An Exploration of Worsbrough Bridge

A detail of the Woolley Edge Rock

On my last visit to Worsbrough, in April 2019, to look at the interior of St. Mary’s church, I had planned to get the bus into Barnsley and have a look at the exhibition at Experience Barnsley but, on the way, I decided to get off and look at the escarpment of Woolley Edge Rock that is formed just to the north of Worsbrough Bridge.

A view up the escarpment of Woolley Edge Rock

This sandstone is one of the most important beds in the Pennines Middle Coal Measures Formation and forms bold escarpments between Barnsley and Wakefield and can be 40 metres thick. It tends to be much coarser than the other Middle Coal Measures sandstones, is strongly cross-bedded and often bears a close resemblance to those formed in the Millstone Grit.

The geology around Worsbrough Bridge

It has been widely quarried as a building stone and used in the restoration of Wakefield Cathedral and has a very distinctive appearance, which leads me to believe that it was used in the barbican of Sandal Castle, St. Helen’s church in Sandal Magna and also the Chantry Chapel of St Mary the Virgin in Wakefield.

St. Thomas and St. James' church

Before I walked up the escarpment, I noticed the church of St. Thomas and St. James on Bank End Road and went to investigate it, as I thought that this Victorian church – built in 1858 by Flockton and Sons - might have used Woolley Edge Rock in its construction.

St. Thomas and St. James' church

A quick look at the fabric of the church reveals that the Carboniferous sandstone used in its walling is unlikely to be the Woolley Edge Rock, which is yellowish in colour and has weathered significantly, but the dressings are built with a medium grained sandstone that is more durable.

The Worsbrough Combined Memorial

In the churchyard, the Worsbrough Combined Memorial at its west entrance is quite an unusual design, made of Scottish Peterhead granite with a sandstone plinth, with several further examples of this granite seen in a variety of other monuments.

The Colliery Explosion Monument

The Colliery Explosion Monument commemorates the death of 143 men and boys at Swaithe Main Colliery on 6th 1875 December and is built of good quality sandstone that retains its sharp profiles and finely carved details.

Delamination of a grave slab

Before leaving the churchyard, I was every interested to see that the surface of one of the simple inscribed grave slabs had delaminated, with a several millimetre thick part of the slab having detached itself in a single piece – an extremely unusual example of a failure in monumental grade stone taken from the Greenmoor Rock and Elland Flags.

An exposure of Woolley Edge Rock on the A61 road

When finally walking up the escarpment to look at the roadside exposures of the Woolley Edge Rock, I could see enough rock to determine that it was a massive cross bedded sandstone, with very thick beds that make it good as a building stone; however, apart from the occasion exposure where a soft lens had been differentially weathered to reveal distinct iron banding, the rock was too dirty to determine its colour.

An exposure of Woolley Edge Rock on the A61 road