Geological Sites | Leeds
| Bradford | Calderdale
| Kirklees | Wakefield
 STATUS: RIGS
OTHER DESIGNATIONS:
COUNTY: West Yorkshire
DISTRICT: Kirklees
OS GRID REF. SE 101 177
OS 1:50,000 Landranger 110 Sheffield and Huddersfield
OS 1:25,000 EXPLORER 288 Bradford and Huddersfield
BGS 1:50,000 Sheet 77 Huddersfield
FIRST DESIGNATED by West Yorkshire RIGS Group in 1996
DATE OF MOST RECENT SURVEY
SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION produced by Ian Chisholm
SITE DESCRIPTION:
The quarry face is about 50m long and about 10m high, with fallen blocks
on the floor. It is overgrown in places. The rocks are Upper Carboniferous
(Namurian) Rough Rock sandstones, with massive bedding. The sandstones
are made of large angular grains of quartz and feldspar and contain
rounded quartz pebbles. Some of the sandstones are badly cemented,
so that the face has deep orange depressions, where the sandstone has
been weathered out. There are plant fossils in some of the fallen blocks
on the quarry floor. The sandstones are highly stained with iron.
 HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS:
Probably quarrying finished around the 1920s/1930s. Records of working
start from at least the
1860s, according to local trade directories. The Huddersfield and Halifax
memoir 1930 (details below) mentions that the Rough Rock Flags on Longwood
Edge were being worked on a small scale (p184), although this was not
the only quarry on Longwood Edge.
EDUCATIONAL VALUE:
This is an excellent teaching site for beginners, with a variety of bedding,
weathering features and fresh sandstones.
AESTHETIC CHARACTERISTICS:
ACCESS AND SAFETY:
A footpath leads to the site from Longwood Edge Road. Park on Longwood
Edge Road (101 177) and take the footpath through the wall on the west
side of the road. This is too steep for wheelchair access to be possible
to this quarry.
Cross the wall to the south over a low wall. The site needs a stile over
the wall and also needs tidying up. It is rocky underfoot so care must
be taken. The face may be dangerous so hard hats should be worn.
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