“ 
-depofition from the fea. 
1797)” 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine, 
SIR, 
AS it is one of the laudable qbjeéts of 
your ufefal Mifce}lany to commumi- 
cate to vour readers topographical inform - 
ation, i have thought iat the follawing oc- 
cafionat remarks oa the natural’ hittory, 
manufactures, commercial and other ui- 
dertakings, 
€rn countries, mght not be unaccepf- 
able. 
Irom NewcasT Le, the road, for the 
firf four miles, lies over the lofty and bar- 
ren fells of Gatefhead, which command, 
however, a delightful profpeét up the 
vale of Tyne, then an extenfive, though 
diftant view of the fea, and afterwards 
a confiderable traét. of country, fouth- 
ward. Thefe fells are remarkable for 
thofe inexhauftible quarries of grinditone, 
which render Newcaftle almoft as famous 
as its coal. ‘They confift of a brownith 
tandi{tone, of a foft and equable texture. 
Between thefe fellsand CH esTER, near 
the village of Bairthley, a copious fpring 
of highly impregnated falt brine is raifed 
from a confiderable depth, by the tteam- 
engine of acolliery. It is faid to have 
been firft difcovered by the accident of 
its burning out the bottom of the boiler, 
in confequence of the depofition of its 
fait, on having been occafionally employ. 
ed to fupply power to the engine. it is 
now apphed by Mefirs. Hurry, of How- 
don Dock, for the manufacture of com- 
mion fale. 
The probable origin of falt-{prings and 
rocks may furnifh a fubje€&t of much cu- 
rious inveftigation to the mineralogical 
enquirer. Whether they are to be trac- 
ed up tothe fea, as their great original, 
or whether the falene{s of the fea itfeif be 
ewing tothe faline particles colleéted in 
the courfe of their paffage through the 
lind, may, perhaps, admit of a doubt. 
The circumftance of thofe lakes being 
falt which have no outler, as the Ca{- 
pian fea, while thofe through which rivers 
run to the fea, as the lakes of North- 
America, are univerfally freth, fthould 
feem to favour the latter opinion ; while, 
on the contrary, there is great reafon, 
from other circumftances, to conclude, 
that feveral of the moft confiderable 
mines of falt were originally formed by 
And if an in- 
genious mineral furveyor *, in the neigh- 
bourhood of Ne-vcaftle,, could fpare fufh- 
cient leifure from his multiplied engage- 
ments to reduce into order the proofs, in 

* Mr. Thomas Barnes, of Walker. 
’ Montuty Mac. No, XXII. 
Tour through the North of England. 
nifh grounds for concluding 
in fome parts of the north- . 
tie 
his pofeffion, of the exiftence of the bed 
of an ancient river, many fathoms below 
the prefent furface of the country, he 
might, perhaps, at the fame time, fur- 
: g, that the fea 
was the origin of the fpring at Birthley. 
The city of DuRtHtAmM was remarkable 
till of date, for little but the romantic ees 
gance of its fituation, and its princely 
ecclehaftical eRablifhment ; but, by the 
{pirited exertions of Mr. Srarrortu, a 
confiderable manufaétory of ftuffs and 
carpets has been introduced: and, more 
lately, a very extenfive factory for card- 
ing and {pinning cotton has been ereét- 
ed, by Mr. BuRDON, asan auxiliary ‘to 
his work, at Caftle Eden. Ai 
The greater part of the county. of 
Durham, lying caft of the northern poft 
road, is compofed of nearly horizontal’ 
ridges of lime-ftone hills, terminating in 
aimoft perpendicular defcents into the 
open country. The little fketch of lime- 
ftone rocks, in Mr. Aixin’s Tour‘in 
Wales, is ftrikingly illuftrative of thefe 
ridges, as viewed from the road between 
Shields and Newcaftle. ‘Their abrupt 
endings are very cbfervable at Clea- 
don, Bowdon, Painther, 8c. It is pre- 
bable that thofe hills are fuperinduced 
upon the courfe of ftrata accompanying 
coal, which begins to be wrought imme. 
diately upon their ceating in thofe bluff 
terminating points, and, together with 
Its concomitant firata (dipping, general- 
ly, towards the fouth-eaft) would be 
found, I have little doubt, to extend un- 
derneath them, if it could be made worth 
while to pierce through thefe fuperincum- 
bent maffes of lime-ttone, to get at it. 
The neat and flourifhing town of Dar- 
LINGTON poffefes a good trade in hucka- 
backs and other coarfe linens, which has 
been greatly extended by the introduc- 
tion of machinery. A confiderable propor- 
tion of its inhabitants are members of 
that very refpeétable religious commu-_ 
nity, called Quakers. Near Darlinston 
the literary traveller will naturally notice 
GRANGE, the refidence of Mr, GEORGE 
ALLAN, an antiquary of confiderable 
Teputation ; to a tafte for which ftudies. 
the circumftance of his poffefiing the pa- 
pers of the celebrated Mr, GALE ma 
probably have contributed not a little. 
He is fuppofed to have furnifhed the 
greater part of the materials for Hut- 
chinfon’s topographical works. He has 
lately purchafed the valuable mufeum of 
Mr. Tunftall, of Wycliffe; and has ine 
ftituted a fociety, in Darlington, for the 
ftudy of natural hiftory, of which, pare 
Aa ticularly 
