Boston Park in Rotherham - 2021

 

A cast of a Lepidodendron

Carrying on from my exploration of the geology of Canklow Wood in Rotherham, I made my way to Boston Park, where I was very interested to see what changes, if any, had taken place since my last visit in 2018.

 

Work on the new reservoir

 

In the interim, there had been plans by Yorkshire Water to renew the reservoir at the rear of the park and, at one time during the negotiations with Rotherham MBC, there had been talk of spending money on the improvement of the park.

 

Exposed Rotherham Red sandstone

Finding that the old reservoir was being reconstructed without altering its position, I was interested to see that excavations had exposed sections of Rotherham Red sandstone and I wondered if any blocks of stone had been retained, as I had discussed with the manager of Green Spaces a couple of years earlier.

 

The fenced off steps to the south-east entrance

The steps at the south-east entrance to the park were fenced off, so I made my way into the park by an alternative route and wasn’t surprised to see that a large stretch of the old quarry face had been left untended and become overgrown, with shrubs obscuring some of the lower parts.

 

An obscured quarry face at the east end of the park

In mid-February, with the trees bare of leaves, I could still see patches of rock where the ivy had not yet covered the old quarry face, which was an improvement on when I visited in 2017 with John Hunter of the Sheffield Area Geology Trust (SAGT) and in again in 2018 - when on both occasions I couldn’t see anything.

 

A view of the area once occupied by the bowls pavilion

Moving closer to the old quarry face that was once partly obscured by the bowls pavilion, I couldn’t see any signs of the conglomeratic beds of ironstone pellets and, except for a section where the upward change from massive to flaggy sandstone can be seen, there were no good exposures.

 

An exposure of massive and flaggy beds

Moving further along to the doorway from the College of Jesus, although this seems to be the only part of the quarry face where any attempt has been made to cut back the ivy, its growth is generally unconstrained and many interesting sedimentary structures are now covered.

 

The doorway from the College of Jesus

 

In places, however, there are glimpses of trough cross-bedding in sandstones that are composed of laminated beds that alternate from red to yellow. There are still probably enough exposures to enable the site to be used for educational purposes, although this would benefit greatly from the regular clearance of the ivy.

 

An example of trough cross-bedding

Continuing along the path towards Boston Castle, although many of the rock exposures are in the shade and not that easily accessible due to the planting and walling here, they are relatively free from ivy and many features are visible.

 

A good exposure of ivy free Rotherham Red sandstone

On the other side of the path, although now fenced off, a walkway passed through the copse like feature that is set on a landscaped mound of land. The walkway is lined with slabs of rock that contain both ironstone pellets and fossils of Carboniferous trees, which have been obtained from the conglomeratic beds that were not suitable for building stone.

 

Slabs with Carboniferous tree fossils and ironstone pellets

Moving up to the parking area, where there was once an excellent section through the soil horizon that has formed on the Rotherham Red sandstone, there is now only a thick mass of ivy that could easily have been kept under control.

 

The car parking area

The only addition to the park since I have first known it is a large sculpted block of stone that has depictions of wheatsheaves and a plough, scythe and rake, which was salvaged when the Corn Exchange in the town centre was demolished.

 

A stone salvaged from the Corn Exchange