Geology in Edlington Wood

 

Concentric circle patterns of an unknown origin

When attending the Save Our Greenbelt Coffee Morning in Braithwell, my friend Lindsey from Micklebring asked if I had ever been to The Crags at Edlington Wood. Although I had undertaken a survey of potential RIGS (Regionally Important Geological Sites) in Doncaster in 1997 and resurveyed these for the Doncaster Geodiversity Assessment in 2007, I was not aware of it.

 

Edlington Wood on the Doncaster Heritage Map

A Google search shows that it contains Scheduled Monuments - Roman settlements and later earthworks - and other enclosures, is designated as a biological SSSI for its ancient woodland, and is also locally listed as a Historic Park and Garden and there is a rock shelter where Upper Palaeolithic flint tools have been found.

 

The geology around Edlington Wood

 

Following on from my investigation of the geology and building stones of Clifton, I took advantage of a fine day on 1st May 2025 to explore this and then walk back to Conisbrough via New Edlington, where I hoped to see the New Edlington Brickpit SSSI. 

 

Wild garlic in Edlington Wood

 

Alighting from the X2 bus from Rotherham at the Broomhouse Lane/North Street stop, I made my way across an open field to a well used path around the northern boundary of Edlington Wood - which is actually privately owned but nonetheless frequented by walkers - and was greeted by wild garlic in full bloom and, a little further east along the path, a burnt out car.

  

A burnt out car

The path that I followed is set on calcareous mudstones of the Edlington Formation, which is on the downthrown side of a fault that coincides with the alignment of The Crags and I had expected to see a well defined linear feature, as at Barnburgh Cliff. 

 

A view of The Crags

 

Getting closer to the first outcrop that I saw, I immediately realised that is this location of the rock shelter and, looking at the massive dolomitic limestone of the Cadeby Formation, there is no well defined bedding or bryozoan reefs - as seen at North Cliff Quarry in Conisbrough. These are a feature of the lower Wetherby Member and their absence and the abundance of voids suggests that this could be the Sprotbrough Member. 

 

A rock shelter

Looking at the surrounding landscape, many large blocks of limestone seem to have become detached from the main outcrop and have rotated and slumped to various degrees, which may be related to movement along the fault. 

 

Rotated and slumped blocks

 

Many isolated blocks, which are covered in ivy and other vegetation, are scattered around the lower slopes as seen in Anston Stones Wood - where the formation of the gorge has led to the undercutting and cambering of these large blocks, which have slid downhill for some distance. 

 

A detached block of limestone

 

The covering of vegetation and very uneven ground formed by these slipped blocks, which have their edges rounded in many places, made it quite hazardous underfoot and difficult to move around and it was some time before I was able to find a place where I could discreetly obtain a specimen with my Estwing hammer. 

 

A view north from The Crags

 

Eventually finding a location, the piece that I obtained is crystalline and very open textured, with a couple of small crystal lined vughs. The geological memoir describes the limestone in and around Edlington Wood as having “granular, oolitic and cellular varieties”. 

 

A specimen of dolomitic limestone from The Crags

 

Returning to the footpath and continuing eastwards, I could see further highly vegetated outcrops with a very irregular outline and what would probably be described as rock shelters, which are probably formed by movement of the blocks and not karst processes. 

 

A view of The Crags from the footpath

 

The thick undergrowth didn’t make it easy to gain access to these, but it wasn’t too long before I found a place where I could get close without much difficulty and take note of the similar movement and rotation of large blocks. 

 

A slumped block of limestone

 

In this location, much of the outcrop has quite a different character, with it appearing to be composed of angular pieces of limestone in the form of a breccia, although the covering of moss and algae mainly obscures the surface.

 

A detail of a breccia

In one place I encountered a vertical rock face, which doesn’t appear to be typical along these crags, and this has a joint plane that separates the body of the limestone from a smaller section that will eventually become detached. 

 

A view of brecciated limestone and a fault plane

 

I didn’t spend any time looking for evidence of movement along this plane, such as slickensides or displacement of bedding planes, but the small section is composed of breccia and it is therefore possible that this marks the position of the mapped fault. 

 

Another view of the brecciated limestone

 

On one face of the limestone, I was intrigued to find several markings that comprise a series of concentric circles, which I originally thought must be lichen or another organism; however, when enlarging my photos, they seem to be part of the rock and do not have an organic texture.

 

 Another view of the concentric circle pattern in the limestone

 

Having completed a brief investigation of The Crags, I again returned to the footpath and continued until I reached an open field where there is a panoramic view to the east. Unknowingly, I was right next to the Roman hut and oval enclosure and when finding another path to get me back to the entrance, I passed other sites that are marked on the Heritage Gateway map, but was completely unaware of them amongst the surrounding trees.

 

A panoramic view across the field to the east of Edlington Wood

 

Geology in Clifton

 

An outcrop of red sandstone on the west side of Common Lane

After spending not long over an hour walking around the village of Clifton, to have a good look at the building stones that have been used in its historic architecture, I returned to Common Lane and set off down the hill on my way to Conisbrough. 

 

Red sandstone on the west side of Common Lane

Just before I left the village, with the high boundary wall of the former Beech House Farm to my right, I was very interested to see a small outcrop of red sandstone projecting from the base of the garden wall on the opposite side of the road. 

 

An outcrop of sandstone on the east side of Common Lane

 

Also, another small section of sandstone forms the foundations of a low retaining wall on the east side of Common Lane, a part of which has been covered with concrete to presumably fill a void and provide some structural stability to the wall.

 

Flaggy sandstone

To the north of this band of concrete the upper part of the section is seen to comprise very thinly bedded flaggy sandstone and, although I didn’t have my Estwing hammer with me, I managed to pull a loose piece of this from the outcrop with my hands. 

 

A piece of flaggy sandstone

 

Although the section is being encroached upon by ivy and is likely to be completely overgrown in the not too distant future, just beyond the flaggy sandstone it was still possible to see that this is underlain by a more massive sandstone, which displays cross-bedding. 

 

Massive cross-bedded sandstone

Lying between the retaining wall and the boundary wall to the former Beech Hall Farm, pieces of the sandstone had been left in a small pile and I took one of these. The specimens that I collected are both fine grained and the red/purplish colour is consistent with the blocks that I had seen scattered amongst the dolomitic limestone walls throughout the village. 

 

A  specimen of red sandstone

 

Looking at the geological map of the area, these small outcrops form part of an unnamed Pennine Upper Coal Measures Formation (PUCMF) sandstone that crosses Common Lane and which is displaced by a NNE/SSE trending fault. 

 

The geological map showing PUCMF sandstones near Clifton

When I first visited St. Peter’s church in Old Edlington, I looked at the old Ordnance Survey maps and found a few quarries in the area that were located on the Cadeby Formation, but I could not see any quarries on the unnamed PUCMF sandstones that form small outcrops in the area.

A vertical section of the sandstones above the PUCMF Ravenfield Rock

Page 93 of the geological memoir for the Barnsley district refers to red beds that have been seen in PUCMF sandstones in the area around Micklebring, Clifton and Crookhill Park, without providing any precise details of their locations.

 

A brief description of red beds in the geological memoir

Looking at the LIDAR map, the area around Crookhill Park and Old Edlington show obvious signs of quarrying, which coincide with the position of quarries marked on the OS maps. They are found very near to the unconformity between Carboniferous and Permian strata and the OS map marks them as limestone quarries. 

 

Crookhill Park on the LIDAR map

To the west of St. Peter’s church in Old Edlington, an unnamed PUCMF sandstones appears to immediately underlie the Cadeby Formation. Given that Clifton’s historic buildings contain a small proportion of red sandstone, it is possible that the Edlington quarry cut down into the underlying red sandstone, which may then have been used with limestone in the immediate area.

A LIDAR map view of the Edlington quarry

  

The Building Stones of Clifton - Part 3

A blocked doorway on Church Lane

Retuning to the west end of Church Lane, to continue my investigation of the building stones of Clifton, the sandstone used for the surround to the blocked doorway of an agricultural building that has been converted into residential use, as part of the adjoining cottage. 

 

The Clifton tithe map (1838-1840)

The Clifton tithe map (1838-1840) on the Braithwell, Micklebring and Clifton History and Heritage website, plot 55 is described as “Homestead, Orchard” and also Nos. 54 and 55 as “two Cottages on the same plot. Freehold”.

 

A blocked doorway on Church Lane

The lintel, jambs and associated masonry to this entrance are made of a massive grey sandstone, which in parts has deep red colouration that I had seen in boundary walls and the walling to houses and farm buildings on Common Lane. 

 

A detail of the blocked doorway on Church Lane

The doorway has been blocked up with this deep red sandstone and, looking closer, the lower part of the infill masonry includes a large block of dolomitic limestone from the Cadeby Formation similar to the walling, and a large block of pink pisolitic and shelly limestone.

 

A detail of a block of pink pisolitic and shelly limestone

 

Continuing along Church Lane, I had a quick walk around the exterior of Clifton Mission (1895), which, except for a few blocks of red/brown sandstone in the porch, is built with a very finely laminated sandstone that has a dull lilac colour. 

 

Views of the Clifton Mission

 

A high proportion of the masonry has differentially weathered and, in many places, this has developed deep cavernous decay. I had encountered many examples of this kind of weathering in massive unnamed Pennine Coal Measures Formation sandstones in South Yorkshire, but I had not seen a texture like this before. 

 

Differential weathering and cavernous decay at Clifton Mission

In many places, pieces of the rock-faced sandstone have become detached from the surface and I collected a few specimens and, using my hand lens, I can see that it is very fine grained and has specks of white muscovite mica visible on the bedding planes. 

 

Fragments of sandstone from Clifton Mission

 

Earlier in the month, a member of CRAG (Conisbrough Research and Archaeology Group) told me about the use of red sandstone in Clifton and, during subsequent correspondence, I was later told that there was documentation that recorded the use of Rotherham Red sandstone from Ulley and this is mentioned in the entry for Clifton Mission on A Church Near You website. 

 

Rotherham Red/Lilac Blue sandstone in the BRE report

The stone quarried at Ulley is described in the BRE report, The building sandstones of the British Isles, as Rotherham Red/Lilac Blue, with the latter presumably reflecting the reduced state of the iron in a freshly obtained block of stone. 

 

Rotherham Red/Lilac Blue sandstone used in Clifton Park

 

I have seen Rotherham Red sandstone in very many historic buildings and I know that it has considerable colour variation, but I have only seen the Lilac Blue variety where used in the play area during the regeneration of Clifton Park in 2008. 

 

Boundary walls to the former orchard on Back Lane

 

Leaving Clifton Mission, I continued along Church Lane to Back Lane, which runs parallel to Common Lane and forms part of the mediaeval street plan, as I had seen at Hooton Pagnell and Palterton. A high wall at right angles to the road appears to be part of buildings marked on old OS maps that, along with the wall heightened with brick, are boundary walls to a plot that is listed on the 1838-1840 tithe map as an orchard. 

 

A boundary wall to the former orchard

 

Some of the dolomitic limestone used for the wall on Back Lane is thinly bedded and very fine grained, with an appearance that is more like the Brotherton Formation than the pisolitic, oolitic and shelly varieties of the Cadeby Formation that I had seen on my walk around the village. 

 

Red sandstone in the boundary wall on Back Lane

 

Although the Brotherton Formation does outcrop beyond Old Edlington, I can’t see that this would be brought to Clifton when there were a few quarries on the Cadeby Formation in the area. As with most of the walls in the village, these incorporate a few blocks of red sandstone, some of which are quite bright red in colour. 

 

A detail of the red sandstone used in the boundary wall on Back Lane

 

I broke of a small piece with my fingers and, when later examining this and a few fragments of the blocked doorway on Church Lane with my hand lens, I could see that it is medium grained and that the quartz grains are both clear and have a coating of iron oxide.

 

A specimen of sandstone from the wall on Back Lane

 

The Building Stones of Clifton - Part 2

 

Moulds of brachiopod shells in an oolitic variety of the Cadeby Formation

Continuing down Common Lane, having seen that the building stones of Clifton are essentially dolomitic limestone from the Cadeby Formation, with a significant amount of dark red Coal Measures sandstone, I was interested to see that the quoins and window dressings to Manor House are made of another Coal Measures sandstone.

Manor House

 

The house is set back from the road and I couldn’t get a close look at it but, when enlarging my photos, I can see that it is grey/brown in colour with some Liesegang rings and doesn’t appear to have been very durable. It also looks quite similar to the sandstone used for the entrance to the Manor House, but I don’t know where it might have come from.

The Building Stones of England Database map explorer

 

The Building Stones of England Database map explorer shows clusters of quarries at Wickersley and Thrybergh, which worked the Wickersley Rock and others located on the Mexborough Rock in Mexborough, with the nearest working the Ravenfield Rock near Ravenfield.

 

Pisolitic limestone

 

Walking down Common Lane towards Chapel Lane, I stopped a couple of times to look at the variety of textures seen in the limestone used for the boundary walls. These includes coarse grained pisolitic limestone, similar to the one that is formed near to the base of this formation in Hooton Pagnell, a finer grained limestone that has cavernous decay and a very fine grained variety that I normally associate with the Brotherton Formation.

 

Fine grained limestone and cavernous decay

 

On the corner of Common Lane and Church Lane, Church House is another example of a building appears on the 1854 Ordnance Survey (OS) map, which contributes to the character of Clifton Conservation Area and in other locations would have probably have merited Grade II listing at least for its group value.

 

Church House

 

Further down Common Lane, I was intrigued by Holly House, which has walling composed of approximately equal proportions of dolomitic limestone and red sandstone and unusual brickwork to the window heads and between the ground floor and first floor windows.

Views of Holly House

Except for Manor House, the houses along Common Lane all have limestone lintels above the doors and windows and I can’t imagine that the brickwork, if original, was designed to be seen. On the upper storey, the red sandstone appears to be covered in fragments of what appears to be the remains of a lime render that may have been stripped off, with very crude and inappropriate Portland cement ribbon pointing applied to the roughly squared stonework.

 

 A detail of the masonry of Holly House

Walking further down the hill, I took a few general record photos of the various buildings and boundary walls on its east side, where both limestone and red sandstone are used in varying proportions, before stopping at the entrance to Hall Farm.

 

Buildings and boundary walls on the east side of Common Lane

 

Looking at the side by side version of the 1854 OS map, Hall Farm appears to be a modern building and the boundary walls to either side of its entrance look like they may have been rebuilt using material from demolished buildings.

 

 

Retracing my steps, I stopped briefly to have a closer look at the various sections of walling that I had just passed. The red sandstone varies from a deep oxblood to bright red and the limestone from cream to yellow, with the development of a grey patina. The limestone also shows a considerable variation in texture, with both pisolite and oolite and moulds of brachiopod shells where the calcium carbonate has dissolved.

 

Details of boundary walls on Common Lane