At one part of the Brown Hills, however, near Clayhanger. Samuel Arblaster found under the Deep coal—
| FT. | IN. | |
| Fire-clay and clunch | 13 | 6 |
| Gubbinstone, balls of ironstone in two or three layers, and each 6 or 8 inches thick | 3 | 0 |
At the deep sinking at Haddocks Moor too, near Pelsall Wood. Gubbin ironstone 2 feet 6 inches is mentioned, with 9 feet of Fire-clay between it and the Deep coal, and with a little 6-inch coal immediately under it. And at the Conduit Colliery at Brown Hills the following beds were found next below the Deep coal:—
| FT. | IN. | |
| Bastard fire-clay | 8 | 0 |
| Black batt | 1 | 6 |
| Gubbin ironstone measures | 3 | 6 |
| Coal | 0 | 11 |
Near Wolverhampton the Gubbin and Balls stone is a very well marked and easily recognizable kind Of stone. The large nodules are generally septarian, the septa being lined with white spar, crystals of carbonate of lime and carbonate of iron, together with crystals of iron pyrites, and not unfrequently of both galena and zinc blende.
35. Beds below the Gubbin and Balls, including 36. (XXHL) the "Singing" or "Mealy-greys" coal.—Wherever the Gubbin and Balls is mentioned in the sections as a recognizable measure, there is found just below it either a little bed of pure coal 6 or 8 inches thick, or a bed of "slum" (batty coal), which is often 2 or 3 feet thick, and sometimes more. In Cockshutts colliery only is there a thin bed of sandstone between this coaly material and the Gubbin and Balls.
At a distance below the Gubbin and Balls, which varies from 18 to 50 feet, there occurs a coal 2 to 4 feet in thickness, which is called sometimes the Singing[1] coal and sometimes the "Mealy-grey"[2] coal.
In the Wolverhampton district the thickness of the beds between the Gubbin and Balls and the Singing or Mealy-greys coal seems never to exceed 24 feet, nor fall below 18 feet, except where a bed of green rock or trap interposes. At Trentham new colliery, north of Willenhall, however, these beds are 35 feet, and towards Bentley, at "the Island," half a mile east of Willenhall, it is 50 feet, as also at the Monmore colliery. Farther north-east, however, about Birch Hills and Bloxwich, the thickness again diminishes to 33 feet or 26 feet, and the Singing coal itself is only 10 inches or 1 foot in thickness. At Haddocks Moor, the most northern locality where this coal has been pierced, it was found to be 1 foot 4 inches in thickness, and to lie at a depth of 48 feet 6 inches below the Deep coal, or 37 feet below the Gubbin ironstone. They passed also through another little 6-inch coal at a depth of 34 feet below the Mealy -grey coal. In the part of the field south of Bilston there is but little mention of this coal, but it appears in a section at Tipton-green,[3] where, at a depth
- ↑ This name was described to me as arising from the fact, that as they passed through it in some places, the gas could be distinctly heard issuing from its crevices "like the singing of a tea-kettle."
- ↑ Where it has this designation, it is said to be of a greyish hue and to be partly friable or "mealy."
- ↑ Given me by Mr. Johnson of Dudley.
