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| Adel Crag |
After my investigation of the church of St. John the Baptist and various memorials in its graveyard, I then set off to find Adel War Memorial, which is shown in front of the Adel War Memorial Association building on Google Map.
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| The west side of Adel War Memorial |
Expecting to see a traditional memorial in the form of a figure or a cross, I was very surprised to see that it comprises a very large boulder of coarse grained gritstone, to which a simple brass plaque has been attached.
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| The east side of Adel War Memorial |
The boulder, which displays large scale cross-bedding, was brought from somewhere on Adel Moor, which lies just over 1 km to the south-east and is underlain by Midgely Grit and Guisely Grit, with the latter historically quarried for local use. The area is apparently strewn with large boulders and isolated outcrops such as the Buck Stone, but I didn’t have time to investigate.
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| The parish hall |
Having taken a few photographs of the war memorial, I retraced my steps through the churchyard and stopping briefly at the old stable block, which is now used as the parish hall, and carried on to York Gate Garden, where I asked for directions to Adel Crag.
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| Stair Foot Lane |
The short walk down Stair Foot Lane, which has no paths, demands your complete attention but it takes you to Adel Beck, which cuts through the siltstone and mudstone to form a distinct valley.
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| Adel Beck |
Adel Crag comprises a large block of gritstone, frequented by boulderers, which is isolated from sloping ground above that is punctuated by numerous small partially overgrown outcrops.
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| A general view of the rocks used for bouldering |
The angle of dip in the gritstone does not follow the general trend in the area and one large rock in the exposure is dipping at 45 degrees, which strongly suggests that these are slipped blocks associated with solifluction in a periglacial environment.
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| A geological map of the area around Adel |
Looking at the geological map of the area, the position of Adel Crag appears to be associated with a small spur of Guiseley Grit but, immediately to the east, the younger Rough Rock forms higher ground and this may be its source.
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| Various outcrops of Guiseley Grit at Adel Crag |
The sample of loose gritstone that I collected is composed predominantly of angular quartz grains with a maximum dimension of 4 mm, with iron oxides in the cement being weathered to give the rock a very pale brown colour.
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| Gritstone from Adel Crag |
On the way back to the bus terminus, I took a few photos of the path that runs alongside Long Causeway, which is composed of large irregular and worn slabs that are believed to be the original Roman stones from the Ilkley to Tadcaster road.
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| The path on Long Causeway |
On my travels, I always look out for places that might be of interest for the Sheffield U3A Geology Group field trips and, combined with Roundhay Park, I thought that a trip to Adel would make a great day out.
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| York Gate Garden |
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