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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