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any remarkable historical pictures, or portraits of eminent persons, any curious statues, busts, &c. or other things worthy notice?

39. Are there any parks or warrens, the number of deer, and extent of the park, &c. any heronries, decoys, or fish

eries?

40. Do any rivers rise in or run through the parish, which are they; if navigable, what sort of boats are used on them, and what is the price of carriage per hundred or ton, to your parish?

41. Are there any, and what bridges, how are they supported, by private or public cost, of what materials, what number of piers, or arches, the length and breadth of the bridge and width of the arches ?

42. Are there any barrows or tumuli, and have any been opened, and what has been found therein ?

43. Are there any manufactures carried on in the parish, and what number of hands are employed?

44. What markets or fairs are kept in the parish, what commodities are chiefly brought for sale; if any of the manufactures or produce of the country, live cattle, or other things, what toll is paid, and to whom, and where are they kept?

45. Is there any statute fair for hiring of servants, and how long has it been established; what are the usual wages for men and maids, &c. for each branch of husbandry?

46. Are there in any of the gentlemen's houses, or on their estates, any pictures which give insight into any historical facts, or any portraits of men eminent for any art, science, or literature; any statues, bustoes, or other memorial which will give any light to past transactions?

47. Are there any and what dissenting meetings in the parish, and what number of each sect may be in the parish?

Queries relating to the Natural History of the Parish.

1. WHAT is the appearance of the country in the parish, is it flat or hilly, rocky or mountainous?

2. Do the lands consist of woods, arable, pasture, meadow, heath, or what?

3. Are they fenny or moorish, boggy or firm?

4. Is there sand, clay, chalk, stone, gravel, loam, or what is the nature of the soil?

5. Are there any lakes, meers, or waters, what are they, their depth, where do they rise, and whither do they run?

6. Are there any subterraneous rivers, which appear in one place, then sink into the earth, and rise again?

7. Are there any mineral springs, frequented for the drinking the waters; what are they; at what seasons of the year reckoned best, and what distempers are they frequented for?

8. Are there any periodical springs, which rise and fall, ebb and flow; at what seasons? Give the best account you

can.

9. Are there any mills on the rivers; to what uses are they employed?

10. Are there any and what mines; what are they, to whom do they belong, what do they produce?

11. Have you any marble, moorstone, or other stone of any sort; how is it got out, and how worked?

12. What sorts of manure or amendment do they chiefly use for their land, and what is the price of it on the spot? 13. What are the chief produce of the lands, wheat, rye, oats, barley, peas, beans, or what?

14. Are there any hop or cherry gardens, and what is the price on the spot?

15. What sorts of fish do the rivers produce, what quantities, and what prices on the spot, and in what seasons are they best?

16. Are there any remarkable caves, or grottoes, natural or artificial? Give the best description and account thereof

you can.

17. Are there any and what quantities of saffron, woad, teasels, or other vegetables of that sort, growing in the parish, and the prices they sell for on the spot?

18. Is the parish remarkable for breeding any cattle of remarkable qualities, size, or value, and what?

19. Are there any apple orchards in the parish, do they make any cyder, of what sort is it, and if sold, what may it be worth a hogshead on the spot?

20. Are there any chalk pits, sand or gravel pits, or other openings in the parish, and what?

21. On digging wells or other openings, what strata of soil do they meet with, and how thick is each?

22. How low do the springs lie, and what sort of water do you meet with in the several parts of the parish?

23. Is there any marl, fuller's earth, potter's earth, or loam, or any other remarkable soils, as ochre, &c.?

24. Is there any bitumen, naptha, or other substances of that nature found in the earth?

25. What is the general price paid for lands, arable, meadow, pasture, &c.?

26. Does the parish produce any quantities of timber, of what sort, and what are the prices on the spot, per load or ton?

27. What are the methods of tillage, what sorts of ploughs, &c. are used?

28. Are any quantities of sheep raised or fed in the parish, and on what do they chiefly feed?

29. Are the people of the country remarkable for strength, size, complexion, or any bodily or natural qualities?.

30. What are the diversions chiefly used by the gentry, as well as the country people on particular occasions?

31. What is the nature of the air; is it moist or dry, healthy or subject to produce agues and fevers, and at what time is it reckoned most so? And, if you can, account for the causes.

32. Are there any petrifying springs or waters that incrust bodies, what are they?

33. Are there any hot waters or wells for bathing, and for what distempers frequented?

34. Are there any figured stones, such as echinitæ, belemnitæ, &c. Any having the impression of plants or fishes on them, or any fossil marine bodies, such as shells, corals, &c. or any petrified parts of animals: where are they found, and what are they?

35. Is any part of the parish subject to inundations or land floods? Give the best account, if any things of that nature have happened, and when.

36. Hath there been any remarkable mischief done by thunder and lightning, storms, or whirlwinds, when and

what?

37. Are there any remarkable echoes; where and what are they?

38. Have any remarkable phenomena been observed in the air, and what?

If the Parish is on the Sea Coast.

39. What sort of a shore, flat, sandy, high, or rocky? 40. What sorts of fish are caught there, in what quantity, at what prices sold, when most in season, how taken, and to what market sent?

41. What other sea animals, plants, sponges, corals, shells, &c. are found on or near the coasts?

42. Are there any remarkable sea weeds used for manure of land, or curious on any other account?

43. What are the courses of the tides on the shore, or off at sea, the currents at a mile's distance, and other things worthy remark?

44. What number of fishing vessels, of what sort, how navigated, and what number of hands are there in the parish? 45. How many ships and of what burthen belong to the parish?

46. Are there any and what light-houses, beacons, or land-marks?

47. What are the names of the creeks, bays, harbours, headlands, sands, or islands near the coasts?

48. Have there been any remarkable battles or sea fights near the coasts, and when did any remarkable wrecks or accidents happen, which can give light to any historical facts?

49. If you are in a city, give the best account you can procure of the history and antiquity of the place; if remarkable for its buildings, age, walls, sieges, charters, privileges, immunities, gates, streets, markets, fairs, the number of churches, wards, and guilds, or companies, or fraternities, or clubs that are remarkable; how it is governed; if it sends members to parliament, in whom does the choice lie, and what number of votes may there have been at the last poll. 1755, April,

XVII. Account of an Inflammable Well.

MR. URBAN,

Coalbrookdale, June 25, 1755. IN consequence of your inquiry after natural curiosities, I shall endeavour to give you as exact an account as possible of one in our neighbourhood, leaving the physical causes to be assigned by those who are better qualified to judge of such phenomena,

About 40 years ago a burning well was discovered not far from hence. It was situated about 60 yards from the river Severn, in the parish of Broseley, and county of Salop, at the foot of a gently rising hill, encompassed on every side with coal-works, though none very near it.

This remarkable curiosity first made its appearance about the year 1711, being discovered by a poor man living near

the place, who being alarmed with an uncommon noise in the night, arose, and went to the place from whence it proceeded, with a lanthorn and spade: upon digging a little, the water gushed out with violence, and (to the man's surprize) took fire at the candle. In order to reap some benefit from the discovery, he afterwards inclosed it with a frame and door, leaving a hole to collect the flame, by which he might light, and extinguish it, at pleasure; by this means he made considerable profit from the company resorting thither to see it. Thus it continued in fame some years, but the store of inflammable matter being exhausted, the fire grew weaker, and would burn no more.

But in the year 1747, the same old man, by a like notice as before, once more gave the struggling vapours vent, at a place about ten yards distant from the old well, where it burnt as formerly. At that time I published a short account of it in the Birmingham paper, for the discoverer's benefit, and numbers of strangers from different parts were gratified with so rare a sight. Amongst other ladies and gentlemen whose curiosity drew them thither, was Mr. Mason, F. R. S. and Woodwardian professor at Cambridge, who afterwards inserted a little Memoir in the Philos. Trans. on this subject, addressed to Martin Folkes, Esq. but as it is a vague account, wanting that precision necessary to gratify a natuTalist, I shall here attempt a more distinct narration.

The well, on application of a candle, immediately took fire, and flamed like spirits of wine, to the height of 18 or 20 inches; the heat was so intense as to boil a common tea kettle in about nine minutes; mutton stakes, and slices of bacon, were broiled very soon, and with an excellent flavour. The old man sometimes boiled his family pot over it, and had the adjacent neighbourhood abounded less with fuel, it might have been applied to culinary purposes, with great advantage.

It is remarkable, that the flame was emitted with a rumbling noise, and alternate gulpings of the water, which, though boiling like a pot, always remained cold, and the ebullition still kept it muddy. I do not suppose there was any inflammable quality in the water itself, which proceeded only from the morassy grounds above; doubtless the igneous vapours were collected in the lower cavities of the earth, and hollows of old coal mines, which generally produce very sulphurous exalations, and particularly in the works near this place, where the subterraneous ducts of air force through the fissures of coal and rock, so strongly, as to blow out a candle. These currents of air, in their passages to the yacant

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