On the Discovery of Natural Gas in East Sussex

Abstract

I. V arious D iscoveries of the G as . The first record of the discovery of an inflammable natural gas in East Sussex is contained in Mr. Henry Willett's 13th Quarterly Report of the Subwealden Exploration (Netherfield), 1875. It is there stated that in making experiments on the temperature, etc. at various depths, and on lowering a light in the bore-tube, an explosion occurred. Strange oscillations in the depth of the water are reported to have been noticed, which at the time were attributed ( inter alia ) to the discharge of inflammable gases derived probably ‘from the petroleum-bearing strata beneath’ (the Kimeridge Clay). Another discovery of inflammable natural gas occurred in the year 1895, when a deep artesian bore-tube (6 inches in diameter) was sunk in the stable-yard of the New Heathfield Hotel, close to the Heathfield Station of the London, Brighton, & South Coast Railway Company (Eastbourne & Tunbridge Wells Branch) in the parish of Waldron, East Sussex. At the depth of 228 feet, the foreman of the work noticed that the water which had been put down the borehole to assist the working of the tools was ‘boiling.’ As he was about to lower a candle to discover the cause, the gas arising from the bubbles caught fire, and burnt ‘to about the height of a man.’ Subsequently the foreman attached small tubes and ignited the gas at a distance of 15 yards from the borehole. Although he appears to have reported the details of the strata traversed to his employers, he