Geological Sites | Leeds
| Bradford | Calderdale
| Kirklees | Wakefield
 STATUS: RIGS
OTHER DESIGNATIONS:
COUNTY: West Yorkshire
DISTRICT: Calderdale
OS GRID REF. SE 118 259
OS 1:50,000 Landranger 104 Leeds and Bradford
OS 1:25,000 Explorer 288 Bradford and Huddersfield
BGS 1:50,000 Sheet 77 Huddersfield (Solid and Drift)
FIRST DESIGNATED by West Yorkshire RIGS Group in 1996
MOST RECENT SURVEY West Yorkshire Geology Trust February 2008
SITE DESCRIPTION:
There are several old quarries in this site, some of which are very overgrown
and have precipitous drops. The main quarry is not overgrown and has
an excellent section of the Elland Flag sandstones and siltstones from
the Upper Carboniferous Langsettian (Lower Coal Measures) in a 15m
high face. The exposure illustrates the fine grained, micaceous nature
of the Elland Flags, which allows the stone to be worked for flags,
slates and building blocks.
HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS:
The approach to the quarries is along a flagged quarry track, with evidence
of wear by sled runners.
Wood Head Quarries provided building stones for many of the 17th century
buildings in Hipperholme and Coley.
There are adits exposed in the lower part of the main quarry face. These
were used for the mining of the best flags, which were too deep to be
easily quarried from the surface in early times. Mine adits are recorded
in the BGS report Mining in the Elland Flags (see reference below) as
Woodhead mine at Hipperholme, owned by A. Longbottom and worked from
1904-1905. There is no mention of this quarry in the Huddersfield and
Halifax memoir 1930 (details below) so perhaps it was closed by that
time.
 EDUCATIONAL VALUE:
This site has previously been used for educational purposes by local
schools. There is a great variety of rock types, so it is useful for
the identification of sedimentary rocks and structures. Evidence of worm
burrows and plant fossils can be seen in fallen blocks.
The site overlooks the Coal Measures escarpment at Beacon Hill, Halifax.
Several benches of Elland Flags can be seen gently dipping to the south
east towards Brighouse and beyond to Castle Hill, Huddersfield.
AESTHETIC CHARACTERISTICS:
The site overlooks the historic Shibden Valley and has views across the
Coal Measure landscapes to the Millstone Grit landscapes of the Pennines.
ACCESS AND SAFETY:
There is public parking next to the Grammar School. Access is from a
footpath leading off from Kirk Lane.
The quarries are not safe for members of the public. The quarries have
unprotected steep rock faces and fallen blocks which maybe unstable.
The quarry face should not be approached without hard hats. It is full
of rusty cars and other rubbish and many of the slopes are made of quarry
spoil which is overgrown and therefore unstable. There is also an unprotected
mine adit at the base of the quarry which should not be entered.
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