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SNAILBATCH, PENALLY, AND BOG LEAD MINES. 



between the Nick Knolls and the Stiper Stones, no mineral veins in this tract having been found 

 to penetrate trap rocks of intrusive character. 



The previous observations apply to the western side of the mining tract. The eastern side, lying 

 between Shelve and the ridge of the Stiper Stones, includes the productive mines of Snailbatch, 

 Penally, and the Bog. The attention of geologists was first called to the rich Snailbatch mine by 

 Mr. Arthur Aikin, a short extract from whose able description in the Geological Transactions will 

 be found in the Appendix. I have only to add that it lies in veined schist and sandstone lithologi- 

 cally similar to those of the Shelve mines. On its eastern flank it is bounded by the Stiper Stones, 

 and on the west by a line of highly crystalline greenstone which forms a dyke along the foot of 

 Mytton's Dingle, the Black Hole, and the Crow's Nest to within a mile of Pontesbury. Although 

 this great metalliferous bunch lies to the north-east of the district of Shelve, yet as it is situated 

 between the ridge of the Stiper Stones and the axes of the eruptions of trap before mentioned, it 

 must be considered as forming a part of the mining system of these hills. 



The Penally mines, about three quarters of a mile to the west of the crest of the Stiper Stones, 

 and about a mile and a half east of the village of Shelve, have been long abandoned, but are about 

 to be again wrought. One of the veins, running nearly east and west, is remarkable in affording a 

 spring of water of higher temperature than the other neighbouring springs, and has thus acquired 

 the name of "warm water vein/' Hence to the "Bog" mine the ground is more or less starred 

 with veins, though without the appearance of any trap rock near the surface. 



In the Bog mine are three master veins, trending (like those of the Gravel, Grit, and Snailbatch,) 

 more or less at right angles to the direction of the trap ridges and the associated strata ; but 

 there are many branches which cross each other. These veins hade together. One vein was fol- 

 lowed till it reached the wall of quartz rock of the Stiper Stones, by which it was deflected, and 

 being followed for a certain distance along the side of the quartz rock was lost. The metalliferous 

 portions of these veins vary from six inches to two feet. The shaft was 200 yards deep when I last 

 visited these mines (1835), but the works have been since extended, and the veins are now pursued 

 to greater depths 1 . The mining measures, as in many of the other cases, consist of black shale 

 with quartz veins, and they dip westward or from the Stiper Stones. Many beautiful specimens 

 have been obtained in the Bog and Penally veins of the same simple minerals found in the Grit 

 and Snailbatch. Between these and the Grit mines the metalliferous veins are, in the language of 

 miners, " cut off by the shale." This fact is of importance in explaining the intimate connexion 

 between such veins and the intrusive rocks, for this intervening space, though surrounded by centres 

 of eruptive action, is so far removed from them, that the strata of shale and sandstone are little 

 altered, and therefore not penetrated by veins. In these beds I have found many remains which 

 unequivocally identify them with the lower rocks of the Silurian System. (See organic remains and 

 localities.) 



The tract between Hyssington and Shelve is occupied by a number of alternate ridges of trap 

 and depressions in shale and sandstone. All these linear and interstratified traps in this part 

 of the district are regularly bedded, with the exception, perhaps, of that of Cefn Bank, which 

 is ill exhibited, and from its rounded form presents no distinct features. The other ridges, when 

 closely examined, present escarpments, the beds dipping away either to the W.N.W. or E.N.E., 



] My friend, Mr. Joseph Walker, one of the present proprietors of these mines, has furnished me with a 

 statement of their produce in different years. See Appendix, where the average produce of the whole tract 

 is also given. 



