A Geological Recce in Cressbrook Dale

 

A view east along Cressbrook Dale

The Sheffield U3A Geology Group October field trip to Wincobank and the Thundercliffe Grange quarries proved to be the last day out of note in 2023, with November coinciding with the beginning of an exceptionally wet winter - the 8th wettest on record. 

 

At Sheffield General Cemetery

 

Although the Group convened at Sheffield General Cemetery in November, which I had helped my friend Catherine to prepare, half of the attendees left at lunchtime – on the grounds that it was too cold. Quite unusually for me, I had been suffering from a bad cold and feeling quite unwell and when one member made an inappropriate comment – after coming back from the pub whilst the rest of us ate their packed lunched in the cemetery – I was none too pleased.

 

Headstops at Kenwood Hall Hotel

 

At that point, I decided that I had also had enough for the day and, after taking the remaining members of the group to the Kenwood Hall Hotel, which was the highlight of the planned afternoon walk, I brought the day to a very early end. 

 

At the 2024 indoor meeting of the Sheffield U3A Geology Group

 

With the wet weather continuing through November to January, the next time that I left my house to do anything except essential shopping was to attend the Group indoor meeting at the Burton Street Foundation in Hillsborough, when my input was a talk on the building stones of Sheffield and the provisional field trip itinerary for 2024 was discussed.

 

Cressbrook Dale and Tideswell Dale

 

On the agenda for February was Cressbrook Dale and the Tideswell Dale quarry, which I had inspected back in 1995, as part of my assessment of the geotourism potential of RIGS (Regionally Important Geological Sites) in the Peak District National Park; however, a route still had to be devised and I was waiting for Paul to contact me to arrange a recce. 

 

The geology around Cressbrook Dale and Tideswell Dale

 

A few days before we were due to undertake our field trip, I received a phone call from Paul, who had spent 2 weeks on holiday in Lanzarote and subsequently sustained an injury at home that turned out to be a broken toe, to ask if I could go out on the Sunday to do the recce. 

 

The path to Cressbrook Dale at Wardlow Mires

 

I was glad to get out of the house after weeks of bad weather but, after being picked up from Treeton, the roads from Sheffield were unusually congested and, finally arriving at Wardlow Mires to start our recce, we immediately discovered that the beginning of the path was under water. 

 

An outcrop of the Eyam Limestone Formation

 

Making our way alongside a dry stone wall and then continuing past an outcrop of what I think is the Eyam Limestone Formation, which we didn’t stop to examine, Paul was clearly struggling and we slowly continued along the path until Peter’s Stone – a good example of a translational landslide - came into view.

 

Peter's Stone

 

When I visited Cressbrook Dale in 1995, I was struck by the corals in the Monsal Dale Limestone Formation and the cemented scree on the north side of what is normally a dry valley at this location, but the water table had risen so much that we would now need waders to cross what was now a deep stream. 

 

The effects of a rising water table on a normally dry valley

Carrying on along the path, I was very interested to see that in a couple of places, water was gushing out from the hillside along a temporary spring line, where the permeable limestone comes into contact with the Cressbrook Dale Lava. 

 

A spring formed at the junction of limestone and basalt

 

At this point, I walked quickly ahead along the footpath on the bottom of the valley to look for signs of the Cressbrook Dale Lava and the Litton Tuff, which lies several metres above it. There was no obvious features to indicate their presence, except perhaps a small area where brown soil was revealed on the upper slope, so I walked back to meet Paul on a less well defined footpath at a slightly higher level. 

 

A possible exposure of weathered Litton Tuff in the hillside

 

Although I didn’t notice anything from the lower path, looking down at this path, it was immediately obvious that the lava was exposed along its length for several metres and sporadically at slightly higher and lower levels. 

 

The exposure of the Cressbrook Dale Lava

 

With my Estwing hammer, I was able to prise a loose piece of rock from below the path, which I then split into two. The specimen comprises amygdaloidal olivine basalt, with the calcite infilling the vesicles standing out against the very dark green groundmass, in which I can’t clearly see any individual crystals of mafic minerals or plagioclase feldspar. 

 

A specimen of Cressbrook Dale Lava showing amygdales

 

Having met back up with Paul, we retraced our steps and then slowly made our way up the grassy slope to the smaller slipped block of the Monsal Dale Formation, which is positioned beneath the much larger Peter’s Stone and shows marked tilting of the beds. 

 

The walk up to Peter's Stone

 

Taking care not to step into the voids around the edge of some of the outcrop, we managed to find good examples of Lithostrotion corals, but there were no signs of the solitary rugose corals Dibunophyllum or Diphyphyllum, which have been identified in the Hob’s House Coral Band - a distinctive marker horizon that is found in Peter’s Stone and the scar in the main outcrop. 

 

Lithostrotion corals

 

Ascending a little further to the base of Peter’s Stone, a quick search among the various sized blocks that form a deposit of scree revealed further examples of corals and brachiopods, include a medium sized piece of limestone that displays a bed that contains several brachiopod moulds.

 

A block showing brachiopod moulds along a bedding plane

 

Looking towards Wardlow Mires from Peter’s Stone, we obtained spectacular views of Cressbrook Dale and the extent of the flooding of the valley bottom and, having managed to find a few features of interest for our field trip, we returned to the car.

 

A panoramic view along Cressbrook Dale from Peter's Stone

 

We then drove to the Tideswell Dale car park, to look at the spheroidal weathering of the dolerite in the small quarry at its entrance; however, it was obvious by now that Paul would be unable to participate in our field trip three days later and our recce came to an end, without the Tideswell Dale quarry being visited or Tansley Dale - an essential part of the walk – being explored. 

 

The small quarry at Tideswell Dale car park

 

A Geology Field Trip in South Yorkshire

 

Posh Pillar and Her Daughters on Jenkin Road

Travelling on the buses and trains, my visit to Woolley on the 10th of October proved to be my last day out in 2023 but, the following week, after I had to be collected from Treeton when several buses failed to turn up, I co-led another field trip with the Sheffield U3A Geology Group. 

 

The Ordnance Survey map of Wincobank

 

At the Sheffield Heritage Fair a couple of years earlier, I had met one of group members, Hilary, where we had both been talking to Danny Allsebrook of the Brigantes of Wincobank Hill, which gave us the idea of arranging a visit for our group to Wincobank Hill sometime in the future – to look at the effects of the Don Monocline and to visit the Iron Age hillfort. 

 

The British Geological Survey map of Wincobank

 

Convening at the parking space on Jenkin Road, we firstly went to have a look at The Star Crossed Queen, a star map that was installed in 2011 as part of the artwork project known as the Journey to Hidden Places. Here, Hilary provided an introduction to Queen Cartimandua and her relationship with the Romans and the earthwork known as the Roman Rig.

 

At The Star Crossed Queen

 

Returning to Jenkin Road, Hilary then talked about Posh Pillar and Her Daughters, another sculpture that is part of the Journey to Hidden Places, which consists of a column retained from a demolished historic building and farm rollers, which are made from various granites and have poems inscribed on them. 

 

Hilary at Posh Pillar and Her Daughters

 

Making our way up the track leading to the hillfort, which is surfaced with sandstone and dolerite setts, we followed the line of the southern embankment and ditch, where Hilary further explained that Wincobank Hill provides an example of a vitrified fort and outlined other aspects of its history and archaeological investigation. 

 

On the southern embankment of Wincobank Iron Age hillfort

 

Wincobank Hill forms a very prominent landmark in the form of a hogback, which can be clearly seen from the Don Valley below and, before the steep slopes became covered in trees, there would have been views across the surrounding countryide and to another Iron Age fort at Canklow Wood in Rotherham. 

 

An exposure of the Silkstone Rock on Wincobank Hill

 

Continuing south-west along the well used and in places a very eroded path, I took over from Hilary to explain the geology dominated by the Don Monocline, which affects the strata from Sheffield to Mexborough - a distance of approximately 17 km.

 

A viewpoint overlooking Sheffield

 

Thin flaggy beds of the Silkstone Rock are exposed along the path at regular intervals, which exhibit the very steep dip of the strata here – up to 30 degrees to the south-east – and are highly fractured. The ground slopes steeply either side of the path and is covered in gorse and other thick vegetation that prevents easy access, so we carried on until we reached a point where there are panoramic views of Sheffield. 

 

Following a footpath on Wincobank Hill

 

On my previous visit to Wincobank Hill, I walked all the way down to Grimesthorpe, where there is a small quarry with exposures of the Parkgate Rock; however, we didn't consider going any further and retraced our steps to a path that we had discovered on the recce, which leads to an area of Wincobank Wood that was once the site of various industries.

  

A LIDAR image of Wincobank Hill

A LIDAR map shows lines of bell pits and adits that exploited the coal and ironstone seams that occur below the Silkstone Rock, with other charcoal pits and Q-pits for making white coal. The area has been managed over the years and, in several places, Hilary pointed out various examples of coppiced trees that are associated with its industrial history. 

 

The geology around Ockley Bottom and Thundercliffe Grange

 

After having our lunch at Tthe Star Crossed Queen, for the afternoon session I decided to take the group to Ockley Bottom and the Thundercliffe Grange quarries, which I had explored a couple of years earlier. The Silkstone Rock also occurs in this part of Rotherham and the area around Grange Park and Kimberworth had a similar history of iron and coal mining, which dates back to the C12, when the monks from Kirkstead Abbey worked the ironstone.

 

A quarry at Thundercliffe Gange

 

With me taking the lead during the afternoon, I didn't get much opportunity to take photos but we didn't encounter any points of interest that I haven't already described before; however, when passing Thundercliffe Grange, we met one of the original co-founders of the "co-housing scheme" here, who was kind enough to take the time to tell us about its history. 

 

A detail of the joints at Thundercliife Grange quarry

 

A Walk From Woolley to Darton

 

Woolley Edge Rock at the old Cow Carr Wood Quarry

From the time I alighted from the No. 59 bus on Barnsley Road to when I set off from Woolley to Darton, I had spent 2 hours photographing 23 listed buildings for my Photo Challenge and having a look at the exterior of St. Peter’s church and its churchyard. 

 

Planning a walk from Darton to Woolley

 

As with previous days out to Ault Hucknall, Palterton and Scarclifffe and Whitwell and Steetley, in addition to the multiple journeys on public transport, I had to factor in a walk of approximately 3.5 km from Woolley to Darton railway station, where I could catch a train back to Sheffield. 

 

The public footpaths from Woolley to Cow Carr Wood Quarry

 

Leaving the village by Back Lane, I continued until I reached Gypsy Lane and carried on up the road to the public footpath along Hawtop Lane, before taking another very poorly defined public footpath across a cultivated field. 

 

The footpath to Hawtop Lane

 

For all of this time, I was heading in a south-westerly direction up the dip slope of the Woolley Edge Rock, which underlies the entire area that I had covered in my walk to date. Being very conscious that the farmer seems to ignore the public footpath, which tends to disorientate me, I didn’t take much notice of my surroundings and I was very glad to arrive at Woolley Edge Lane.

  

A topographic map showing the dip slope of the Woolley Edge Rock

Having crossed the road, I followed the path for a short distance through a plantation and was very interested to see a few rock exposures, which I have since learned from the Building Stones Database for England map explorer is the old Cow Carr Wood Quarry. 

 

The location of the old Cow Carr Wood Quarry

 

Making my way around a mixture of thick undergrowth and felled trees, I had a quick look at an exposure of the Woolley Edge Rock, which displays well developed large scale cross-bedding and differential weathering of the less resistant beds. 

 

Cross-bedding in the Woolley Edge Rock

 

I didn’t have my Estwing hammer with me, but I was easily able to obtain a sample of coarse grained yellowish sandstone that, apart of the lack or iron banding, is essentially identical to the piece of sandstone that I obtained from a boundary wall on New Road at the start of my walk. 

 

Specimens of Woolley Edge Rock

 

Continuing through the plantation, I was presented with a panoramic view of the landscape formed by the Pennine Lower Coal Measures Formation strata to the west of the M1 motorway, with the Emley Moor transmitting station being a landmark that can seen from miles around. 

 

A panoramic view on my walk to Woolley Colliery

 

Looking at the geological map, the areas of made and infilled ground on the escarpment show that the area was worked extensively for its coal, firstly on a small scale by using adits, but I didn’t see any obvious signs of these in the landscape.

 

Areas of coal mining shown on the geological map

 

Following the path down to Woolley Colliery, a village that is named after the former colliery, which opened in 1854 and closed in 1987, I passed two rows of red brick terraced houses, which were originally built to house the miners. These and a small replica of the headstock are the only reminder of its existence, with the buildings being demolished in 1993 and the Woolley Grange housing estate built on the site.

 

A replica of the headstock at Woolley Colliery

 

Arriving on the outskirts of Darton, having missed my hourly train back to Sheffield and having to pass the time, I carried on into the village to have another quick look at the stonework of All Saints church, which I had visited a year earlier.

 

All Saints church in Darton

 

At the time, I thought that the coarse grained sandstone used in its construction is very likely to be the Woolley Edge Rock and, after having had a good look at this sandstone in the historic buildings, boundary walls and a quarry in Woolley, I now feel quite sure of this.

 

Sandstone in the tower of All Saints church

 

I didn’t think to compare the samples that I had obtained with the masonry of the tower, where the sandstone is best exposed, but the colours and textures seemed to match those that I had seen earlier. Returning to the railway station, I stopped very briefly to look at the terraced houses that comprise No. 20-26 Church Street, where the finer grained iron stained sandstone looks more typical of the Coal Measures sandstones.

 

Nos. 20-26 Church Street