Mining Question..Coal ...Iron?

[Riponian]

Can we book Time Team then?That discharge is likely to be as I suggested due to pyrites, which are in the coal seams not ironstone.

[Brunel]

I have posted a small section of the OS map.http://snipurl.com/1qmpsrclick on open for full size view.You can see the footpath and stream to the left of Woodhouse Farm.I think the stream diverts slightly from the route shown on the map.Keep walking up, till you find this.I might have the Google map position incorrect, the stream is def. to the right of the path.     

[Leodian]

Brunel wrote: @Parksider I would like to know exactly which stream this is.Google Maps: http://snipurl.com/1qm5vh The map shows an intriquing hedge running into an otherwise clear large field to the right of the marker. It looks odd and I wonder if that hedge is being retained for some reason? Apologies that this query is not directly about coal/iron but it did not seem worth starting a new thread. I also notice something that has been mentioned in older SL threads that the Google maps label the Ring Road here as Ring Rd Bramley (seen if the map is moved up a bit). Edit added about 19:40 Dec 29th. I've just noticed that the orange marker showing the approximate location has been moved to the right and so the hedge I'm refering to is in the field below the marker not to its right.

[chameleon]

Leodian wrote: Brunel wrote: @Parksider I would like to know exactly which stream this is.Google Maps: http://snipurl.com/1qm5vh The map shows an intriquing hedge running into an otherwise clear large field to the right of the marker. It looks odd and I wonder if that hedge is being retained for some reason? Apologies that this query is not directly about coal/iron but it did not seem worth starting a new thread. I also notice something that has been mentioned in older SL threads that the Google maps label the Ring Road here as Ring Rd Bramley (seen if the map is moved up a bit). Made up of a group of trees of seversl species? Worrth investigating. (Google - even more disorientating when good old sat-nav also delcaresyou to be in Bramley at this point!!).

[The Parksider]

Riponian wrote: Can we book Time Team then?That discharge is likely to be as I suggested due to pyrites, which are in the coal seams not ironstone. Sorry! I'd love to find pyrites in Shadwell!!Last time I found it was in Weardale at Allenheads sparkling up at me.

[The Parksider]

Riponian wrote: The field to the south of Temperance Cottage (at the west end of Holywell Lane) has several bell pits in it, as have the woods in the area. Sorry to be tedious here. Hollywell lane west end runs into shadwell lane, at that point (on google maps) could you pinpoint the position of the cottage field and wood?

[Riponian]

Temperance Cottage is south of Shadwell Lane, across the road from the western end of Holywell Lane. We knew the family who lived there in the 60's.The pyrites by the way are often seen as an impurity in coal. Hence the orange sludge coming out of old mine workings. The County Durham contained a number of seams with high sulphur (pyrite) content hence the dubious quality of some of their coal (smog!). The Ironstone is a much less reactive mineral, but the high phosphorous content made it unsuitable for making steel.We'll have to see if our resident geologist can comment.We're rapidly turning this commuter belt suburb into a pit village.

[The Parksider]

Riponian wrote: Temperance Cottage is south of Shadwell Lane, across the road from the western end of Holywell Lane. We knew the family who lived there in the 60's.The pyrites by the way are often seen as an impurity in coal. Hence the orange sludge coming out of old mine workings. The County Durham contained a number of seams with high sulphur (pyrite) content hence the dubious quality of some of their coal (smog!). The Ironstone is a much less reactive mineral, but the high phosphorous content made it unsuitable for making steel.We'll have to see if our resident geologist can comment.We're rapidly turning this commuter belt suburb into a pit village. Thanks.I'm off to have a beer at Shadwell Miners Welfare now.....    

[Brunel]

I have marked Temperance Cottage on the Google Maphttp://snipurl.com/1qm5vh

[grumpytramp]

The Parksider wrote: I'm off to have a beer at Shadwell Miners Welfare now.....     Lol! ......... that would be a shock for citizenry of Shadwell but I would gladly join you for a pint at the Welfare, Parkie!Sorry to disapoint there are no collieries or iron mines in Shadwell. The older part of the village (western) sits on the outcrops of Rough Rock Flags while the remainder of the village to the east sits on probably the outcrop of Guiseley Grit. These are at the top of the Millstone Grit series, below the overlaying Coal Measures (which have been eroded during the various ice ages). While coal seams do exist in the Millstone Grit series, and some have been economically expoited (charachterised as being very variable, localised and generally exceptionally poor quality), there are none exposed at Shadwell and there has been no mining activity here. Riponian wrote: The field to the south of Temperance Cottage (at the west end of Holywell Lane) has several bell pits in it, as have the woods in the area. The soil in the area is very heavy and waterlogged, a lot of the area would have not supported much more than Birch (as the roots are rot proof) which isn't much use to make charcoal with. Where the ground has been broken and the drainage improved, oak and beech make a foothold.You can see the pock-marks on the satellite photos quite well. I spent my first few years in the area. Sorry Riponian, you are mistaken. The mineral workings undertaken here are the former Dan Quarry which was a sandstone quarry in the Guiseley GritSee http://www.british-history.ac.uk/mapshe ... 26&y=354It appears to have been disused (and partly backfilled by the 1893 OS survey)Interestingly it appears that the quarry was subject to a review in 1978 under the Commons Registration Act 1965 pertaining to its status as common land:http://www.acraew.org.uk/uploads/West%2 ... .3.pdfThis gives a fascinating glimpse to the quarry's origins: Quote: The quarry was by the Shadwell Enclosure award of 1807 allotted and awarded as a proper case for getting stones, gravel and sand for the building and repairing of houses and buildings and for the repairs of the several roads within the said manor and Township of Shadwell, at all times thereafter to be used for these purposes. With regards to Colliers Lane, it was always my understanding that like the Coal Road to the north east, that this was a principal pack route for coals won at Whinmoor, Halton and Crossgates So moving on to Brunel's ochre in the beck.This area is slightly higher in the sequence being around and above the Rough Rock Flags but still in the Millstone Grit Sequence.What you have found is a natural manifestation of the Acid Mine Drainage effect which I have previously described (thanks Chameleon). It probably represents a small spring that has absorbed soluble irons on its journey across and/or through the underlaying shales/mudstones. The same process can occur in natural drainage across or through iron (or other similar minerals) rich strata or even biologically in saturated rotting vegetation (look carefully at wet stagnant boggy areas next time your out for a walk). The significant difference where there is Acid Mine Drainage is the volume of flow and the corresponding level of percipitation of insoluble iron with the resultant pollutionSee by way of example of the most extreme case: http://www.bgr.bund.de/nn_322984/DE/The ... _2__g.html