The natural history of Stafford-shire by Robert Plot ...

CHAP. IV. Of Stones.

1. IN the two preceding Chapters, having run through the Mineralia media; the Earths, Salts, Sulphurs, and Bitu∣mens; the order of Nature next requires me to descend to the Stones and Metalls, the two remaining species of the Mine∣ral Kingdom, which will be both absolv'd in this, and the following Chapter. How all stones were chiefly made out of Salts with a mixture of earths and sulphurs, was shewn in generall, in the Hi∣story of Oxfordshirea 1.1, I shall only add here the particular Method nature seems to use in the production of them, and then consider the several species worthy notice in this County. It has been an opinion that challenges no great seniority, that Stones are coagula∣tions of Salts and earths, which if finely mixt, sublim'd and perco∣lated by the means of heat, and after condensed by cold, make a transparent stone; and if but grosly mixt with little or no perco∣lation, an opake one; wherein though I cannot deny but there may be some-what of truth, yet I think it will be more particu∣lar, and more home to the business, if we further add, that this coagulum or petrification is rather made upon the meeting of the solutions of acid and Alcalizat salts; and that these doe compound transparent, semiopake, and opake stones, according as they are more or less mixt with sulphurs, and earths, of different finenesses and purifications.

2. And this I take to be very probable, because we know of no things in nature that unite so strictly as these two doe, makeing a coagulum in bodies that at first sight seem very unlikly to performe any such matter; witness the offa alba of Helmont, a thick gross substance, far from the nature of a liquid, made out of the spirits of wine and urin highly rectify'd; and another such like Offa made of the spirits of Ʋitriol and Salt, by a solution of Saturne made with distill'd Vinegarb 1.2; to which add the coagulum made out of equal quantities of spirit of Sal Armeniac and spirit of Wine mixt, and shaken together in a Viol; and all these upon union of the acids, al∣cali's, and sulphurs, or whatever other principles they be, that con∣stitute these bodies. Thus transparent stones having little or nothing of those terrestrieties the opake ones have; seem to be made of pure solutions of such like salts, and transparent Sulphurs, or Ambers,

all purifyed by filtrations through the closest colanders, and then fixt upon meeting. Thus a calcarious or Tartarious Salt meet∣ing with a pure solution of Sal gemmae, and white-ambrine Sul∣phur or bitumen, 'tis like produces an Adamant or Diamond. The same alcali's meeting with a pure solution of native Cinnaber make a Ruby, with a solution of blew vitriol (for there is a natural blew Vitriol as well as an artificial) a Saphir, with solution of green vitriol a Smaragd or Emrauld, with solution of Orpiment a Topaz, and so for stones of all other intermediat colours, or mixt of these in proportion as they partake more or less of one or the other. But such stones as these I shall have little occasion to trou∣ble the Reader with in particular, there being but few transparent found in this County; I shall therefore in the first place consider the opake ones, and especially such first as hold any of these prin∣ciples more signally than others: then 2. such as serve to supply the necessities of Mankind: and lastly such, whether opake or trans∣parent, that serve for the ornament or delight, either of his person, or buildings.

3. On the banks of the River Stour between Prestwood and Stourton Castle (a place remarkable for the birth of Cardinal Poole) now both of them the Seats of the virtuous and much honored Phi∣lip Foley of Prestwood Esq both here represented in Prospect Tab. 9. as a gratefull recognition of his eminent favours: On the banks I say of that river, about mid-way between the aforesaid places, I was shewn a large rock at the foot of a hill, at which it has been obser∣ved that birds doe lye frequently pecking and licking it, and 'tis supposed for the salt they find in it: that many birds delight in licking of Salt, especially pidgeons, is very certain, but that there is any in this rock I must confess I could not find, though I endea∣vour'd it nicely, perhaps they may rather come for a sort of gravel in this rock, that may be fitter than ordinary for breaking the corn they have eaten, which in such Animals as these that have no teeth, is perform'd in the gizzard by the help of gravel: yet nei∣ther can I conclude that there is no salt in the rock, because I could not tast it, for I very well know that most other animals are nicer in their Senses (having no way debauch't them) than Man∣kind is, so that nothing hinders but the birds may be sensible of a salt in the rock, though I was not: if there be such a salt, in all probability it must be a good fire-stone, such as they use for the Hearths of their Iron furnaces; and if so, were the Iron-works at that height in this Country, they were formerly, this rock could have never fallen into a better hand, than its present Propri∣etor.

4. For there is nothing in nature, except Talc and Amiantus,

that supports the force of fire equally to Salts, whence 'tis that some sorts of stones endure fire much better than others, when they are well sated with Salts, and have but little sulphur, and the parts of those salts well adapted to one another without cavities; for wherever there are iuterstices betwixt the parts, there must be rarefactions upon the advent of fire, whence follows flawing at least, if not flying of the stone; neither of which can be endured in a furnace. The stone most prized for this purpose, of any I could hear of all over the County, is a sort they dig on Whiston moor, not far from Chedle, in the Moorlands; and at Huntington upon the edg of Cank-wood; these they trye first in their Forge fires, to see whe∣ther they will flaw or fly or no, and if the stone of any quarry pass two or three tryals, they then conclude upon the whole, and take it thencforward for good, without further tryal: which is all con∣cerning it: but that the best stone for this purpose, is generally ob∣served to lye in Clay; and that if the texture of it happen not to be close and firme, it is apt to run upon frosts and moist weather; of which sort I take the stone to be, call'd Glum-metall, about Brad∣wall in the Moorelands, which as I was told by the ingenious Ralph Sneyd Esq though as hard to digg as any rock; yet the Air, rains, and frosts, will mollify it so; that it will run as if it were a natural Lime, and no question would they use it, must be good for land. And this brings me next to consider.

5. The Limestone rocks, whereof to their great benefit they have plenty enough almost in all parts of the Country, it being a sort of stone not so much usefull here for their buildings, as for fer∣tilizing their heathy, gorsy, and broomy lands; for though when burnt, it part with most of its sulphur, yet at the same time it ad∣mits fiery particles, which upon moisture, together with its salt now clear'd from the bonds of Sulphur, it freely dispenses to the cold poor ground, giving it at the same time warmth, and saltness, the cheif principles of vegetation; forceing the ground to exert it self to so prodigious a rate (which is its only fault) that it sometimes beggers it for ever after: wherein they say marling is to be preferr'd before it, that cherishing and improveing the innate strength of the Land, and continuing so to doe for a long time; this only highten∣ing the present vigour, but preying upon it (like brandy upon the Spirits of an Animal) and quite extinguishing it in a little time. However it must needs be good for their cold, moist, black, bitu∣minous earths; whereof there is great quantities in the Moors of this Country, which without it would scarce produce any thing at all.

6. It is dug in great plenty upon the banks of Dove, from Beresford downward, and ha's been reputed to give the ••••ddows on that river their great fertility, but I think it can doe but little before 'tis

burnt, its salts being then clog'd and fetter'd with Sulphur, a bet∣ter and truer cause of that fertility having been assigned before, Chap. 2. § 2. of this book.

6. At Waterfall also on this side the Country, it rises in tables or slats about two inches thick, of so very fine a grain and close texture that it polishes like Marble, whereof in the arbours up and down the Country I found tables made of it: but it is so far from a wonder that Lime-stone should be marble; that most marble (that I say not all) will burne to Lime, and is consequently a Limestone, though all Limestone be not marble. They dig Limestone also at Madeley on the other side the Moorelands in the Lordship of the Worshipfull Iohn Offley Esq beside good coal, and Marle, which should have been mention'd before: but the best of all is said to be in the Southern parts of the County, in Hurstfield within the Manor of Sedgley belonging to the Honorable William Ward Esq and in the old Park near Dudley Castle belonging to the right Honorable Edward Lord Ward; and all about Walsall, particularly at Rushall, in the lands of the learned Henry Legh Esq

7. Where it lyes in beds for the most part Horizontally, and is broken up with Iron wedges knockt in at the partitions with great sledges, and prized up with great leavers with rings round them, to stay the feet of the Workmen who get upon them, whereof some weigh at least 150 pounds: Notwithstanding which vast force the stones will not rise, unless softened by fire, which upon that ac∣count they are constrain'd to make on it. When they have got∣ten the stone, they burn it in oblong pits, made in the ground, about seven yards long, 3 wide, and but 6 or 7 foot deep at the but of the pit: wherein first they lay a little wood or gorse to keep the coal from the ground, which is laid under the stone, the first stratum but thin, not above 3 inches thick; then a stratum of stone about 6 inches deep; the next floor of coal they make 10 inches thick, and the layer of stone above that, 18 inches: the next of coal above that, is usually about a foot thick, and the floor of stone over it double the thickness; then the 4 layer of coal is but 10 inches, and the 4 of stone but 18; then above all another stratum of coal about 2 or 3 inches, which they cover with parget or mortar, made with slak't lime and water to keep in the heat: the coal laid in this manner with the stone S. S. S. burning it gradually into Lime in about a weeks time. Which sort of Lime pit ha's this peculiar convenience above all others I ever yet saw, that they can take away the Lime that is first burnt while the rest is on fire, and can make up the but of the pit, whilst tis yet burning at the mouth.

8. Beside, in this Method and manner of burning of Limestone,

the Workmen seem not to run the hazard other Lime-burners doe, who burn it with wood after the common practise of other Coun∣tries; who if they keep not their fire still forward as they call it, but suffer it to slacken never so little before the stone is quite cal∣cined, shall never after be able to make Lime of them at all: for if the flame which has once open'd the pores of the stone be but checkt a little before the work is finisht, the pores will some way or other so close themselves up, and the whole matter so sink into a lump, that twenty times the fewel that would have kept them open, and the mass of stone asunder, will never recover them so as admit the flame again, which cannot now rise amongst the stones, there being none of those interstices now left either in the body of the stone it self, or between them, for it to pass through as before. Whereas in this way of Lime burning, by stratification, as it seems morally impossible for the Workman to be so negligent as to slacken a fire which still burns on of it self; so it seems naturally so, that a mass of stone should ever so fall down into a lump, being thus divided by coal, as either way to be render'd uncapable of being made into Lime.

9. Next the stones holding a signal quantity of Salt, I proceed to such as have a mixture of Sulphur, and such are all that with a steel, or by a quick attrition with any other fit body, will strike fire, or kindle its parts into sparks, all which by the Naturalists are aptly enough stiled pyrites; under which genus we may reckon Sands, pebbles, and Marchasits, of each of which, as many as I find any way remarkable, as breifly as may be. And first of sands, which says Ferrante Imperato are the least form of a stonec 1.3; where∣of I met with a sort at Bilston or Bilson that I think is so indeed, so very fine that it is hardly palpable, it is of a deep orange colour, and is sent for by Artists living at a great distance, and used by them as a spaud to cast Metalls with. Other sands of use I met with none, but sands for the glass-houses, whereof I was told of one that excell'd the rest, dug somewhere near West Bromwich; and a sort of sand they have at Gaston in the parish of Ipston, which being first wash't from the dirt, then dryed and sifted from the smaller sand, and in another sieve from the pebbles it has amongst it, they then use it, being strewed upon a greasy boar'd, as an excellent sand to whet their Sithes, whence it has the denomination of Sithe-Sand. Unless we may reckon a sort of friable stone of a deep yellow colour found sparsim in lumps amongst the stiffest and fattest Marles at Eardley in the parish of Audley, amongst the sands: which I think I need not scruple much to doe, since I find them to crumble be∣tween the fingers, yet so very fine are its parts that at the same

time they give a colour, and as the ingenious Robert Wilmot of Eardley Esq in whose grounds they are found, sent we word, are some sorts of them used by the painters, and by the work∣men all call'd by the general name of Rosemary-stones.

10. What these should be, and how come to be produced in a substance of so quite a different nature from them, as a stiff sat Marle; was a problem that at first sight gave me some trouble: till remembring that in Oxfordshire I met with much such yellow lumps growing sparsim here and there amongst the Chalk in most of the pits of the Chiltern Country, there call'd Iron mouldsd 1.4; and that the learned Martin Lister Esq mentions the same found in Chalk by the name of Rust balls near Foulmore in Cambridg-shire, and in the Woolds in Yorkshire, which upon due calcination would apply to the Magnete 1.5. Calling these things to mind, and that chalk was a substance as quite different from the Rust balls and Iron moulds, as Marle could be from these Rosemary stones, and as unlikely to produce any such effect: I resolved to trye both the one and the other, according to the prescription of Agricola cited by Mr. Lister; which I did with that success, that I found within an hour that both the Iron moulds and Rosemary stones did acknowledg the Magnet; whence 'tis plain that notwithstanding they were all found in beds of such dissimilar substances, that yet they are all certainly Iron-Ores, and these our Rosemary stones, of the arenaceous kind; part whereof upon ignition being made into Iron, owned it self such upon application of the Magnet.

11. That pebbles as well as sands are also pyrites, beside their strikeing fire, we have this further evidence, that some pebbles at least are made out of Sand; wherefore if sands themselves are pyrites, the pebbles made of them must be so too. Now that some pebbles are made of sand, I was amply satisfyed at Bentley hall the seat of the Worshipfull Tho: Lane Esq (of which more hereafter) where I was shewn a large sort of oval pebbles of a reddish colour, dug up with the brick-earth near the dog-kennel poole, whose out∣ward coats were hard and smooth, but within containing only a bulk of sand equal to the intended bigness of the stone; some of them having little more than an outward shell; others harden'd half way; others ¾ stone, and sand only at the center; and some quite petrifyed; the induration seeming to increase gradually in∣ward in process of time, till at length the petrification is completed in the Center; just as I found it in the round flints in Oxfordshiref 1.6, which contain chalk within, and have coats thicker and thiner according to the seniority of their induration. As I suppose also

those white pebbles have, that contain a mealy substance in them, found about Treasle, which I take to be the Geodes of Dioscorides, or Aetites Plinii, 4^ti generis, Taphiusius dictusg 1.7. Nor are these the only Examples that I have seen of this kind, for I have now a stone by me of a dark reddish colour, brought out of Northamp∣tonshire and given me by the learned Dr. Robert Pit fellow of Wadham College and of the Royal Society, that has a firme coat without, yet is fill'd up within, with nothing but a loose sand; which whether a pebble or no, though I cannot safely say, yet I think verily I may, that it must be produced after the same manner.

12. Yet Nature does not seem to use the same process, in pro∣duction of stones though of the same kind and colour, for in a ground call'd Castle-croft Northward of Nether-Pen in a red clay, the pebbles sensibly grow of the same colour with the earth about, but always commence their induration at the center, being gradually softer toward the out side, ending in a substance nearer to a liquid than the earth at some distance, which is more agreeable to the Hypothe∣sis of all stones having been once liquids, and of their augmentation by juxta position. The latter whereof seems to be strongly con∣firmed, by a firm pebble that was shewn me by my worthy friend the Worshipfull Francis Wolferstan Esq having a smooth hole through it about the bigness of a Rye straw, out of which He pick't the intire rind of some sort of wood which was rotted away, whence He rationally collected that the pebble must have grown round it. The same worthy Gentleman still prosecuting the same argu∣ment, sent me not long after another pebble with an incrustation of clay and sand mixt, adhering to it; whereby it was plain that stones doe contract other substances to them, and gradually convert them into their owne kind; and hence He most ingeniously shewed too, how it comes to pass, that even the pebble (as this was) is fre∣quently diversify'd with different colours, these being the stones of all others most lyable to be removed from place to place, whence they contract matter to them of different textures and qualities, and so consequently thence, are of various colours.

13. Whence in all probability the opake pebbles on Satnall hills, and all over Cank-wood have their variety of colours, these being places of great action, and so the stones the more likely to have frequent disturbance; than which I never sawany more plesantly variegated, or fitter for Cabinets, hafts of knives, or other Lapi∣daries work. Of this sort I was shewn severall finely polisht by the virtuous and most ingenious Iane Lady Gerard; and had others given me by the hopefull young Gent. Francis Wolferstan

jun. and his virtuous Sister Ms. Ann, of their owne gathering about Statfold; I had also another presented me with blewish veins, by a fair Lady at Lyswis: which all took so specious and elegant a gloss, that they seem'd at least to equal, if not surpass the Achat. But no more of these here, they being so very fine that they should rather have been reckon'd amongst the stones of Ornament. Nor have I more to add concerning this sort of stones, but that in the hollow way between the hills on Weeford heath, as you pass between Swynfen and Cannel yate, there lye divers little heaps of them, and one great one at the top of the hill at Weeford Park corner, which according to the tradition of the Country, was placed there in memory of a Bishop of Lichfield, who rideing thither with a large attendance, was set upon by Robbers; and Himself and all his men being slain, that these heaps of stones were layd where each dead body was found: whence by the Country people and travellers they are call'd the Bishops stones. But this is merely a fable of them, the truth follows, as I received it from the lear∣ned and judicious Antiquary Sr. Willam Dugdale Kt. Garter King at Armes.

14. About the later end of the raigne of King Henry the 8. or shortly after, John Vessy then Bishop of Exeter, a man of a publick spirit, and borne close by, at Sutton Cofield in Warwick shire, resol∣ving with himself to become a benefactor to that place and the parts adjacent, procured for that towne not only a Mercat and fairs, but got it also incorporated by the name of a Warden and fellowship, building also a great number of houses upon the large wasts of that parish, intending to set up the manufacture of Kerseys there, as it was practised in Devonshire where he was Bishop: during these transactions at Sutton Cofield the good B^p. was frequently thereabout, and finding the road above mention'd much annoyed with these rolling pebbles, which frequently occasion'd travellers horses to stumble and sometimes to fall, amongst others of his works of Charity, He hired poore people to gather them out of the way, and lay them thus on heaps; and this is the true reason they are call'd the Bishops stones. Which relation was given in, and testifyed for truth, in King James's time, by a woman that lived at Black-brook hard by, who was examind upon a commission out of Chancery, then executed by one Mr. John Brandreth of Weeford, and others, concerning the extent of Common of the Parishes adjacent.

15. Hither also may be referr'd the Micae, aurea and nigra, if all that strike fire belong to this place; whereof the former was found in the Fold-yard near Statfold house, and given me by the Worshipfull Francis Wolferston Esq and the latter on the banks of Aqualat mear, and on Seasdon heath, which may otherwise be call'd

the rock Mica, it having been found so great in bulk, and so very hard, that they have made Mill stones of it. This, as I am inform'd from the Cabinet of the learned Martin Lister, is also to be met with at Arncliff in Yorkshireh 1.8; which though it seem to be a white marble fill'd with black sparks, He is pleas'd to demominat Talcum aureum, because after calcination these black sparks turn of a gol∣den colour as ours also doe, and some of them owne the Magnet; whence 'tis clear they carry somewhat of an Iron-Ore with them, as well as a sulphur; and may the rather upon that account be reckond amongst the Pyrites aurii, though they carry not so much either of the one or the other as the golden Marchasite or pyrites au∣reus strictly so call'd, or the pyrites argenteus; the former whereof is found in every coal pit, and has so much sulphur, that 'tis the prin∣cipal ingredient that sets them on fire; the latter 'tis true is more rare in this County and has less sulphur, but I met with it at Sedgley in the hands of Mr. Ievon of that parish, who gave me a peece of it which was found, as He told me, somewhere there about: both which calcined apply to the Magnet, and conf••••s themselves in part to be the Ores of Iron, and lead me next to consider

16. The other Iron Ores of Staffordshire, they being all of them stones, and so falling under this chapter: which lye in some places but thin, others thicker, and as the coal is, divided into mea∣sures of different donominations. In Tunstall field, in the Royalty of the right Honorable Digby Lord Gerard, in diging for Iron-stone, they meet first with a small bass, then a strong bass, then a sort of stone from its colour call'd blew-cap, good for nothing; and after that the Iron-stone of a darkish blew colour, which ordinarily lyes here not above two foot in thickness. On Mear-heath they ob∣serve in digging for Iron stone, that if they meet with roches, sand, gravel, and clay, that the head of the mine is quickly eaten out; especially the last, which so keeps downe the head that it comes to nothing presently, all which they count bad, the works being thinner and more chargeable to dig: but if they meet with Mine-earth (as they call it) which is white, then they promise themselves good mines both of Iron stone and coal, which as at most other places lye here together, the stone above the coale, between four fingers and ½ a foot thick, having bass above and below it; in which some∣times they also meet an Iron Ore, they call ball-stones, distinct from the vein; and then indeed 'tis thicker: this where the Iron stone and coal lye together, they call the deep mine which is not the best, the chalky-Mine, and the little-Mine being preferr'd before it; yet they are all work't by Mr. Foley of Longdon a village hard by.

17. About Dudley where the Iron-stone lyes, under the ten

yards thickness of coal, and above the heathen coal, of a considerable thickness; it is divided, as I said the coale was, into divers measures of different denominations; which take as follows

• 1. The Black-row-grains,
• 2. The Dun row-grains,
• 3. The White-row-grains, all so called from Earths of those colours in which they lye
• 4. The Rider-stone,
• 5. The Cloud-stone,
• 6. The Bottom-stone
• 7. The Cannoc or Can∣not Stone.

at Walsall and Rushall they also divide their Iron-Ore into several sorts, such as

• 1. Black bothum,
• 2. Gray bothum,
• 3. Chatterpye, being of the colour of a Magpye,
• 4. Gray measure,
• 5. Mush,
• 6. White measure.

the two first whereof are seldom made use of, they are so very mean; the two middle sorts but indifferent; the two last the principal sorts; but Mush the best of all, some of it being a small comby∣stone, other some round and hollow, and many times fill'd with a briske sweet liquor which the Workmen drink greedily, so very rich an Ore that they say it may be made into Iron in a common Forge. Also at many other places, as at Cheslinhay, Red street, Ape-dale, Wednesbury, Darlaston &c. they digg Iron-stone, the several measures whereof have also obtained different names, though gotten but at little distance from one another, which I forbear to enumerat, those above mentioned being sufficient, for a specimen of them.

18. And thus I had finish't my account of the Iron-Ores found in this County, but that I think the sweet liquor that attends some of them, may deserve a little further consideration, whereof I recei∣ved a most accurat account from the Worshipfull Henry Legh of Rushall Esq in whose lands, particularly in the Mill-meddow, near the furnace in the Park; in the Moss-close near the old Vicaridg-house; and in the furnace piece or Lesow: it is frequently met with amongst the best sort of Iron-stone call'd Mush; in round or oval blackish and redish stones, sometimes as big as the crown of ones hat, hollow and like a hony-comb within, and holding a pint of this matter; which according to the colour of the comb within (whatever the stone be without) is either red, or white, and whether the one or the other, of a sweet sharp tast, very cold, and cuting, yet greedily drank by the Workmen. The whitish sort whereof was also met with at Sherriff-Hales in this County, by the ingenious

George Plaxton Rector there, especially in that sort of Mine, the Country people call the White Mine, which yeilds the best Iron-stone, where the Workmen commonly upon breaking a stone find it inclosed in the Center, sometime to the quantity of a Hogs-head in one cavity, of a sweetish tast, but accompanyed with a Vitriolic or Iron like twangi 1.9.

19. The same, as we find in that Letter of the inquisitive Mr. Iessop of Bromhall in Yorkshire communicated to the Royal Society by the learned Martin Lister, seems also to have been met with in a coal-Mine in Darbyshire 49 yards deep, by one Captain Wain a diligent and knowing person in Mines, who sent Mr. Iessop a whitish liquor, resembling cream both in colour and consistence, found there in great quantitiesk 1.10. Mr. Webster also acquaints us that an experienced Miner found it in a hard stone, by his direction, in the Lead-mines of Darby-shire, which was of a whiteish colour and some of it very thin and liquid, and some of it soft like butterl 1.11. What this substance should be, or whence it should come, none of the workmen or others that I discour'st about it, could give me satisfaction, and indeed it is hard to determin any thing in these secrets of Nature: but if I may have liberty to give my opinion which is not altogether groundless, I take it to be the Gur of the Adeptists, i. e. the matter of Metalls before it be coagulated into a Metallic form, or the Metalla in suis principiis: for taking some of this white liquor found in the Iron-stone at Rushall which I brought away with me and was now dryed pretty hard, and burning it in a Crucible, it was quickly maturated into Iron, and applyed to the Ma∣gnet; as I beleive that would have done which was found at Sher∣riff-Hales, and in the Coal-mine and Lead-Mine of Darby-shire, for though found in Mines of a different denominations, yet every body knows how frequently Iron-stone accompanys coale, out of which it might issue; and that possibly the stone in which this matter was inclosed in the Lead Mine might be an Iron-stone too, it being usuall for Metalls to be found mixt; though I must not deny neither, but that it might be the Gur of Lead, that being affirm'd to be of much the same colour and consistence.

20. Of the above mentioned Ores they make severall sorts of Iron, differing in goodness according to the richness or poverty of the Ores, and haveing names somewhat agreeable to the qualities of each Metall. The first and meanest whereof, they call yellow share an ill sort that runs all to dirt and is good for nothing, and such is the Iron made of the Cannock or Cannot stone, the lowest mea∣sure of Iron Ore about Dudley, which is so very sulphureous and terrestiall, that its not fit to make Iron: this sort some others are

please'd to call Redshare, because says Dud. Dudley in his Metal∣lum Martism 1.12, if a Workman should forge out a sheare of this for a plough, it is so brittle it would crack in the red-heat, so unfit is it to make a Husbandmans sheare. The second sort of Iron they stile coldshear which though it will not break when red hot, yet in hot heat or cold, the biggest bar of it may be broken with a small blow upon an Anvil, if it be perfect coldsheare Iron; the Ore for this Iron the have at Cheslin-hay, Redstreet, and Apedale, the worst and leanest being that from Cheslin-hay, the next from Redstreet being a red stone, and the best of the three from Apedale, being of a blewish colour, and call'd Boylom; yet these three are commonly mixt together, and sometimes with others stones to make them better or worse: the only uses that I could hear of for this sort of Iron, being to make small nailes not above two penny, and sheering nailes for ships having broad heads and short shanks, to keep the timber from being eaten by grubs.

21. The third sort of Iron they make in this County they call blend-metall, of which they make nailes from three shillings to ten shillings, and all sorts of heavy ware, such as Hammers &c. and in some Countries Horshooes; for which they have the Ore from Wed∣nesbury and Darlaston. The fourth and best sorts of Iron they call tough-Iron of which they make all sorts of the best wares, there being nothing so good but may be made of this, for which thy have their Ore cheifly at Rushall in the grounds of the Worshpfull Hen: Legh Esq They have some also from Walsall but not so good, whereof the several measures were enumerated above. Of the Iron made of these (I say) they make their best wares, either mediatly or immediatly, the best Iron of all being made out of the fileings and pareings of the Locksmiths, which they make up into balls with water, and dry them by the fire into hard balls; then they put it into the fire and melt it by blast, licking it up with a rodd of Iron as they doe glass at the glas-houses, and then beat it into a barr, which they use cheifly for keys, and other fine works.

22. When they have gotten their Ore, before 'tis fit for the furnace, they burn or calcine it upon the open ground, with small charcoal, wood, or sea-cole, to make it break into small pieces, which will be done in 3 days, and this they call annealing it, or fiting it for the furnace. In the mean while they also heat their furnace for a weeks time with charcoal without blowing it, which they call seasoning it, and then they bring the Ore to the furnace thus prepared, and throw it in with the charcole in baskets vi∣cissim, i. e. a basket of Ore, and then a basket of coal S. S. S. where by two vast pair of bellows placed behind the furnace, and

compress'd alternatly by a large wheel turned by water, the fire is made so intense, that after 3 days time the metall will begin to run, still after increasing, till at length in fourteenights time they can run a Sow and piggs once in 12 hours, which they doe in a bed of sand before the mouth of the furnace, wherein they make one lar∣ger furrow than the rest, next the Timp (where the metall comes forth) which is for the Sow, from whence they draw two or three and twenty others (like the labells of a file in Heral∣dry) for the piggs, all which too they make greater or les∣ser according to the quantity of their Metall: into these when their Receivers are full they let it forth, which is made so very fluid by the violence of the fire, that it not only runs to the utmost distance of the furrows but stands boiling in them for a considerable time: before it is cold, that is when it begins to blacken at top, and the red to goe off, they break the Sow and pigs off from one another, and the sow into the same length with the pigs, though in the runing it is longer and bigger much, which is now done with ease; whereas if let alone till they are quite cold, they will either not break at all, or not without difficulty.

23. In melting of Iron-ore some have great regard to the make of the furnace, and placeing of the bellows; which that the Reader may the better apprehend, He must be inform'd, that the hearth of the furnace into which the Ore and coal fall, is ordi∣narily built square, the sides descending obliquely and drawing near to one another toward the bottom, like the Hopper of a Mill: where these oblique walls terminat, which they term the boshes, there are joyned four other stones, but these are commonly set per∣pendicular, and reach to the bottom stone, makeing the perpen∣dicular square that receives the Metall; which four walls have the following names; that next the bellows, the tuarn or tuiron wall; that against it, the wind-wall or spirit-plate; that where the Metall comes out, the Timp or fore plate; that over against it, the back-wall: and these according as they may be pitch't less transhaw, or more borrow; will mend, they say, or alter the nature of the Iron; if transhaw or transiring from the blast, the Iron will be more cold∣shear, less fined; more indeed to the Masters profit, but less to him that has the manufactorage of it, and to him that useth it: whereas the Iron made in a borrow work, is much more tough and serviceable. Nor is the ordering of the bellows of less concern, which have usually their entrance into the furnace between the bottom of the Hopper or boshes, and the bottom stone, and are pla∣ced nearer or farther off according as the Ore and Metall require. Tis also of importance in melting of Iron Ore, that there be five or

six soughs made under the Furnace (as it is at Mare) in parallel lines to the stream that turns the wheel which compresses the bellows, to drain away the moisture from the furnace, for should the least drop of water come into the Metall, it would blow up the fur∣nace, and the Metall would fly about the Workmens ears; from which soughs they must also have a conical pipe about 9 inches at bottom, set to convey the damps from them into the open Air, which too otherwise would annoy the Workmen even to death.

24. From the Furnaces, they bring their Sows and pigs of Iron when broken asunder, and into lengths, to the Forges; which are of two sorts, but commonly (as at Cunsall) standing together under the same roof; one whereof they call the Finery, the other the Chafery: they are both of them open hearths, upon which they place great heaps of coal, which are blown by bellows like to those of the Furnaces, and compressed the same way, but nothing near so large. In these two forges they give the Sow and piggs 5 severall heats before they are perfectly wrought into barrs. First in the Finery they are melted down as thin as lead, where the Metall in an hour thickens by degrees into a lump or mass, which they call a loop, this they bring to the great Hammer raised by the motion of a water-wheel, and first beat it into a thick square, which they call a half bloom. Then 2^ly they put it into the Finery again for an hour, and then bring it again to the same Hammer, where they work it into a bloom, which is a square barr in the middle, and two square knobs at the ends, one much less then the other, the smaller being call'd the Ancony end, and the greater the Mocket head. And this is all they doe at the Finery. Then 3. the Ancony end is brought to the Chafery, where after it has been heated for a quarter of an hour, it is also brought to the Hammer, and there beat quite out to a bar, first at that end; and after that, the Mocket head is brought also 4. to the chafery, which being thick, re∣quires two heats, before it can be wrought under the Hammer, in∣to bars of such shapes and sizes as they think fittest for Sale.

25. Whereof, those they intend to be cut into rodds, are car∣ryed to the slitting Mills, where they first break or cut them cold with the force of one of the Wheels into short lengths; then they are put into a furnace to be heated red hot to a good height, and then brought singly to the Rollers, by which they are drawn even, and to a greater length: after this another Workman takes them whilst hot and puts them through the Cutters, which are of divers sizes, and may be put on and off, according to pleasure: then another lays them straight also whilst hot, and when cold binds them into faggots, and then they are fitting for sale. And thus I have given an account of the Iron works of Staffordshire from the Ore

to the slitting Mills, as they are now exercised in their perfection; the improvement whereof we shall find very great, if we look back upon the Methods of our Ancestors who made Iron in foot blasts or bloomeries, by Mens treading the bellows, by which way they could make but one little lump or bloom of Iron in a day, not 100 weight; leaving as much Iron in the Slag as they got out. Whereas now they will make two or three tuns of cast Iron in 24 hours: leaving the Slag so poore, that the Founders can∣not melt them again to profit. Not to mention again the vast ad∣vantage they have from the new Invention of slitting Mills, for cutting their barrs into rodds, above what they had an∣ciently.

26. Thus I say the Iron-works are exercised in their perfection, and all their prncipal Iron undergoes all the foremention'd preparations; not but that for several purposes, as for the backs of Chimneys, Garden-rolls, and such like; they use a sort of cast-Iron which they take out of the Receivers of the Furnaces, as soon as it is melted, in great Ladles, and pour it into moulds of fine sand, in like manner as they cast the other softer Metalls. Thus the in∣genious Will. Chetwynd of Rugeley Esq at Madeley furnace, cast Iron-Rolls for gardens, hollow like the Mills for Sugar Canes, of 5, 6, 7 or 800 weight a piece; the hollows whereof being fill'd with timber, and wedg'd up close, the other Iron-work of the Roll, is fastned to the wood in the same place as in other rolls, which are weightyer and more substantial than any other rolls I have elswhere seen. For such purposes as these, this serves well enough, but for others it will not, for it is so brittle, that being heated, with one blow of a hammer it will break all to pieces.

27. And thus one would have thought, I should have done with the Iron-works, and all relating to them, as indeed I verily thought I had; but upon examination of a reddish stone very much like Cinnaber, very weighty, and being wet with the tongue, drawing red lines; found somewhere in the grounds of the worthy Mr. Wightwick of Wightwick, which I thought might have held some other Metall; upon calcination, according to the prescription of worthy Mr. Lister, I found it to apply to the Magnet, and to be no∣thing else but a Haematites, which for that reason he very rationally makes one of the species of Iron-Oresn 1.13. And of this kind are the red stones found in Tene brook, which are also very weighty, and draw (being a little wet) red lines like ruddle, whereof I have a very large one in my Staffordshire Cabinet, given me by the truly Honorable, because truly virtuous and learned, Iane Lady Gerard

[illustration] diagrams

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1

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2.

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3.

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To the Worsp.^•• the learned & most ingenious Gent CHARLES COTTON of BERESFORD Esq

This 10 Table, Shewing the Designe of a for∣raigne Engin, used formerly near Him, in memory of his favours is gratefully dedicated by. R. P. L. L. D.

MBurghers sculp.

of Gerards Bromley, which Her Ladyship truly named the Sanguine or blood stone, which they use it see us, by way of signature, to give in new milk, and sometimes in Ale warmed, to their Cattle that make a mean, or bloody water, and this with constant success: whereat I doe not so much wonder, since every body knows what stiptical qualities, always attend ferrugineous bodies.

28. The Copper Ores of this County must also be referr'd hither, not only as they are Stones, but also as they include much Sulphur, whereof there has been dug divers sorts, out of Ecton Hill in the Parish of Wetton, belonging to the right Honorable William Earl of Devon: there is of it too about Beresford, near the most ingeni∣ous Mr. Cottons; and at upper Elkston, and some think at Madeley, both in the Lands of the Worshipful John Offley Esq but none were ever thought worth diging but at Ecton Hill, where the Mine was workt several years by my Lord of Devon himself, Sr. Richard Fleetwood, and some Dutch men, but they had all left it off, before I came into the Country as not worth their while; Copper comeing cheaper from Sweden than they could make it here; so that the workmen being disperst I could learn little more concerning it, but that the veins lay from eight, to fifty yards deep, but all dipt North-Easterly; that they broke the rocks with Gunpowder, and got 3 sorts of Ore; 1. a black sort which was the best; 2. a yellow sort, the worst; and 3. a mixt sort of both; which they Smelted at Ella∣ston not far off, where they had Mills &c. for the purpose; but all was out of order before I came thither, and the famous wooden bellows that had no leather about them, carryed away to Snelston in Darby-shire whither I went to see them; where though so laid up in an out house with other cumbersom matters upon them, that I could not take them downe, so as to examin them strictly, yet I could see so much of them that by the help of a smaller pattern in the Repository of the Royal Society, I have made shift to give a draught, and some tolerable account of them, as in Tab. 10. where,

Fig, 1. Represents the whole Instrument as it appears on the out side; the Cover a.b.c.d. being lifted up at every blast, and com∣press't with the water wheele, as is usual in other furnace bellows, and turning upon the pin, e.

Fig. 2. Is the lower part of the bellows which stands always fixt, and is covered by Fig. 3. a. b. c. d. e. f. g. are square sticks which lye loose, being only thrust under the hooks of Iron marked h. i. k. l, m. n. o, two ends being staid by one hook or hold-fast, every one of which sticks, hath a spring of Iron on the inside marked p. q. r. s. which keep them still close to the inside of the outward Cover, Fig. 3. and so keep in the Air. The valve in the bottom board is marked T. and the prickt lines shew the hole under it, to let in the Air.

Fig. 3. is to be whelmed upon Fig. 2. so that A. in Fig. 3. touch A. in Fig. 2. and then they appear as in Fig. 1.

Fig. 4. Is the valve or door, which when the Air enters in rises at b. and dips at a. and when it goes out, dips at b. and falls upon a woolen list tackt round the hole in the bottom board, and rises at a. turning upon the pin, at c.

29. After the Copper, come we next to the Lead-Ores of this County, which also belong to this place; for beside that they cannot be said to be Earths, it is dug here in a yellowish stone, with Cawk and Spar, in Fowns field belonging to one Townley on the side of Lawton park; where the workmen distinguisht it into three sorts, viz. round Ore, small Ore, and Smithum; the two last whereof are first beaten to pieces with an instrument called a Knocking-bucker, and the Ore separated from the stone with another call'd a Limp. and then washt in a Sieve made with Iron-wyer; yet further to clear it from terrestrieties: which done, it is sold to the Potters at Burslem for 6 or 7 pound per Tun, who have occasion for most that is found here for glaseing their Pots. There has been Lead-ore al∣so dug at Ecton-Hill; where, some of it, lyes so near the day, that it was first found by the plough: Here also they distinguish't it into three sorts, but under different names from the former; the best being call'd Bing; the middle sort, Bowse; and the Lead dust, Smithum. And there was Lead-Ore dug formerly by the right Honorable the Earle of Shrewsbury at Ribden, but none of these works were ever very considerable, nor is it likely any such should ever be found here, it being observed that wherever there is much coal, there is so much the less Lead, its sulphureous spirit being too strong for the production of that Metall: upon which account, when near Mendip there was found 2 or 300 weight of very good Lead-Ore growing to a vein of Coal, it was lookt upon by all, as a very great rarityo 1.14.

30. But nothing so great, as what was told me lately concern∣ing this Metall, by the Worshipful Philip Foley of Prestwood Esqviz. that notwithstanding amongst Metalls, Lead holds the third place after Gold and Quicksilver, it being lighter than Gold about a third part, and heavier than Silver about a fourth; yet that Anno 1682. there was a Leaden-Coffin, of one of the Honorable family of Skef∣fington of Fisherwick, laid in the Vault of St. Micheals Church at Lichfield (which as I noted before is frequently floated) that swam so cleverly in 9 inches water, that one might thrust it to and fro with a common walking stick; which he told me too, was actu∣ally done, by that judicious Gent. Mr. Swinfen of Swinfen. This, by the vulgar being look't upon as little less than a Miracle, I

thought it concern'd me, having occasion to spake of this Metall, not wholy to pass it by, but to let them know that it is so far from a wonder, that if the Coffin were so thin, and the body so consumed (as no question they were) as to be lighter than that quantity of water which is equal to the bulk of the Coffin, the rules of Hydrosta∣ticks require it must be so, and could no more be otherwise, than that a lighter body should not give place to a heavyer, which would have been a wonder indeed: No bodies whatever sinking deeper in water, than to that point, where the immerst part of the floating body becomes equal in bulk, to as much water as is equal in weight, to the whole body.

31. Having done with the Stones holding Salts, Sulphurs, and Metalls, the next that offer themselves to my consideration, are such as only supply the necessities of Mankind in some peculiar manner; such as he diggs forth the Quarries for building, for grind∣ing stones, Mill-stones, &c. of the former whereof there is plenty almost every where, within little distance, which for the most part as in Oxfordshire is gotten and workt easy, yet endures the weather so well, that it improves in it, to a competent hardness: There are several sorts of it differing in grain and colour; some finer, some courser; some reddish, some white; some mixt of both those colours; and some streak't with black: about Lichfield they build chiefly with a reddish sort of stone, and so about Newcastle, and at Leek; at which last place they cleave it with wedges as they see the grain run, which is not always agreeable to the plane of the Ho∣rizon, or a little declining from it, but sometimes perpendicular to it. They have also a whiter harder stone, that is a good weather, but not a good fire stone, made of a finer grit, (as most white stones are than red) and working to a finer Arris. Much of this colour and consistence is the stone of the Quarry betwixt Ingestre and Salt, and about Beech; pretty white and hard, but not without a cast of redness here and there, and sometimes mark't with a yellowish sort of veine. The whitest and freest from any of those stains, be∣ing that dug at Fulford and Chappel Charlton, which are purely white, and of a fine grain enough.

32. But it would be endless to enumerat the Quarries of this County, should I continue to prosecute such as those above menti∣on'd; wherefore I shall now restrain my self only to such as are some way or other more remarkable than others: amongst which I think I may reckon the Quarry at Penford in the Lands of Mr. Fowler, which lies in depth 14. or 15. yards as has been seen by many, some of the workmen assert it at least 20. yards thick, in∣deed they certainly know no bottom; the deeper they go the fin∣er the grit; and for colour it is whitish at the top, then redish to 10.

or 12. yards, and then whiter than at top, for 5. or 6. yards more; it being all of it good weatherstone, but not enduring the fire. As the stone of the Quarry in Purton park will, which is both a good weather and fire stone too, and so free from clefts, that a stone may be had of any Magnitude, as big as any of the Guglia's at Rome, nay I was told by one of the Masons that he could undertake to get a stone at this Quarry fifty yards long, and that but two or three years before I came thither, they actually had gotten one (though they had no occasion for any such) about fifty foot long: of these large stones there are very good examples in Purton house belonging to the right Worshipful Sr. Walter Wrottesley Baronet, a Person of that great reputation in his Country, that his memory will never dye; till Loyalty and Integrity, Prudence and Ingenu∣ity, be overborn by Faction, Impudence and Ignorance, and become unregarded, and of no esteem amongst us.

33. The Quarry at Bilston is also very remarkable, it lying in beds in plano Horizontis, one under another, 12 beds deep; every bed being thicker then that above it, an inch or more; so that the lower bed is about a yard thick of which they make troughs, cisterns &c. Some of the Tables of stone rising so large and even, that Mr. Hoo of Bradeley got one here 8 yards long, naturally so very even, that in the whole length it did not bevel, or depart from a true le∣vel, above an inch. Some of the stone dug at this Towne is also cu∣riously streaked black, whereof there are elegant patterns, in the Garden at the right worshipful Sr. Henry Gough's at Pury-Hall. I met likewise with a white stone thus mark't black, used in the building of the new Dormitory at Kingston Church by the right Worshipful Sr. Simon Degg Knight, but whereabout it was dug I must confess I forgot to ask, but suppose it could not be very far off.

34. The stone of the Quarry above mention'd at Purton serves also for Grinding stones, which gives me occasion to treat of them next: which I find are esteemed so much the better, by how much they are made of a finer Grit: whence it is that the Grinding-stones dug near Biddulph-Hall of a red larger grit are not accounted so good as those dug at Heaton, a Village between Swithamley and Rushton Spencer, which are of a grayish colour, and of a fine small grit. But not so fine as those dug at Bilson, which are of so small a grit, that they are useful only for fine thin edg'd tooles, such as Knives, Cissers, Razers, &c. and are better than the Grinding-stones brought out of Derby-shire, which are used chiefly for thicker edg'd tooles, such as Axes, Hatchets, Chisells, Adds, Twy-bills, &c. Or those lately found, about 5 years since, at Over Arley, near the Par∣sonage house, and in the manor of Heck-stones adjoyning to the glebe

land, which yet serve for most sorts of Sithe-grinders, Smiths, or Cutlers wares, especially for those of the thicker edges, so that the trade to Darby shire for such Grinde-stones is quite ceased in these parts. Also in the lands of Mr. Persehouse at Cotwall-end they dig excellent grindingstones, as good as those at Bilson for thin edge tooles; and on the Windmill-bank at nether-Gournall in the same parish of Sedgley, they dig others for thick edg'd tooles, which must be of a grit both harder and courser; whereof some have proved as good as the Darby stones. Whether they dig any Grinde-stones now at Braunston or noe? I did not hear; though Mr. Er∣deswick informes us it was anciently famous for themp 1.15

35. Another sort of Grinding stones are those wee call Milstones, the Grit whereof need not be so fine, provided it be hard and doe not sweat in moist weather, which would both prejudice the Meale and clog the Mill. Of these some are made out of great loose stones, others dug out of Quarries. Of the former there have many been made out of great round pebbles found on Braden heath between Sherriff Hales and Blymhill, and so there has at Seasdon, where on the Heath there lye some pebbles so vastly great, that as I was told, there have 3 Mill-stones been made out of one of them. These Mill-stones out of Pebbles they use for grinding wheat, and some think them not short of the Colen stones. At Mole Cop in this County they dig them as in a Quarry, which they cleave from the rock with a great number of small wedges, driven with as small stroaks, least the stone should crack or flawe; when they have got it from the rock, they presently binde it round with a joynted hoop of Iron, which they call a Rivet-hoop, and this they straighten hard about it also with wooden wedges, driven in between it and the edg of the stone, that it breake not in the working.

36. Which it so frequently does notwithstanding their utmost care, that there is but very few of them that are not made up of two or three pieces, thus bound together with a hoop; nay so very subject is it to crack and flaw, that whenever it happens that they finish one intire, yet it must be bound about thus with an Iron hoop to remain upon it even in the Mill, to preserve it from falling asunder in the motion. Nor is it any wonder that it should be thus, since it consists of a large angular shining grit, so knit together, that there are interstices between the parts, which are fill'd with a kind of mealy substance; this some people fancy tasts like meale, and amongst the Workmen the stone that ha's most of this (as it were by way of signature) is counted the best, though no question it must needs be so much the weaker. and yet as weak as it is, it lyes well enough in building, the parish

Church of Biddulph, which is a reasonable fair one, being built with it. These are seldome used for grinding of Wheat, because these grind Bran and Meal altogether, whereas the blew stones on∣ly bruise the husk from the floore; but chiefly for Rye, Barley, and Mault, or for shaling of Oates: nor doe they ever use two of these stones together, but always pair them with a white sort of Mill-stone brought out of the Peak; the Molecop-stone being always the runner, and the Darby-shire stone, the Legier.

37. Which is all concerning stones of any peculiar use, un∣less that I may have liberty to suspect, that at Rowley Regis, in the corner of a ground formerly part of the lower Moores, adjoyning to grounds call'd Freebody's, there must be that miracle of Nature, we call the Loadstone: For that, one Mr Deeley about 10 year agoe being appointed to measure the lands there, for the right honorable Edward Lord Ward, found that in that place his Needle varyed so very much, that his work was out of order, which put Him to no small trouble, till He began to suspect what must needs be the mat∣ter. Sept: the 23. 1680 for further satisfaction, having pro∣cured the company of the same Mr. Deeley, I was willing to make the experiment over again, wherefore seting up a stick with a hand-kerchif on it at one end of the ground, and goeing to the other with my Compass, I found the hand-kerchief to bear upon such a point of it; but removeing the hand-kercheif and Compass inter∣changeably, when I came to view the hand-kercheif upon the op∣posite point to that upon which I had seen it before, I found it wide of the mark by six degrees. So that upon consideration of the matter, I could not imagine how this should come to pass otherwise than by the Magnet, unless by some old Armour that might be buryed hereabout in the late civil War: Which might easily be determined, and at which end of the field this matter lyes, whatever it be, that thus affects the Needle; were the true Meri∣dian of the place first taken, and a touch't Needle hung upon a thred and carryed about: for whether it be a Loadstone mine that occasions this difference; or such Armour, or other Iron, that may lye hid hereabout; the Needle will discover it by diping, whenever it comes over it, or any where near it.

38. After the stones of a restrained peculiar use, let us next con∣sider those of no use at all, at least that are put to none; which yet possibly may not altogether be unworthy our admiration, though no tolerable account, can be given of the condition, or present state they are in: and such are the vast Rocks or Roches as they call them, that bear no grass, but here and there a turf in some cleft or hollow, but standing as bare as a stone wall; some of them kissing the clouds with their tops, and running along in mountanous

ridges for some miles together. The first of these I met with was on Wetley Moore, which at a distance I took for some prodigious ruins, these representing them as much bigger than truth, as the Floren∣tine stones doe it, less: but when I came to Leeke, and saw the Hen-Cloud, and Leek Roches, I was quickly undeceived, though my admiration was still heighten'd to see such vast rocks and such really stupendous Prospects, which I had never seen before, or could have beleived to be, any where but in picture: and that which yet fur∣ther increast my wonder, was how they should come thus bare, having no turf upon them, or earth to produce one: which whe∣ther so from the Creation, or uncoverd by the flood, or the per∣petual deterrations which have happend since upon rain, to all Mountanous parts, as was not irrationally conjectur'd Chap. 3. §§ 11. 12. of this History, is hard to account for. Though possibly too, some of them may come to be thus, first by cutting the turf from them which they use for feuel much in this Country, and then the deterrations by rains, will easily answer for the rest.

39. And yet so far are these Roches from any further diminution, that I think some of them carry such evident marks of growth, that I cannot avoid beleiving it so. For in such rocks as these, as you pass through the hollow way at little Sandon; and in ano∣ther cut in the rock, about mid-way betwixt Draycot and Chedle; there are pebble stones plainly included in the body of the rocks, and so there are in the rocks near Alveton Lodg by the way side as you pass thither from Wooton: whence it must be concluded that these pebbles must have had a being before the rocks, and that the rocks themselves grew to be such, since that time. But the most indis∣putable evidence of the growth of such stone, we have from the inge∣nious Mr. John Beaumont, who tels us that at Daulton on the South side of Mendip, the Workmen sawe out of great blocks of stone of four or five Tun weight, dug in the Quarrys there, large pieces of fair cleft Oak included in the midst of themq 1.16 This I say is as in∣disputable a proof as any I have met with, except one at New-Castle under Lime in this County, where at a place called the Gallow-tree (the ancient place for the execution of the Malefactors of that Towne) there was found, within memory, in a firm block of stone dug out of the Quarry there, an intire Skull of a Man with the teeth in it, &c. whereof Mr. Weever an Alderman of the Town, told me he had one, long in his possession: which place when used for execu∣tions, 'tis like might be nothing else but sandy Land wherein they used to bury the executed bodies, which in process of time has thus turned into stone.

40. The variety of Caverns and great clefts in these Roches, are

also worthy my recounting, and the Readers notice, whereof some are dry, and others receive water: to the former of these belong the Caverns at Holloway in this County, near Stourbridg in Worcester shire, cut out of the living rock into divers partitions and offices, with holes forth at the top instead of Chimneys; wherein se∣veral people of meaner rank have their constant habitations, much after the manner of the Aethiopian Troglodites, who are a subterra∣nean Common-wealth bordering upon the Arabian Sinus and the Em∣pire of Habessia. But we need not run so far for Examples of this kind; for we are told of such in Italy near Viterbo, at Buschet in the Isle of Malta;r 1.17 and at Nottingham here in England. Near Peakstones in the parish of Alveton, under long-Hurst hill, there is also a hollow in the rock call'd the Thurse-house, where a family now lives, and wherein about 4 or 5 years since lived one Helen Mil∣lard a widdow woman of about 115 years old, who had she not chanced to dye a violent death by fire, might have lived much longer. There is also another Thurshouse or Thursehole, sometimes call'd Hob-hurst Cave, near Wetton mill (where the Manyfold falls first into the ground, on the Easterly side of the dry Chanell,) which goes into a great Mountain, from the mouth to the further part, about 44 yards and is in the middle, as near as I could guess, about 30 foot high, the roof being supported by a rough natural pillar, which also in a manner divides it into several partitions or rooms: where I was shewed in the roof, the natural effigies of a Man with a curled beard, looking out of a hole, not very unlike what it was said to represent, though I suppose wholy casuall, and never de∣signed by nature,

41. But a little way from this, on the Westerly side on the same dry Chanell in the Lordship of Grindon, belonging to his Grace the Duke of Albemarle, there is a great hole through Yelpersley Tor, that goes from the bottom to the top, at least 40, if not 50 yards high. Under Kinfare edge there is also a hole going into the rock, wide at first, but after low and narrow, call'd Mag a Fox-hole, for that foxes here use to shelter themselves; & at Kinfare Towne, by the River side near the bridg, there goe another hole into the rock a great way, call'd whirleyhole, from the Eddy of water the River makes at the mouth of it; how far either of these holes goe is very uncer∣tain, but 'tis the tradition of the Towne, that though their mouths are at a long miles distance, yet that they meet under ground. And now I am come to Caverns that receive water, I must not forget those that receive the Rivers Manyfold and Hans, especially those under Yelpersley Tor, which are very large ones, that will receive a Man standing upright; nor the rocky indraughts under Cauldon Low,

Ribden, and Reeden, that swallow the waters of the land floods, that run violently from the Hills thereabout, though mention'd before Chap. 2. §§ 97, 98. of this History. To which let me add, the stupendous cleft in the rock between Swithamley and Wharnford commonly call'd Lud-Church, which I found by measure 208 yards long, and at different places 30, 40, or 50. foot deep; the sides steeped and so hanging over, that it sometimes preserves Snow all the Summer, whereof they had signal proof at the Town of Leek on the 17 of July their Fair day, at which time of year a Wharnford Man brought a Sack of Snow thence, and poured it down at the Mercat Cross, telling the people that if any body wanted of that commodity, he could quickly help them to a 100 load on't.

42. Beside the Stones that serve the necessities of Mankind, there are others in this County that will serve to adorn, both his Buildings and Person; such as Alabaster, wherewith the Chore at Lichfield, joyntly with Cannel-coal (as I noted before) is delicatly paved in imitation of Marbles 1.18: as well indeed it may, rather with this, than any thing else; Alabaster being accounted amongst many of the Naturalists to be Marmor incoctum sive imperfectum, quod si cul∣tro scindi possit, gypsum rectius dixeris, says Job. Scrodert 1.19 Of the latter sort whereof, I could hear of none in this County, that dug near Frodswell Hall (where there is a small vein fit only for floor∣ing rooms, not thought worth the pursueing) and in Heylinds park, where too it was anciently gotten; being, as I was inform'd, as hard, as that which is gotten South of Marchington Church, which being likewise but of a courser kind, is prepared for making plaister for floors, seelings, and the walls of Needle-work houses, in this Method: First they lay on the ground a stratum of wood (which is best) or a load of wood and coal mixt together, upon which they pile as much rough Alabaster; then fireing the wood they let it burn together till 'tis out, which makes the Alabaster so soft and brittle, that it needs only thrashing to reduce it to powder, the greater parts whereof being separated from the smaller by a seive, the former mixt with water are used for flooring, and the finer for seeling and walling of Houses.

43. When they lay their floors whether for dwelling, or Mault∣houses, they wet a whole tub full and throw it down together; but when they seel or parge with it, they wet it by degrees, which they call gageing; and in both cases lay it on, and spread it as fast as they can, for it hardens, (as Plaister of Paris) in a very little time: the Walls and Seelings made with it having this convenience, that they are presently sweet, having nothing of the ill smell, of those made with Lime and hair; and the walls of their houses en∣during

like stone, if the plaister fall not out from between the Tim∣ber, as it sometimes does for want of grooving it round within side before the plaister be laid on; which if done, it enters the grooves whilst it is soft, and cannot any way fall out of them, when once it is hardened.

44. This sort of Alabaster, but yet of a courser sort, is found al∣so at Coton under Hanbury, and there has of it been dug at Draycot in the clay: indeed the whole bank of red Marle between the For∣rest or Chase of Needwood, and the River Dove, from Marchington to Tutbury, has Alabaster in it; but that at Castle-Hays is incompa∣rably the best, of which they make Grave-stones, Tables, Paving∣stones, Chimney-pieces, &c. and in smaller things, Mortars and Salts: they torne it also into Candle-sticks, Plates, and Fruit dishes, or whatever else the buyer desires: in some of it there are veins of a dirty red colour, which yet are not very unsightly; but they have a sort which is harder and stronger than the rest, bearing a better polish, and finely water'd with a blewish colour, much esteemed by Artists, it making as good work almost as Marble, upon which ac∣count it is carryed hence at a great charge, and made use off in some of the choisest works, in many parts of the Nation.

45. Nor have they only in this County imperfect Marble, but the perfect too, and that of different kinds; some of them exceed∣ing any of their Species (as I have been inform'd by Artists) that we yet know of, that have been brought from beyond Seas; whereof too, there is so very great quantities (were there but tole∣rable portage) that it would have sufficed, I dare say, to have re∣built London: there being whole Mountains of it in the Lordship of Grindon belonging to his Grace the Duke of Albemarle. It is a Rance Marble i. e. of a white, hard, shining grit, striped red; Yel∣persly Torr (as one may see where the River Manyfold enters it) and most of the Hills thereabout, seeming to be all of this Marble; which receives so good a polish, that it ha's been thought fit for Chimney pieces, Monuments &c. though I scarce think any has been made use of for this purpose, since I first discover'd it. And at Stansop, not far off, in the parish of Alstonfield, I was shewed a grey marble not inferior in its kind, by Mr. Jackson of that Village, who told me there were also quantities of it for any purpose, though never yet made use of.

46. Add to these a very hard black shining stone found at Powke-hill near Bentley Hall belonging to the Worshipful Thomas Lane Esq which upon polishing proved a tolerably fair black Mar∣ble, all the fault that the Artists could find with it, being a hard pin as they call'd it, which renders it scarce worth the labour to work it: However burnt and pouder'd it makes a very good Emery, as I

was certainly informed by the ingenious Jonas Grosvenor of Wol∣verhampton Esq which way possibly it may turn to a better ac∣count, than to be workt as Marble. At Rowley Regis in the lands of the right Honorable Edward Lord Ward, I met with the same stone again, and scattered here and there all over the Towne: whereof yet there is one more remarkable than the rest, about ½ a mile N. W. of the Church; as big, and as high, on one side, as many Church Steeples: at the bottom of which on the highest side, if one stamp with ones foot, it returns a hollow sound as if there were a Vault, which made me suspect that some great person of ancient times might be buryed here, under this natural Monument (for I scarce think so great a thing could be put here by art, it much exceeding those of Stonehenge or Aubrey in Wilts) but diging down by it as near as I could (where the sound directed) I could find no such matter.

47. In and about the second Inlet of Manyfold, under Yelpersley Tor, I was shewed by the ingenious Charles Cotton Esq many of the block stones which they call Crow-stones, sometimes intire of themselves, and sometimes growing on the Limestone; some of them wholy black, and some streaked white; which polisht so well, that I have seen them set in Rings, and have been taken at least for the black Achat or Melanoleucus of Aldrovandu 1.20. And I had given me at Wolverhampton by Mr. Richard Cumberlege, a reddish semio∣pake Flint, found somewhere there about, so very agreeable to the description of the Sardachates of the Lithographers, that I have been inclined without fear to pronounce it the same. Which brings me next to treat, of the transparent stones; whereof the two finest and best I met with in this County, were in the same Town, one set in a Ring of Mr. Jonas Grosvenour's, of an excellent luster, being part of a large transparent pebble found on Coven heath; and the other worne also in a ring by Mr. Henry Brace∣girdle, Sacrist of the Collegiat Church of Wolverhampton, of an Ame∣thystine violaceous colour, and a genuin luster, which was found at Barrow-hill in Pensnet Chace, where there have many other transparent stones been heretofore dug of an dodecaedrous figure, cut off at the top much like natural Chrystal, but somewhat hard∣er. At Fetherston the ingenious Mr. John Huntbach, was pleased to bestow on me, a transparent pebble of a peculiar form; and the Worshipful Tho. Broughton of Broughton Esq shewed me another of the same kind, but different forme, which belong not to this place; but are only mention'd here, to give me an apposite tran∣sition to the next Chapter, of form'd Stones.

Notes

• a 1.1

  Nat. Hist. of Oxfordsh. chap. 2. §. 25.
• b 1.2

  Philosoph. Transact. Numb. 117. pag. 408.
• c 1.3

  Dell' Hist. naturale Lib. 1. cap. 21. sub finem.
• d 1.4

  Nat. Hist. of Oxfordsh. chap. 3. § 51.
• e 1.5

  Mart. Lister de font. Med. Angl. cap. 2. §. 9
• f 1.6

  Nat. Hist. of Oxfordsh. chap. 5. §. 180.
• g 1.7

  C. Plinii 2. di. Hist. Nat. Lib. 36. cap. 21.
• h 1.8

  Vid. Scrinium Listeri in Musaeo Ashmolian. Loculo 14.
• i 1.9

  Philosoph. Transact. Num. 100.
• k 1.10

  Ibidem.
• l 1.11

  Webster's Hist of Metalls chap. 3. p. l 51.
• m 1.12

  D. Dudley's Metallum Martis p. 41.
• n 1.13

  M. Listeri de Font. Med. Angl. cap. 2.
• o 1.14

  Philosoph. Collect. Num. 1.
• p 1.15

  Mr Sampson Erdeswicks view of Staffordsh. M. S. in Braunston.
• q 1.16

  Philosoph. Collect. Num. 2
• r 1.17

  Athanasii Kircheri Mundi subter. Tom. 1. Lib. 8. §. 4. cap. 3.
• s 1.18

  Chap. 3. §. 31.
• t 1.19

  Joh. Schroderi Pharmacop. Medico-Chym. Lib. 3. cap. 8. §. 2.
• u 1.20

  Ulys. Aldrovandi Musaei Metall. Lib. 4. cap. 1.