The South Staffordshire Coalfield/Chapter 1
ON THE GEOLOGY OF THE SOUTH STAFFORDSHIRE COAL-FIELD.
By J. BEETE JUKES. M.A. Camb., F.R.S., &c.
LOCAL DIRECTOR OP THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF IRELAND.
CHAPTER I.
Physical Geography of the District.
The district to be described in the following pages is situated chiefly in the southern division of the county of Stafford, but extends into part of the northern division of that county, as well as into the adjacent counties of Worcester,[1] Warwick, and Salop.
The most important portion of the district is the coal-field, which would be included within a line drawn from Brereton near Rugeley, through Cannock to Wolverhampton, thence through Kingswinford to Stourbridge, and from that to the hills known as the Bromsgrove Lickey, and thence by Harborne near Birmingham, through Aldridge, back again to Brereton.
The distance north and south from Brereton to the south end of the Bromsgrove Lickey is about 26 miles, that measured east and west from Wolverhampton to Barr Beacon, near Aldridge, is about nine miles.
The tract of ground included within the above-mentioned boundary is for the most part a gently undulating plain, having a mean height of about 400 or 500 feet above the sea. The low level part of the old Birmingham canal, extending from Birmingham to the locks near West Bromwich, is said to be 464 feet above the low-water mark at the docks of Liverpool, the high level part of the canal from the locks to Wolverhampton being 484 feet above the same datum. Numerous branches from this high level part are carried without a lock over the greater part of the central portion of the coal-field, from which near Walsall three or four locks lead up to the still higher branches over the northern part of it, while to the S.W., as we approach Wordesley and Stourbridge, numerous locks take the water down to the level of the river Stour.
There rise from this plain several hills and ridges of higher land, of which the following are the principal:—
1. The ridge of Bromsgrove Lickey, of which the highest point is said to be upwards of 900 feet above the sea.
2. The group of the Clent Hills, of which the highest point is about 950 feet above the sea.
3. The group of the Rowley Hills, of which the highest is about 820 feet above the sea.
4. The ridge of high ground running from Dudley to Sedgley, of which the most conspicuous points are Dudley Castle Hill, 730 feet; the Wren's Nest, 730 feet; and Sedgley Beacon, 760 feet, above the sea.
5. The high ground about Barr, of which Barr Beacon is the summit, being about 800 feet above the sea.
6. The high swelling plateau of Cannock Chase, the highest point of which, Castle Hill in Beaudesert Old Park, is 900 feet above the sea.[2]
As the district forms part of the water-shed of England, it can, of course, have no navigable rivers; and ita streams are few and unimportant. The high ground that runs from Frankley Beeches to the Clent Hills, gives rise, on the one side, to the little river Stour, running by Halesowen and Stourbridge, to Stourport, where it joins the Severn, and with it flows into the Bristol Channel; while on the other side are the sources of the little river Rea, that flows through Birmingham into the Tame, and thence into the Trent and the German Ocean.
From Frankley Beeches, the water-shed runs through Rowley. Dudley, and Sedgley, to Wolverhampton. On the west of that ridge the streams run either directly into the Stour, or into the Smester Brook, which, rising just west of Wolverhampton, runs nearly due south to join the Stour near Stourbridge. On the east of the ridge, lying between it and the high ground of Barr Beacon, is the basin of the Tame river; the sources of this river are near Bloxwich, whence it runs south and south-east to Aston near Birmingham, and after receiving the Rea, sweeps off northward to Tamworth, in order to join the Trent. In the northern part of the district, the drainage runs entirely into the Trent, the eastern brooks running directly into that river, the western streams flowing first into the Penk, which after joining the Sow near Stafford flows into the Trent at Great Haywood.
The river Trent, coming from the N.N.W. to this spot, bounds the district on the N.E., cutting it off by a very well marked and sudden depression; the mean height of the Trent valley here being not more than 250 feet above the sea.
- ↑ Dudley is in a detached part of Worcestershire, and Halesowen is a detached part of Shropshire, and little isolated fragments of the three or four counties are, in some places south of Dudley, so intermingled with each other, that it is often impossible to learn from the Ordnance map which county any particular spot may be in.
- ↑ These heights are only approximate; but they are believed to be within 20 or 30 feet of the truth.