Scotland’s underworld

Heritage Rock art The dramatic planning paintings of Are we getting it right? Sir Kyffin Williams RA 21Winter 2003-2004 OuPluggingtcro pthes L-GAP On other pages Outcrops

On the 10th birthday of Earth Heritage magazine (hence Outcrops – pages 3-9 the cake!), I am delighted that we can bring you a larger-than-normal, 32-page birthday feast of news and Heritage planning – page 10 a huge variety of views on geoconservation. Perhaps the pick of the headlines is that the Aggregates Levy UK’s first geoparks Sustainability Fund, which has underpinned so many – page 12 excellent projects in England, is to be continued.

This issue also sports the latest on some other important initiatives, for example, the move towards developing Local Geodiversity Action Plans (LGAPs) and the Soils in Scotland – page 14 establishment of the first European Geoparks in England. Michael Dearden and Mick Stanley discuss the benefits of more holistic and full integrated approaches Rock Art – page 15 to geoconservation. We also have two intriguing examples of the relationship between geology and civilisation. The first article looks at how geology has Landscape & influenced human settlement of the Scottish Highlands. The second describes conservation how geology and human history are entwined in the Wyre Forest Coalfield. – page 18 At a more spiritual and personal level, we look at how the geology of Wales has inspired and influenced the paintings of one of the country’s most famous artists – Sir Kyffin Williams RA. Still with art, Terry Beggs takes us through the trials and tribulations of constructing a geological map of Anglesey – and tells us how this mosaic is now at the centre of his coffee table! We also bring you details of an important new book, Geodiversity, by Murray Gray – an invaluable Science or fiction? compendium of information and best practice. – page 20

These are just some of the topics that we hope you will enjoy. If you would like Between a rock and a hard place to contribute news or an article, please – page 22 contact your local editor (details below).

Stewart Campbell, Managing Editor

History and geology Earth Heritage is a twice-yearly magazine produced for the in the Wyre Forest geological and landscape conservation community by the coalfield – page 24 Earth Joint Nature Conservation Committee, English Nature, Scottish Natural Heritage heritage and the Countryside Council for Wales. The UKRIGS Geoconservation Association is a principal contributing partner. We would like to thank all those who have assisted with the preparation of the magazine. However, the opinions expressed by the contributors are not necessarily those of the above Coffee on the rocks – page 26 organisations. A database listing all the articles carried in issues up to issue 17 is available on CD. Contact any member of the editorial board. Fragile gems in Scotland’s underworld Key articles from this and previous issues of Earth Heritage can be found on the Web at: – page 27 www.seaburysalmon.com/earth.html Offers of articles should be directed to the relevant members of the Latest publications, including a special editorial board, who are: discount offer – page 29 Managing Editor STEWART CAMPBELL, Countryside MICK STANLEY, Geodiversity Council for Wales, Maes-y-Ffynnon, Consulting, Park House, 8 King Ffordd Penrhos, Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 Street, Ripon, North Yorkshire 2DN. Telephone 01248 385693, e-mail: HG4 1PJ. Telephone 01765 609479, Cover photo [email protected] e-mail: [email protected] Editors CYNTHIA BUREK, UKRIGS Geoconservation Association, DAVID EVANS, English Nature, Environment Research Group, University Northminster House, Peterborough PE1 College Chester, Parkgate Road, Chester 1UA. Telephone 01733 455204, e-mail: CH1 4BJ. Telephone 01244 375444, [email protected] e-mail: [email protected] COLIN MACFADYEN, Scottish Natural Heritage, 2 Anderson Production Place, Edinburgh EH6 5NP. Seabury Salmon, Seabury Salmon & Telephone 0131 446 2400, Associates, The Old Pound, Ludford, e-mail: [email protected] Ludlow, Shropshire SY8 1PP. Telephone NEIL ELLIS, 01584 877442. Fax 01584 875416. Joint Nature Conservation Committee, e-mail: [email protected] Monkstone House, Circulation The Northern Lights – a superbly decorated section of City Road, Peterborough PE1 1JY. passage beyond the downstream sump in Cnoc nan Uamh Earth Heritage is free. Contact your Telephone 01733 562626, that can only be reached by cave divers. local Editor to be placed on the e-mail: [email protected] Photo by Fraser Simpson mailing list. 2 Outcrops Outcropsutcrops Witch Craig: another stone in the wall of education

Witch Craig’s resting spot for walkers is far more than a warm shelter. In 2003, thanks to the co-operation of interested individuals and organisations, a geological viewpoint was created here in the Bathgate Hills, west of Edinburgh. Its views extend across the centre of Scotland from the Bass Rock and the North Sea to the east, to Arran in the Firth of Clyde to the west.

The viewpoint was uniquely designed to reflect the historical and agricultural heritage of the area and to fit well into the Dr John Markland and pupils of St Columba’s Primary School open the Witch Craig geological viewpoint. hill landscape with its dry ‘stane’ dykes. Photo by Scottish Natural Heritage Built into the curved wall are 43 special rocks collected from locations across this dramatic panorama of central Scotland – making the shelter an unusual Westward Ho! interpretation feature that raises awareness Devon and Dorset should brace themselves caught the local interest, several local of the surroundings and the geological for an influx of geoscientists next schools will be involved, demonstrating heritage. September. With the JNCC-sponsored how geology can capture young people’s Earth Heritage – World Heritage imaginations. Approached from Beecraigs Country Park geoconservation conference centred on to the north, Cairnpapple Hill in the south Wareham in Dorset, the possibility of the As part of the conference, JNCC is or from the Scottish Korean War Memorial International Geological Correlation working to initiate a global network of at the foot of the Craig, the viewpoint was Programme (IGCP) European regional World Heritage geological sites to share opened by the Chairman of Scottish meeting happening in Dorset and the experience. With representatives from sites Natural Heritage, Dr John Markland. The British Association Festival of Science at in Europe and farther afield (China, event, a prelude to Scottish Geology the University of Exeter, it will be a busy Australia, Argentina) the conference will Festival (see overleaf), involved pupils from month. provide a good opportunity to exchange the nearby St Columba’s Primary School. ideas and develop effective working links. The Wareham event will be by invitation, The viewpoint was made possible with the and will bring together UK and Sponsored by JNCC, and jointly organised help of Andy and Elspeth Gibbs, Lothian international organisations and individuals with the Devon/Dorset World Heritage and Borders RIGS Group, Central Scotland that are interested in geoconservation (and Team and English Nature, the conference Forest Trust, West some that are not currently involved but will run from 7-10 September, 2004 with Lothian Council, could be!). It will use the Devon/Dorset the possibility of following it up the Shanks First World Heritage coast as a model for Earth immediately with a technical ‘working Fund and Scottish heritage conservation best practice. weekend’ for people more directly involved Natural Heritage. Representatives from other geological in site management. The conference World Heritage sites, European geologists coincides with the BA Festival of Science working in geoconservation and a range of ( 6-10 September) in Exeter – providing an The Witch Craig information leaflet UK government and non-government opportunity to link to a wider audience - – an insight into agencies and organisations will have an and is likely to be followed by the IGCP the geological opportunity to see for themselves the meeting. The latter will bring together stories of the scientific, social and educational European geoscientists and scientific rocks in the wall. implications of living and working with our administrators, beginning at Burlington geological past. The Devon/Dorset World House in London and then migrating to the Heritage Team will lead field trips to see Dorset Coast to look at the public scientifically important sites on the coast understanding of the geosciences. and the visitor management facilities that interpret the science for the public. With – TONY WEIGHELL, the concept of World Heritage having Joint Nature Conservation Committee 3 Outcropsutcrops Outcrops Rock On rolls to more success Rock On 2003 – the fourth Scottish Geology Festival – took place in September, bringing new insights for people involved in geology, and inspiring newcomers to the world of rocks and landscapes. Aimed at bringing geology to Left: Scottish Olympic curling the people of Scotland and farther afield, champions Rhona Martin and Debbie Knox with Stuart Monro this biennial event, formerly called Scottish at the launch of Rock On 2003. Geology Week, involved thousands of Below: the new web site screen. Below left, an actor dressed as people in events throughout Scotland. a Polar explorer. All images courtesy Scottish Natural Heritage Because 2003 is the centenary of the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition, led by William Bruce, Rock On had an ice theme and was launched at Our Dynamic Earth by Rhona Martin and Debbie A NEW GATEWAY to Scottish Knox, two of Scotland’s Olympic geology was declared open curling champions. during Rock On 2003. The www.scottishgeology.com Ninety-nine individual events were website was officially launched by organised and run by geology enthusiasts, Dr Stuart Monro, helped by an industry and various groups, societies and early 20th century Antarctic museums. Together, this programme of explorer (actually an actor in period costume!). The website has mine and quarry visits, geological rambles, been expanded and will be continually updated. It now includes guided walks through ice-sculpted information about RIGS in Scotland and details of initiatives such as landscapes, panning for gold and drystone the Naming Stones project (below). walling was designed to be fun and informative – not just for those with an Written in stone at Parliament interest in geology, but for people new to Following the subject. the ‘Naming Stones’ event during The now traditional Rock On Rock On 2001 (when a geo-orientated artwork competition for Caithness Flagstone at schoolchildren was split into separate the Royal Mile in competitions for primary and secondary Edinburgh was engraved schools. The competitions were designed to with details of its name, get pupils curious about landscape age and origin), the formation during the last Ice Age and the Organising Committee of life that may be around during a future ice Rock On co-ordinated age. Winners were presented with their the ‘naming’ of another prizes at the end-point of the festival – the two stones in Edinburgh British Geological Survey Open Day at to coincide with Rock On 2003. This event, at the new Murchison House in Edinburgh. Some of those who made ‘named’ stones at the Scottish Parliament, was intended Parliament a reality. Among those pictured are Colin to stimulate the public imagination MacFadyen of SNH (second from right); Graeme Although Scottish Natural Heritage Hadden, Managing Director of Watson Stonecraft about geology within the cityscape co-ordinates the festival, it’s very much a (end right); Graham Rennie of the Holyrood Project and to help restore the links Team (fourth from right), and Ewan Hyslop of the partnership effort, bringing together the between the natural and built British Geological Survey (fifth from right). Sculptress National Museums of Scotland, Our Graciela Ainsworth is to the left of the dolerite block. heritage. Watson Stonecraft, Watson Stonecraft apprentice stonemason Dean Dynamic Earth, the British Geological building stone contractors at the Hamilton is to the right. The section of kerbing, the Survey, the Hunterian Museum, the Parliament site, generously first ‘named’ stone at the Scottish Parliament, will be Scottish Earth Science Education Forum, set in place sometime in 2004. supported the engraving, by IPR/46-32C British Geological Survey. © NERC. and the Open University, Glasgow and Edinburgh-based sculptors Graciela Edinburgh geological societies. Quarry Ainsworth and Andy McFetters. Products Association Scotland and Dolerite kerbstones from ScotRail supported the event. Caldercruix in Scotland’s central belt and Kemnay Granite from – Colin MacFadyen, Aberdeen, are the named stones at 4 Scottish Natural Heritage the Parliament. Outcrops Ma in the B Outcropsutcrops kin s lack Country g Wave The Waves Project in Dudley is inspiring children about their world-renowned geological heritage and helping them to use their imagination to see the area as it was many millions of years ago. The project is an innovative partnership between Dudley Museum and Art Gallery, Wren’s Nest National Nature Reserve and the Environment Zone.

Working with artists, children produced ‘geoart’ inspired by Above: the children at the start of the project. Left and right: some of the spectacular results of the project. objects contained in specially Photos by the Waves Project designed wooden boxes, carved programmes in the three KEY LOCATIONS EXPLAINED: with images of local fossils. key locations. Having each Acclaimed wood-carver Frank worked separately with the WREN’S NEST: One of the most famous Trigg designed and made the set of boxes, all the groups will geological sites in Britain because its rock, interlocking boxes – each unique and made then come together at a special sharing Wenlock Limestone, is rich in the remains to look like a large piece of rock (although event. The boxes will be reassembled into of sea creatures that lived over 400 not as heavy!). the large hexagon, forming a giant floor million years ago. The local trilobite, the jigsaw. Everyone will be able to present Dudley Bug (Calymene), is an emblem for Inside each box is a range of materials and their own work and also learn how others the Borough. resources, intended to stimulate the work have developed from the same starting ENVIRONMENT ZONE: A borough-wide children are doing with an artist, their point. facility at Robert’s Primary School, Lower classroom teacher and their parents. Gornal. It includes classroom teaching Contents include an education pack, a In the long-term, it’s hoped the project will areas, sensory gardens, an organic radio-controlled trilobite, a poster of the 25 expand and draw in other partners such as vegetable patch and nature trail. commonly found fossils at Wren’s Nest, a the local college, the health authority, Sure DUDLEY MUSEUM AND ART GALLERY: clinometer, a fossil collecting kit, mineral Start and Connexions schemes, as well as The museum has a substantial geological samples and teachers’ briefing notes. local businesses. collection and gallery. In the early 1990s a new approach was taken to programming, Using the boxes as a basis, project partners – Graham Worton, with theatrical exhibitions linked to pop- are developing outreach activities, linked to Keeper of Geology, Dudley Museum ular culture and the National Curriculum. Building stones go on the web Instant web access to details and photos of Edinburgh and Glasgow, the red Permo- Scotland’s building stones is now up and Triassic sandstones from the south and running on a computer near you. Part of west, and the much-exported Aberdeenshire the Scottish building stone collection of the granites and Caithness flagstone. British Geological Survey has been digitised in a project funded by Resources Making collections like these more easily for Learning in Scotland. accessible is vital to promote understanding of the importance of geology to Scotland’s Polished pink biotite-microcline granite from Tormore The BGS collection was started in the 19th social and economic development, and the Quarry, Island of Mull. This famous building stone was used for many of the lighthouses around the century by the Geological Survey of link between geodiversity and the built Scottish coastline, for the Blackfriars, Westminster Scotland and contains more than 3,500 heritage. The collection is available through and Holburn Viaduct bridges in London, and for individual specimens of the major building the Scottish Cultural Resource Access buildings in Glasgow, Manchester, Liverpool, New York and New Zealand. stone and slates from across the country. Network (SCRAN) website Both images by British Geological Survey. © NERC. www.scran.ac.uk and also included in the Sample of paving stone from Holburn Head Quarry Now online are 600 high-quality images BGS Geoscience Imagebase. in Caithness, presented to the Geological Survey in 1910, showing the and useful text, intended to increase original label of Wm. awareness of the range of Scottish building With the support of organisations such as Langley, Quarrymaster and stones. The website is aimed at the public, Historic Scotland and the Scottish Stone Pavement Merchant, at schools and colleges and at professionals Liaison Group, the British Geological Thurso. This is one of involved in building conservation. Survey hopes to develop a comprehensive a set of 15 specimens representing the digital Atlas of Scottish Building Stones. different quarries Some of the well-known building stones operating at the peak of the Caithness featured include the characteristic grey and – Ewan Hyslop, flagstone industry. ‘blonde’ Carboniferous sandstones of British Geological Survey 5 Outcropsutcrops Outcrops

Full RIGS review UKRIGS Annual Conference: Once again the UKRIGS Annual A strong for North Somerset Conference and AGM enjoyed great weather, this time in West Lothian, Avon RIGS Group has undertaken a full Scotland. Delegates attending the 2003 review of the 70 RIGS in North Somerset. It moving f event, held from 24-26 October at the involved visits by Group members to check Oatridge Agricultural College near the condition of each site and appraise it in Edinburgh, thought it a great success! around them. In this case, it was inspired relation to English Nature criteria. The speakers were interesting and by the Provost’s own background in informative, and the change to include underground mining. Aubrey Manning Avon RIGS Group covers the former county discussion sessions was very useful. gave an inspiring keynote address on the of Avon - now represented by the four need for greater collaboration between unitary authority areas of Bath & North-East the biological and geological sciences, Somerset, Bristol, North Somerset and The conference drew 60 delegates from before John Gordon from Scottish South Gloucestershire. 21 RIGS groups from around the UK and Natural Heritage gave us an supporting organisations. It was understanding of RIGS issues in A crucial element of the survey was the wonderful to see RIGS Group Scotland. establishment of accurate site boundaries, representatives ‘catching up’ with what and detailed, up-to-date maps were was happening in other parts of the UK provided to check and revise as necessary. and equally pleasing to see the These were generated by MapInfo, a established and developing partnerships sophisticated GIS system used by all four between these Groups and some of the unitary authorities and Bristol Regional 20 supporting organisations. There was a Environmental Records Centre (which strong atmosphere of ‘moving forward’ manages the Avon RIGS records). A report and a focus on ‘achieving’ in the next 12 of the review has been presented to the months and beyond. Funding, a key North Somerset Council, together with a issue, was addressed in a positive ‘can proposal to continue to designate 68 RIGS. do’ way. The project identified several issues relating The opening address by the Provost of to RIGS which had been designated for 10 West Lothian Council, Jo Thomas, years or more. In some cases, boundaries showed that there were lay people who were extended and even combined in order wanted to understand and be involved in to offer greater protection to particular geoconservation, stemming from their sites. For instance, at Goblin Combe, near general appreciation of the landscape Bristol Airport, a large new geomorphological site was proposed to encompass 10 smaller geological sites. Several new RIGS were also proposed as a Examining the scales of result of the review, identifying geological and geomorphological features not covered Conserving the Recent Past – The presentations highlighted the diverse in the previous North Somerset RIGS list. Bournemouth University, June 2003. approaches that are necessary and emphasised the different scales at which A fundamental conclusion seems to be that Measured in trans-disciplinary terms, this the challenges of conserving the recent future reviews will need to be more conference was a success, as it covered a past have to be addressed. frequent - perhaps every five years, in line wide range of aspects related to the with biological reviews. identification and conservation of After an overview presented by Keith Pleistocene and Holocene sites. The Duff (English Nature), Murray Gray Below: One of the geological RIGS in Goblin Combe, conference, organised by Bournemouth (Queen Mary University) advocated a exposing basalt overlain by tuff in Carboniferous Clifton University, the Quaternary Research holistic approach to geomorphology, Down Limestone, and now within the proposed new geomorphological site. This exposure was originally Association, British Geomorphological arguing that the designation of protected cleared by the Nature Conservancy Council in the 1980s, Research Group and the Geoconservation areas led to the fragmentation of the and is maintained by geology students from Clevedon Commission attracted about 50 delegates. landscape as well as the processes taking Community School. Photo by Avon RIGS Group Seventeen presentations were given by place within it, outlining a range of practitioners, mostly from academic strategies that may be applied to institutions but also from RIGS groups, conserve the wider geo-resource. the National Trust, the conservation agencies and industry. Their subjects This theme was expanded by Cynthia ranged from broad policy and strategy Burek and Jac Potter (Chester College of through site-based studies to detailed Higher Education) on the rôle of 6 investigations of technique. Geodiversity Action Plans (see pages Outcrops Outcropsutcrops

sense of tourist public, and how evidence suggests valuable tool for RIGS groups to share that many tourists come to Scotland information with each other and other because of its landscape and geodiversity, organisations, and may even help them orward but that no-one is capitalising on this generate their own revenue! enough. On day two, Elaine Tilson outlined the Hamish Ross from the SESEF (Scottish As communication is the key to most RIGS objectives and progress of the UKRIGS Earth Science Education Forum) delivered Groups objectives, it was great to see the Project, and called for Groups to consider a thought-provoking insight into educating launch of the GeoConservation database, regional communication and collaboration the 95 per cent of people with no developed by Cheryl Jones and Craig to access some funding opportunities. background knowledge or interest in Slawson, first discussed at the 2002 geodiversity. Con Gillen from the Centre of UKRIGS conference. Craig Slawson Cynthia Burek (Cheshire RIGS) discussed Life-long Learning, Edinburgh University explained the pros and cons of the system, the recently launched Cheshire Local capitalised on Hamish’s talk by explaining and identified further improvements still Geodiversity Action Plan; Laura Cox how they were training tour guides at under way. Feedback from the pilot (Staffordshire RIGS) outlined the proposed tertiary level to communicate with the programme has indicated that this will be a Staffordshire LGAP; and Charlotte Vye (BGS) outlined the Remarkable field trips Geological Audit of North Each of the three days included field trips to look Pennines AONB. Jon Radley at the stunning local geology. The trips were quite from the Warwickshire remarkable – they even included a flypast by Museum also discussed the Concorde on its final flight over Scotland! Warwickshire Geological Audit. It was interesting to On day one we enjoyed either Binny Craig RIGS see the different approaches and the Witch Craig Wall or Witch Craig Wall and these groups had taken to Petershill and East Kirkton RIGS. After initial create their LGAPs. Jon concern that it might rain, we were exposed to Macadam (Cornwall RIGS) amazing geology in clear, crisp weather. spoke about the need for Delegates had the option on day two of going to improved access to current Calton Hill (left) or Hollyrood Park, before enjoying RIGS group contacts for the a tour of BGS with a buffet dinner. On day three potential of National Trust those who did not have to start for home were and RIGS group spoiled for choice, with options like Barns Ness, collaboration to be realised. Stirling University and Bridge of Allen! The day-three open discussion centred on communication and raising public awareness, increasing conservation challenges membership and distributing brochures 10,11); Antony Long (University of the Cornish coast and surveyed the effectively. Durham) who looked at a variety of distribution of pingos in Wales respectively. problems on Dungeness – not least what do The very recent past was highlighted by a – Elaine Tilson, you do when you have a nuclear power discussion about conserving the records of UKRIGS Project Officer station sited on an active geomorphological environmental change and human activity The UKRIGS AGM saw a ‘changing of feature; and Vincent May (University of in urban sediments, emphasising the value the guard’. The chairman, Ken Bournemouth) on the challenges of the of these records to the understanding of Addison, stepped down after four Dorset and East Devon Coast World environmental change and human impacts years and the new chairman, Cynthia Heritage Site. in the historical past. Burek, stood unopposed.

Other talks focussed on a variety of The conference succeeded in giving a UKRIGS officers are: Chair – conservation techniques, including the broad overview of the issues and Dr Cynthia Burek (NEWRIGS); impact of vibration from engineering work techniques involved in this area of Treasurer – Alan Cutler (Black Country on unconsolidated sediments, the uses of conservation. Unfortunately, it drew to a Geological Society); Secretary – polyurethane foam, and the use of shelters conclusion without having developed a Cheryl Jones (Herefordshire & to protect sites. The Holocene record was vision or direction for the future. Perhaps Worcestershire Earth Heritage Trust). addressed in several talks that dealt with the volume to be produced from the Committee – Dr Derek France evidence to be found in peat deposits and conference will remedy this. (Cheshire RIGS), Dr Peter Jones in one case, the problems associated with (Derbyshire RIGS), Dr Ken Addison their designation. Two talks looked at the – Dave Evans, (Gwynedd & Môn RIGS); Mike Browne conservation of Pleistocene sediments on English Nature (Lothian & Borders RIGS). 7 Outcropsutcrops Outcrops Public inquiries to decide fates of key geological sites Accessibility issue tested English Nature is awaiting a public inquiry decision on the obligations of a quarry owner on, amongst other issues, whether the site should be left in an accessible condition for geological study.

The owner of Woodeaton Quarry SSSI, Oxfordshire, appealed against conditions imposed by a Review of Old Mineral Permissions on the grounds that they were over-stringent and that compensation was required.

Many long-standing mineral permissions Black Rock in the balance such as Woodeaton Quarry allow The future of the scientifically and chalk rubble and crudely bedded chalky operators to leave vertical faces after working the quarry. This makes it difficult educationally important rock exposures at debris, probably representing a solifluction to install a bench or ramp for geological Black Rock, Brighton, will be determined deposit (together known as the inspection and conservation. In addition, by John Prescott, First Secretary for State, Supermarket Member). vertical and steep faces can be a health during 2004. His decision will follow a and safety issue, and are thus in danger public inquiry, due in January 2004. Black Rock is the type locality for both the of being covered up, making them safe Black Rock Member and the Supermarket but obscuring the geological interest. The problems at Black Rock, part of the Member, and has yielded important Brighton to Newhaven Cliffs SSSI, were mammal remains. It is a visually Both English Nature and Oxfordshire RIGS first reported by Natalie Bennett (Earth spectacular site, clearly showing the gave evidence at the Public Inquiry about Heritage 19) during negotiations to try to relationships between an ancient cliff-line the geological interest of the site, which avert an inquiry. Unfortunately, it has still and later periglacial deposits. It was made exposes a succession of fossiliferous Bathonian sediments that are important not been possible to find a solution which a RIGS in 1998 and is well used by for understanding the palaeogeography of retains the scientific interest of the Black university and school parties. the South Midlands during the Middle Rock SSSI and RIGS, and which enables Jurassic. It is hoped the Inquiry will result Brighton and Hove City Council to The public inquiry will consider the site’s in suitable conditions, including the undertake the stabilisation works, scientific importance, the impacts of the retention of conservation faces in those re-profiling, rock bolting and meshing that proposed works on the geology, and the parts of the quarry still to be worked. will enable it to re-open the Undercliff Council’s obligations in terms of health and Walk footpath below the exposures. safety and maintaining the Undercliff Walk – Dave Evans, footpath. English Nature The cliff at Black Rock contains two GCR sites and is also a RIGS. It is of Many Quaternary specialists and outstanding importance for the study of conservationists, including the local RIGS Quaternary stratigraphy, and has a long group, have submitted letters giving their scientific history. It was first described in views on the importance of the site and the 1818, and is even now subject to ongoing impacts of the scheme on the geology of research. The site demonstrates an ancient Black Rock. These letters will be submitted (200,000 year-old) cliff and abrasion as evidence at the inquiry. platform cut into the Chalk, an overlying raised beach deposit (now known as the – Colin Prosser, Black Rock Member), and a sequence of Head of Geology, English Nature Coastal defence versus geology and biodiversity The residents of Sidmouth in East Devon are concerned about being considered for call-in, in order to be determined by the first cliff erosion at Pennington Point. They consider that erosion is Secretary of State. If the scheme is allowed to go ahead, a affecting their gardens and probably threatening the stability of precedent may be set for the determination of similar schemes in the nearby Alma Bridge. The section of cliff on which concern the future. has been focussed is a candidate Special Area of Conservation for its vegetated sea-cliff community. The site also contains two Such schemes can have major impacts on the geological Geological Conservation Review interests and forms part of the features exposed on the coast; affect coastal processes, and Dorset and East Devon Coast World Heritage Site. The District have an impact upon the biological features that may be present. Council has approved a scheme to defend this section of coast – against8 the advice of English Nature. The application is currently – Anna Wetherell, English Nature Outcrops Outcropsutcrops Aggregates Levy: RIGS partnership wins Fund lives on! Welsh Assembly backing Chancellor Gordon Brown Gwynedd and Môn RIGS Group and NEWRIGS announced in his pre-Budget Group have obtained major funding from the speech that the Aggregates Welsh Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund Levy Sustainability Fund (ALSF) to carry out a comprehensive RIGS audit (ALSF), the Fund created to of North Wales. Their success stems from distribute some of Government production of a single RIGS audit strategy for the levy on sand, gravel and whole of Wales, based on a common crushed stone, is to be methodology and standardised format for site continued for a further three documentation. The NEWRIGS award is for two years, so guaranteeing funding years, while the Gwynedd and Môn Group, of geological and other covering a larger and geologically more complex environmental conservation area, will be working on a three-year project. The projects. Welsh Assembly Government is looking to the Association of Welsh RIGS Groups (AWRG) to English Nature, the develop the North Wales project as a template for Countryside Agency and Celebrating the achievements of the ALSF, from left, Sir assessing RIGS in the rest of Wales. English Heritage recently Martin Doughty and Dr Andy Brown, Chair and Chief joined forces at the Museum Executive of English Nature, Tracey Slaven, Countryside The two North Wales groups will share expertise of London to celebrate the Agency, and Edward Impey, English Heritage. Photo by English Nature/Paul Keene, Avico and minimise duplication of effort. A steering distribution of nearly £30 group of representatives from the Welsh million from the Fund, which is meant to help mitigate some of the impacts of Assembly Government, the Countryside Council aggregate extraction including noise and dust. One of the main areas that has for Wales, the Quarry Products Association, local received funding is geology. Presentations underlined the positive impact that the authorities, education sector and RIGS will guide ALSF has had over the last two years. Grants have been awarded to a range of Earth them. science projects, including an examination by the south-east Wildlife Trusts of the relationship between marine aggregates and biodiversity in South-East England, The North Wales project will assess various projects carried out by RIGS groups and the removal of a woolly rhino systematically all potential RIGS in the region. It skeleton from an active pit. will document the selected sites to a common standard and will register the sites with the “The presentations showed what a difference the fund has made. Many of the relevant planning authorities and landowners to projects that received funding would not have received support from other grant ensure the sites’ protection. It will choose sites bodies,” said Tony Cosgrove, Senior Geologist at English Nature. “English Nature for scientific/research, educational, historical and will continue as a distributing body and we expect to have a similar level of funds to aesthetic purposes, and will advise on their distribute to applicants. The ALSF team will contact previous applicants and those subsequent use, development, protection and who have expressed an interest in making an application when we have further monitoring. Importantly, the project will details from Defra.” encourage local schools to adopt and use a RIGS as an ‘outdoor laboratory’ where parts of the curriculum Key Stages 3 and 4 can be Quarrying giant signs up demonstrated. Sites that can be interpreted to benefit education and local people will be The Countryside Council for Wales has CCW,” said the Council’s Head of Earth identified. It is hoped that the audit will underpin signed a Memorandum of Science, Stewart Campbell. “It’s a work on Geodiversity Action Plans in Wales. Understanding with mining giant good way of working in partnership Both groups will consult widely about the Hanson, designed to help reconcile where we have mutual interests. If we selection of RIGS, and are keen to maximise the conservation requirements and the have plans for an SSSI where Hanson company’s needs. has an interest, we will let them know enormous socio-economic benefits that the well in advance and they will forewarn project could bring to the region. It will help identify new opportunities to us if they have a planning application in – Stewart Campbell, protect valuable geological and the offing or intend to develop a Countryside Council for Wales ‹ biological sites and the company has site.” ‹ committed itself to producing a The northern Llyn coast from Trevor Quarry - part of the outstanding geodiversity resource to be Geodiversity Action Plan by the end of “There are also lots of benefits, evaluated by Gwynedd and Môn RIGS Group in 2004. The agreement was signed at the particularly with geological SSSIs. CCW the North Wales ASLF project. 2003 Royal Welsh Show. will be able to help us on some issues Photo by Stewart Campbell, CCW where we might not understand the Across Wales, there are several potential benefits for conservation,” geological and biological Sites of said Andrew Denley of Hanson. A Special Scientific Interest in which the similar agreement between Hanson and company has a management role. “This English Nature has already proved is the first Memorandum of its kind for successful. 9 Working together on heritage plan

ne of the great benefits of Mick Stanley, visiting countries outside the Geodiversity Consulting United Kingdom is to hear Oof imaginative and logical initiatives that work for the good of the A Heritage Office of Dublin City Council environment. I am not convinced that all environment and the community. co-ordinates the plan, which will be this represents joined-up thinking. I would reviewed and evaluated annually. A have expected to see more inter-dependent One such initiative was displayed at the dynamic plan to manage a dynamic projects using all three groups’expertise. successful ‘Natural and cultural environment with the intention of The County Sligo Heritage Plan, on the landscapes’ conference in Dublin Castle, implementing a structured programme of other hand, takes a much more holistic the proceedings of which will shortly be Local Heritage Plans for community approach. It, too, is over five years and made available and at www.gsi.ie or involvement and consultation. The Plan broadly follows the same key areas as the www.rai.ie recognises that daily decisions impact on Dublin plan. The crucial difference is the heritage and that it is not possible to desire to increase the level of heritage The Irish have a system in place that conserve everything, more a case for expertise in Sligo’s local authorities by holistically promotes actions to sustain the balancing change with reasonable appointing full time staff, introducing cultural and natural heritage of the island. conservation. Three working groups were heritage appraisals, guidelines for road Five-year County and City Heritage Plans set up, perhaps not surprisingly for design and management and landscape, were implemented in 2002 following the archaeology, architecture and the natural developing a heritage network, and Heritage Act 1995. These define national environment, but sadly, and fairly typically providing advice on best practice regarding heritage as including monuments, in Britain, these do not appear to have had quarry rehabilitation. The consultees archaeological and heritage objects, direct Earth science input, well not include the Geological Survey of Ireland architectural heritage, plants, animals, according to the list of working group and it shows. wildlife habitats, landscapes, seascapes, members and consultees appearing in the wrecks, geology, heritage gardens and document. England’s answer? parks and inland waterways. In short, both Local Geodiversity Action Plans could be cultural and natural heritage. For the first Joined up seen as the answer, but LGAPs are likely to time, politicians and officers from public The Plan has three overall aims, one from reinforce the narrow geological approach and voluntary bodies, representing all each of the three groups and, importantly, rather than the holistic one that embraces elements of the heritage, worked together an initial budget of C1.5M. the total environment. Why should that be? to agree action plans which have now been Well, if the definition of geodiversity is implemented. Among other schemes, the archaeologists taken as ‘the variety of soils, rocks, fossils, intend to create a Museum of Dublin, minerals and natural processes forming the Geodiversity in action publish a popular guide to Dublin Earth’s landscape and structure’, then an The introduction to the 24-page glossy and archaeology and promote best practice for LGAP will be restricted. But if the wider beautifully illustrated Dublin City Heritage the training of urban archaeologists. The holistic definition of geodiversity is taken Plan 2002-2006 states: ‘The City Heritage architectural group intends to collate all as ‘the link between people, landscapes and Plan is a realistic and achievable five-year inventories into one accessible database, their culture through the interaction of action plan dealing with city-wide issues and carry out a study on the sustainable re- biodiversity, soils, minerals, rocks, fossils, rather than local projects. It is a concerted use of buildings, taking into account active processes, and the built effort to recognise problem areas for our environmental and heritage values and environment’ then LGAPs could shared heritage and, through a partnership measures to prevent unnecessary waste in complement district-wide local plans. approach, implement measures that will: new building designs. The natural environmentalists intend to prepare an LGAPs must not simply be seen as a improve our heritage information base; environmental directory for Dublin, devise process to help conserve local sites. They enhance communication between all management plans for SPAs, SACs and must look at the macro level of the region. stakeholders; Natural Heritage Areas and for golf Just taking the geomorphology of an area, raise heritage awareness; courses, graveyards, rivers, canals and the LGAP could establish a GIS database put in place best practice; railways, and compile a comprehensive and and produce geomorphological maps implement key projects. accessible working archive for the natural covering the region to ensure informed 10 The Cheshire region LGAP experience

The first Local Geodiversity Action Plan in the UK was successfully launched by the Cheshire Region LGAP partnership in the Grosvenor Museum, Chester on 15 September, 2003. The partnership, of more than 20 organisations led by University College Chester, Cheshire County Council and Cheshire RIGS, aims to “contribute to the maintenance and nning improvement of the well-being of the Cheshire region by safeguarding the geology, geomorphology, soils and landscapes of the area.” development of integrated land management strategies and mineral The aim represents a shared commitment of the planning. The LGAP could show how partnership organisations to focus some of their resources geomorphology influences habitat extent, towards geological conservation. The broad aim is broken down into eight key species distribution, settlement objectives and a series of detailed targets and actions to achieve these. Together, they represent the geological conservation priorities of the development, transport routes and cultural partnership for the next two years. landscapes. It could also establish baseline data for more systematic documentation of In many cases, sharing practices and information among partners will ensure pressures on the geomorphological that geological conservation becomes a routine consideration for, and part of resource, and compile information for the activities of, all the partnership members. geomorphological interpretation and for raising public awareness. For example, information from a geological audit of RIGS as part of a Cheshire RIGS group survey, funded by the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund, will be Some district-wide plans, for example the linked to two further projects. The audit data will also be fed to local Congleton Borough Local Plan, already authorities to support planning departments and ensure that geodiversity require ‘taking an integrated view of issues are considered. characteristic landscapes, wildlife habitats, geology, archaeological and historic A second project focusses on raising awareness of geodiversity among features, and the historic relationship landowners and site managers and providing interpretative materials to allow between building and settlements in the their new knowledge to be spread to the wider public. landscape. Overall it is the combination of these that contribute so much to the variety The Action Planning approach is now widely accepted. It is timely that it is and sense of place in our surroundings…’ being adapted and adopted for geoconservation at the local level. There are This Cheshire borough’s view of the more than 10 LGAPs running or in preparation. Their foci and breadth vary environment seems to be much nearer the depending on the area they serve. This rapid development and the wider vision of geodiversity defined above. enthusiastic adoption of the process indicates a paradigm shift in the thinking and action of the geological conservation community. The Cheshire Region If LGAPs are to be taken seriously, they LGAP can hopefully stand as a model of how, through partnership, geological conservation can be enhanced and the concept of geodiversity be seen on an must be inclusive and culturally diverse at least equal footing to biodiversity. and at the same time be seen to be promoting those much-vaunted objectives Cynthia Burek & Jac Potter of central government. Environment Research Group, Dept Biological Sciences, University College Chester, Chester CH1 4BJ [email protected] [email protected] A national plan? The promotion of LGAPs in England pre- supposes an overall national plan into which the action plans should fit. But there is no overall plan. It is high time that a The Dee Cliffs Section National Heritage Plan, a natural and GCR site at Farndon - one of Cheshire’s cultural heritage strategy, is drawn up to outstanding geodiversity co-ordinate and encompass all the smaller- sites to benefit from the scale plans being initiated across Britain, LGAP process. not just in England. Photo by Stewart Campbell/CCW Dare I suggest a British Isles National Plan, and include the Republic of Ireland in the discussion? The experience gained from work on the individual County and City heritage plans over the past three Further reading: years will prove invaluable. Burek, C. & Potter, J. (2002). Minding the LGAPs, Geoscientist, 12 (9):16-17, or www.lgaps.org 11 Designation brings geologic

With the Abberley and Malvern Hills now accepted as a European Geopark, Peter Oliver, Director of Herefordshire and Worcestershire Earth Heritage Trust, explains how the existing museums, trails and attractions will help visitors appreciate this very special area.

he Abberley and Malvern Hills geomorphological significance of the In the same area are many biological SSSIs Geopark falls within the area has been recognised for many years, and Special Wildlife Sites, the latter counties of Herefordshire, and there are 13 Sites of Special overseen by the four county Wildlife TGloucestershire, Shropshire Scientific Interest (SSSI) and 62 Trusts. Archaeological sites of importance and Worcestershire and covers 1,250 Regionally Important Geological Sites are recorded and protected by the four square kilometres. The geological and (RIGS). County Archaeology Departments.

A view from the northern end of the Malvern Hills looking towards the Silurian Suckley Hills and the Wyre Forest coalfield and the Clee Hills in the distance.

All photos by Herefordshire and Worcestershire Earth Heritage Trust

The North Pennines AONB – England’s first European Geopark

he outstanding landscape and throughout Europe, and the AONB veins and associated deposits, which make geology of the North Pennines partnership will be able to use the up the world-famous Northern Pennine has been recognised with the UNESCO-backed European Geopark Orefield. Tdesignation of the Area of brand on promotional material. Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) as Renowned for spectacular specimens of a European Geopark – the first in Great World-famous geology gangue minerals such as fluorite and a Britain. Nowhere is the role of geology in shaping remarkable range of barium carbonate, this the physical and human landscape more orefield has long been at the forefront of To gain this prestigious status, the AONB clearly apparent than in the 800 square developing ideas and concepts in partnership had to show that not only was miles of the North Pennines AONB geological science and in the origin of the quality of the geology world-class, but Geopark, which embraces parts of base metal deposits. The prediction and that efforts were being made to conserve Durham, Cumbria and Northumberland. discovery of the concealed Weardale and promote it for the benefit of local people. The Geopark coincides almost exactly with the Alston Block, one of the key Key parts of the work include the first structural units of British Carboniferous Local Geodiversity Action Plan for an geology. Classic Yoredale cyclothems AONB; a long history of interpreting composed mostly of limestone, mudstone Earth science at venues such as Killhope and sandstone are intruded by the Lead Mining Museum, and the award- extensive suite of Permo-Carboniferous winning geological walks publication by dolerite sheets and dykes, collectively the East Cumbria Countryside Project and known as the Whin Sill – the original ‘sill’ Cumbria RIGS Group. of geological science.

The Geopark designation will raise the Cutting these rocks is a conjugate set of profile of the AONB both in Britain and lead, zinc and iron-bearing mineralised 12 cal fun and learning

Herefordshire and Worcestershire Earth Shelsley Beauchamp church in the Teme Valley is a Heritage Trust, Gloucestershire fine example of the use of local Devonian (probably Geoconservation Trust and Shropshire St Maughan’s Formation) sandstones in the nave RIGS Group are active and well- but with large Triassic blocks from outside the area established Earth heritage groups that carry being used in the construction of the tower. out recording and geoconservation in the area. These three groups have produced Trails for education many publications, are continually There is already a substantial programme consulted by county and district councils of trails in the counties and some of them for advice, and have made major cross the Geopark area. The geology, contributions to the environment and landscape and building stones trails explain conservation policies of these councils. and illustrate many aspects of geology and geomorphology, telling the story of the The River Severn at evolution of our landscape, as well as Bewdley during recent describing the rocks and fossils seen in the producing a schools programme for 2004 exceptionally low flow and buildings of our towns and cities. onwards, using the guide to explain showing the outcrop of the Permian Bridgnorth geology and landscape along the route. Sandstone Formation which Trail guides, interpretation panels and also marks the old ford of leaflets provide high-quality information Myriad possibilities the river. about Earth heritage, and the guides also Many other attractions within the Geopark give information about archaeology and open up myriad possibilities for subtle The bridge is made of Carboniferous Highly biodiversity along the trails. links, including the Severn Valley Railway, Sandstone from the nearby Stourport Canal Basin, Diglis Canal Basin Wyre Forest coalfield and The trails and sites – which have safe and and the River Severn itself, which use local cross-bedded Triassic easy public access – are used by locally derived materials. sandstones. schoolchildren as part of their work in the National Curriculum. They have also been The public open spaces such as Bromyard used in degree courses at University Downs, Castlemorton Common or College Worcester. Hartlebury Common LNR have survived as areas of poor agricultural land because of One success has been the use of one their underlying geology. The buildings, existing guide by the Severn Valley from Worcester Cathedral and parish Railway Education Department. This churches to Elgar’s birth-place, all have a Granite, for example, provided a model vintage steam railway company is now story to tell in their building materials. for the formation of ore deposits continued overleaf worldwide.

European Geopark status should herald 500 million years of history new initiatives in Earth science interpretation, education and The Abberley and Malvern Hills form the backbone of an area illustrating more than 500 conservation across the area, It should million years of history. Stratigraphy from Precambrian to Jurassic and Quaternary is also foster more an appreciation of the represented with almost complete successions of the Silurian and Triassic periods. Here, importance of Earth science in the area’s there is a fine range of igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks and some nationally natural and cultural heritage. important exposures and outcrops. Silurian palaeontology is excellent and has been well researched – in fact, the whole area has been the centre of research and mapping from the For further information on the North days of Murchison through to today. Pennines AONB Geopark, contact Chris Woodley-Stewart, North Pennines A look at the geological map quickly illustrates the strong structural influence on the AONB Officer, The Dales Centre, area. The underlying Precambrian basement with its associated faulting and folding runs Castle Gardens, Stanhope, Co Durham north-south and is the major influence on the geology of the proposed Geopark. Its DL13 2FJ. Tel: 01388 528801; e-mail: impact can be seen from the southern margins of the Silurian May Hill inlier through the [email protected]. surface expression of the Precambrian of the Malvern Hills and nearby Silurian hills of Website: www.northpennines.org.uk Ledbury and Suckley onto the Abberley Hills themselves. The associated major faulting continues into the Carboniferous rocks of the Wyre Forest. Holwick Scars, Teesdale – fault-bounded crags of columnar-jointed dolerite of the Whin Sill, the original sill of geological This geological backbone to the area is flanked by a full Triassic succession to the east science, are a conspicuous feature in the and a significant part of the Lower Devonian to the west. The glacial and fluvial history landscape of Teesdale. of the Quaternary is written in the deposits and terraces of the Rivers Severn, Stour, Teme, Rea, Frome and Leadon. Photo by Durham County Council 13 Soil – nature’s Cinderella t might come as a surprise to some Patricia Bruneau, agriculture, there is less understanding of you that amongst the Earth of the value of soil in the nature Science advisory team of Scottish Soil Science Advisor, conservation context, as it relies on INatural Heritage (SNH) lurks a soil quantification of the wider scientist, unless you recall that soils Scottish Natural Heritage environmental function of soil. This is formed from interaction of underlying only now being recognised through geology with climate, water and frequently seen as unlimited and here- new policy developments. The biosphere. Although soils form very to-stay resources, and damage European Commission is developing a slowly in our cold and temperate inflicted upon them often becomes ‘thematic strategy’ for soil, which climate, on a geological scale they are visible only after its is too late to take seeks to make soil protection relevant all very young, post-dating the ice protective action and reverse the to the full range of EU environmental sheets of the last glaciation. Soils are effects. instruments. National soil strategies in worth preserving in their own right as England, Scotland and Wales will an imprint of past geological, weather, Soils, by contrast with the geological promote sustainable use, including the human and biotic conditions. However substrate, benefit from being part of role of conservation and monitoring it is the wide range of ecological the 'land' and as such have an activities. In addition to providing functions that soils provide in support economical value associated with food professional advice to ensure of natural habitat that is often central and fibre production, as well as being sustainable use of soils, over the next to their value. the support of habitats rich in year we will seek an active biodiversity. Whereas soil value can be involvement in the development of new Being surrounded by expressed in 'productivity' terms for soil protection policy at dedicated Earth scientists, I Right: Buried soils national and European level. cannot fail to be aware of the under regosol These will ensure that the similarity between our (immature soil) in nature conservation issues various disciplines and the the afforested related to soil protection are difficulty we face in ancient sand dune considered and fully integrated promoting better complex at Culbin in any new monitoring or Forest on the understanding of the value of protection framework. Moray Firth, a resource that is often Scotland (left). referred to as mud, dirt or Scottish Natural Heritage, old rocks. Besides, in Photos by 2 Anderson Place Edinburgh similarity with geological and MLURI and SNH EH6 5NP geomorphological Tel: 0131 446 2400, e-mail: formations, soils are [email protected] from previous page

Mamble Craft Centre already has close links with the Mamble Museums have an active role to play in the development of a good collieries, as does Severn Valley Country Park with the Alveley Geopark. Already, there is co-operation with Herefordshire and Highley Collieries. The geology underlying the vineyards, hop Heritage Services, Worcester Museum, Stroud Museum and Severn fields and cider-apple orchards can also be highlighted for tourists Valley Country Park. The partnership of the museum and Geopark and customers. ‘systems’ offers outstanding opportunities and will form the basis of visitor and information centres across the Geopark. There is greater scope in the walking guides of long-distance routes such as the Severn Way, Gloucestershire Way or the Finally, there is potential for raising awareness of Earth heritage in Worcestershire Way to comment on the geology along the route. conjunction with the hotel and self-catering industry. Visitors will probably be helped to discover geological themes for themselves, So, the aim is to ensure the widest possible range of media, but there will also be organised group courses. through the active co-operation of many different partners, finding different ways of telling parts the story to different people with The themes that lend themselves to popular discovery in the their own interests. This will bring home to people the reasons for Geopark are palaeontology, orogenesis, fluvial geomorphology, establishing a Geopark in an area which most would not igneous and metamorphic petrology, Silurian stratigraphy, Triassic immediately see as a geological attraction. It will also encourage stratigraphy, geoconservation and hydrogeology – as well as greater awareness of the significance of our Earth heritage in the establishing links between geology and archaeology, wildlife, wine evolution of the natural and human landscape. production, spa towns, music and churches. Active museums The Abberley and Malvern Hills Geopark has a considerable The partners who put together the application and now take number of museums too. These vary from public authority the project forward are Abberley Hills Preservation Society, museums with large collections and a professional staff to small English Nature, the Forestry Commission, Gloucestershire heritage centres run by volunteers. Most of these museums have Geoconservation Trust, Herefordshire and Worcestershire geological collections or some geological association – which is Earth Heritage Trust, Scenesetters and University College not surprising for an area that is one of Britain’s most important Worcester . 14classic geological areas. Sir Kyffin Williams, RA, in his studio, surrounded by Welsh landscape paintings. Photo by Robert Smithies ROCK ART

ir Kyffin Williams is one of Margaret Wood, Britain’s most popular artists. His works are exhibited at the Chair, SRoyal Academy and Thackeray Gwynedd & Môn RIGS Group Gallery in London, at the Albany Gallery in Cardiff and at The Royal Cambrian interest and curiosity in how the rocks recognised from the few pallet strokes on Academy in Conwy, of which he is were formed and he always enquires as to the canvas - genius indeed! The emotive President. Several hundred drawings and the type and origin of the rocks in his and atmospheric honesty of his work leaps paintings are kept in The National favourite places. Some of his books contain out from the canvas and depicts his deep Library of Wales in Aberystwyth and specific geological details of the places love for Wales. His appeal is unparalleled Oriel Ynys Môn, Anglesey’s foremost art portrayed. It is possible that this today, in a world where works of “art” gallery, a short distance from Kyffin’s longstanding interest was nurtured in his often set out to shock, where love of the home in Llanfair P.G. ancestry. His great uncle, Sir Andrew subject is absent and respect for the public Ramsay, was a Director of The Geological frequently not considered. His works range from linocuts and Survey and in 1886 published his great drawings to portraits and landscapes. He work, The Geology of North Wales, for the Over the years, Kyffin has lost none of his admits that his turbulent but striking Survey, together with many other important impatience to portray his feelings and love seascapes are in fact self-portraits. He papers on the same area. Kyffin supports of Wales and, despite his 85 years, he still paints now in the nearby mountains, coasts the activities of the Gwynedd and Môn works daily to satisfy the demand for his and in his studio. In the past, he has RIGS group which have extended to the works. He remains Wales’ most loved and worked in Italy and Austria but notably in renovation of Ramsay’s gravestone in prolific artist, and no wonder, when his Patagonia where he was a Churchill Llansadwrn churchyard. genius is seen in the depth of his Scholar. Rocks occur frequently in his understanding of the landscape and people drawings and probably his best-known Allowing for artistic license, his around him. works include farmers and border collies observations are such that the very essence on bleak Welsh hillsides, as well as his of the subject is displayed so accurately rocky landscapes. This stems from his that the rock type and its formation can be continued overleaf 15 ROCK ART from previous page

An oil painting of Cwm Idwal, Snowdonia. It depicts accurately two types of rock: in the foreground, pale-coloured boulders of rhyolitic lava and ash protrude from the glacially deposited moraine and contrast with heavy, dark basalts at the back of the cwm. The downfolded structure (syncline) indicates visibly the way the rocks have been folded subsequent to their deposition on an ancient seabed, some 450 million years ago.

Watercolour of a Patagonian landscape, with its desert-like colouring and sandy beds which display a fault for good measure. 16 Sir Andrew Ramsay, former Director of the Geological Survey, from Kyffin’s private collection.

Photo by H.J. Whitlock

Llyn Cwm Ffynnon, Snowdonia, oil on canvas. In Kyffin’s words, “The One of Kyffin’s favourite sites, Porth Cwyfan to the west of Aberffraw on the western coast of Anglesey. lake is most beautiful in the These craggy rocks are typical of the Precambrian strata for which Anglesey is famous. The gully in the evening when the sun is going centre of the picture is eroded along a fault and is bounded by an up-folded area of rock (anticline). This is down above Snowdon and Crib depicted accurately in the way that the paint has been stroked on to the canvas with the pallet knife. In the Goch. It is cupped in a hollow distance, Newborough and Llanddwyn Island can be seen with their less resistant Precambrian (Gwna) below Glyder Fawr and above beds worn down by time and the passage of great ice sheets to the planed surface we see today. Penygwryd and seldom are people to be seen there because they pass it by on their way to the high mountains above. There are sheep and foxes and in the Summer an occasional wheatear can be seen, but I suppose the magnificence of the mountains renders it insignificant” (Sir Kyffin Williams R.A., 2002).

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Kyffin for generous access to his works, permission to reproduce them, and for the loan of personal photographs. Kyffin’s works were photographed for this article by Stewart Campbell, with the exception of ‘Patagonian desert landscape’(photographed by the National Library of Wales and supplied by Kyffin Williams).

17 Landsca

The Arnside and Silverdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Map © Arnside and Silverdale AONB

rom its limestone pavements, restoring and maintaining springs and Landscape built on lime barrows and caves to its wells, conserving lime-kilns, and creating The bedrock of almost all of the Arnside helleborines, orchids and or improving paths and bridleways. and Silverdale AONB is Carboniferous Ffalcons – the Arnside and limestone. It determines the entire Silverdale Area of Outstanding Natural Together with ongoing management of the character of the landscape. Beauty is a wonderland of fascinating National Nature Reserve at Gait Barrows, geology and wildlife habitats. Between the Ramsar site at Leighton Moss and 15 Its separate fault-blocks form hills such as 2001 and 2006, around £700,000 is being Sites of Special Scientific Interest, this Arnside Knott, Middlebarrow, Heald Brow spent in the area to help conserve its small corner of England has unsurpassable and Warton Crag. Between the hills are landscape treasures. natural interest. basins, including Leighton Moss and the Mosses of Silverdale and Arnside. These A plan for conservation in the AONB The day-to-day management is down to the were low enough to have been inlets of the received funding in 2001 from the National full-time staff of the AONB office at the sea at some time during the 12,000 years Lottery, the Countryside Agency, the Old Station Building in Arnside. It is since the end of the Devensian glaciation. Lancashire and Cumbria County Councils, overseen by a committee made up of Lancaster City Council, South Lakeland representatives of local authorities, About 6,000 years ago, the shoreline was District Council, the National Trust, and parishes, conservation organisations, user at least five metres higher, and, in places, English Nature. groups, landowners, and businesses. There much farther inland than it is now. is also a Landscape Trust of volunteers, Evidence for this is seen at Silverdale The Limestone Heritage Project has been who raise funds, organise public events Cove, where a prominent cave in the low set up to carry out more than 100 specific such as lectures and guided walks, and do cliffs has rounded walls shaped by phreatic tasks, including restoring drystone walls, practical work. water, but is now above sea level.

All pictures courtesy of Terry Keefe

Fossil of rugose coral in Carboniferous limestone, Far Arnside. 18 ape and

conservationconservation Michael Dearden

The cave at Silverdale Cove, formed by phreatic water (above).

North-west from Warton Crag over the Arnside and Silverdale AONB. The basin just beyond Warton Crag is Leighton Moss. Heald Brow is on the left and the scree-covered side of Arnside Knott is more distant on the right. On the horizon are the heights of Black Combe and the Coniston Fells in the Lake District.

There are limestone pavements as at Gait Other places that may, in part at least, be of There are heaps of moraine, and many Barrows and Warton Crag. But the stretch similar formation, are the polje-like drumlins, a large example of which is the at Gait Barrows, in particular, has suffered hollows below Hale Moss and Thrang deer park at Dallam. Also to be found are from removal of some of the surface. Moss, to the east of the AONB. But here many erratics, such as boulders of Shap the position is complicated, because these granite, and a multitude of cobbles and Much of the soil in the 40 or so square Mosses were almost certainly the site of a pebbles composed of blue siltstones and kilometres of the Arnside and Silverdale post-glacial lake. The tarn of Hawes Water, flags from the Silurian of southern and AONB (excluding the area of estuary and Silverdale (not the lake of the same name eastern Lakeland. Many of these ‘blues’ saltmarsh) is thin and rocky, but there are farther north) may also occupy a sink. are incorporated, with limestone, in the also deep moist peaty soils and the soils drystone walls of the area. derived from glacial drift. Between them, Mediaeval parishes they harbour a remarkable range of plant Straddling the eastern boundary of the From Sandside in the north, southwards to communities. There are even acid-loving AONB is a large basin, which extends Leighton Moss, a distance of almost six heathers rooted in loess, blown in early from the south-east of Kendal, southwards km, the Viséan strata form a monoclinal post-glacial times from the exposed to Carnforth and beyond. This has outwash fold, which is displayed in Trowbarrow sediments in Morecambe Bay. of sand and gravel – which was, until Quarry, one of four major quarries in the recently, extracted economically – and a AONB, and one which has not been Underground are caves and passages, and mantle of glacial drift across the parishes worked since 1959. the re-appearance of water at the surface as of Beetham, the Yealands, and Warton. springs and wells can be seen at Silverdale Most of the improved pasture in the AONB The vertical beds of the east wall are of and around Warton Crag. There are is here, and the parishes are settlements Urswick limestone, a dense compact rock sinkholes such as the doline at Deepdale. from mediaeval times. much favoured by climbers. Part of this continued overleaf

Perched blocks of limestone at Warton Crag.

19 Science or fiction?

Basing Earth heritage interpretation on sound science

arth science and interpretation of our Earth heritage go hand-in-hand, don’t they? Well, a little digging around in Scotland has found that, in the past, this Ehasn’t always been the case – there are still one or two examples of science fiction lurking out there.

I confess I’ve read displays on the Ice Age (my specialist subject) and fallen into the temptation of trying to find the ‘mistakes’. Sadly, in some cases, I’ve succeeded. One example is the fantastic- looking computer graphic with ice sheets spreading from the North Pole across Northern Europe – forgetting, of course, that ice spreads from the land onto the sea rather than the other way round.

And I bet many readers have seen the catchy panel on their pet subject, which looks great but just isn’t accurate. At the other extreme are the cases where the material has obviously been from previous page

wall has colonial corals and ‘stick fossils’ The limestone over much of the AONB Foot, on the north-western margin of which are believed to be equivalent to holds mineral deposits, which were mined Warton Crag, at Blackstone Point, Arnside, worm casts. On the western margin of the from the 18th century onwards. and at several places in Silverdale and the quarry, the beds of limestone are Yealands. interrupted by a softer bed of mudstone The commonest are ores of iron, such as about 10 metres thick, the Woodbine Shale. haematite and limonite, and of copper, Helping nature This was probably deposited by water, including malachite and cuprite. Disused In 1996, funds were raised by the AONB which flowed from the north, the modern and often overgrown and collapsed Landscape Trust, and Trowbarrow Quarry Lake District. mineshafts and adits can be seen near Crag was bought to become a Local Nature Reserve, officially opened in 1997. It’s The east wall of Trowbarrow Quarry, showing the vertically inclined beds of limestone. Under the large block on the left, quarry workers used to shelter during blasting. managed by Lancaster City Council’s AONB office, with the aid of volunteers.

The quarry is colonised by some less common plants, including orchids and the autumn gentian and was the second disused quarry in the AONB to become a nature reserve, having been preceded in 1992 by Lancashire County Council’s Warton Crag Quarry. There, on the floor of the quarry, are northern marsh orchids, and on a large spoil-heap, 100 or more rare dark-red helleborine.

Yet another major quarry, Middlebarrow, ceased to be worked in 2001. The floor is being restored as grassland, and scree- slopes are being created. 20 Eleanor Brown, The Countryside Agency

Sound geological science underpinning state-of-the-art interpretation: an interpretative panel in the Beinn Eighe National Nature Reserve in Scotland’s North-west Highlands, interpreting the mountain landscape of Slioch. In the foreground is Lock Maree.

Photo by Scottish National Heritage

Ask your audience Follow-up research will tell you if your audience is engaging with the interpretation and whether they are getting the right message. If not, you can make changes. Good things out there Today, there are many examples where Earth scientists and interpretative experts have worked together to produce successful interpretative experiences. Among these are Dynamic Earth, the Norsk Bremuseum (Norway’s Glacier Museum) and Knockan Crag Visitor Centre in Scotland.

These tend to be at the big, multi-partner end of the interpretative spectrum, where the scientific, interpretative and funding agencies work together. So, it’s easier to marry the best science with the best interpretative plans and techniques. written by someone with a great deal of expertise and passion for Quite often, these partnerships act as a breeding ground for new their subject, but who has tried to communicate facts and figures ideas. For instance, sharing scientific techniques with interpretative rather than use an interpretative approach. experts can lead to developing new interpretative techniques, like using digital representations of former landscapes. The very act of I’ve also seen interpretative techniques that aren’t suited to the job. mocking something up for an interpretative display can give For example, I’ve seen rock samples with text written directly on scientists new insights into the way things actually work, as the them, making them unreadable, or another where the samples were palaeontologists found when they built the models for the BBC expected to do the talking all by themselves! Unfortunately, this Walking With Dinosaurs programme. doesn’t necessarily make our subject come alive for the visitor. On a smaller scale this can be much more challenging. I’ve spoken Here are some of the things needed to produce good Earth science to rangers who’d love to do some geological interpretation, but interpretation. can’t find out anything about their local area other than general geological or geomorphological processes from textbooks – and, in Get the story or theme right some cases, these are 30 years out-of-date. The information they This identifies what you want people to take away from the really need on their local area is buried in a scientific journal interpretation. So, it needs to be interesting and underpinned by somewhere in a university library. science, which is where your scientist comes in to advise. So, what’s the answer? Well, scientists and interpretative experts Provoke, relate and reveal need to work together to share their ideas and learn from each If you do this, you make the theme come alive. This is where the other. Scientists need to be user-friendly and make the results of interpretative expertise comes in. Whether this is a person, a our work accessible. consultancy or simply a good book such as John Veverka’s Interpretive Master Planning or Sam Ham’s Environmental The environmental, heritage and land management organisations, Interpretation: A Practical Guide for People with Big Ideas and who often fund interpretation, need to make it a requirement for Small Budgets. Which you choose depends on the resources consultants to use the best scientific advice. available and the scale of the project. At the end of the day, investing in a good scientific and Choose the right medium interpretative foundation extends the interpretation’s sell-by-date What is the best way of getting the theme across. You need to and, we hope, captures the visitors who would otherwise walk on look at it from the visitor’s point of view as well as your own. by. Not everyone is a fan of science fiction! 21 The persistence of people in the Scottish Highlands Richard Tipping, Althea Davies, Eileen Tisdall and Elspeth Reid

Department of Environmental Science, University of Stirling Between a rock and

ountain landscapes are the harshest environments in the British Isles from Mwhich to make a living. In fact, most interpretations have emphasised the ephemeral nature of settlement, that life was frequently too much of a struggle against intractable soils and climates.

Now, though, new information from one Highland valley, Glen Affric, is revealing a very different picture – that of careful adaptation to the natural environment, and survival in geological and geomorphological settings that people have previously seen as hostile.

The hasty retreat of settlers from the Top left: West Affric in misty winter sunlight, with the broad strath of the River Affric below the high peaks to agricultural margins of upland landscapes the south. An empty landscape, but only for the last 150 years. Above: From the walls of a now deserted 18th is a common image. This migration is century farm, the fertile soils of the strath are contrasted with the gullied, almost lifeless slopes opposite. supposed to have happened at the end of the Bronze Age and even within the last few hundred years, during the harsh We were invited in 1996 by the National To find such evidence, we analysed pollen climate of the ‘little ice age’. But were Trust for Scotland and the Millennium grains preserved in sediments. To people really that helpless and vulnerable? Forests for Scotland partnership to explain understand how climate changed, we This is an important question, because how why trees did not grow there – the aim constructed records of changing rainfall we understand the achievements or failures being to inform plans to recreate this lost based on detailed sediment records of how of past communities affects how we view woodland. Two reasons were plausible: that one lake, Loch Coulavie, rose and fell. the future. climate and soils were as hostile to trees as they were imagined to have been to people, We also analysed how peat surfaces in the Glen Affric is a glaciated through valley in or that people had destroyed the woodland. valley became wetter and drier by the northern Scottish highlands. Its eastern analysing changes in the rate that peat part is now a nature reserve famed for its Reconstructing the decayed. We were also able to measure the Scots pine woods. Beyond Loch Affric, past in Glen Affric geomorphological instability and sediment West Affric is owned in perpetuity by the There are next-to-no archaeological clues supply of slopes and rivers. In all, more National Trust for Scotland, and is a to the occupation of West Affric until the than 10 different stratigraphic sequences magnificent moorland and mountain last several hundred years, when scattered were examined to understand how the glen ‘wilderness’ stretching to Kintail, where farms were built and developed into sheep had evolved since the last glaciation 11,000 the valley floor itself is more than 250 farms after mid-19th century ‘clearances’. to 10,000 years ago. We obtained more metres above sea level and peaks exceed There is no archaeological evidence for than 100 radiocarbon dates, funded by the 22 1,000 metres. prehistoric occupation. Natural Environment Research Council. Further reading For a critique of past work on human abandonment in upland areas, read: (1) Tipping, R. 2002. Climatic variability and ‘marginal’ settlement in upland British landscapes: a re-evaluation. Landscapes 3, 10-28. To explore the data-sets we compiled in Glen Affric, have a look at: (2) Tipping, R. 2003. The Quaternary of Glen Affric & Kintail. Quaternary Research Association, London. 217 pp.

All photos: d a hard place Eileen Tisdall

conditions improved for them but got worse for the trees. Around 4,000 years ago the climate deteriorated, possibly through intensified seasonal differences in temperature. Over several hundred years, birch, pine and oak woodland collapsed, probably because seedlings failed to regenerate, allowing grasslands and heath to expand. Into this new natural grassland moved early Bronze Age livestock herding farmers.

Resilience in early farming communities Farmers settled in spite of climatic deterioration, almost because of this climatic crisis, to take advantage of

Top right: Loch Coulavie, partly infilled with fen, but past rises in lake level flooded the fen, and we can opportunities in the landscape. They came recognise this from the sediment record. Around the loch is the barren blanket peat landscape in which early and stayed. Farmers avoided the broad farmers sensibly saw no economic value. Above: The glaciated trough of Glen Affric looking west to the Five swathes of wet acid blanket peat on valley Sisters of Kintail, with a valley-floor lochan and the river below bleak, treeless blanket-peat-covered lower sides except to drive cattle and, later, slopes and bedrock ridges. Alluvial fans push across the strath as low-angle ridges. sheep. They settled in two key locations – Earliest human settlers People did not settle in west Glen Affric on the valley floor and on low-angle Very soon after deglaciation, around until around 4,000 to 3,800 years ago. The alluvial fans. 10,000 years ago, the wide alluvial fans earliest settlers were pastoral farmers who were created on lower slopes by the major maintained small fields for barley and The rivers and fans are fed by new rivers that cascaded down the steepened probably continued to hunt. sediment from higher slopes, and so only at valley sides. Between the fans, the rivers these points were nutrients in the soil became quite stable, with the wide strath Farming had been known in the British rejuvenated. River stability would quickly probably being created in its entirety by Isles from 6,000 years ago, so why did lead to acidification in the already poor 9,500 years ago. The climate then people colonise in the early Bronze Age? It soils, and probable crop failure. So, fluctuated abruptly in an extraordinary see- was certainly not because of the quality of renewed sediment erosion and transfer onto saw. Despite such fluctuations, after 9,500 the soils. The bedrock is Dalradian schist, the valley floor was critical to the survival years ago, woodland colonised the lower which gives acid and nutrient-poor soils. of farming communities. slopes and valley floor. There was pine The climate and environment was as harsh present, but West Affric was dominated by and unforgiving 4,000 years ago as they It may be, in this new interpretation, that birch and rowan. Peat had developed are today, with very high rainfall and climatic decline, regarded by most as the across the lower valley slopes as soon as prolonged low winter temperatures, made main reason for people abandoning a the glaciers had melted and, by 6,000 years more difficult for raising crops by landscape, was in fact the very trigger that mountains to the south screening the sun. allowed farmers to survive ago, an increasingly thick blanket of acid peat covered most of the valley side. People arrived in west Glen Affric because and endure. 23 History and geology in the Wyre Forest coalfield

he Wyre Forest coalfield covers around 130 km2, mainly in Shropshire and Worcestershire, and people mined here from Mediaeval times right up to 1972, Twhen Hunthouse Colliery closed. The coalfield is interesting as a rare example of an area where both the productive and Upper Coal Measures were successfully exploited until the end of mining.

Unlike many larger coalfields, there was no systematic attempt to restore mining sites after extraction ceased. So, much of the mining archaeology remains undisturbed in belts of woodland or on derelict land, and there are fine mining landscapes. Changing fortunes of the mines Production probably increased until the early 19th century when the difficulties of transporting coal away are likely to have reduced output. However, with the coming of the railways, the fortune of the coalfield revived, and it flourished in the first half of the 20th century. Centuries of mining have left their mark on the The largest mine was at Alveley, which employed more than 1,000 landscape of the Wyre Forest coalfield. men and drew more than 300,000 tons of coal a year in the late 1950s. It closed in 1969. In the southern basin, the Bayton Colliery Company employed more than 100 men at their pits in and around Here, David Poyner and Peter Oliver Mamble in the 1930s and 1940s. chart the history of the area’s geology The high sulphur content of the upper measures was an advantage and its archaeological heritage. to hop growers, as it gave a distinctive flavour to hops when used to dry them. Local traditions (recorded in the early part of the 20th

Left: Records of the mining history of the Wyre Forest coalfield are now predominantly lost amongst the woodlands and farms of north west Worcestershire and south east Shropshire. This is a former working at Mamble.

Photo by Hereford and Worcester Earth Heritage Trust

Above left and right: mining activity made a significant impact on the landscape. Top left is a drift mine in Winwrick’s Wood in 1924. The picture on the right is the pit head at Shatterford, just north of Kidderminster.

Photos supplied by Robert Evans 24 century) suggest that attempts were made in the late 18th century to The underlying geology use the iron pyrites as a source of sulphur for Samuel Skey’s sulphuric acid works near Bewdley. of the coalfield area

Near Billingsley, the productive coal measure outcrops are marked Bridgnorth by shallow workings in both coal and ironstone seams. The earliest of these probably relate to two water-powered bloomeries close to the workings, where the ironstone would have been smelted. Pottery, associated with these bloomeries, suggests they were working in the 13th to 14th centuries.

Later ironstone workings here were associated with the late 16th century blast furnaces at Cleobury Park – some of the first blast furnaces to be built outside the Weald.

The coal outcrop workings probably date from the late 16th to the early 18th centuries.

As the outcrops were exhausted, mines became deeper and drainage became a problem. Several drainage adits are visible in the Billingsley area. There are also remains of a dam and leat, dating from the 1780s, that served a hydraulic pumping engine. Adventurers on the coalfield In 1794, a group of Newcastle mine adventurers, led by the famous colliery viewer George Johnson, took a lease of the mines in Billingsley. The partners included the engineers William Chapman and Thomas Telford. Several of their shafts, with the associated gin Pre-Carboniferous Abberley circles, are still visible. Middle (Productive) Coal Measures They built a tramway from their mines to the River Severn in Etruria Marl Upper Coal Measures Fault Highley and the course of this is largely intact, including a self- Keele and Enville Beds acting incline where it dropped into the valley of the Borle Brook. Basalt 2 miles As part of a package to help finance these mines, a blast furnace was also built at Billingsley and the blowing engine house from set about drawing the link with geology in the Worcestershire this is still intact. section of the coalfield.

In the late 19th century, there were further attempts to mine coal at Mamble Colliery was designated a RIGS for its educational value. Billingsley. These culminated in an ambitious project just before As well as shafts and tramways, there are spoil heaps that allow the First World War. A railway was constructed to a screens and Coal Measure sediments to be studied. washery plant, itself connected to the mine by a tramway. There are extensive remains of mine buildings, the railway, the tramway The designated area also includes a large exposure of the thick and of the model village built to house the workers in Highley. sandstone, a buff-coloured massive deposit that gives rise to a prominent ridge in the landscape. Hunthouse Wood Colliery (a Recording the history mile south-east of Mamble and the second of three RIGS in the This wonderful mining archaeology and history is being studied by area) has a wonderful section through a portion of the Upper Coal Herefordshire and Worcestershire Earth Heritage Trust, which has Measures where the stream cuts a dip section.

Here, are outcrops of the two important coal seams – the Main Sulphur and the Hard Mine. There are also clays, shales and the massive Hard Mine Sandstone. Faulting complicates the structure, but adds another element to the educational and aesthetic value of the site. The Trust is still surveying the coalfield and it’s expected that more RIGS will be designated.

Further reading: The Wyre Forest Coalfield by David Poyner and Robert Evans. Tempus Publishing Ltd, Stroud. 25 Armed with a home-made rock-cutting saw, Terry Beggs spent weeks tracking Coffee down geological samples. But instead on the of being destined for a museum drawer, these rocks have been painstakingly hewn into a geological Making a geological model of Anglesey – now on show in model of the Isle of rocks Anglesey has been a Terry’s coffee table! long-held ambition of mine. It’s a project Terry at work. that embraces my fascination for cutting Self-portrait Here, Terry takes us through his into rocks to reveal their beautiful internal structures and colours. Coincidentally, my labour of love. wife had hinted that our living room could Terry’s table is about do with a new coffee table and so, while one metre across. making the table from reclaimed Photo by Stewart Campbell mahogany, I decided to incorporate my model of Anglesey as a central feature.

All in the planning

Having worked out the design, my first Stage 1step was to scale down and simplify the actual geology of the island.

Working from the BGS map of Anglesey, (1:50,000, Solid with Drift), based on the famous survey by Edward Greenly, I wanted to include as many of the rock types as possible. But, with the difficulties of grinding intricate shapes, I knew I would need to exclude some detail, round off corners and smooth boundaries between the different rock formations.

Even so, the model would comprise more than 50 separate pieces of rock representing 35 different types. The coastline would be modelled as faithfully as possible and I was able to verify my map against a simplified diagram created by Dr Margaret Wood, Chair of Gwynedd and Môn RIGS Group.

Saws and sewing machines Prospecting

Woodwork has been a lifetime hobby, Stage 3 One of the many attractions of my project was the Stage 2but the rock model was entirely new hunt for rock samples. A degree of planning and territory for me. How would I cut and shape organisation was needed as I soon discovered that field rock samples into precise pieces to fit into simply going to the correct geographical location on the model? Greenly’s map by no means guaranteed a find.

A good friend, David Wilson of Stone Science Carboniferous limestone is easily located, but much of fame, enthusiastically dug through his store rooms Anglesey’s 300 square miles is buried beneath glacial to find the rock-cutting equipment I would need. deposits. To find bedrock, I had to resort to other strategies. In some cases, outcrops could be identified from the BGS Together, we assembled what was essentially a Drift map. There are also places where certain formations trim saw, consisting of a water-tight box to hold have been uncovered by the sea. And lastly, there were a few the water coolant, topped by a steel work surface useful quarries and the occasional wall stone that proved to through which a diamond-edged circular saw be a reliable source. If all else failed, I sought advice from blade and grindstone protruded. Blade and Dave Wilson or from another good friend, Dr Stewart grindstone were mounted beneath the work Campbell, Managing Editor of Earth Heritage. But, having surface and were belt-driven by an electric motor, found the right rock, there were still questions to answer. reputedly from an old washing machine! What size of sample did I need? Full-sized outlines in my notebook of each model component helped me decide on a The trim saw’s six-inch blade was inadequate for particular sample. Was the rock sawable? There was also a cutting slabs from the parent rock, but it was just depth of cut limitation, even with the 10-inch blade. Was the possible to fit a 10-inch blade to cope with this sample structurally sound? It could quite spoil hours of work harder work. to find that the carefully sawn slab was cracked or flawed. 26 Did the sample have a distinctive structure and good colour? Slabbing, trimming, Stage 4 grinding

Many hours of work on the Fragile gems in rock-saw lay ahead of my return home with a batch of samples. I copied the model map onto a sheet of white Formica and then fret-sawed Scotland’s out all the component pieces so that Scotland’s they could be fitted together like a jigsaw. Having cut a slab of rock a centimetre thick, the appropriate piece of Formica was then glued to its underworld under-side. This meant that the Formica provided a highly visible hard edge to work to, using the trim-saw and grindstone. It also resisted the slab’s tendencies to crack or crumble at the edges.

Polishing to Stage 5 perfection

The only way to achieve a really flat model surface was to lay the shaped pieces upside-down on a sheet of glass so that I could see from below how well they were fitting when I came to glue them.

Polishing the completed model surface however, while simple in theory, would have taken more equipment, and the variations in rock The drip pits in the mud floor that give Drip Chamber its name. Each hole has been formed over the hardness would have spoiled the centuries under a single drip point on the roof of the chamber, is the diameter of a pencil and some are over result. So, I decided to hand-polish 200 mm deep. Photo by Ivan Young each piece of rock before I assembled them. Ivan Young and Tim Lawson teamed up with experienced cavers to map Scotland’s underground treasures, and help monitor I did the general levelling and removed saw marks using silicon changes. Here, they explain their work and the fragile carbide on plate glass. I used a little water to maintain a slurry between beauty they discovered. rock and glass surfaces and moved the slab over the glass in a figure-of- cotland is not generally National Nature Reserve and Ben More eight. After shaping, I did further considered to be a country of Assynt Site of Special Scientific Interest polishing using smaller grain sizes, caves, yet lying within the prompted Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) followed by very fine tin oxide. I Sutherland mountains in the to instigate a survey programme, with a achieved a near-perfect surface, S displaying the characteristics of the North-west Highlands are cave systems view to informing future management and rocks to their best advantage. of national importance. conservation.

Assembly and Stage 6 They are formed in ancient Cambro- Baseline survey – coffee-making Ordovician dolomitic limestone and methods include Scotland’s longest cave, Uamh an The Grampian Speleological Group was Diane Mitchell of the National Claonaite, with its three kilometres of approached by SNH in 2002 to produce a Museums of Scotland kindly gave passages. baseline survey of significant cave me several helpful ideas for this features and passages. This will allow stage of my project. I eventually Caves in the area have yielded important surveys every six years to detect changes. decided on a low-viscosity epoxy resin to glue the components faunal remains dating back to various together, to set the whole model on phases of the last ice age. With even older We joined the team of experienced cavers its baseboard, and to create a dates from calcite deposits and an analysis who already had detailed knowledge of realistic sea. My final task was to of the sedimentary layers within the caves, the systems being monitored and were coat the model with high- work continues to unravel the history of involved in the original discovery and performance polyurethane varnish to past environments. exploration of some of the passages. seal and protect it. Less is known, though, about certain of the subterranean features found in these The first task was to identify a It was fascinating, rewarding work Scottish caves, and their vulnerability. The representative set of features for detailed with some interesting challenges to cave’s location within the Inchnadamph overcome - and the coffee cups sit continued overleaf nicely on their new table! 27 flowstone shapes) as well as intricate helictites on the roof in Lower Traligill Cave, and a range of delicate mud formations, the origin of which is not An example of the detailed plans drawn during the understood. Erosional features included survey. This one is of Drip solutional forms such as tubes, arches and Chamber. The location and spongework on walls (all formed beneath a direction of each local water-table), and abrasional features photograph is shown so that such as potholes in some of the future surveys can easily repeat the work. streamways.

Whilst cave passages appear robust, cave environments are fragile and subject to damage and disturbance, particularly the

depositional landforms. Damage can be from previous page accidental – such as an unwary visitor’s recording, and settle on a methodology that the caves and ruled out any cave diving. helmet breaking fragile stalactites hanging would be reproducible. We selected several Two main problems were weather and from the roof – or deliberate. The only area dozen key locations spanning the range of humidity. During our first working of recent noticeable damage is in one of features in the caves that we thought weekend, flooding prevented us entering the grottos in Lower Traligill Cave, where worthy of conservation. any of the Traligill caves. In compensation, wholesale destruction and removal of about it did make for some spectacular sights and 20 stalagmite bosses has occurred within We took the main caves and chose sites photographs, with underground streams in the last few years. that had a known or potential scientific spate. Once inside the caves, damp cavers value, were unique, fragile and therefore combined with the high ambient humidity The majority of the described cave prone to damage, and sensitive indicators to generate clouds of mist and make good, passages and features were in a good state of change. We included locations close to clear flash photography a challenge. of repair. Many of the more delicate the main access routes for cavers as they formations have been taped off since their would be doubly sensitive to disturbance. Despite the problems, the main surveying discovery to protect them from passing was completed over two weekends. A caving traffic. Several photographs were taken at each couple of short visits later filled in the location and the position and direction of gaps. Our recommendations for conservation and each recorded on a plan. General management included more warning tape photographs were also taken to provide a Findings, around other vulnerable features, and context for these detailed descriptions, recommendations adding explanatory warning notices inside showing some of the main passages and all and management the caves to direct and to educate the the cave entrances. During the course of the survey, which casual visitor. grew to 60 detailed descriptions spread Existing cave surveys and old photographs over 32 sites, a number of interesting If notices were placed outside the caves, were of great help for comparison. The features were identified. they might attract more visitors into the photographs allowed us to include remote caves and the increased traffic would lead and difficult-to-reach parts of the caves – Depositional forms included both the full to an increase in damage. This is a more beyond sumps, for example. For safety, we range of calcite speleothems (stalactites, practical and, we feel, a more productive restricted ourselves to the safer sections of stalagmites, pillars, curtains and various policy than attempting to restrict access.

The survey team at work in Drip Chamber, Allt nan Uamh Stream Cave.

Stalactites hang down, stalagmites go up, and helictites go … wherever they choose! Delicate helictites on the roof in Lower Traligill Cave. The water drop at bottom left helps give a sense of scale. 28 Photos by Ivan Young Latest publications Latestatest publicationspublications Essential reading

Geodiversity – valuing and conserving abiotic nature. Murray Gray. ISBN 0-470-84896-0. 2003. John Wiley and Sons

This long-awaited book covers a definite gap in the market. It is aimed at geologists, geomorphologists, nature conservationists, ecologists, landscape planners, architects and undergraduates in a wide range of courses. It complements beautifully the texts available from John Wiley on Conservation in Progress and Habitat conservation, both by A. Warren with co-authors Goldsmith and French respectively. Neither of these two books gives much space to geodiversity.

The book starts by defining geodiversity The Cruise of the Betsey with Rambles and moves quickly onto a general of a Geologist. Hugh Miller, with description of geodiversity from Earth introduction and notes by Dr Michael materials to different environments, for Taylor. Preface by Professor T C example, river, coastal or glacial. It worth a great deal. Murray Gray is to be Smout. NMS Enterprises Ltd – examines the different types of values put congratulated for being so timely. Publishing, National Museums of on geodiversity and then describes the The case studies will provide a good Scotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh, different threats. Gray looks at background for future geoconservation EH1 1JF; tel 0131 247 4026. 576 geoconservation from a worldwide work and it is a must for anyone serious pages (including four maps). perspective and gives the best practice in about geoconservation. ISBN 1 901663 54 X. £20. different countries, from Canada to Ireland and New Zealand. Then the author gets The author finishes with a poem from a This facsimile reprint of Hugh Miller’s down to managing geodiversity and the Scottish poet Hugh MacDiarmid, about a notes records his rambles around many new initiatives being developed, from raised beach on the Shetlands. It is only Scotland in the mid 1840s and has geodiversity action plans to geoparks. fitting to finish with the last few lines: explanatory preface, introduction and notes. We must reconcile ourselves to the stones, Gray shows how a holistic approach to Not the stones to us…. nature conservation is beneficial, and then The cover montage features an array of images. The Let men find the faith that builds calotype of Hugh Miller is by David Octavius Hill and looks to the future. Robert Adamson ©Scottish National Photography mountains Collection, Scottish National Portrait Gallery; sunset, Isle of Eigg is ©John MacPherson, Part of this well-written book will Before they seek the faith that moves Stockscotland.com; the fossil fish photography is by unfortunately go out of date with all the them. Suzie Stevenson ©Trustees of National Museums of advances at present. However, it is the only Scotland. book of its kind and for this reason alone is – Cynthia Burek, Chair, UKRIGS Geopark exploration guides Explore The Malvern Hills. ISBN 0-9535054-7-2. Explore Wyche and Purlieu. ISBN 0-9543572-0-5. Explore Great Malvern Building Stones. ISBN 0-9535054-6-4. All published by Herefordshire and Worcestershire Earth Heritage Trust, www.worc.ac.uk/eht; tel 01905 855184. £1.95 each.

These are the latest arrivals in a growing series of the Trust’s laminated guides. They are guaranteed to attract with good pictures and diagrams, appealing design and accessible text. These are timely launches, given the declaration of the area as a European Geopark (page 12). 29 Latestatest publicationspublications Latest publications

Geological Conservation Review: Into the futur Neil Ellis, GCR Publications Manager, JNCC, e-mail: [email protected]

ong-subscribing readers of this Updating the GCR rejected following consideration of magazine and its forerunners conservation value, detailed assessment will know that the Geological It is important that GCR site coverage is and independent refereeing. LConservation Review was periodically reviewed to ensure that the launched over a quarter of a century register of Britain’s best Earth science sites As the GCR Publications Programme ago. Since 1977, this extensive is up-to-date. This will ensure that the GCR draws to a close in 2004, JNCC intends to programme of site evaluation and retains its scientific credibility as a implement an ongoing incremental review, documentation, carried out under the benchmark for quality, and ensures that the assessing the adequacy of the site coverage auspices of the Nature Conservancy highlights of British geology continue to be in a small number of selected GCR blocks Council and its successors, has led to the conserved. Increased or hitherto each year, consulting with experts in the recognition of over 3,000 GCR sites, unrecognised significance may be seen in geological community. considered to be essential to the study new sites. and research of the geology and Further details of the work will be reported geomorphology of Britain. Indeed, new sites continue to be proposed in Earth heritage. for the GCR lists and are accepted or The sites were selected for around 100 categories (called GCR ‘blocks’). A description of the rationale of the GCR can be found at www.jncc.gov.uk/ Examining the force earthheritage/gcr/introduction.htm its landforms and geomorphology – and details the forces that have GCR sites are protected as Sites of Special shaped our coasts and determined Scientific Interest (SSSIs) by the country their form. Among these forces are conservation agencies. To support the geology, glaciation, sea-level change, ‘register’ of GCR sites and justify site sediment supply, wind, wave, tide, conservation and SSSI designation, the and, increasingly, human activities. Joint Nature Conservation Committee is continuing its mammoth task of publishing One of the hallmarks of the the GCR Series of 42 books, providing the coastline is its state of continual essential reference and information source change. The change may be for each site. gradual, such as that which occurs where the geological Our latest publication is Coastal inheritance has produced a th Geomorphology of Great Britain, the 28 resistant rocky coast. book in the GCR Series (for details, see However, coastal change may also panel on right). The publication of the final be extremely rapid, such as the volume in 2004 will represent the V.J. May and J.D. Hansom. Coastal almost instantaneous erosional culmination of this massive body of work, Geomorphology of Great Britain. impact of storm waves on a sand and a lasting testimony to the importance GCR Volume number 28. beach. In the face of such dynamism, of British sites in the Earth sciences. it is paradoxical that many elements of the coastal landscape appear to Looking beyond the paper publication of The coastline of Great Britain is not be more enduring; sea stacks are the GCR Series, we are planning further only extremely varied and dynamic, it ephemeral and young landforms, but dissemination of GCR site reports (through is also a great national treasure, the host cliff from which they have electronic media) and considering how the valued for its natural heritage and emerged is often much older. GCR site register can be kept up-to-date. scenic beauty. This new GCR volume describes one aspect of the coast – Nearly 100 of the most scientifically 30 Latest publications Latestatest publicationspublications

The GCR volumes No 1: An Introduction to the Geological Conservation Review (published). Available for £10 - see special offer box on left

Precambrian and Structural Geology Caledonian Structures in Britain (published; volume 3) Lewisian, Torridonian and Moine rocks of Scotland (in prep.) Dalradian Rocks of Scotland (in prep.) Precambrian Rocks of England and Wales (published; volume 20) re Fossil Arthropods of Great Britain (in prep.) Variscan to Alpine Structures in Britain (in prep.)

Igneous Petrology and Mineralogy British Tertiary Volcanic Province (published; volume 4) Igneous Rocks of South-West England (published; volume 5) Caledonian Igneous Rocks of Great Britain (published; volume 17) Carboniferous and Permian Igneous Rocks of Great Britain Special (published; volume 27) offer Mineralization in Great Britain (in prep.) publication – Palaeozoic Stratigraphy Marine Permian of England (published; volume 9) save £20 British Upper Carboniferous Stratigraphy (published; volume 11) British Cambrian to Ordovician Stratigraphy (published; As a special offer to Earth heritage readers, volume 18) we are selling Volume 1 of the GCR Series, An British Silurian Stratigraphy (published; volume 19) Introduction to the Geological Conservation British Lower Carboniferous Stratigraphy (in press) Review, for just £10 (list price is £30). Order it Old Red Sandstone Rocks of Great Britain (in prep.) on-line at www.nhbs.com or telephone British Marine Devonian Stratigraphy (in prep.) +44 (0) 1803 865913. Mesozoic-Cainozoic Stratigraphy British Tertiary Stratigraphy (published; volume 16) Permian and Triassic Red Beds and the Penarth Group of Great s at work on the coast Britain (published; volume 24) British Upper Jurassic Stratigraphy (published; volume 21) important sites have been selected for the GCR to British Middle Jurassic Stratigraphy (published; volume 26) represent the geomorphology of the coast of Great Britain. British Lower Jurassic Stratigraphy (in press) There are classic ‘textbook’ examples of typical coastal Jurassic–Cretaceous Boundary rocks in England (in prep.) geomorphological features cited the world over, such as British Upper Cretaceous Stratigraphy (published; volume 23) Scolt Head Island, Lulworth Cove, Chesil Beach and St British Marine Lower Cretaceous Stratigraphy (in prep.) Ninian’s Tombolo, and yet others, such as the machair of Palaeontology the west coast of Scotland, that are unique to Britain. Fossil Reptiles of Great Britain (published; volume 10) Many of the sites have earned international renown both Palaeozoic Palaeobotany of Great Britain (published; volume 9) scientifically and aesthetically. Information from such sites Fossil Fishes of Great Britain (published; volume 16) contributes greatly to understanding the impact of natural Mesozoic and Tertiary Palaeobotany of Great Britain (published; climate change and of coastal management by human volume 23) beings. Fossil Mammals and Birds of Great Britain (in prep.)

The chapters are arranged thematically to highlight Geomorphology similarities and differences of related systems, including Karst and Caves of Great Britain (published; volume 12) hard-rock and soft-rock cliff coasts, gravel and sandy Fluvial Geomorphology of Great Britain (published; volume 13) Mass Movements in Britain (in prep.) beaches, sand dunes, machair and saltmarshes. Each Coastal Geomorphology of Great Britain (published; volume 28) chapter includes contextual descriptions of the landforms and interpretation of the dynamics of the systems Quaternary Geology and Geomorphology operating within the sites. The volume is characterised by Quaternary of Wales (published; volume 2) many illustrations and an extensive bibliography and Quaternary of Scotland (published; volume 6) glossary. The volume is the first to highlight both the Quaternary of the Thames (published; volume 7) conservation value of the coastal geomorphology sites Quaternary of South-West England (published; volume 14) and the important rôle they play in developing the science Quaternary of East Anglia and the Midlands (in prep.) of geomorphology. Quaternary of Northern England (published; volume 25) Quaternary of Southern England (in prep.) FOR MORE INFORMATION about the books, see the JNCC website www.jncc.gov.uk, or our distributor’s website www.nhbs.com, or write to GCR Unit, JNCC, Monkstone House, City Road, Peterborough PE1 1JY. 31 Earth Heritage magazine is published twice a year to promote interest in geological and landscape conservation.

Below Tryfan, oil on canvas by Sir Kyffin Williams RA. Sharp ridges and peaks, carved by the plucking and grinding of ancient glaciers, protrude through the scree which blankets the lower slopes of this rocky and desolate landscape in Snowdonia. See Rock Art, pages 15-17.

Photo of painting by Stewart Campbell