STAFFORDSHIRE. This county is rich in coal. [COAL.] Gypsum is quarried in Needwood Forest and in the adjacent part of the valley of the Dove; the pure white gypsum, or that slightly streaked with red, yields plaster of Paris, which is much used in the potteries for moulds. Near Dudley is a mass of basalt, locally termed Rowley Rag ; it is quarried for mending the roads and paving the streets of Birmingham. The coal-works of the county are very numerous and impor tant ; in the south they supply the iron and other hardware manufactures of Birmingham, Dudley, Wolverhampton, We dn e sbury, BiLsto n, Walsall, &c. ; and in the north they supply the fuel to the Pottery district. Perhaps the neighbourhood of Birmingham is the cheapest district for coals in' England, and the con sumption is prodigious. Ironstone is abundant in the Dudley coal-field.
The canals of this county are numerous. The most important is the Trent and Mersey Canal, or, as it is sometimes called, the Grand Trunk Canal, which crosses the county. The Birmingham Canal and the Birmingham and Liverpool_ Junction Canal may be regarded as forming another important line, entering the county near Birmingham, and passing through the iron and coal district, by Dudley and Wolverhampton, and then running into Shropshire. There are several smaller lines which belong to the coal and iron districts of South Staffordshire. The county is also well
supplied with railways.
The manufacturing . towns of Staffordshire are.numerous and important. 7 The pottery towns are noticed under POTTERIES. The iron and coal works Of BILSTON and Bnonwicu are noticed under those headings. Cheadle has manufactures of copper in its vicinity. Leek is one of the silk manufacturing towns. Lielyield is rather an agricultural centre than a seat of manufactures ; and the same may be said of Tamworth. Newcastle under-Lyne has a considerable manufacture of hats. Stafford is one of the depots of the shoe manufacture. Tipton is situated in the centre of the South Staffordshire iron and coal district, and its present size and import ance are quite modern, and have arisen from the rapid extension of the iron manufactures. In Walsall the inhabitants are employed largely in manufactures of iron and brass ; and there are coal-mines and freeUone and limestone quarries in the neighbourhood. Wednesbury is also in the heart of the South Staffordshire coal and iron district, and it has considerable manufactures of fire-arms, machinery, edge-tools, files, screws, &c. Wol verhampton produces manufactures of fire-irons, tinned and japanned iron-ware, locks, guns, files, screws, and a variety of other articles.