LUPTON : MIDLAND COALFIELD. 
189 
found in the gritstone at Alderwasley, near Baslow, in 
Derbyshire. 
It might be here remarked that a similar coal has been 
worked on the Axe Edge, near Buxton, on the western side 
of the Pennine Chain. 
Just above the millstone grit are some coals, called the 
gannister coals, because the floor of the mine is gannister, 
and is, or was, used for making fire-bricks. These coals 
have been worked on the southern outcrop of the coalfield 
near Stanton-by-Dale ; and, going north, at Belper Lawnd, 
where there were two seams of coal, each from three to four 
feet thick ; the} 7 have also been worked near Critch, at Alton, 
East Moor, and at Totley. Northwards the writer has not 
traced them ; but he understands that these seams correspond 
to the Halifax Hard and Soft Coals, and are found all along 
the outcrop of these measures. 
Above these comes the Kilburn Coal, a seam celebrated 
for its purity and excellence as a house coal; fetching in 
bad times 2s. a ton more than the best ordinary coal in the 
Derby market. This coal is about four feet thick at Kilburn. 
Going north and east it thins out. At West Brampton, near 
Chesterfield, it is only seventeen inches thick ; and north of 
this place it is lost. It is commonly said that the Low Moor 
beds correspond to this seam of coal. There are several seams 
of coal above this in the southern part of the coalfield not 
worked. The Blackshale or Clod Coal comes above this, 
and is worked continuously from the southern outcrop at 
Stanton-by-Dale to the northern outcrop of the coalfield, 
near Leeds. As it comes north it is called the Silkstone Coal 
at Sheffield ; and when it gets near Leeds it gets sub-divided 
and loses its identity; but the seam of coal retains its 
principal characteristics throughout the whole coalfield. 
To allude to all the seams of coal would occupy a very 
lengthy memoir; the writer will therefore jump up from 
