Wrangbrook Cutting

Geological Sites | Leeds | Bradford | Calderdale | Kirklees | Wakefield

STATUS: Local Geological Site
OTHER DESIGNATIONS:
COUNTY: West Yorkshire
DISTRICT: Wakefield
OS GRID REFERENCE: SE 495 135 to SE 497 138
OS 1:50,000 Landranger 111 Sheffield and Doncaster
OS 1:25,000 Explorer 278 Sheffield and Barnsley
BGS 1:50,000 Sheet 78 Wakefield
FIRST DESIGNATED by West Yorkshire RIGS Group in 1996
DATE OF MOST RECENT SURVEY West Yorkshire Geology Trust December 2009
DESIGNATION SHEET UPDATED June 2010

SITE DESCRIPTION The disused railway cutting has extensive deposits of the Cadeby Formation (Lower Magnesian Limestone) dolostones of Permian age are exposed along a 400m section. The strata are horizontal with parallel beds of sediments up to a metre in thickness.

HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS: The line is the Hull and Barnsley Railway which was opened on 20th July 1885. It served the Upton Colliery site until the mine closed in 1964. The stone extracted from the railway cuttings may have been used locally for aggregate.

EDUCATIONAL VALUE: Wrangbrook Cutting would need extensive conservation work before students could visit the site in safety.

AESTHETIC CHARACTERISTICS: The cutting is much overgrown, so that there are some sections where it is not possible to see the rock exposures, particularly in summer. There is a considerable amount of dangerous rubbish dumped in places, so the site is not attractive.

ACCESS AND SAFETY: Despite being overgrown the site is accessible, with care, as far as the tunnel entrance. The site requires vegetation clearing to improve access into the cutting and along the rock exposures. Cars can be parked adjacent to the site off Wrangbrook Lane. There is a steep, narrow path into the west end of the cutting. Some rubbish has been tipped and in places is hazardous.