View source for Economic minerals other than coal, Bristol and Gloucester region

===Manganese===
Small quantities of the earthy oxide of manganese, pyrolusite (MnO<sub>2</sub>), occur as diffuse pods within iron-hydroxide ore masses in the Dolomitic Conglomerate of the Mendips at East Harptree, Higher Pitts near Ebbor, Croscombe and Wad- bury. Much of the ore was used by the potteries for imparting a black colour to the ware, but at Wadbury it was used in the local ironworks to harden steel. It is no longer mined. Of purely scientific interest is the occurrence of a suite of rare minerals, notably oxychlorides of copper and/or lead including mendipite, in cavities within the pyrolusite at Higher Pitts. Comparable occurrences have now been recorded from manganiferous iron ore veins up to 2 m across in Carboniferous Limestone in the eastern Mendips.