Old Maltby

The Wesleyan Methodist Chapel in Maltby

St. Bartholomew’s church is at the centre of the old agricultural village, which was founded by the Danes and takes advantage of Maltby Dike – which once powered three watermills – and good fertile arable land.

Historic buildings in the old village of Maltby

A handful of stone buildings, built of Magnesian limestone with traditional pantile roofs, are scattered around the old village and exposures of the limestone form features in the retaining walls that were built when the road was widened  - and cut into the rock - in the 1920's.

Outcrops of limestone incorporated into retaining walls

In these various walls, there is evidence of the currents that flowed in the shallow Zechstein Sea, with graded bedding and cross-bedding being highlighted as distinct banding, which varies from cream to grey in colour. Further examples of the Magnesian limestone can also been in the remains of the market cross, which stands on the junction of two roads that were important in mediaeval times, and a restored memorial to Dr William Crossley – a prominent citizen of Maltby.

The market cross and Crossley memorial

A little further from the village, the Wesleyan Methodist chapel is also built out of the local limestone, but the dressings are of highly laminated Carboniferous sandstone, which has been face bedded where used around the windows and for the inscribed pediment. The iron bearing minerals, which have been concentrated along the bedding planes in the sandstone, have been oxidised to produce a striking effect.

Permian limestone and Carboniferous sandstone

A Walk to St. Bartholomew's Church

A view of St. Bartholomew's church from Maltby Crags

For a geological field trip, I probably wouldn’t spend half an hour at Maltby Crags but it is easy to walk down to Roche Abbey, where the well bedded limestone of the Cadeby Formation can be examined in the sheer rock faces that are popular with climbers.

Roche Abbey

The stone used to build this magnificent Cistercian abbey was taken from quarries nearby - the South Yorkshire RIGS Group held promotional events for the general public of all ages here.

A bus service doesn’t run along the road to Roche Abbey and, being aware of the time needed to walk there and back, I took a quick look at Maltby Dike and headed up through Maltby Low Common  - a  Quaternary river terrace - to see St. Bartholomew’s Church.

Like other water courses that flow through the gorges in this region - which were cut into the Magnesian Limestone during the Quaternary Period by fast flowing glacial meltwater - it is now just a trickle; however, looking up the valley towards Rotherham, it is easy to see where water has left its mark on the landscape.

A simplified geological map of the area around Maltby

On the way, the Permian dolomitic limestone is occasionally seen in the higher ground above Maltby Dike and - as any keen botanist would point out - the change in the geology to sandy Carboniferous rocks is reflected by the various species of plants that grow here.

A view of Maltby Low Common

St. Bartholomew's, like so many other old English parish churches, is now generally closed due to problems of theft and vandalism and I could only walk around the exterior; nonetheless, although the old church was largely demolished and rebuilt by the Victorians, the tower still remains - with its distinctive herringbone masonry - and records a transition between the late Saxon and early Norman style of building.

St. Bartholomew's church in Maltby

Maltby Crags

The granite war memorial at Maltby Crags

 

I came back from London with some more ideas about Geotourism, having been inspired by seeing the fossil marine reptiles at the Natural History Museum, but it was getting too late in the year to think about planning much more exploration – when I got back to Rotherham during the last week in September.

A serpentinite barometer from The Lizard

The English are well known for talking about the weather – to break the ice  – but, as any visitor from a sunny and hot climate knows all too well, clouds, rain and wind are never too far away in England. Even with an Indian summer, which this year drifted into October, I had to keep my eye on the weather forecast and my barometer before I decided to go out.

On a forecast sunny day, it took two buses and a moderate walk before I arrived at Maltby Crags – another place that I had known about for very many years but had never visited before.

Here, there is another example of a Permian bryozoan reef in South Yorkshire; it is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and is well described in the Geological Conservation Review, which highlights some of the very best places at which to study the geology of England.

There is, however, a great difference between the points of interest that might be highlighted by a geologist who is undertaking detailed field mapping and research – typically by various institutions and universities – and the leader of a group of Geotourists. On very close examination, the fine details of the reef structure and its fossils can be seen but, for me, it is the larger landforms that provide most interest at this site.

A view of Maltby Crags in the 1957 geological memoir

Having only seen a photograph of Maltby Crags in the 1957 Edition of the Geology of the Country Around Sheffield, published by the Geological Survey of Great Britain, I was surprised to discover that I had to wade through shoulder high bracken, before I could reach many of the rocky outcrops.

Bracken surrounding a bryozoan reef at Maltby Crags

Apparently, Natural England have plans to improve access to this important geological site, which is very popular with many people who like to take a walk here - with or without dogs - as well as the local miscreants.

A general view along Maltby Crags

The Albert Memorial

A detail of the Parnassus frieze

From start to finish, my recent visit to the Natural History Museum lasted approximately 2 hours and 20 minutes – according to the clock on my camera – but, if anyone wants to take a really good look around the museum, it takes a whole day.

Shackleton and Livingstone

With the rest of the afternoon left to explore this part of London, I carried on up Exhibition Road – stopping to look at sculptures of Ernest Shackleton and David Livingstone – until I reached the Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens.

My brother - whose company had recently cleaned and restored the Parnassus frieze and the four continents - suggested that I take a look at this extremely ornate example of architecture by Sir George Gilbert Scott.

I had never seen it close up before and, as a specialist in stone matching, I was particularly interested to see the variety of stones that have been used in its construction – and its repair. Although it is only possible to go beyond the memorial railings on a guided tour, there is plenty to interest a Geotourist around the perimeter of the monument.

General views of the Albert Memorial

Whilst waiting for the sun to emerge from behind the clouds, I used my time to very closely examine the various stones that have been used in the surrounding paving and, when I was on my hands and knees looking at the stones through my hand lens, a man came up to me and asked me what I was doing.

Paving stones at the Albert Memorial

Among the very many other people who were also looking at this monument, I must have been a very strange sight and, during the friendly conversation that followed, he told me that he had never been to the Albert Memorial either - having arrived in London from Africa 25 years ago - and that he had made a special visit with his young daughter to see it.

Africa

Being only too willing to explain what I was doing, I then proceeded to give a very short informal lesson in geology, which they both enjoyed...