144 COAL UNDER SOUTHEASTERN ENGLAND.
afford information to the public. As these reports present an
excellent summary of the evidence upon which the theory of the
existence of coal in East Anglia is based, we have pleasure in being
allowed to reprint them.
I.—REPORT BY MR. T. V. HOLMES, F.G.S.,
(Vice-President, E.F.C)
In the year 1855 a geologist of eminence, the late Godwin-Austen, pointed out
that in Belgium, from the valley of the Ruhr to that of the Scheldt, near Valen-
ciennes, Coal Measures exist on the northern flanks of a ridge of still older
Palaeozoic Rocks. From Valenciennes westward Coal Measures, and the older
Palaeozoic Rocks associated with them, are covered by formations of later date, but
have been traced by Douay, Bethune, and St. Omer to Calais. The continuation
in England of this ancient ridge of Palaeozoic Rocks is to be seen in the Mendip
Hills, on the northern flank of which lies the Bristol Coalfield, with those of the
Forest of Dean and of South Wales. Between the Mendip Hills and the Straits
of Dover the ground is covered by rocks of much more recent age than the Coal
Measures, but there could be no doubt, added Godwin-Austen, that a ridge of
ancient rocks with associated Coal Basins continued to exist beneath the Secondary
and Tertiary Strata of South-Eastern England, though not visible as in Belgium
and in Somerset.
Since 1855 much evidence confirming this view has been obtained. A boring
at Burford, on the western border of Oxfordshire, showed the existence of Coal
Measures there at a depth of 1,184 feet beneath Lower Secondary Rocks. And
borings made in or near London in order to obtain water from rocks beneath the
Chalk, have disclosed the fact that beneath the Gault (which underlies the Chalk,
and maintains like it a nearly uniform thickness), the strata met with in the area
between the Valley of the Thames on the south, and Ware on the north are either
of greater age than the Coal Measures or, where possibly later, are yet much older
than any seen at the surface in South-Eastern England.
Thus the existence of a subterranean ridge or plateau of very ancient (or
Palaeozoic) rocks connecting that of the Mendips with the continuation of it in
Belgium has been fully demonstrated. And the result of the recent boring at
Dover has confirmed the evidence of that at Burford, and shown that we may
expect this ridge to be accompanied by Coal Basins in the South-Eastern districts,
where Secondary and Tertiary Rocks form the surface.
The question which we may now enter upon is the position of the various
spots in the Eastern Counties which offer the most favourable prospects of finding
Coal Measures beneath the surface-rocks. The available evidence on this point is
unfortunately very scanty.
On examining the deep borings near London, we find that the lowest rocks
discovered were at Ware, Upper Silurian strata having been reached there beneath
160 feet of Gault and a trace of Lower Greensand. At Cheshunt and Meux's
Brewery the boring ended in rocks of Devonian age. All the above borings thus
ended in strata older than Coal Measures. At Kentish Town, Richmond, Cross-
ness, and Streatham the oldest rocks were of either Old or New Red Sandstone
age, the most eminent geologists holding different views as to their affinities. In
other words it has not been decided whether the borings at these four places ended