Page:The South Staffordshire Coalfield - Joseph Beete Jukes - 1859.djvu/17



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, 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.