67
Two shafts near Corbyns Hall give below what is there believed to be the New mine coal:—
| FT. | FT. | FT. | ||
| Fire-clay | 10 | to | 12 | – |
| Coal | 1 | |||
| 12 | 1 | |||
At Shut End we get below the supposed New mine coal the following beds:—
| FT. | IN. | |
| Gritty and strong fire-clay | 16 | 4 |
| Coal and batt | 1 | 6 |
| Hard and white rock | 10 | 4 |
| Coal | 2 | 8 |
| 30 | 10 |
Which (if either) of these may represent the Fire-clay may be reasonably a matter of doubt (see Vertical Sections, sheet 18, No. 31). At Mr. Gibbons's deep sinking at the Level near Brierley Hill, there was below the supposed New mine coal,—
| FT. | IN. | |
| Fire-clay | 7 | 0 |
| Clunch with balls of ironstone | 4 | 0 |
| Binds | 2 | 3 |
| Coal and batt, possibly Fire-clay coal | 1 | 6 |
| 14 | 9 |
At Mr. Firmstone's deep sinking at the Leys, however, not a trace of coal had been met with below that which we have already designated the New mine, although the sinking was continued for upwards of 77 feet.
27 to 31. (I. 10, 11, 12.) Measures between the "Fire-clay coal" and the " Bottom coal" including t/ie Getting rock ironstone, the "Poor robin ironstone" and the "Rough Hill White ironstone."[1]
The total thickness of these beds varies commonly from 20 to 30 feet in the district where they are most worked, namely, between Wolverhampton and Walsall. The upper measure is generally fire-clay or clunch, supporting the Fire-clay coal and varying in thickness from 2 to 10 feet. This, however, is sometimes entirely wanting, and the Fire-clay coal rests directly on a "strong rock" or hard sandstone. This rock sometimes contains so much ironstone, either in plates or nodules, as to be worth getting. Beneath this is either more "rock" or else "batt," "clunch," or "binds," several feet in thickness, and then a measure always of argillaceous materials containing either nodules or courses of ironstone, which is the "Poor robin." Immediately beneath this, or sometimes with a few feet of rock, or binds, or clunch interposed, come the Rough Hill White ironstone measures. This ironstone
- ↑ By the Getting rock is meant a sandstone -which when it contains ironstone is worth getting. I can only refer the origin of the term "Poor robin" to the fantastic imagination of some fanciful collier. The other derives its name from its colour and the locality, the Rough Hills south of Wolverhampton, where it was first worked.
