Page:The South Staffordshire Coalfield - Joseph Beete Jukes - 1859.djvu/188

170 yards deep in a field immediately south of the Ryder's Hayes colliery. As, however, the Deep coal is got in the Ryder's Hayes pit at a depth of forty yards, it is clear there must be a fault with an upthrow to the south of at least twenty yards just south of the Ryder's Hayes colliery.

North of this there are several east and west faults, all having a downthrow to the north, which were pointed out to me by Mr. Gilpin, and also by John Birch, of the Brown Hills. One with a downthrow to the north of twenty yards runs just south of "The Moat," while north of that there is one with a downthrow of three yards in the same direction. Other small faults were spoken of as running parallel to these, and eventually another downthrow of twenty yards to the north, a little south of the canal bridge, now generally known as the High Bridge.

High Bridge Trough.—A little north of the High Bridge there runs, according to the same authorities, a fault about west by north and east by south, having an upthrow to the north of eighteen yards. There is thus produced a trough (which we will call the High Bridge Trough), and in this the Deep coal is worked close to the canal just south of the bridge, at a depth of 100 yards. As we cross these faults from Rail's coppice by Ryder's Hayes to the High Bridge Trough the outcrop of the coals will necessarily be thrown to the east by each downthrow, so that in the High Bridge 'Trough the Yard coal, and perhaps the Bass coal, will alone be able to crop to the surface before the beds are cut off by the Clayhanger and Daw End fault, which runs north and south from the Brown Hills, and will be spoken of hereafter.

North of the High Bridge Trough there are several other east and west faults, as pointed out to me by John Birch of the Brown Hills, having upcasts to the north, and therefore throwing the crops of the coals to the west, until we arrive at a curved fault running from Wyrley Hays by the canal south of Birch's coppice, which has been inserted from the mining plans put at the disposal of the Norton Manor Commissioners, of which we owe the inspection to the kindness of Mr. Beckett. North of this fault the crops of the Yard. Bass. Cinder, and Shallow coals range, apparently unbroken, through Birches coppice to the north till we reach the Rising Sun trough, the Deep coal cropping into or against the Clayhanger and Daw End fault, as formerly described to me by W. Arblaster and confirmed by John Birch. The two little east and west faults near Fishly and the Woodhouse are inserted on John Birch's authority, while those running north-east and south-west between Wyrley Common and Birch's coppice are taken from the mining plans just now alluded to.

Rising Sun Trough.—Approaching Watling Street between "The Rising Sun" and "The Machine" we meet with another twenty-yard trough, as described to me on the ground by John Birch. This will again throw the outcrop of the Yard coal very close to the Clayhanger fault, and thus place the beds in the same relative position as they have in the High Bridge trough. It is in this Rising Sun trough that the deep pit was sunk by Mr. Harrison which passed through the Sulphur. Heathen, and Bentley Hey coals, facts which enable us to connect, with much more assurance than before, the Brown Hillis coals with those of Wyrley.

North of the Rising Sun Trough the faults, with their downthrows, are inserted from the authority of the mining plans used by the Norton Manor Commissioners, and the outcrops of the coals have been drawn in accordance with the indications given by those faults and the fact of the occurrence of the different coals in the different shafts, and their depths from the surface.