however, is the only locality with which I am acquainted where the coal is free from pyritous admix- 

 ture. It is there extracted in shallow pits on both banks of the rivulet which flows between Kinlet 

 Park and High Green, and from four different seams, which occur in the following descending order : 



ft. in. 



Sandstone and shale, thickness variable. 



1st Coal 3 0 



Clods and ironstone 3 0 



2nd Coal, sometimes sulphureous 1 6 



Ciods and ironstone 3 6 



3rd Coal thins out in some places to 1 foot 6 inches 4 0 



Shale and measure 2 0 



4th Coal 2 0 



These little seams of coal lying so near each other, may almost be considered as one stratum, and 

 ironstone, said to be of good quality, underlies this coal, as at Billingsley. The highly dislocated 

 state of these strata is adverse to profitable enterprize ; and the juxtaposition of the trap rocks on 

 one side, and of the Old Red Sandstone upon the other, forbids our speculating upon any con- 

 siderable extension of the mineral. Indeed the coal crops out in patches on the sloping side of the 

 hills of trap, west of Kinlet Park. 



1 The calcareous concretions in the carboniferous strata of this tract were, as previously stated, first noticed 

 by the Rev. T. England, p. 60. I have great pleasure in thus recording my sense of the accuracy of this portion 

 of that gentleman's observations, though I differ from some of his opinions : in the sequel, however, it will be 

 shown, that the local anomalies are such, that by the study of this tract alone, it was not easily practicable to 

 separate the concretions of the Coal Measures and Lower New Red from those of the Old Red Sandstone. 



2 There is no exact record of these workings. The only coal now extracted is highly pyritous, and lies at 

 about thirty yards beneath the surface. An old workman informed me that there was great confusion and dis- 

 location of the strata, and that in one shaft all the three coals were squeezed together. 



