Page:A tour through the northern counties of England, and the borders of Scotland - Volume I.djvu/112

 noises and alarming appearances. A conflagration drove them away on the 24th of July 1750, but whether an accidental one, or deliberately done, was never discovered. The remains of the Priory stand a quarter of a mile west of the castle, and consist of some unintelligible fragments, and part of the conventual church. A good Gothic window at the east side of the building, and some beautiful mouldings in other parts, mark the splendour of its original appearance, when founded by Gervase Paganell, lord of the manor, in the year 1161. The walls are now occupied by manufacturers, who, in a little adjoining building, grind the glass made in the neighbouring town, and polish fire-irons, and other articles of steel.

But the mineralogy of Dudley is more remarkable than its antiquities. This place may be considered as forming the centre of two ranges of hills, of which one runs towards the north to Wolverhampton, and consists of lime-stone; the other takes a southern course from Dudley, through Rowley, (from thence called the Rowley hills) towards Birmingham, and consists of basalt. On ilu last of the former chain is situated part of the town of Dudley, and the ruins of its castle; which are undermined by stupendous quarries of admirable lime-stone, whose gaping entrance is half a mile