| Date Note | Date of map from Torrens (2011) |
| Description | Sections and maps of the coalfield in Lancashire by Elias HALL, comprising:
1) Coloured engraved sections - "A Geological Section exhibiting the Strata across the Coalfield of Lancashire, extending from Manchester ... to Clithero by Elias Hall, Mineral Surveyor. Castleton, Derbyshire and No. 20 Ridgefield, Manchester", 1831. (2 copies).
2) Hand coloured engraved map - "A mineralogical and geological map of the coalfield of Lancashire, Yorkshire, Cheshire and Derbyshire", Castleton; Manchester, 2nd imprint, [1834]. |
| Administrative History | Elias Hall (1764-1853) was born in Derbyshire and made his living as a mineral surveyor, model-maker and fossil dealer in Derby, as well as acting as geological tour guide around the local area.
The map which was likely first published in 1834 is one of the first detailed geological maps of Lancashire and was directly influenced by William Smith through Smith’s friend and pupil John Farey (1766-1826). Hall had shown Farey around Derbyshire in 1808 when Farey had been commissioned to produce an agricultural survey of the county. The map is dedicated to Adam Sedgwick, another who had benefited from Hall’s first-hand geological knowledge when Sedgwick was trying to learn geology for his new teaching post at Cambridge in 1818.
Of particular interest is the stratigraphical column on the left. In the first imprint it mistakenly showed Silurian trilobites under 'Kimmeridge Clay'. This was corrected in the 2nd imprint. |
| ArchNote | Source: Torrens, H S & T Ford "Elias Hall, pioneer mineral surveyor and geologist in the Midlands and Lancashire", Mercian Geologist, vol 17 (2011), pp251-261. Description by John Thackray, revised by Caroline Lam |