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| A specimen of red Wickersley Rock |
Back in 1996-1997, when undertaking surveys for the South Yorkshire RIGS (Regionally Important Geological Sites Group), although a limited number of rock exposures in the Mexborough Rock were identified, I soon discovered that the position of the locally distinctive Rotherham Red variety of this formation in rural areas can be clearly determined by the red colour of the soil that develops upon it – a characteristic noted in the geological memoir for Sheffield.
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| A ploughed field on the Rotherham Red variety of Mexborough Rock |
When travelling from Rotherham to Doncaster on the top deck of the X78 bus, I had always assumed that the distinctly reddened soil that can be seen between Thrybergh and Hooton Roberts was due to the underlying Rotherham Red sandstone, which strikes SW-NE in this part of Rotherham and runs parallel to Doncaster Road.
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| Reddened sandstone on Holme Lane in Hooton Roberts |
It was only 20 years later, when I visited Hooton Roberts to look at the Church of St. John the Baptist and other buildings in the village and discovered that outcrops of sandstone - which I thought were undoubtedly Rotherham Red sandstone - were marked as an unnamed Pennine Middle Coal Measures Formation sandstone, did I closely examine the geological maps of the area, both printed and online, to find that the area with reddened soil around Thrybergh Reservoir was actually mapped as the Wickersley Rock.
Although my search for the Wickersley Rock in the Brecks quarries in the Listerdale Estate earlier in 2022 had proved unsuccessful, during a couple of previous visits I had noted that it was essentially yellow/brown in colour – as mentioned in the memoirs for Sheffield and Barnsley.
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| A small outcrop of the Wickersley Rock on Morthen Road |
During my brief investigation of the historic architecture of Wickersley, I was interested to see that many historic buildings have reddened Wickersley Rock in their fabric and was curious about its source. Having finished taking photographs of the listed buildings, I continued down Morthen Road and noticed a small outcrop where a retaining garden wall has not been built.
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| An exposure of the Wickersley Rock |
I didn’t have my Estwing hammer with me, but the sandstone is flaggy here and it was easy enough to remove a piece, which is medium grained, yellow/brown in colour with some iron staining, feldspathic and contains occasional flakes of muscovite mica.
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| A specimen of yellow/brown Wickersley Rock |
Continuing down a gentle escarpment formed by the Wickersley Rock, I turned into Newhall Avenue and continued to Second Lane, where I was very interested to see the foundations that were being dug for a new housing development. With a vantage point that involved peering through a dense hedge, I couldn’t see any bedrock or take a good photograph but the excavated soil and subsoil was very red.
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| The path to Wickersley Wood from Second Lane |
After visiting the wonderful Winthrop Gardens, where I enjoyed a pot of tea in the afternoon sunshine and bought a book from the Curiosity Corner, I retraced my steps and took the path to Wickersley Wood, where a red sandy soil containing lumps of red Wickersley Rock is exposed.
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| Red Wickersley Rock embedded in the soil |
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