COAL BENEATH THE LOWER NEW RED SANDSTONE. 



467 



beyond its limits 1 . It has since been rendered productive by works which have pierced through 

 superincumbent rocks, some of which must be classed with the Lower New Red Sandstone. (See 

 subsequent sections of Corngreaves, &c.) The proofs, therefore, of the existence of coal beneath 

 the Lower New Red Sandstone are not confined to the eastern side of the field. They may be also 

 seen on the western side at Sedgeley, in works which are open to the day, and where thin beds of 

 coal have been worked at a depth of a few yards, dipping rapidly beneath a ledge of the Lower 

 New lied Sandstone : similar examples may be observed near Brand Hall, between Hales Owen and 

 Oldbury. 



The table, p. 476, explains the order in which the strata of the Lower New Red Sandstone 

 overlie and pass down into the coal measures on the eastern side of the field, being a detail of the 

 shaft section of the Earl of Dartmouth before alluded to, the work having been completed while 

 these pages were passing through the press 2 . 



This section lias thus completely established the existence of coal measures beneath 

 the New Red Sandstone, beyond what was formerly considered the eastern barrier of 

 the "coal field." That these measures may thin out in that quarter, and that profitable 

 commercial enterprize cannot well be undertaken by pursuing operations still further to 

 the east, is a separate consideration. In the mean time, though it would appear, that 

 the coal in question thins out and is much dislocated, it has been equally ascertained 

 that it thickens as the works proceed westward ; and this we should expect ; for as at 

 the great fault at the former boundary of the field, the coal was ten yards thick, so have 

 we every reason to conclude that the mineral will gradually expand from the distant 

 point where Lord Dartmouth's shaft has been sunk, till its full development on the un- 

 tried side of the fault as represented in the diagram, PL 37. f. 1 . This is the first shaft 

 which has been sunk through a thick portion of Red Sandstone, and being nearly one 

 mile distant from the fault by which the coal was supposed to be cut off, the value of 

 the discovery is great in confirming the views of geologists 3 . On the western side of 

 the field, speculative sinkings have also been commenced in the red formation, and 

 when I quitted the district one had proceeded to a depth of about 100 yards. This 



1 To show how much the limits of the field have been recently extended, its greatest breadth near Dudley 

 was stated to be four miles when the Outlines of Geology of England and Wales were published, 1822, p. 407. 

 The width over which coal works are now spread is about nine miles from east to west, without reckoning the 

 coals which have been proved beneath the red sandstone. 



2 The rocks in this section are described with tolerable precision, because specimens from each stratum 

 passed through were submitted to my inspection, and are now, through the liberality of the Earl of Dartmouth, 

 and the zeal of his agent Mr. Dawson, deposited in the museum of the Geological Society. By a letter 

 received, while these pages are printing, it appears that Mr. Dawson is now sinking beneath the bottom of the 

 present works, given in the section, p. 476 ; having driven a head-way to the east, where he had been led to 

 suppose that the Red Sandstone is, by a great oblique fault, brought down to be a few yards only above the 

 bed of coal in work. 



3 Other trials on the east side of the field have been recently made, and in one of them near Oldbury the 

 coal has just been won. December 1, 1837. (See further observations on these dislocations in the ensuing 

 chapter). 



