THE BASIC INDUSTRIES
OF
GREAT BRITAIN
CHAPTER 1
THE YORKSHIRE COALFIELD
Pawr 1
Tue largest unworked area of coal deposits in the
United Kingdom, and the one which presents the greatest
modern developments, is that of South and West Yorkshire.
These deposits, which are confined practically to the West
Riding, with a tendency to develop eastward, extend from
a few miles north of Leeds to the southern limit of the
county, and there merge into the coalfields of Derbyshire
and Nottinghamshire. This coalfield is larger than those
of Durham, Northumberland, Lancashire and Cumberland
collectively, and than the whole of the deposits in Scotland
and Ireland ; whilst in Wales it is only surpassed by South
Wales and Monmouthshire unitedly. At the present rate of
output the quantity available at a depth not exceeding 4,000
feet will not become exhausted for more than 300 years.
The actual figures are as follows :
Estimated tons.
Yorkshire : . : . ; 19,138,006,395
Wales and Monmouthshire - 26,470,996,579
Durham and Northumberland . 10,780,741,987
Cumberland and Lancashire 5,766,216,532
Scotland and Ireland : . . 15,855,924,3561
1 For full details as to the coal reserves of the country and all matters
relating to colliery working and the disposal of its products the reader is
referred to the Report of the Royal Commission on the Coal Industry (1925).
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