Page:The South Staffordshire Coalfield - Joseph Beete Jukes - 1859.djvu/53

tically acquainted with the Thick coal to see whether any of the beds of Essington or Wyrley could be identified with any of those of the Thick coal by their lithological characters.

As good typical sections of the "Thick coal" I will, first of all, give two, taken from the central part of the district, one of the Claycroft colliery, at the Foxyards, about two miles north of Dudley, communicated by Mr. R. Smith from Lord Ward's office; another, the old sinking in 1797, at Tividale, one mile east of Dudley, taken from Shaw's History of Staffordshire, in which a very good account of the coal-field was given by Mr. Keir.

Foxyards.		Ft.	In.	Ft.	In.	Tividale		Ft.	In.	Ft.	In.
1.	Roofs coal	-	-	4	6	1.	Roof, or top floor	-	-	4	0
	Batt	0	9	-			Parting, soft dark earth;	0	4	-
2.	Top slipper	-	-	2	6	2.	Top slipper, or Spires	-	-	2	2
	Batt	0	7	-
						3.	Jays coal	-		2	0
3.	White coal	-	-	3	9		White stone parting	0	1	-
						4.	Lambs coals	-	-	1	0
4.	Tow[1] (tough) coal	-	-	4	6	5.	Tow (tough) or Heath	-	-	1	6
						6.	Benches[2] coal	-	-	1	6
5.	Brassils[3] coal	-	-	1	6	7.	Brassils or Corns coal	-	-	1	6
	Batt	0	3	-		8.	Foot coal parting	0	4	-
6.	Foot coal			2	0	8.	Foot coal, or Bottom slipper			1	8
	Batt	0	3	-			John coal parting	0	1	–
7.	Slips coal			3	9	9.	John coal, or Slips, or Veins			3	0
	Hard stone	0	7	–			Hard stone	0	10	–
8.	Stone coal			4	6	10.	Stonecoal, or Long coal			4	0
9.	Sawyer[4]			2	9	11.	Sawyer, or Springs			1	6
10.	Slipper			3	9	12.	Slipper			2	6
	Batt	0	6	–			Humphrey parting	0	1	–
11.	Benches[5] coal			3	0	13.	Humphreys coal			2	3
		2	11	36	6			1	9	28	7
	Total, with partings			39	5		Total, with partings			30	4

A few years ago the unusually thick coal at Foxyards was worked by "open work," as it there "cropped out" to the surface, and was got out from a large quarry, exposing a cliff of coal 40 feet high and about 100 yards in length.

In Shaw's History of Staffordshire Mr. Keir gives the following account of the qualities of the different beds of the Thick coal near Tividale:-—

"There is a considerable difference in the quality of the different beds or measures of the main coal. The first or upper bed called the Roof floor is generally left as a roof to support the earth or clunch above

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1. Pronounced to rhyme with "cow."
2. This coal is but rarely noted; there is in many sections a coal called "fine floors," between the "white coal" and the "tow or heath."
3. "Brassil" is a term generally used to denote a rough impure coal; sometimes it seems as if used to denote the presence of much iron pyrites, and to mean therefore "brassy"; it is not, however, always used in that sense.
4. There is very frequently another coal called "Patchells," especially on the west of Dudley over the Sawyer.
5. This lowest coal is known by the various terms of Humphreys or Omfray floor, benches, holers, kit, kid, or kick coal, and red coal.