BUCKMAN — SEARCH FOR COAL. 
133 
then discovered, it acted as a stimulus to the proprietor, and the din and 
bustle of a mining district were begun in real earnest, upsetting, by vain 
expectations, the usual quiet of the village. A slight shaft was then 
made, from which the borings went on to the depth of 100 yards, at 
which point the proprietor was advised by a friend to consult a 
geologist, and I was chosen to undertake the inquiry. I accordingly 
went to the spot, and shall now state the structure of the strata in the 
neighbourhood. 
On the estate where the works were then proceeding, I soon found 
that all the higher points presented the thin beds of clay limestones of 
the lower Lias rock, which were beautifully shown in the next field to 
the one in which the shaft was made. It at once then became obvious 
that, supposing coal to be here in its usual position — namely, below the 
New Eed Sandstones, that we had the whole of the Kcuper Marls, the 
Sandstones, the Magnesian Limestones, the Lower New Eed, and the un- 
productive upper beds of the coal measures, to penetrate — which would 
amount, I should conceive, at a low estimate, to nearly 1,000 yards ; 
80 that, at all events, I could not delay advising the abandonment of the 
boring, as it would be quite impossible to continue it to a depth suffi- 
cient to prove the existence of the coal. 
It may now be as well, in completing the sketch of these opera- 
tions, to inquire whether the practical miner had here any grounds 
for his conclusions ; and it is but justice to him to express a belief that 
he really thought he had. His reasoning — which was, after aU, but a 
bit of mistaken Geology — was much as follows: — "As we have the 
red rock on the one side, and the blue rock on the other, between 
these it would be safe to seek for coal." Now the red rock, the New 
Red Sandstone, cropped out to the west ; and the blue limestones (Lias 
limestones and shales) formed elevations to the east of the position 
of the shaft, as may be seen from the accompanying diagram : — 
Section 2. 
W. Red Rook. Blub Rock. E. 
1. New Red Sandstone. 
2. Keuper Maris. 
S. Lias, Limestones, and Shales. 
