188 
LUPTON : MIDLAND COALFIELD. 
occurred, therefore, to the writer that a few notes on the 
southern part of the Midland Coalfield might be new to some 
members of this Society. In the years 1867-8 he surveyed 
the districts from Nottingham to Eckington, for the Royal 
Coal Commission. In order to trace the various seams of 
coal from north to south, some of the best sections obtained 
from actual sinkings were plotted on a large sheet (which is 
now shewn). The top hard coal was placed on the datum 
line in all the sections, and the measurements above and 
below plotted from that line. The seams which are known, 
or supposed to correspond, are united by the red lines. 
The most remarkable feature in the Midland Coalfield 
appears to the writer to be the great similarity in the nature 
of the seams of coal in the north and south. There appears 
to be a thinning out of the rocks towards the south ; but 
the seams of coal retain the same thickness on the average. 
On the western outcrop of the coalfield, seams of coal 
have been worked which are in the millstone grit series. 
At Belper Dalley, Alderwasley, possibly at Tansley, near 
Matlock ; at Beeley Moor, and other places near Baslow, 
and at Ringinglow. 
Northward of this place the writer has not examined the 
millstone grit (on the eastern side of the Pennine Chain) 
until as far north as Pateley Bridge on the east, and 
Fountains Fell on the west, is reached. But, according to 
the information contained in the valuable work of Messrs. 
Davis and Lees (West Riding of Yorkshire), and the geo- 
logical survey above referred to, coals are found in the 
millstone grit all the way from Ringingiow to the north of 
the West Riding. 
Thin beds of coal are found in the millstone grit here, 
and all over the north-west of Yorkshire, and a seam of 
considerable thickness at Tanfield Moor in the extreme north- 
west ; but not (the writer thinks) thicker than the coal 
