Winter 2009
Brockholes, near Holmfirth
Kirklees Council Countryside Unit organises a programme of walks each year and West Yorkshire Geology Trust has regularly contributed geological guided walks to various sites in the district. This time we visited Brockholes on a cold afternoon in January to look at the Rough Rock crags and quarries in the village and then walk up the valley to see Coal Measure scenery. All of us were astonished that 37 visitors turned up, including half a dozen local children and their parents, and a spotty dog. The small people, with eyes close to the ground and lots of energy, were able to scamper into stream beds and up gullies and found the fossils in the mudstones in Round Wood. We were all impressed by the scale of the sandstone beds and interested in the stories of how they were formed, as well as gathering information about the quarrying and mining history of Brockholes. Thanks to Alison Tymon, chairman of West Yorkshire Geology Trust, for leading the walk.
Huddersfield Geology Group trip to Otley Chevin
January 2009
This was a blustery, cold day and we were right on the top of Otley Chevin overlooking the Wharfe Valley. 7 of us battled our way to Yorkgate Quarry to look at sandstones, a very small coal seam and its associated fireclay. After that we kept to the lee of the hill and enjoyed looking at wonderful sedimentary structures in the Addingham Edge Grit, in the great boulders covered with mosses and lichens under the trees. We observed the landslips which cover much of the mudstones and siltstones which make up the precipitous slopes in Great Dib Wood and looked for signs of the sedimentary sequence in the tracks which cross the Chevin. Fascinating geology and some very tough enthusiasts!
