Robert Bakewell

“ I have been told by a considerable proprietor of coal-mines in these counties, and I believe it is an opinion very generally entertained, that this sandstone always cuts off the coal-measures, and that it is useless to search for coal beyond or beneath it. ”

“ It appears probable that the strata in these two fields were once united, and have been separated by some convulsion of nature; in consequence of which the red rock has been interposed like a wedge between them, a sliding motion being given to the strata by lateral pressure; for a force acting in a direct line from above or beneath could not produce the bending or folding of the four-feet coal.
The red sandstone has not, I believe, been sunk through in any part of our island, so that its immediate substratum is yet unknown. ”

“ The coal-measures dip to the south at an angle of about 30°, and wherever they have been proved, on the southern side of the field, abut against the sandstone; but on the northern side, at the distance of ten yards from the red rock, a most striking change in the position of the strata is discovered. A bed of coal, four feet in thickness, here rises up to the surface perpendicularly, and terminates the coal measures, the intermediate space between this bed and the red rock being filled with broken stones or rubble without any appearance of stratification. ”