The Cannock Chase Geotrail
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
The Cannock Chase Geotrail To Introduction Tixall To Slitting Mill - Wolseley Centre 33-37 Stone KEY Welcome to the Cannock Chase Geotrail. This geotrail is de- Stafford shire & The Slitting Mill 33 forged Worcesters To GEOTRAIL Major road signed to give a glimpse of the rocks, landscape and the geo- hire Canal Coley nails from iron extracted logical industrial heritage of the area. The trail is 36 km, too GEOTRAIL/ Minor road GREAT from local ironstones. This long to be tackled all in one. We recommend completing it in w o Road shared Footpath S HAYWOOD is now a pumping station Essex 40 sections from the car parks at Satnall Hills, Glacial Boulder, r Bridge e PH iv S extracting water from the Alternative route 1 Interest point Birches Valley Forest Centre, Castle Ring and Wolseley R Kidderminster Forma- Centre. Trail directions can be found on the reverse Shugborough Bromsgrove Sandstone, River Hall MM tion, a major aquifer Cliff Caves 39 P Car Park of this leaflet together with background information. 41 for the region. Canal Some sections of the trail can be muddy and un- The Bromsgrove Sandstone, deposited in WC Toilets even so the use of suitable footwear is advised. LITTLE Colliery HAYWOOD low energy meandering rivers, is ex- Parts of the trail are in areas managed by the Shugborough To Information Park Farm 39 PH posed at the top of Etching Fault with direction i Stone Forestry Commission and areas of active for- Hill . A 15th Centu- of downthrow 35 estry working should not be entered. Tempo- Public House PH ry glass furnace 42 Coal seam rary closures of parts of the trail may be nec- T R which used E Café essary and alternative routes should be N Colwich T Tr Railway P A ent sought. All features should be viewed 513 and River Me Railway tunnel SATNALL V A rsey L L C Shop To E a S from the geotrail unless a permitted Y n A51 WOLSELEY BRIDGE HILLS Trent a Stafford Weetman’s l access route is indicated. WC P 1 Bridge P i S View Point Bus stop t Satnall Hills - SEVEN SPRINGS PH 0 1 km To P A513 Glacial Boulder Milford xall Faul Ti Harts 1-6 2 S 38 Hill he r B the white quartz pebbles from the conglomerates as raw ro Satnall Hills Quarry 1 o Wolseley Broc k KF A51 3 Bridge k material has been discovered at 36. The trail crosses shows the pebbly Kid- Hill o To o r two faults marked by valleys near 37 which downthrow B Rugeley derminster Formation 4 alley d V r the Bromsgrove Sandstone in between Kidderminster o f that underlies most of ere f a M t Formation rocks. The material in the track and fields Brocton Coppice y S Cannock Chase. This e ll changes from pebbles to sand and back again. a BS was deposited in a V ’s m large braided river. BROCTON a Wolseley Centre - Satnall Hills 38-42 h rook a r Small pit marks on b 37 Milford Freda’s Grave A ld B To Contrast the broad Trent Valley 38 which carried huge O the pebbles formed Quarry P Car Park Rugeley 5 S quantities of meltwater during the last Ice Age with due to quartz dissolv- h 6 e 36 r the valleys seen elsewhere on the trail. At Cliff ing where the pebbles b r Etching o k o Caves the Bromsgrove Sandstone is spec- P o 39 o Hill pressed against each oth- k r B M tacularly exposed in a building stone quarry with o u 35 er. The valley that passes n W t R e d d s pickaxe marks visible on the faces. Excavation V r o t Harts Hill and the Mere a f 2 B l f Ch l as u e a followed the main sandstone horizon into the t e l t y ey t Valley 3 are unusual as they GLACIAL S R s o a R d hillside forming caves. d Do not enter the go both up and down hill. This is BOULDER 9 10 7 caves. Essex Bridge 40 took pack horses characteristic of erosion by water P Rugeley Quarry To carrying coal from the mines on to the flowing under pressure beneath a Rd k Rugeley o south to the salt brine works in the glacier. From Broc Hill 4, the low o Chase 8 k o Trent Valley. A river terrace can be P BS o To Road r ground of the softer Mercia Mud- ord Br f B Corner f a J seen on the wide flood plain near Cannock t o g n n d S e stones of the Stafford Basin can be d R s i Woo is sley 34 Shugborough Hall 41. Com- King SLITTING MILL L R To seen beyond the Tixall Fault, the an PH e 33 Rugeley pare the flatter profile of western boundary of Cannock Chase. The Berkswich Sundial is made from blocks of fossiliferous Car- BIRCHES VALLEY Eastern Boundar the Sherbrook Valley 42 Bank 32 boniferous Limestone from Caldon Low in the Peak District. At Milford Quarry 5 and 6, the pebbly Kid- e FOREST CENTRE ridg enk as it enters the Trent derminster Formation includes thin sandstone layers. The quarry is a major national resource of sand and P 31 alley P WC S Valley with that gravel. Please do not enter the quarry as it is a conservation area. i Birches V seen further y Faul MM Glacial Boulder - Birches Valley 7-10 Brook upstream t y To n o 30 Rugeley at 8. The Glacial Boulder 7 is granite. Its faceted sides were St Ravenhill 0 k 6 29 caused by abrasion as it was transported under a glacier, o 4 11 A o Br 28 BRERETON probably from the Lake District. The Sherbrook Valley 8 is Coppice g ad n o Fair Oak 1 i R s PH asymmetric, steeper on the eastern side and more strongly gul- i rd o R f es 27 lied. This is characteristic of valleys n Belfast ed H developed under permafrost conditions 13 KF Flaxley The Levels (see overleaf). The Sher Brook is a misfit 12 KF 25 M 26 river. Its large valley formed during the last if lin Old s P V Ice Age as meltwater from surface snow and a Engine 24 l Hill le BS y 4 View across Stafford Basin ice was unable to soak into the frozen ground. d Hayes To oa The Kidderminster Formation can be viewed from Stile R Hednesford y Cop er lli Brick Kiln 23 the trail in the old Rugeley Quarry 9 and at the trail o S P C t i l e side 10. It is sandier than at Satnall Hills Quarry, sug- C 22 o CM p 7 gesting a lower energy part of the braided river system. R d KF Ma rqu is Birches Valley - Castle Ring 11-17 Drive 14 Startley Sta rtle 21 y BS Fair Oak Colliery had shafts through the Triassic rocks to the Coal Measures 90m below. Lane 15 To Spoil heaps of dark grey shale 11 contrast the surface pebble beds. The trail continues Upper Longdon along the line of the colliery railway. Rising Brook 12 is another misfit river, dwarfed by its d M oa u R tc hi 20 y ll’s deeply-incised valley 13, possibly cut by the draining of a glacially-dammed lake. Triassic le Gutter ge u rocks were deposited unconformably on top of deformed Carboniferous mudstones and coals R To (see cross-sections). Colliery Road 14 runs Red Brook above the unconformity which can be recogn- Hazelslade ised on the trail 15 by the change from drier, peb- 16 BS bly conditions to wetter and muddier ones. The Old Park Coal outcrops just beyond Red Brook 16 19 and numerous small bell pits were dug here. Circu- CM MM lar depressions near the trail mark some of these. 17 18 CASTLE RING Ironstone was also extracted and smelted locally us- KF ing charcoal. Orange sandstone breccia, the Hopwas P PH Formation, occurs in a metre high section to the left of the HB d ill R Cannock H trail at the base of the Triassic 17. Below this, the Castle lly 13 Meltwater channel o Wood Ring Coal was extracted to the north of Castle Ring. H Castle Ring - Slitting Mill 18-32 The view from Castle Ring 18 shows the low ground beyond Rugeley formed by the soft Mercia Mudstone rocks of the Needwood Basin with the Peak District beyond. The trail between 19 and 29 follows the Eastern Boundary Fault, responsible for bringing the coal close enough to the surface to be mined. At 19 the higher ground marks the Bromsgrove Sandstone across the fault. The Kidder- minster Formation forms the ridge between 20 and 21. At 22 coal fragments are visible in the muddy track and bell-pit depressions occur near by. Pebbles return as the fault is crossed and the track be- comes sandier as it passes into the Bromsgrove Sandstone 23. The stream here is red-orange from the leaching of ironstones within the coal spoil tip which can be examined at 24, the site of the Old Engine Pit. The Eastern Boundary Fault can be seen at 25 with downthrown Bromsgrove Sandstone nearest the road and Kidderminster Formation behind. The latter unit can be seen in the quarry 26.