The Mirror, 1828.07.05, issue No. 321 | Page 5

was informed by the late Marquis of Hastings, that stone
hammers and stone tools were found in some of the old workings in his
mines at Ashby Wolds; and his lordship informed me also, that similar
stone tools had been discovered in the old workings in the coal-mines
in the north of Ireland. Hence we may infer, that these coal-mines were
worked at a very remote period, when the use of metallic tools was not
general. The burning of coal was prohibited in London in the year 1308,
by the royal proclamation of Edward I. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth,
the burning of coal was again prohibited in London during the sitting of
parliament, lest the health of the knights of the shire should suffer
injury during their abode in the metropolis. In the year 1643, the use of
coal had become so general, and the price being then very high, many
of the poor are said to have perished for want of fuel. At the present
day, when the consumption of coal, in our iron-furnaces and
manufactories and for domestic use, is immense, we cannot but regard
the exhaustion of our coal-beds as involving the destruction of a great
portion of our private comfort and national prosperity. Nor is the period
very remote when the coal districts, which at present supply the
metropolis with fuel, will cease to yield any more. The annual quantity
of coal shipped in the rivers Tyne and Wear, according to Mr. Bailey,
exceeded three million tons. A cubic yard of coals weighs nearly one
ton; and the number of tons contained in a bed of coal one square mile
in extent, and one yard in thickness, is about four millions. The number

and extent of all the principal coal-beds in Northumberland and
Durham is known; and from these data it has been calculated that the
coal in these counties will last 360 years. Mr. Bailey, in his Survey of
Durham, states, that one-third of the coal being already got, the coal
districts will be exhausted in 200 years. It is probable that many beds of
inferior coal, which are now neglected, may in future be worked; but
the consumption of coal being greatly increased since Mr. Bailey
published his Survey of Durham, we may admit his calculation to be an
approximation to the truth, and that the coal of Northumberland and
Durham will be exhausted in a period not greatly exceeding 200 years.
Dr. Thomson, in the Annals of Philosophy, has calculated that the coal
of these districts, at the present rate of consumption, will last 1,000
years! but his calculations are founded on data manifestly erroneous,
and at variance with his own statements; for he assumes the annual
consumption of coal to be only two million eight hundred thousand
tons, and the waste to be one-third more,--making three million seven
hundred thousand tons, equal to as many square yards; whereas he has
just before informed us, that two million chaldrons of coal, of two tons
and a quarter each chaldron, are exported, making four million five
hundred thousand tons, beside inland consumption, and waste in the
working[1]. According to Mr. Winch, three million five hundred
thousand tons of coal are consumed annually from these districts; to
which if we add the waste of small coal at the pit's mouth, and the
waste in the mines, it will make the total yearly destruction of coal
nearly double the quantity assigned by Dr. Thomson. Dr. Thomson has
also greatly overrated the quantity of the coal in these districts, as he
has calculated the extent of the principal beds from that of the lowest,
which is erroneous; for many of the principal beds crop out, before they
reach the western termination of the coal-fields. With due allowance for
these errors, and for the quantity of coal already worked out, (which,
according to Mr. Bailey, is about one-third,) the 1,000 years of Dr.
Thomson will not greatly exceed the period assigned by Mr. Bailey for
the complete exhaustion of coal in these counties, and may be stated at
three hundred and fifty years.
[1] The waste of coal at the pit's mouth may be stated at one-sixth of
the quantity sold, and that left in the mines at one-third. Mr. Holmes, in

his Treatise on Coal Mines, states the waste of small coal at the pit's
mouth to be one-fourth of the whole.
It cannot be deemed uninteresting to inquire what are the repositories of
coal that can supply the metropolis and the southern counties, when no
more can be obtained from the Tyne and the Wear. The only coal-fields
of any extent on the eastern side of England, between London and
Durham, are those of Derbyshire and those in the west riding of
Yorkshire. The Derbyshire coal-field