Excursion Report: Cauldon, Staffordshire and the Dove Valley, Derbyshire

August 3rd 2007

Leaders: Andrew Swift (Cauldon Low) and Mike Allen, National Trust (Dove Valley)

Unusually, this excursion took place on a Friday to fit in with the policy of the owners of Cauldon Low Quarry, Aggregate Industries, who don’t permit weekend visits. That led to fears that attendance might be affected, but that wasn’t the case and there was a good turnout of 14 Section members on a day of uncharacterstic good weather, a distinct rarity in the monsoonal summer of 2007. We began by assembling at 10.30 in the car park of the very large working quarry at Cauldon Low, close to Waterhouses in Staffordshire, where we were met by the manager Keith Rowland, who was helpful and co-operative throughout. But what he couldn’t do was break another of his company’s rulings, which was to restrict access in the quarry. That meant that we were taken to a designated safe area and not allowed to stray from that or approach the faces, while all the time being supervised by Keith and his deputy. That sadly, is the state of things in 2007 in the era of the Health & Safety Executive, but we made the best of things. My role as leader was made easier here through help received before the meeting from ex-BGS field geologist Ian Chisholm, who graciously made his expertise available and provided much useful information. Ian has agreed to lead a trip for us next year to Derbyshire, and that should form an excellent corollary to what was seen today, as it will deal with later Carboniferous beds.

Clockwise from top left: structure in Cauldon Low Quarry; party outside the Yew Tree Inn; lovely Dovedale; Cauldon railway cutting

The highlight of Cauldon Low Quarry is undoubtedly the structure, and fortunately it wasn’t necessary to study the faces or move from where we were to appreciate it. The dip of beds ranged from horizontal to vertical with evidence of overturning too, and with the widespead folding and faulting, it made for spectacular viewing. The history of this tectonic activity is complex but basically can be related to colliding plates to the south of our area during the Hercynian Orogeny. We were fortunately deposited in the quarry near a line of huge blocks which we could study and which provided a precis of the surrounding geology. Thus were we able to engage in lively debate over possible emergent surfaces and some unusually complete crinoid remains, amongst other features.

From the busy quarry we next moved on to a much quieter locality, the railway cutting near Cauldon village, long abandoned by trains and these days given over to nature. It was a very sylvan spot where the birds and flowers drew almost as much attention as the geology. Exposed here are the beds that overlie the limestones we saw in the quarry, and these consisted of dark shales of the basal Namurian. Several types of fossil are recorded from these strata, chiefly thin shelled bivalves and goniatites, but we had little luck. Probably the best preserved elements of the fauna are the microscopic remains of conodonts, but the party had to take the leader’s word for that.

No visit to this part of the world would be complete without calling at the Yew Tree Inn at Cauldon, a truly unique establishment, and that was our next port of call for lunch. Your scribe remembers when this glory hole of antiques and mechanical instruments from a bygone age was even more dishevelled and mysterious than it is today, but even so the party were suitably impressed by the Dickensian surroundings.

2.00pm was the hour set for our meeting with the leader for the afternoon portion of our Peak District adventure, and that was the exact time we pulled into the car park at the tourist hot spot of Dovedale. If we hoped for a quiet day, seeing as it wasn’t a weekend, our hopes were dashed, and the usual melange of humanity was busy doing whatever a melange of humanity does. Largely that seemed to involve ice cream and dogs, but we rose above it all (with the exception of the ice cream of course) and withdrew a suitable distance while Mike Allen of the National Trust explained the plan of action and something of the geology we would see. That plan involved a circuit of the base of Thorpe Cloud to bring us back into the higher reaches of the Dove, and thence back to the car park, observing the geology as we went. A geowalk in fact, and indeed it was a fine day for exercising outdoors in splendid surroundings. The main point of interest was the quasi-original topography of Thorpe Cloud and the neighbouring heights, representing as they do Carboniferous mud mounds, or reefs if you prefer, bounded with screes derived from the reef itself, set at original angle of repose. As is the norm with the Geology Section, we engaged in robust debate with our excellent leader about the features we saw, but there was unanimity about the most impressive geology and scenery. By the time we brought our weary limbs back to the car park we were feeling the effects of an active day, and looked forward to relaxing at home later.

Andrew Swift