Page:The South Staffordshire Coalfield - Joseph Beete Jukes - 1859.djvu/39

Rh them is small, it is not easy to determine which is the bottom part of the New Mine and which the upper part of the Fireclay.

Besides this original irregularity in the constitution of the coal-measure series, the present "lie and position" of the beds is such that the uppermost beds of all, the Halesowen sandstones namely, which come in far above the Upper Sulphur coal, are only now to be found around the southern margin of the field, where the beds dip to the south, while all the upper measures and the Thick coal itself have been removed by denudation from the district between Bilston and Bentley, where the lower beds gradually rise to the surface as we proceed towards the north. Neither do the Halesowen sandstones ever appear again further north although the great Bentley fault throws down the beds in that direction, so as to bring in the Thick coals and some of the beds above them, and although as we range to the north, the dip of the measures seems to be first west and then north-west.

We will now proceed to examine the general section of this northern part of the district, that namely, which lies north of the great Bentley fault, as far north as Cannock Chase. In order to make this general section at the same time a comparative one, and point out the locality whence each piece of information is derived, the following distinctive letters will be used; E. for the Essington district, W. for Wyrley, B for Bentley, and P. for Pelsall and the Brown Hills, while the average thickness will be that of all the places where the beds have been mentioned in the pit sections obtained.

of the Coal-measures extending from Bentley to Essington and Wyrley on the West, and Pelsall and the Brown Hills on the East.