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Quaternary—Holocene sea-level changes, Northern England

2021-03-09T18:13:09Z

YGSJET: /* Introduction */

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== Introduction ==
[[File:P916107.jpg|thumbnail|Representative relative sea-level curves. Solid lines are based on detailed biostratigraphical evidence; broken lines are based on predictive glacio-hydro-isostatic modelling.Pennine P916107.]]
At present, sea level is relatively high compared with its position during most of the Quaternary, so much evidence of past fluctuations has been either destroyed by marine erosion or submerged. Relative sea levels around northern England have been determined by both depression of the land under the ice load during glaciation and its subsequent recovery — glacio-isostatic effects, and by changes in global sea levels — eustatic effects. The latter are mainly determined by the amount of water contained within continental ice sheets and global sea level has risen from a lowstand of about -120 m OD twenty thousand years or so ago, as those ice sheets have melted. The interaction of isostatic and eustatic effects means that former sea levels, as portrayed in relative sea level curves [[Media:P916107.jpg|(P916107)]], vary considerably around the coast of Britain. The rate of isostatic uplift was greatest during and immediately after deglaciation and has since fallen exponentially. Some differential crustal rebound may have occurred during the Holocene in north-east England leading to the formation of flights of river terraces, the deeply dissected Durham Denes and the entrenched meander at Durham.

Two distinct sets of raised beach and estuarine deposits occur along the coasts of north-west England, where the amount of glacio-isostatic recovery was sufficiently great to bring about an early period of falling sea level. The older, Late Devensian (‘late glacial’) set, which occur sporadically around the Cumbrian coast, was formed during and shortly after retreat of MLD ice, whereas the younger, far more extensive set formed during the mid to late Holocene. The southern limit of Late Devensian beaches defines an important ‘hinge line’ in Britain stretching between Morecambe Bay and Berwick upon Tweed; net postglacial subsidence having occurred to the south; net postglacial uplift to the north (with the greatest isostatic response in the western Highlands of Scotland where the ice load was at a maximum). Raised beaches found along the North Sea coast to the south of Berwick-upon-Tweed, where eustatic sea level has been the dominant influence, are most probably all of Holocene age. Though some fragmentary raised beaches, rock platforms and marine planation surfaces in this area have been claimed as Late Devensian, the evidence is equivocal. Equally, claims that deglaciation of the Irish Sea basin was accompanied by widespread deposition of glaciomarine sediments up to 150 m OD cannot be substantiated.

The sea-level curves for northern England reveal lowstands in the early Holocene as glacioisostatic rebound outstripped global sea-level rise. Levels as low as 60 m below OD may have occurred within the northern Irish Sea basin, exposing a land bridge that linked the Isle of Man to Cumbria. Several concealed valleys in north-east England, including the Wear and Tyne, were graded to sea level at about 40 m below OD.

The subsequent postglacial transgression resulted in the formation of the set of Holocene raised beaches and associated estuarine silts, fine-grained sands and clays. Detailed investigations along the Northumberland coast reveal that sea level rose from about -5 m to +2.5 m between 9.0 and 2.5 ka BP [[Media:P916107.jpg|(P916107)]], then fell back slightly, but is currently rising again at between 0.7 and 0.1 mm per year. In contrast, around the coast of Cumbria, sea level rose towards a distinct highstand of about +2 m OD by about 7.0 ka BP in the mid Holocene. The result was the main postglacial shoreline marked by fragmentary raised beach deposits of well-rounded shingle backed by a degraded cliff. The Cumbrian coast railway follows stretches of the raised shoreline to the north of Seascale.

Peat beds and tree stumps (‘submerged forests’) are intermittently exposed on the foreshores of both coasts of the district, where they provide clear evidence of lower Holocene sea level. At St Bees, one such deposit comprises compressed peat with wood fragments, nuts and seeds, interbedded with mud and tufa; a calibrated radiocarbon age of about 8.6 ka BP was obtained on a piece of wood. Another well-known submerged forest occasionally emerges on the foreshore in Hartlepool Bay. A Neolithic human skeleton has been recovered from the peat there together with flint artefacts; the bones yielded a calibrated radiocarbon age of 5.4 ka BP.

== Bibliography ==
Boardman, J (editor). 1981. ''Field Guide to Eastern Cumbria''. (Brighton: Quaternary Research Association.)

Boardman, J, and Walden, J (editors). 1994. ''The Quaternary of Cumbria: Field Guide''. (Oxford: Quaternary Research Association.)

Bowen, D Q (editor). 1999. A revised correlation of the Quaternary deposits in the British Isles. ''Geological Society of London Special Report'', No. 23.

Bridgland, D R, Horton, B P, and Innes, J B. 1999. ''The Quaternary of north-east England: Field Guide''. (London: Quaternary Research Association.)

Chiverrell, R C, Plater, A J, and Thomas, G S P. 2004. ''The Quaternary of the Isle of Man and North West England: Field Guide''. (London: Quaternary Research Association.)

Ehlers, J, Gibbard, P L, and Rose, J (editors). 1991. ''Glacial deposits in Great Britain and Ireland''. (Rotterdam: Balkema.)

Huddart, D, and Glasser, N F. 2002. Quaternary of Northern England. ''Geological Conservation Review Series'', No. 25. (Peterborough: Joint Nature Conservation Committee.)

Hughes, D P, Mauquoy, D, Barber, K E, and Langdon, P. 2000. Mire-development pathways and palaeoclimatic records from a full Holocene peat archive at Walton Moss, Cumbria, England. ''The Holocene'', Vol. 10, 465–479.

Lambeck, K, and Purcell, A P. 2001. Sea-level change in the Irish Sea since the Last Glacial Maximum: constraints from isostatic modelling. ''Journal of Quaternary Science'', Vol. 16, 497–506.

McMillan, A A, Hamblin, R J O, and Merritt, J W. 2004. An overview of the lithostratigraphical framework for Quaternary and Neogene deposits of Great Britain (Onshore). ''British Geological Survey Research Report'', RR/04/04.

Merritt, J W, and Auton, C A. 2000. An outline of the lithostratigraphy and depositional history of Quaternary deposits in the Sellafield district, west Cumbria. ''Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society'', Vol. 53, 129–154.

Shennan, I, and Andrews, J. (editors). 2000. Holocene land–ocean interaction and environmental change around the North Sea. ''Geological Society of London Special Publication'', No. 166.

Zong, Y, and Tooley, M J. 1996. Holocene sea-level changes and crustal movements in Morecambe Bay, northwest England. ''Journal of Quaternary Science'', Vol. 11, 43–58.

[[Category: Northern England]]

Regional tectonics in relation to Permo-Carboniferous hydrocarbon potential, Southern North Sea Basin

2020-08-08T17:14:29Z

YGSJET: Undo revision 47688 by YGSJET (talk)

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[[File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_01.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 1 The Iapetus Ocean flanked by Laurentia–Greenland and Baltica, with the separate microcontinent of Avalonia.]]
[[File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_02.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 2 Following the closure of the Iapetus Ocean, several different segments probably affected the future structural pattern within the British Isles, Norway–Sweden and northeast continental Europe.]]
[[File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_03.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 3 Mid-Devonian. Closure of the Iapetus Ocean resulted in the creation of a large Devonian (Old Red Sandstone) continent that covered eastern Laurentia–Greenland and modern Scandinavia. ]]
[[File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_04.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 4 The Early Carboniferous structural pattern across southern Britain and the Southern North Sea is draped around the Midland Platform (MP).]]
[[File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_05.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 5 Early Carboniferous, Viséan. Deformation in the Hercynian (Variscan) Fold Belt began to encroach on southern England ahead of the northward-migrating leading edge of Gondwana. ]]
[[File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_06.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 6 Late Carboniferous, Westphalian.]]
[[File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_07.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 7 Late Permian, Upper Rotliegend 2 sedimentation began with subsidence of the Southern and Northern Permian basins early in the Late Permian at about 266–264 Ma. ]]
[[File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_08.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 8 An isopach map of post-Rotliegend strata. ]]
[[File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_TAB_01.jpg|thumbnail|Table 1 Some key Permo-Carboniferous boundaries.]]

'''By K. W. Glennie'''

From: Pages 1–12 of Carboniferous hydrocarbon resources: the southern North Sea and surrounding onshore areas. Regional tectonics in relation to Permo-Carboniferous hydrocarbon potential, Southern North Sea Basin

== Summary ==

The tectonic development of the Southern North Sea Basin during the Permo-Carboniferous was the outcome of geological events that began in the Early Palaeozoic when Scotland–Greenland and England–Baltica were on opposite sides of the Iapetus Ocean, which lay within the Southern Hemisphere. Closure of the Iapetus Ocean, completed by the end of the Silurian, resulted in the formation of the Scottish and Scandinavian Caledonides, and associated Siluro-Devonian granite intrusions. Gondwana-derived Avalonia (Nova Scotia–England) drifted northwards across the Equator more rapidly than Laurentia–Baltica did. Closure of the more southerly Rheic Ocean began in the Viséan, eventually forming the Hercynian–Variscan Fold Belt across Appalachia and central Europe. The northward drift had a strong climatic influence on the sediment types deposited from the Devonian to the end-Permian. Reactivated structural relief inherited from the Caledonian Orogeny-controlled Early Carboniferous sedimentation. The Carboniferous sequence was deformed and truncated prior to deposition of the Late Permian Rotliegend reservoir rocks. Equatorial Carboniferous coals are probably the source all the gas found in the overlying Rotliegend desert sandstones of the Southern Permian Basin. The latest Permian Zechstein Sea transgressed the area via a young Viking–Central Graben system. Post-Permian subsidence carried Coal Measures to depths and temperatures at which methane was generated. Gas in Late Westphalian–Stephanian red sandstones is capped by Rotliegend claystones and salts, and in Rotliegend reservoirs by Zechstein salt, which forms an almost perfect top seal.

== Introduction ==

Carboniferous coals provided much of the energy that drove the Industrial Revolution in Britain during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Coals and associated carbonaceous shales are the source of major volumes of methane, especially in The Netherlands and beneath the southern North Sea, which have been exploited only since the 1960s. These coal-bearing beds are distributed in an apparently simple west–east zone that, prior to the opening of the Atlantic Ocean, extended from the Appalachian Mountains of North America (e.g. Ziegler, 1987, 1990; Calder, 1998; Scott, 1998), across South Wales (where many coals have been converted to anthracite), central England, the Midland Valley of Scotland, and beneath especially the southern North Sea, The Netherlands, northern Germany and Poland to Russia. In detail, the depositional and structural history of the belt is relatively complex.

The Carboniferous rocks of the British Isles are underlain by older Palaeozoic marine sedimentary rocks, similar to those of the Welsh highlands and the Lake District and, locally, by Devonian sequences (mostly terrestrial). These rocks are the product of deposition in and around the Iapetus Ocean, and their deposition was associated with the relative movement of crustal plates that led, in the Late Silurian and Devonian, to the Caledonian Orogeny and a more or less unified British Isles.

== 1. Iapetus Ocean and the Caledonian Orogeny ==

It is fascinating to follow the history of the world’s major plates in time and space as deduced from palaeomagnetic data and depicted in recent years by, for example, Scotese & McKerrow (1990) and Torsvik et al. (1990, 1996), or more pertinently, the outline history of the Iapetus Ocean [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_01.jpg|(Figure 1)]]. Here, we are not so much concerned with the detailed history of that ocean but more with its final closure and the structural framework that resulted, which was an important forerunner to the pattern of Carboniferous deposition in central England and the greater North Sea area.

Although its early depositional history was probably related to previous plate movements, a recognizable Iapetus Ocean was already in existence by the Early Cambrian (Scotese & McKerrow, 1990; Van Staal et al., 1998), with Laurentia to the northwest and Baltica to the southeast. The Scottish Highlands and northwest Ireland formed part of the southeast margin of Laurentia–Greenland, whereas Avalonia (Nova Scotia and southeast Newfoundland together with southern Ireland, England and southern Denmark) formed a microcontinent that earlier had been calved from the southern megacontinent Gondwana [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_01.jpg|(Figure 1)]]. The Late Ordovician closure of the Tornquist Sea, between eastern Avalonia and Baltica (Fennoscandian Shield), resulted in a line of structural weakness that today extends through southern Denmark to the Polish Trough and marks the southern edge of Baltica [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_02.jpg|(Figure 2)]].

The Iapetus Ocean mostly lay within the Southern Hemisphere throughout its existence and it was wide enough for some faunal differences to be recognized in the vicinity of opposing coastlines (see limited palaeontological evidence in Cocks & Fortey, 1982, and the cautions on faunal climatic control in Cocks & Torsvik, 2002). Palaeomagnetism is the key to the reconstruction of the individual plate movements. Oceanic sediments were deposited over much of what is now southern Ireland, Wales, northern England and the Lake District. As their counterparts, the North German–Polish Caledonides [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_02.jpg|(Figure 2)]], are known in northern Germany and Poland, similar sediments were probably deposited beneath the southern North Sea and The Netherlands.

Closure of the northern Iapetus between Laurentia and Baltica, completed by the end Silurian, led to the development of the Scottish–Scandinavian Caledonides with their high-grade metamorphic rocks. The northeast USA and Nova Scotia–Newfoundland, the Highlands of Scotland and eastern Greenland formed the western part of the orogen, with Baltica forming most of the eastern flank. The Highlands of Scotland and western Baltica were strongly deformed, subjected to varying degrees of metamorphism, and were intruded by many Siluro-Devonian granites.

The above contrasted with the less severe (only low-grade metamorphism) Late Silurian–Early Devonian collision, perhaps oblique, between Avalonia and Laurentia–Baltica. This event resulted from Gondwana-derived Avalonia (Nova Scotia–England) drifting northwards across the Equator more rapidly than Laurentia–Baltica, thereby leading to the southern (broadly west–east) leg of the Caledonian orogeny, as clearly displayed by Torsvik et al. (1990).

During the Ordovician and Silurian, new oceanic crust had been generated at the Iapetus spreading axis between the Highlands of Scotland and the Lake District; the ocean-floor sediments on the northward-moving sector of oceanic crust were slowly scraped off in the subduction trench beneath the Midland Valley of Scotland as a series of thin tectonic slices that became the Southern Uplands. To the south, Late Ordovician subduction in the opposite direction had already led to extrusion of the Borrowdale Volcanic Group and the intrusion of almost coeval granites in the Lake District (Watson & Dunning, 1979).

Between the main plates and microcontinents, sinistral movement brought different terranes into their present relative positions in Scotland, whereas dextral movement may have occurred between the margins of the former Tornquist Sea [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_02.jpg|(Figure 2)]]. Northwest Europe had acquired something like its present configuration and was to remain contiguous with North America until the Paleocene opening of the North Atlantic Ocean.

== 2. Post-Caledonian plate movements ==

Following the Caledonian Orogeny and the creation of a long southwest–northeast-trending mountain range, Devonian erosion of the Caledonian landmass resulted in deposition of the terrestrial Old Red Sandstone [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_03.jpg|(Figure 3)]]. The British Isles lay just south of the Equator, and both Lower and Upper Devonian sequences contain dune sands and sabkhas in southwest Ireland (Richmond & Williams, 2000) and in northeast Scotland and the Orkney Isles (Marshall et al., 1996; Marshall & Hewett, 2002) that indicate a degree of aridity in an otherwise moderately humid (fluvio-lacustrine–sabkha) environment. Within and north of Scotland, Devonian clastic sedimentation flanked the Great Glen Fault and the Iapetus suture. Rogers et al. (1989) inferred dextral movement along the Great Glen Fault during the Mid-Devonian, whereas Friend et al. (2000) suggested that a Middle Devonian lacustrine sequence, 4–9 km thick, adjacent to the fault was a consequence of such movements. The northern extent of Mid-Devonian strata (Fig. 3) implies that the Iapetus suture was overlain by a considerable thickness of clastic strata in rapidly subsiding continental basins that presumably were induced by transtensional pull-apart.

The west–east trending Rheic Ocean lay to the south between the British Isles and Gondwana [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_01.jpg|(Figure 1)]], [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_03.jpg|(Figure 3)]]. In the late Mid-Devonian, a marine embayment, documented by the presence of marine limestones of that age in both the Auk and Argyll oilfields (Robson, 1991; Trewin & Bramwell, 1991; Marshall et al., 1996) and well 38/3-1, extended into the central North Sea. Although given a south-southeast trend by Ziegler (1987), the orientation of the embayment possibly bisects the obtuse angle formed by the bend in the Iapetus suture where its northern North Sea and Northumberland–Solway segments meet due east of the Midland Valley of Scotland; if so, the third arm of this trilete junction may have had a more southeasterly trend. Such an interpretation is strengthened by Kockel’s (1995) observation that fragments of coral occur in the middle of the Devonian succession in the German offshore well Q-1 (block G/3), about midway between the southern ends of the Central and Horn grabens [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_03.jpg|(Figure 3)]]. This embayment may have resulted from early Variscan north–south compression generating torsion that gave rise to southwest–northeast tensional stresses during the final Devonian stages of Iapetus closure. The inferred newly created zone of crustal weakness is subparallel to the suture of the former Tornquist Sea, along which Late Silurian to Early Devonian dextral movements may have initiated the location and trend of the Mid-Devonian embayment, parallel to the similarly trending Trans-European Fault of Coward (1990) across southern Denmark and northern Germany. There is possibly also a structural connection with the much younger northwest–southeast trending Texel–Ijsselmeer High and associated structures in The Netherlands.

During the Devonian, both Laurussia and Gondwana were moving northwards, the latter slightly more rapidly than the former, so that inevitably they collided, resulting in the closure of the Rheic Ocean, to create the roughly west–east trending Hercynian–Variscan orogenic belt that sutured Laurentia and Gondwana into the rather unstable megacontinent Pangaea (Scotese & McKerrow, 1990). Collision seems to have begun during the Viséan and culminated in the Late Carboniferous to Early Permian. In England, collision resulted in deformational structural trends parallel to those in the underlying Caledonian basement, which drape around the leading northern corner of the roughly triangular microcontinent, the Midland Platform [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_02.jpg|(Figure 2)]]. As noted by Corfield et al. (1996), structures east of the platform tend to be aligned northwest–southeast subparallel to the Tornquist Line, whereas those in the west have a distinctly southwest–northeast Caledonian trend [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_02.jpg|(Figure 2)]], [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_04.jpg|(Figure 4)]], [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_05.jpg|(Figure 5)]].

== 3. Plate tectonics and climate change ==

Northward drift carried the area now occupied by the British Isles across the Equator during the Carboniferous, reaching the southern limit of the Northern Hemisphere desert belt (''c. ''10°N) by the latest Carboniferous (Stephanian). The climatic changes involved with this drift played a major role in controlling the types of sediments deposited: coral-bearing marine limestones and semi-arid to arid terrestrial sediments (including aeolian sandstones) in the Devonian; Early Carboniferous limestones, equatorial coal-forming swamps from the late Namurian through much of the Westphalian, and reversion to fluvial red beds in the Westphalian C–D and Stephanian; the dominance of aeolian Upper Rotliegend sands in the early Late Permian and, following the even later Permian marine transgression, the carbonates and evaporites of the Zechstein. This succession of sedimentary sequences partially controlled by climate was to prove very important to the modern hydrocarbon industry; in the ideal case, the Carboniferous coal-measure source rocks for gas were overlain in turn by high-quality Rotliegend terrestrial (especially aeolian) reservoir rocks and the almost perfect top seal of Zechstein halite.

Although coal-bearing strata are mostly of Late Carboniferous age (Namurian–Westphalian) in southern and central England, they began to form in the Early Dinantian in northern England and the Midland Valley of Scotland (Scotland crossed the Equator before central England). Such strata do not extend northwards over the strongly metamorphosed Caledonian rocks of the Scottish and Scandinavian highlands, except very locally in southwest Scotland (southern Kintyre Peninsula). With regard to our more specific interest in the southern North Sea, the effective northern limit can be placed along the Mid North Sea–Ringkøbing–Fyn High, although Lower Carboniferous strata with minor thicknesses of coal occur locally across the central North Sea on trend with the Midland Valley and also below the outer Moray Firth (Bruce & Stemmerik, 2003).

In the south, our direct interest is limited by the Variscan deformation front [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_02.jpg|(Figure 2)]], [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_06.jpg|(Figure 6)]]. As implied earlier, this front marks the northern edge of a series of northward-prograding (Variscan) orogenic processes that had been developing more or less continuously throughout the Carboniferous as a broad zone of structural deformation. In that context, it should noted that relics of relatively extensive coal-bearing Carboniferous basins also occur south of that front in France and central Germany [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_06.jpg|(Figure 6)]].

During the final phases of the of the Variscan Orogeny in the early Late Permian, two important west–east trending basins formed across the North Sea area, of which the much larger Southern Permian Basin became an important area for the late twentieth-century exploration for gas of Carboniferous origin [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_07.jpg|(Figure 7)]]. Because of a general lack of Carboniferous coals in the Northern Permian Basin, the Rotliegend is not a reservoir for Carboniferous gas but rather for oil of Late Jurassic origin (e.g. Glennie et al., 2003).

== 4. Outline of Carboniferous structural development ==

Early Carboniferous sedimentation was controlled by reactivation of structural relief inherited from the Caledonian Orogeny, coupled with the effect of draping around the Midland Platform, caused by the northward push of the Variscan Orogeny [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_02.jpg|(Figure 2)]], [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_04.jpg|(Figure 4)]], [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_05.jpg|(Figure 5)]]. There is a distinct difference in the sedimentary history of the somewhat linear fault-bounded structural highs (many of which are underlain by Ordovician and Devonian granites) and the intervening lows. For example, alternating limestones and clastic deltaic strata of Tournaisian and Viséan age locally exceed a thickness of 4000 m in the Northumberland–Solway Basin [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_04.jpg|(Figure 4)]] but are only ''c. ''500 m thick (and mainly late Viséan in age) over the Alston Block to the south. In these more northerly areas, where sedimentation was able to keep pace with subsidence, basin infill was achieved in part by braided fluvial systems derived from the exposed Caledonian highlands, which fed Yoredale-type deltaic sediments prograding from the northeast into a shallow marine environment. Farther south, where carbonate sedimentation predominated on the highs, sedimentation was not always able to match subsidence and much of the basin infill comprises shales and turbiditic limestones laid down in relatively deep water. The structural relationships of Dinantian strata in northern England are well displayed by Fraser & Gawthorpe (1990), Chadwick et al. (1995) and Kirby et al. (2000).

Fault-related subsidence ceased, mainly but not totally, by the end of the Viséan, giving way to more widespread regional subsidence. The extensive shallow-marine depositional environment extending to both east and west of southern Britain [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_05.jpg|(Figure 5)]] gave way later to terrestrial deposition over much the same area during the later Carboniferous [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_06.jpg|(Figure 6)]]. The Millstone Grit deltaic sediments were also mostly sourced in the Caledonian and Old Red Sandstone highlands in the north, intervening barriers to sediment transport having been crossed or bypassed. In early Westphalian times, a westerly sediment source became prominent. Pro-delta marine shales near the base of the Millstone Grit Group have long been known to form source rocks for oil and gas in the East Midlands. The developing Variscan Orogeny in the south provided a northward-moving southern limit to the Carboniferous basin. Low-lying coal-bearing sequences of Namurian to early Westphalian age are interbedded with some 70 extensive marine bands (Besly, 1998), which must indicate an almost planar surface that extended from northern Appalachia to Germany. Where the marine waters entered the basin (North America or eastern Europe?) is not known for certain [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_06.jpg|(Figure 6)]], the evidence either lying still buried or having been removed by erosion. Apart from continued subsidence to create accommodation space, most of the marine bands probably resulted from fluctuations in sea level related to the repeated melting of Gondwanan ice caps (cf. Scotese & Barrett, 1990; Crowell, 1995) rather than from any direct tectonic influence. Guion et al. (2000) estimated that the glacially induced changes in sea level fluctuated by some 60±15 m, or about half that caused by Pleistocene glaciations; presumably the Gondwanan icecaps, operating individually, were much smaller than their Pleistocene equivalents.

From Westphalian B (Duckmantian) times, the rising Variscan highlands in the south began to provide sediment to the Carboniferous basin (Besly, 1998; Hallsworth & Chisholm, 2000), while periodic extension led to local volcanism at the southern margin of the Pennine Basin (Glover et al., 1993). At the same time, the slow northward drift of the now weakly united Laurussia–Gondwana (Pangaea) had brought England and the southern North Sea area into a zone that lay at the margin between an equatorial and a sub-Saharan climate; marginally arid red-bed deposition began and continued in basinal areas until the end of the Carboniferous Period.

== 5. Post-Carboniferous maturation of coals, and gas generation in Rotliegend basins ==

We know little about sedimentation over England and the southern North Sea area during the Early Permian, because most of the evidence was removed by uplift associated with the continuing Variscan Orogeny. Indeed, Fraser & Gawthorpe (1990) estimated that erosion may have removed 3000 m of strata in parts of northern England, and the Pennines probably came into existence in the Early to early Late Permian cf. [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_06.jpg|(Figure 6)]], [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_07.jpg|(Figure 7)]]. Late Carboniferous to Early Permian orogenic movements were responsible for creating the small onshore traps that contain oil and gas in reservoirs of Carboniferous age. The distribution and orientation of some of the structural elements involved in the Carboniferous of England and, less clearly, beneath the southern North Sea (e.g. gas-bearing Carboniferous of the Caister and Murdoch fields in blocks 44/23 and 44/22; Hollywood & Whorlow, 1993; Ritchie & Pratsides, 1993) indicate that they too are partly inherited from an older Caledonian history (e.g. Coward et al., 2003) that had involved the differential movement of several crustal plates [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_01.jpg|(Figure 1)]], [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_02.jpg|(Figure 2)]].

The general distribution of Carboniferous strata beneath the Permian indicates that the area had been folded relatively gently (e.g. Ziegler, 1990; Glennie, 1997) and, from the viewpoint of this paper, erosion extended down to pre-Carboniferous strata only over the margins of what was to become the Southern Permian Basin: the London–Brabant Platform and Mid North Sea–Ringkøbing–Fyn High.

As mentioned earlier, the northward Permian drift of Laurussia took the British Isles and northwest continental Europe into the climatic equivalent of the modern Sahara. The known Early Permian (Lower Rotliegend) sedimentation was confined to intermontane basins in central and southern Germany (e.g. Schneider. 2001) and southwest England (Edwards et al., 1997), where fluvial and lacustrine sediments indicate a relatively warm but wet climate, the humidity perhaps being induced by the surrounding areas of high relief. Volcanic activity also occurred in these depositional areas, much of it straddling the Carboniferous–Permian time boundary in central Germany (e.g. Schneider et al., 1995), together with parts of the Midland Valley of Scotland (Francis, 1991; Glennie, 2002) and the eastern Norwegian–Danish Basin (Stemmerik et al., 2000; Glennie et al., 2003).

=== 5.1 Late Permian Upper Rotliegend ===

Mainly because it is a fossil-poor red-bed sequence, the timespan of deposition of the Rotliegend seems to change with each new publication, and dates for the start and end of the Permian period have varied even in recent years. The latest time boundaries of the Carboniferous and main Permian units are shown in Table 1.

By using faunas from grey rather than red beds of the Rotliegend within the different basins of eastern Germany, Hoffman et al. (1988), Gebhardt et al. (1991) and Schneider & Gebhardt (1993) were able to demonstrate that the Upper Rotliegend could be divided into two major stratigraphical units: Upper Rotliegend 1 (UR1) and Upper Rotliegend 2 (UR2). UR1 crops out in some basins of central Germany, and locally is part of a continuous sedimentary sequence that began in the Late Carboniferous (e.g. the Saar–Nahe Basin; Schneider, 1996); in this basin, UR1 includes the Kreutznach aeolian sandstones as an indicator of increasing aridity. UR1 is represented over much of what was to become the Southern Permian Basin by the important Saalian Unconformity, which resulted from uplift and erosion associated with the northward development of the Variscan Orogeny. Above the unconformity lie the economically important gas-bearing aeolian sandstones of the UR2 sedimentary sequence, which occupied much of the Southern Permian Basin prior to the latest Permian deposition of the marine Zechstein.

'''Table 1 Some key Permo-Carboniferous boundaries. Ages are based on Menning (1995), Jin et al. (1997), Wardlaw (2000), Schneider (2001) and UNESCO (2002).'''

{| class="wikitable"
|-
|| Age (Ma) Boundary
| |
| |
|- "
|| 251.4
|| Top Permian and Top Zechstein
|| Top Changhsingian
|- "
|| 258?
|| Rotliegend–Zechstein boundary
| |
|- "
|| 263–4
|| Marker horizon – Illawarra magnetic reversal
| |
|- "
|| 264–5
|| Base Upper Rotliegend 2 (UR2)
|| ~Base Capitanian
|- "
| |
|| UR2 underlain by Altmark Unconformity
| |
|- "
|| 289–290
|| Base Upper Rotliegend 1 (UR1)
| |
|- "
| |
|| Lower Rotliegend capped by Saalian Unconformity
| |
|- "
|| 291.6
|| Carboniferous–Permian time boundary
|| Asselian–Gzhelian
|- "
|| 299–300
|| Proposed base of Lower Rotliegend in central Germany
| |
|- "
|| 354
|| Base Carboniferous
|| Base Tournaisian
|-
|}
The start of Upper Rotliegend 2 sedimentation (the Upper Rotliegend of the main gasfields of the southern North Sea, The Netherlands and Germany) coincided with the beginning of thermal subsidence of the Southern and Northern Permian basins [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_07.jpg|(Figure 7)]] following the earlier widespread volcanic activity. This occurred early in the Late Permian at about 264 Ma BP, just before the creation of that key red-bed marker, the Illawarra magnetic reversal, at 263 Ma (Menning, 1995, modified by Schneider, 2001). Earlier interpretations of the Permian palaeogeographical development of northwest Germany can be found in Gralla (1988) and, for northern Germany, in Plein (1993, 1995).

At about the same time as sedimentation began in the Northern and Southern Permian basins, the Viking–Central graben system was initiated in the northern and central North Sea. The Viking Graben probably utilized the north–south portion of that relatively weak crustal lineament, the Iapetus Suture (Glennie, 2002; Glennie et al., 2003), perhaps driven by the wedge effect of the Midland Platform and its northern drape of Carboniferous structures pushed northwards by the advancing Variscan deformation front [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_02.jpg|(Figure 2)]]. The wedge would have induced dextral strike-slip movements between structures of Tornquist orientation (e.g. the Mid-Devonian seaway; the northwest–southeast-trending portion of the Central Graben) and sinistral movements parallel to the southwest Iapetus trend (e.g. Northumberland–Solway Trough). Graben initiation can be dated, especially in Danish waters, by the association of earliest Rotliegend lacustrine shales, with volcanic activity in the range of 269±4 to 261±4 Ma (Stemmerik et al., 2000; Glennie et al., 2003).

With England and the southern North Sea areas located in the Permian climatic equivalent of the southern Sahara, associated aridity ensured that unconsolidated surface sands were mobilized by the wind, causing sand dunes of the Southern Permian Basin to migrate westwards under the influence of northeast tradewinds. The axis of the Southern Permian Basin subsided more rapidly than the rate of sediment infill, with the result that the central basin floor intersected the regional water table to form a large shallow saline lake surrounded by a sabkha. With ensuing fluctuations in climate, the lake precipitated up to 16 beds of halite, controlled, it is thought (e.g. Glennie, 1998), by Gondwanan glacially induced increases in aridity and related falls in both global sea level and terrestrial water tables. The greatest rate of subsidence occurred over Germany, where the Upper Rotliegend 2 has a post-compaction thickness of almost 2500 m (McCann, 1998), compared to a maximum thickness of about 300 m in the UK southern North Sea (cf. Glennie & Boegner, 1981; Glennie, 1997).

=== 5.2 Zechstein transgression ===

The rising level of a boreal sea transgressing southwestwards between Greenland and Norway was probably the result of yet more interglacial melting of Gondwanan icecaps; it eventually caused seawater to flow southwards along the incipient Viking and Central graben systems and rapidly flooded both the Northern and Southern Permian basins. At that time, because of subsidence, the surfaces of the two Permian basins are estimated to have been as much as 250–300 m below global sea level (Smith, 1979; Ziegler, 1990; Plein, 1993; Glennie, 1998). The seas that resulted within these enclosed tropical basins at first became the sites of Zechstein limestone deposition. With each successive depositional cycle, limestone was progressively succeeded by evaporites, including halite, thick sequences of which were to form almost perfect seals for the Carboniferous gas that later filled Rotliegend reservoirs.

The importance in continental Europe of the line of weakness formed by the closure of the Tornquist Sea, marking the southern edge of the Ringkøbing–Fyn High, has already been mentioned. Arguably of greater structural importance today is the Sorgenfrei–Tornquist–Teisseyre zone of shearing that extends across the Kattegat and northern Denmark to the Polish Trough (e.g. fig. 10 in Vejbaek, 1997). Its development was probably heralded by the latest Carboniferous creation of half-grabens and associated volcanic activity; an underlying Upper Carboniferous clastic sequence was deposited before rifting began. As the rift sequences are overlain by Zechstein-age siliciclastic strata, most fault rotation is presumed to have occurred during Rotliegend time (Michelsen & Nielsen, 1993). Low-grade metamorphism marks the flank of the Polish anticlinorium adjacent to the Tornquist–Teisseyre zone.

== 6. Outline of post-Rotliegend structural development ==

As the pattern of crustal tension and compression changed with time, subsidence continued intermittently in much of the North Sea area, punctuated by more localized episodes of uplift and erosion. Such subsidence histories are characterized by many published burial curves (e.g. van Wijhe et al., 1980; Glennie & Boegner, 1981; Oele et al., 1981). Coals generate gas when they are buried and affected by warming to perhaps 100°C or so (e.g. Cornford, 1998). At a depth of about 6 km (~180°C, depending on a temperature gradient of, say, 25–35°Ckm<sup>–1</sup>) coals are post-mature for gas generation. For optimum exploration, therefore, it is important to know the likely burial history and temperature ranges to which the coals have been subjected, in order to predict the possible presence or absence of gas in any particular sub-basin or structure.

As can be seen in [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_08.jpg|(Figure 8)]], the greatest burial depths for Rotliegend rocks of 8 km or more are in parts of the Viking and Central grabens, along the Sorgenfrei–Tornquist zone of shearing (where Triassic and Middle Jurassic tectonically controlled depocentres became areas of inversion in the Late Cretaceous and Early Tertiary), and in the central part of the Southern Permian Basin, where subsidence, initiated in the early Late Permian, has obviously continued for much of its ensuing history. Deep troughs also occur locally in the Western Approaches, where Coal Measures are not known to exist, and in the eastern Celtic Sea where possibly they do.

Deep burial of Rotliegend reservoir sandstones has resulted in several diagenetic changes that, depending on proximity to Carboniferous shales across faults, for example, include the creation of permeability-destroying illite whiskers below about 3000 m (Glennie et al., 1978; Gaupp et al., 1993). [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_08.jpg|(Figure 8)]] also shows that the Ringkøbing–Fyn High has remained a relatively stable area since the Permian, with an accumulation of no more than 2000 m of strata over its crestal area; this also applies to a lesser extent to the Mid North Sea High.

== 7. Conclusions ==

The Carboniferous to Permian depositional environment of England and the greater southern North Sea area inherited structural controls that date back to the Siluro–Devonian Caledonian closure of the Iapetus Ocean and the ensuing Permo–Carboniferous Variscan Orogeny. The main features are:
* Iapetus related
** Inheritance in the early Late Permian of the Iapetus Suture by the north–south trending Viking Graben of the northern North Sea, and its southwest–trending arm between England and Scotland.
** Inheritance of the suture formed by closure of the Tornquist Sea, which led to development of the northwest–southeast-trending Mid-Devonian seaway picked out by alignment of the Auk, Argyll, 38/3-1 and German Q-1 wells; the suture probably controlled the orientation of the northwest–southeast-trending portion of the Central Graben between the Mid North Sea and Ringkøbing–Fyn highs.
* Tornquist Sea-related: minor Late Ordovician shearing related to closure of the Tornquist Sea by the docking of Avalonia along the southern edge of Baltica.
* Variscan Orogeny: progressive collision between the united Laurentia–Baltica and the northward-moving Armorica and Gondwanan plates led to the Variscan Orogeny.
** The earliest evidence of this collision is possibly the sharp 45° bend in the Iapetus Suture and its intersection with the Tornquist Suture in the Mid-Devonian.
** The Early Carboniferous structures draped around the Midland Platform have a southwest trend west of England subparallel to the western Iapetus Suture and a southeast trend over and to the east of England subparallel to the Tornquist Suture.
** From at least the Mid-Devonian onwards, a major west–east orientated linear basin developed between Appalachia and central Europe, parallel to the Variscan orogenic front. A successor to this basin was the site of extensive coal deposition. As the Variscan Orogeny advanced northwards, the linear Late Carboniferous basin became narrower as southern components were uplifted and deformed, leading to many intermontane basins in northern France and central Germany.
** North of the Variscan deformation front, the basin’s Late Devonian and Carboniferous sedimentary fill was gently folded and locally eroded during the Early Permian, a time of widespread volcanism, especially in Germany.
** Thermal cooling, coupled with a continuing orogenic push from the south, resulted in the coeval development of the Southern and Northern Permian basins and their intervening structural high. At the same time, the southern push seems to have initiated development of the Central and Viking graben system by inducing west–east tension across the area.

The economic importance of the Carboniferous was based on its coals, which not only fuelled the Industrial Revolution of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries but also sourced the large volumes of methane found in so many of the Rotliegend and, to a much lesser extent, Carboniferous gasfields that are spread across the southern North Sea, The Netherlands and northwest Germany; halites of the latest Permian Zechstein succession form excellent top seals to the accumulations of Rotliegend gas.

A continuing history of structural tension and compression has resulted in both basin development and inversion over different parts of the Southern Permian Basin. Differential uplift, especially in the Late Jurassic and Late Cretaceous, halted gas generation locally, only for it to resume again locally after Late Cainozoic subsidence.

== Acknowledgements ==

Shell UK is thanked for draughting six of the figures and Barry Fulton of Aberdeen University for the other two.

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[[category:Carboniferous hydrocarbon resources: the southern North Sea and surrounding onshore areas ]]

Regional tectonics in relation to Permo-Carboniferous hydrocarbon potential, Southern North Sea Basin

2020-08-08T17:08:23Z

YGSJET:

{{Template:YGSCarbHydroRes}}

[[File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_01.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 1 The Iapetus Ocean flanked by Laurentia–Greenland and Baltica, with the separate microcontinent of Avalonia.]]
[[File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_02.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 2 Following the closure of the Iapetus Ocean, several different segments probably affected the future structural pattern within the British Isles, Norway–Sweden and northeast continental Europe.]]
[[File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_03.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 3 Mid-Devonian. Closure of the Iapetus Ocean resulted in the creation of a large Devonian (Old Red Sandstone) continent that covered eastern Laurentia–Greenland and modern Scandinavia. ]]
[[File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_04.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 4 The Early Carboniferous structural pattern across southern Britain and the Southern North Sea is draped around the Midland Platform (MP).]]
[[File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_05.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 5 Early Carboniferous, Viséan. Deformation in the Hercynian (Variscan) Fold Belt began to encroach on southern England ahead of the northward-migrating leading edge of Gondwana. ]]
[[File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_06.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 6 Late Carboniferous, Westphalian.]]
[[File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_07.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 7 Late Permian, Upper Rotliegend 2 sedimentation began with subsidence of the Southern and Northern Permian basins early in the Late Permian at about 266–264 Ma. ]]
[[File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_08.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 8 An isopach map of post-Rotliegend strata. ]]
[[File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_TAB_01.jpg|thumbnail|Table 1 Some key Permo-Carboniferous boundaries.]]

'''By K. W. Glennie'''

== Summary ==

The tectonic development of the Southern North Sea Basin during the Permo-Carboniferous was the outcome of geological events that began in the Early Palaeozoic when Scotland–Greenland and England–Baltica were on opposite sides of the Iapetus Ocean, which lay within the Southern Hemisphere. Closure of the Iapetus Ocean, completed by the end of the Silurian, resulted in the formation of the Scottish and Scandinavian Caledonides, and associated Siluro-Devonian granite intrusions. Gondwana-derived Avalonia (Nova Scotia–England) drifted northwards across the Equator more rapidly than Laurentia–Baltica did. Closure of the more southerly Rheic Ocean began in the Viséan, eventually forming the Hercynian–Variscan Fold Belt across Appalachia and central Europe. The northward drift had a strong climatic influence on the sediment types deposited from the Devonian to the end-Permian. Reactivated structural relief inherited from the Caledonian Orogeny-controlled Early Carboniferous sedimentation. The Carboniferous sequence was deformed and truncated prior to deposition of the Late Permian Rotliegend reservoir rocks. Equatorial Carboniferous coals are probably the source all the gas found in the overlying Rotliegend desert sandstones of the Southern Permian Basin. The latest Permian Zechstein Sea transgressed the area via a young Viking–Central Graben system. Post-Permian subsidence carried Coal Measures to depths and temperatures at which methane was generated. Gas in Late Westphalian–Stephanian red sandstones is capped by Rotliegend claystones and salts, and in Rotliegend reservoirs by Zechstein salt, which forms an almost perfect top seal.

== Introduction ==

Carboniferous coals provided much of the energy that drove the Industrial Revolution in Britain during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Coals and associated carbonaceous shales are the source of major volumes of methane, especially in The Netherlands and beneath the southern North Sea, which have been exploited only since the 1960s. These coal-bearing beds are distributed in an apparently simple west–east zone that, prior to the opening of the Atlantic Ocean, extended from the Appalachian Mountains of North America (e.g. Ziegler, 1987, 1990; Calder, 1998; Scott, 1998), across South Wales (where many coals have been converted to anthracite), central England, the Midland Valley of Scotland, and beneath especially the southern North Sea, The Netherlands, northern Germany and Poland to Russia. In detail, the depositional and structural history of the belt is relatively complex.

The Carboniferous rocks of the British Isles are underlain by older Palaeozoic marine sedimentary rocks, similar to those of the Welsh highlands and the Lake District and, locally, by Devonian sequences (mostly terrestrial). These rocks are the product of deposition in and around the Iapetus Ocean, and their deposition was associated with the relative movement of crustal plates that led, in the Late Silurian and Devonian, to the Caledonian Orogeny and a more or less unified British Isles.

== 1. Iapetus Ocean and the Caledonian Orogeny ==

It is fascinating to follow the history of the world’s major plates in time and space as deduced from palaeomagnetic data and depicted in recent years by, for example, Scotese & McKerrow (1990) and Torsvik et al. (1990, 1996), or more pertinently, the outline history of the Iapetus Ocean [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_01.jpg|(Figure 1)]]. Here, we are not so much concerned with the detailed history of that ocean but more with its final closure and the structural framework that resulted, which was an important forerunner to the pattern of Carboniferous deposition in central England and the greater North Sea area.

Although its early depositional history was probably related to previous plate movements, a recognizable Iapetus Ocean was already in existence by the Early Cambrian (Scotese & McKerrow, 1990; Van Staal et al., 1998), with Laurentia to the northwest and Baltica to the southeast. The Scottish Highlands and northwest Ireland formed part of the southeast margin of Laurentia–Greenland, whereas Avalonia (Nova Scotia and southeast Newfoundland together with southern Ireland, England and southern Denmark) formed a microcontinent that earlier had been calved from the southern megacontinent Gondwana [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_01.jpg|(Figure 1)]]. The Late Ordovician closure of the Tornquist Sea, between eastern Avalonia and Baltica (Fennoscandian Shield), resulted in a line of structural weakness that today extends through southern Denmark to the Polish Trough and marks the southern edge of Baltica [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_02.jpg|(Figure 2)]].

The Iapetus Ocean mostly lay within the Southern Hemisphere throughout its existence and it was wide enough for some faunal differences to be recognized in the vicinity of opposing coastlines (see limited palaeontological evidence in Cocks & Fortey, 1982, and the cautions on faunal climatic control in Cocks & Torsvik, 2002). Palaeomagnetism is the key to the reconstruction of the individual plate movements. Oceanic sediments were deposited over much of what is now southern Ireland, Wales, northern England and the Lake District. As their counterparts, the North German–Polish Caledonides [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_02.jpg|(Figure 2)]], are known in northern Germany and Poland, similar sediments were probably deposited beneath the southern North Sea and The Netherlands.

Closure of the northern Iapetus between Laurentia and Baltica, completed by the end Silurian, led to the development of the Scottish–Scandinavian Caledonides with their high-grade metamorphic rocks. The northeast USA and Nova Scotia–Newfoundland, the Highlands of Scotland and eastern Greenland formed the western part of the orogen, with Baltica forming most of the eastern flank. The Highlands of Scotland and western Baltica were strongly deformed, subjected to varying degrees of metamorphism, and were intruded by many Siluro-Devonian granites.

The above contrasted with the less severe (only low-grade metamorphism) Late Silurian–Early Devonian collision, perhaps oblique, between Avalonia and Laurentia–Baltica. This event resulted from Gondwana-derived Avalonia (Nova Scotia–England) drifting northwards across the Equator more rapidly than Laurentia–Baltica, thereby leading to the southern (broadly west–east) leg of the Caledonian orogeny, as clearly displayed by Torsvik et al. (1990).

During the Ordovician and Silurian, new oceanic crust had been generated at the Iapetus spreading axis between the Highlands of Scotland and the Lake District; the ocean-floor sediments on the northward-moving sector of oceanic crust were slowly scraped off in the subduction trench beneath the Midland Valley of Scotland as a series of thin tectonic slices that became the Southern Uplands. To the south, Late Ordovician subduction in the opposite direction had already led to extrusion of the Borrowdale Volcanic Group and the intrusion of almost coeval granites in the Lake District (Watson & Dunning, 1979).

Between the main plates and microcontinents, sinistral movement brought different terranes into their present relative positions in Scotland, whereas dextral movement may have occurred between the margins of the former Tornquist Sea [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_02.jpg|(Figure 2)]]. Northwest Europe had acquired something like its present configuration and was to remain contiguous with North America until the Paleocene opening of the North Atlantic Ocean.

== 2. Post-Caledonian plate movements ==

Following the Caledonian Orogeny and the creation of a long southwest–northeast-trending mountain range, Devonian erosion of the Caledonian landmass resulted in deposition of the terrestrial Old Red Sandstone [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_03.jpg|(Figure 3)]]. The British Isles lay just south of the Equator, and both Lower and Upper Devonian sequences contain dune sands and sabkhas in southwest Ireland (Richmond & Williams, 2000) and in northeast Scotland and the Orkney Isles (Marshall et al., 1996; Marshall & Hewett, 2002) that indicate a degree of aridity in an otherwise moderately humid (fluvio-lacustrine–sabkha) environment. Within and north of Scotland, Devonian clastic sedimentation flanked the Great Glen Fault and the Iapetus suture. Rogers et al. (1989) inferred dextral movement along the Great Glen Fault during the Mid-Devonian, whereas Friend et al. (2000) suggested that a Middle Devonian lacustrine sequence, 4–9 km thick, adjacent to the fault was a consequence of such movements. The northern extent of Mid-Devonian strata (Fig. 3) implies that the Iapetus suture was overlain by a considerable thickness of clastic strata in rapidly subsiding continental basins that presumably were induced by transtensional pull-apart.

The west–east trending Rheic Ocean lay to the south between the British Isles and Gondwana [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_01.jpg|(Figure 1)]], [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_03.jpg|(Figure 3)]]. In the late Mid-Devonian, a marine embayment, documented by the presence of marine limestones of that age in both the Auk and Argyll oilfields (Robson, 1991; Trewin & Bramwell, 1991; Marshall et al., 1996) and well 38/3-1, extended into the central North Sea. Although given a south-southeast trend by Ziegler (1987), the orientation of the embayment possibly bisects the obtuse angle formed by the bend in the Iapetus suture where its northern North Sea and Northumberland–Solway segments meet due east of the Midland Valley of Scotland; if so, the third arm of this trilete junction may have had a more southeasterly trend. Such an interpretation is strengthened by Kockel’s (1995) observation that fragments of coral occur in the middle of the Devonian succession in the German offshore well Q-1 (block G/3), about midway between the southern ends of the Central and Horn grabens [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_03.jpg|(Figure 3)]]. This embayment may have resulted from early Variscan north–south compression generating torsion that gave rise to southwest–northeast tensional stresses during the final Devonian stages of Iapetus closure. The inferred newly created zone of crustal weakness is subparallel to the suture of the former Tornquist Sea, along which Late Silurian to Early Devonian dextral movements may have initiated the location and trend of the Mid-Devonian embayment, parallel to the similarly trending Trans-European Fault of Coward (1990) across southern Denmark and northern Germany. There is possibly also a structural connection with the much younger northwest–southeast trending Texel–Ijsselmeer High and associated structures in The Netherlands.

During the Devonian, both Laurussia and Gondwana were moving northwards, the latter slightly more rapidly than the former, so that inevitably they collided, resulting in the closure of the Rheic Ocean, to create the roughly west–east trending Hercynian–Variscan orogenic belt that sutured Laurentia and Gondwana into the rather unstable megacontinent Pangaea (Scotese & McKerrow, 1990). Collision seems to have begun during the Viséan and culminated in the Late Carboniferous to Early Permian. In England, collision resulted in deformational structural trends parallel to those in the underlying Caledonian basement, which drape around the leading northern corner of the roughly triangular microcontinent, the Midland Platform [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_02.jpg|(Figure 2)]]. As noted by Corfield et al. (1996), structures east of the platform tend to be aligned northwest–southeast subparallel to the Tornquist Line, whereas those in the west have a distinctly southwest–northeast Caledonian trend [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_02.jpg|(Figure 2)]], [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_04.jpg|(Figure 4)]], [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_05.jpg|(Figure 5)]].

== 3. Plate tectonics and climate change ==

Northward drift carried the area now occupied by the British Isles across the Equator during the Carboniferous, reaching the southern limit of the Northern Hemisphere desert belt (''c. ''10°N) by the latest Carboniferous (Stephanian). The climatic changes involved with this drift played a major role in controlling the types of sediments deposited: coral-bearing marine limestones and semi-arid to arid terrestrial sediments (including aeolian sandstones) in the Devonian; Early Carboniferous limestones, equatorial coal-forming swamps from the late Namurian through much of the Westphalian, and reversion to fluvial red beds in the Westphalian C–D and Stephanian; the dominance of aeolian Upper Rotliegend sands in the early Late Permian and, following the even later Permian marine transgression, the carbonates and evaporites of the Zechstein. This succession of sedimentary sequences partially controlled by climate was to prove very important to the modern hydrocarbon industry; in the ideal case, the Carboniferous coal-measure source rocks for gas were overlain in turn by high-quality Rotliegend terrestrial (especially aeolian) reservoir rocks and the almost perfect top seal of Zechstein halite.

Although coal-bearing strata are mostly of Late Carboniferous age (Namurian–Westphalian) in southern and central England, they began to form in the Early Dinantian in northern England and the Midland Valley of Scotland (Scotland crossed the Equator before central England). Such strata do not extend northwards over the strongly metamorphosed Caledonian rocks of the Scottish and Scandinavian highlands, except very locally in southwest Scotland (southern Kintyre Peninsula). With regard to our more specific interest in the southern North Sea, the effective northern limit can be placed along the Mid North Sea–Ringkøbing–Fyn High, although Lower Carboniferous strata with minor thicknesses of coal occur locally across the central North Sea on trend with the Midland Valley and also below the outer Moray Firth (Bruce & Stemmerik, 2003).

In the south, our direct interest is limited by the Variscan deformation front [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_02.jpg|(Figure 2)]], [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_06.jpg|(Figure 6)]]. As implied earlier, this front marks the northern edge of a series of northward-prograding (Variscan) orogenic processes that had been developing more or less continuously throughout the Carboniferous as a broad zone of structural deformation. In that context, it should noted that relics of relatively extensive coal-bearing Carboniferous basins also occur south of that front in France and central Germany [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_06.jpg|(Figure 6)]].

During the final phases of the of the Variscan Orogeny in the early Late Permian, two important west–east trending basins formed across the North Sea area, of which the much larger Southern Permian Basin became an important area for the late twentieth-century exploration for gas of Carboniferous origin [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_07.jpg|(Figure 7)]]. Because of a general lack of Carboniferous coals in the Northern Permian Basin, the Rotliegend is not a reservoir for Carboniferous gas but rather for oil of Late Jurassic origin (e.g. Glennie et al., 2003).

== 4. Outline of Carboniferous structural development ==

Early Carboniferous sedimentation was controlled by reactivation of structural relief inherited from the Caledonian Orogeny, coupled with the effect of draping around the Midland Platform, caused by the northward push of the Variscan Orogeny [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_02.jpg|(Figure 2)]], [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_04.jpg|(Figure 4)]], [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_05.jpg|(Figure 5)]]. There is a distinct difference in the sedimentary history of the somewhat linear fault-bounded structural highs (many of which are underlain by Ordovician and Devonian granites) and the intervening lows. For example, alternating limestones and clastic deltaic strata of Tournaisian and Viséan age locally exceed a thickness of 4000 m in the Northumberland–Solway Basin [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_04.jpg|(Figure 4)]] but are only ''c. ''500 m thick (and mainly late Viséan in age) over the Alston Block to the south. In these more northerly areas, where sedimentation was able to keep pace with subsidence, basin infill was achieved in part by braided fluvial systems derived from the exposed Caledonian highlands, which fed Yoredale-type deltaic sediments prograding from the northeast into a shallow marine environment. Farther south, where carbonate sedimentation predominated on the highs, sedimentation was not always able to match subsidence and much of the basin infill comprises shales and turbiditic limestones laid down in relatively deep water. The structural relationships of Dinantian strata in northern England are well displayed by Fraser & Gawthorpe (1990), Chadwick et al. (1995) and Kirby et al. (2000).

Fault-related subsidence ceased, mainly but not totally, by the end of the Viséan, giving way to more widespread regional subsidence. The extensive shallow-marine depositional environment extending to both east and west of southern Britain [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_05.jpg|(Figure 5)]] gave way later to terrestrial deposition over much the same area during the later Carboniferous [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_06.jpg|(Figure 6)]]. The Millstone Grit deltaic sediments were also mostly sourced in the Caledonian and Old Red Sandstone highlands in the north, intervening barriers to sediment transport having been crossed or bypassed. In early Westphalian times, a westerly sediment source became prominent. Pro-delta marine shales near the base of the Millstone Grit Group have long been known to form source rocks for oil and gas in the East Midlands. The developing Variscan Orogeny in the south provided a northward-moving southern limit to the Carboniferous basin. Low-lying coal-bearing sequences of Namurian to early Westphalian age are interbedded with some 70 extensive marine bands (Besly, 1998), which must indicate an almost planar surface that extended from northern Appalachia to Germany. Where the marine waters entered the basin (North America or eastern Europe?) is not known for certain [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_06.jpg|(Figure 6)]], the evidence either lying still buried or having been removed by erosion. Apart from continued subsidence to create accommodation space, most of the marine bands probably resulted from fluctuations in sea level related to the repeated melting of Gondwanan ice caps (cf. Scotese & Barrett, 1990; Crowell, 1995) rather than from any direct tectonic influence. Guion et al. (2000) estimated that the glacially induced changes in sea level fluctuated by some 60±15 m, or about half that caused by Pleistocene glaciations; presumably the Gondwanan icecaps, operating individually, were much smaller than their Pleistocene equivalents.

From Westphalian B (Duckmantian) times, the rising Variscan highlands in the south began to provide sediment to the Carboniferous basin (Besly, 1998; Hallsworth & Chisholm, 2000), while periodic extension led to local volcanism at the southern margin of the Pennine Basin (Glover et al., 1993). At the same time, the slow northward drift of the now weakly united Laurussia–Gondwana (Pangaea) had brought England and the southern North Sea area into a zone that lay at the margin between an equatorial and a sub-Saharan climate; marginally arid red-bed deposition began and continued in basinal areas until the end of the Carboniferous Period.

== 5. Post-Carboniferous maturation of coals, and gas generation in Rotliegend basins ==

We know little about sedimentation over England and the southern North Sea area during the Early Permian, because most of the evidence was removed by uplift associated with the continuing Variscan Orogeny. Indeed, Fraser & Gawthorpe (1990) estimated that erosion may have removed 3000 m of strata in parts of northern England, and the Pennines probably came into existence in the Early to early Late Permian cf. [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_06.jpg|(Figure 6)]], [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_07.jpg|(Figure 7)]]. Late Carboniferous to Early Permian orogenic movements were responsible for creating the small onshore traps that contain oil and gas in reservoirs of Carboniferous age. The distribution and orientation of some of the structural elements involved in the Carboniferous of England and, less clearly, beneath the southern North Sea (e.g. gas-bearing Carboniferous of the Caister and Murdoch fields in blocks 44/23 and 44/22; Hollywood & Whorlow, 1993; Ritchie & Pratsides, 1993) indicate that they too are partly inherited from an older Caledonian history (e.g. Coward et al., 2003) that had involved the differential movement of several crustal plates [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_01.jpg|(Figure 1)]], [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_02.jpg|(Figure 2)]].

The general distribution of Carboniferous strata beneath the Permian indicates that the area had been folded relatively gently (e.g. Ziegler, 1990; Glennie, 1997) and, from the viewpoint of this paper, erosion extended down to pre-Carboniferous strata only over the margins of what was to become the Southern Permian Basin: the London–Brabant Platform and Mid North Sea–Ringkøbing–Fyn High.

As mentioned earlier, the northward Permian drift of Laurussia took the British Isles and northwest continental Europe into the climatic equivalent of the modern Sahara. The known Early Permian (Lower Rotliegend) sedimentation was confined to intermontane basins in central and southern Germany (e.g. Schneider. 2001) and southwest England (Edwards et al., 1997), where fluvial and lacustrine sediments indicate a relatively warm but wet climate, the humidity perhaps being induced by the surrounding areas of high relief. Volcanic activity also occurred in these depositional areas, much of it straddling the Carboniferous–Permian time boundary in central Germany (e.g. Schneider et al., 1995), together with parts of the Midland Valley of Scotland (Francis, 1991; Glennie, 2002) and the eastern Norwegian–Danish Basin (Stemmerik et al., 2000; Glennie et al., 2003).

=== 5.1 Late Permian Upper Rotliegend ===

Mainly because it is a fossil-poor red-bed sequence, the timespan of deposition of the Rotliegend seems to change with each new publication, and dates for the start and end of the Permian period have varied even in recent years. The latest time boundaries of the Carboniferous and main Permian units are shown in Table 1.

By using faunas from grey rather than red beds of the Rotliegend within the different basins of eastern Germany, Hoffman et al. (1988), Gebhardt et al. (1991) and Schneider & Gebhardt (1993) were able to demonstrate that the Upper Rotliegend could be divided into two major stratigraphical units: Upper Rotliegend 1 (UR1) and Upper Rotliegend 2 (UR2). UR1 crops out in some basins of central Germany, and locally is part of a continuous sedimentary sequence that began in the Late Carboniferous (e.g. the Saar–Nahe Basin; Schneider, 1996); in this basin, UR1 includes the Kreutznach aeolian sandstones as an indicator of increasing aridity. UR1 is represented over much of what was to become the Southern Permian Basin by the important Saalian Unconformity, which resulted from uplift and erosion associated with the northward development of the Variscan Orogeny. Above the unconformity lie the economically important gas-bearing aeolian sandstones of the UR2 sedimentary sequence, which occupied much of the Southern Permian Basin prior to the latest Permian deposition of the marine Zechstein.

'''Table 1 Some key Permo-Carboniferous boundaries. Ages are based on Menning (1995), Jin et al. (1997), Wardlaw (2000), Schneider (2001) and UNESCO (2002).'''

{| class="wikitable"
|-
|| Age (Ma) Boundary
| |
| |
|- "
|| 251.4
|| Top Permian and Top Zechstein
|| Top Changhsingian
|- "
|| 258?
|| Rotliegend–Zechstein boundary
| |
|- "
|| 263–4
|| Marker horizon – Illawarra magnetic reversal
| |
|- "
|| 264–5
|| Base Upper Rotliegend 2 (UR2)
|| ~Base Capitanian
|- "
| |
|| UR2 underlain by Altmark Unconformity
| |
|- "
|| 289–290
|| Base Upper Rotliegend 1 (UR1)
| |
|- "
| |
|| Lower Rotliegend capped by Saalian Unconformity
| |
|- "
|| 291.6
|| Carboniferous–Permian time boundary
|| Asselian–Gzhelian
|- "
|| 299–300
|| Proposed base of Lower Rotliegend in central Germany
| |
|- "
|| 354
|| Base Carboniferous
|| Base Tournaisian
|-
|}
The start of Upper Rotliegend 2 sedimentation (the Upper Rotliegend of the main gasfields of the southern North Sea, The Netherlands and Germany) coincided with the beginning of thermal subsidence of the Southern and Northern Permian basins [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_07.jpg|(Figure 7)]] following the earlier widespread volcanic activity. This occurred early in the Late Permian at about 264 Ma BP, just before the creation of that key red-bed marker, the Illawarra magnetic reversal, at 263 Ma (Menning, 1995, modified by Schneider, 2001). Earlier interpretations of the Permian palaeogeographical development of northwest Germany can be found in Gralla (1988) and, for northern Germany, in Plein (1993, 1995).

At about the same time as sedimentation began in the Northern and Southern Permian basins, the Viking–Central graben system was initiated in the northern and central North Sea. The Viking Graben probably utilized the north–south portion of that relatively weak crustal lineament, the Iapetus Suture (Glennie, 2002; Glennie et al., 2003), perhaps driven by the wedge effect of the Midland Platform and its northern drape of Carboniferous structures pushed northwards by the advancing Variscan deformation front [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_02.jpg|(Figure 2)]]. The wedge would have induced dextral strike-slip movements between structures of Tornquist orientation (e.g. the Mid-Devonian seaway; the northwest–southeast-trending portion of the Central Graben) and sinistral movements parallel to the southwest Iapetus trend (e.g. Northumberland–Solway Trough). Graben initiation can be dated, especially in Danish waters, by the association of earliest Rotliegend lacustrine shales, with volcanic activity in the range of 269±4 to 261±4 Ma (Stemmerik et al., 2000; Glennie et al., 2003).

With England and the southern North Sea areas located in the Permian climatic equivalent of the southern Sahara, associated aridity ensured that unconsolidated surface sands were mobilized by the wind, causing sand dunes of the Southern Permian Basin to migrate westwards under the influence of northeast tradewinds. The axis of the Southern Permian Basin subsided more rapidly than the rate of sediment infill, with the result that the central basin floor intersected the regional water table to form a large shallow saline lake surrounded by a sabkha. With ensuing fluctuations in climate, the lake precipitated up to 16 beds of halite, controlled, it is thought (e.g. Glennie, 1998), by Gondwanan glacially induced increases in aridity and related falls in both global sea level and terrestrial water tables. The greatest rate of subsidence occurred over Germany, where the Upper Rotliegend 2 has a post-compaction thickness of almost 2500 m (McCann, 1998), compared to a maximum thickness of about 300 m in the UK southern North Sea (cf. Glennie & Boegner, 1981; Glennie, 1997).

=== 5.2 Zechstein transgression ===

The rising level of a boreal sea transgressing southwestwards between Greenland and Norway was probably the result of yet more interglacial melting of Gondwanan icecaps; it eventually caused seawater to flow southwards along the incipient Viking and Central graben systems and rapidly flooded both the Northern and Southern Permian basins. At that time, because of subsidence, the surfaces of the two Permian basins are estimated to have been as much as 250–300 m below global sea level (Smith, 1979; Ziegler, 1990; Plein, 1993; Glennie, 1998). The seas that resulted within these enclosed tropical basins at first became the sites of Zechstein limestone deposition. With each successive depositional cycle, limestone was progressively succeeded by evaporites, including halite, thick sequences of which were to form almost perfect seals for the Carboniferous gas that later filled Rotliegend reservoirs.

The importance in continental Europe of the line of weakness formed by the closure of the Tornquist Sea, marking the southern edge of the Ringkøbing–Fyn High, has already been mentioned. Arguably of greater structural importance today is the Sorgenfrei–Tornquist–Teisseyre zone of shearing that extends across the Kattegat and northern Denmark to the Polish Trough (e.g. fig. 10 in Vejbaek, 1997). Its development was probably heralded by the latest Carboniferous creation of half-grabens and associated volcanic activity; an underlying Upper Carboniferous clastic sequence was deposited before rifting began. As the rift sequences are overlain by Zechstein-age siliciclastic strata, most fault rotation is presumed to have occurred during Rotliegend time (Michelsen & Nielsen, 1993). Low-grade metamorphism marks the flank of the Polish anticlinorium adjacent to the Tornquist–Teisseyre zone.

== 6. Outline of post-Rotliegend structural development ==

As the pattern of crustal tension and compression changed with time, subsidence continued intermittently in much of the North Sea area, punctuated by more localized episodes of uplift and erosion. Such subsidence histories are characterized by many published burial curves (e.g. van Wijhe et al., 1980; Glennie & Boegner, 1981; Oele et al., 1981). Coals generate gas when they are buried and affected by warming to perhaps 100°C or so (e.g. Cornford, 1998). At a depth of about 6 km (~180°C, depending on a temperature gradient of, say, 25–35°Ckm<sup>–1</sup>) coals are post-mature for gas generation. For optimum exploration, therefore, it is important to know the likely burial history and temperature ranges to which the coals have been subjected, in order to predict the possible presence or absence of gas in any particular sub-basin or structure.

As can be seen in [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_08.jpg|(Figure 8)]], the greatest burial depths for Rotliegend rocks of 8 km or more are in parts of the Viking and Central grabens, along the Sorgenfrei–Tornquist zone of shearing (where Triassic and Middle Jurassic tectonically controlled depocentres became areas of inversion in the Late Cretaceous and Early Tertiary), and in the central part of the Southern Permian Basin, where subsidence, initiated in the early Late Permian, has obviously continued for much of its ensuing history. Deep troughs also occur locally in the Western Approaches, where Coal Measures are not known to exist, and in the eastern Celtic Sea where possibly they do.

Deep burial of Rotliegend reservoir sandstones has resulted in several diagenetic changes that, depending on proximity to Carboniferous shales across faults, for example, include the creation of permeability-destroying illite whiskers below about 3000 m (Glennie et al., 1978; Gaupp et al., 1993). [[:File:YGS_CHR_01_REGI_FIG_08.jpg|(Figure 8)]] also shows that the Ringkøbing–Fyn High has remained a relatively stable area since the Permian, with an accumulation of no more than 2000 m of strata over its crestal area; this also applies to a lesser extent to the Mid North Sea High.

== 7. Conclusions ==

The Carboniferous to Permian depositional environment of England and the greater southern North Sea area inherited structural controls that date back to the Siluro–Devonian Caledonian closure of the Iapetus Ocean and the ensuing Permo–Carboniferous Variscan Orogeny. The main features are:
* Iapetus related
** Inheritance in the early Late Permian of the Iapetus Suture by the north–south trending Viking Graben of the northern North Sea, and its southwest–trending arm between England and Scotland.
** Inheritance of the suture formed by closure of the Tornquist Sea, which led to development of the northwest–southeast-trending Mid-Devonian seaway picked out by alignment of the Auk, Argyll, 38/3-1 and German Q-1 wells; the suture probably controlled the orientation of the northwest–southeast-trending portion of the Central Graben between the Mid North Sea and Ringkøbing–Fyn highs.
* Tornquist Sea-related: minor Late Ordovician shearing related to closure of the Tornquist Sea by the docking of Avalonia along the southern edge of Baltica.
* Variscan Orogeny: progressive collision between the united Laurentia–Baltica and the northward-moving Armorica and Gondwanan plates led to the Variscan Orogeny.
** The earliest evidence of this collision is possibly the sharp 45° bend in the Iapetus Suture and its intersection with the Tornquist Suture in the Mid-Devonian.
** The Early Carboniferous structures draped around the Midland Platform have a southwest trend west of England subparallel to the western Iapetus Suture and a southeast trend over and to the east of England subparallel to the Tornquist Suture.
** From at least the Mid-Devonian onwards, a major west–east orientated linear basin developed between Appalachia and central Europe, parallel to the Variscan orogenic front. A successor to this basin was the site of extensive coal deposition. As the Variscan Orogeny advanced northwards, the linear Late Carboniferous basin became narrower as southern components were uplifted and deformed, leading to many intermontane basins in northern France and central Germany.
** North of the Variscan deformation front, the basin’s Late Devonian and Carboniferous sedimentary fill was gently folded and locally eroded during the Early Permian, a time of widespread volcanism, especially in Germany.
** Thermal cooling, coupled with a continuing orogenic push from the south, resulted in the coeval development of the Southern and Northern Permian basins and their intervening structural high. At the same time, the southern push seems to have initiated development of the Central and Viking graben system by inducing west–east tension across the area.

The economic importance of the Carboniferous was based on its coals, which not only fuelled the Industrial Revolution of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries but also sourced the large volumes of methane found in so many of the Rotliegend and, to a much lesser extent, Carboniferous gasfields that are spread across the southern North Sea, The Netherlands and northwest Germany; halites of the latest Permian Zechstein succession form excellent top seals to the accumulations of Rotliegend gas.

A continuing history of structural tension and compression has resulted in both basin development and inversion over different parts of the Southern Permian Basin. Differential uplift, especially in the Late Jurassic and Late Cretaceous, halted gas generation locally, only for it to resume again locally after Late Cainozoic subsidence.

== Acknowledgements ==

Shell UK is thanked for draughting six of the figures and Barry Fulton of Aberdeen University for the other two.

== References ==

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Bruce, D. & L. Stemmerik 2003. Carboniferous. In ''The millennium atlas: petroleum geology of the central and northern North Sea'', D. Evans, C. Graham, A. Armour, P. Bathurst (eds & coordinators), 83–9. London: Geological Society.

Calder, J. H. 1998. The Carboniferous evolution of Nova Scotia. In ''Lyell: the past is the key to the present'', D. J. Blundell & A. C. Scott (eds), 261–302. Special Publication 143, Geological Society, London.

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Edwards, R. A., G. Warrington, R. C. Scrivener, N. S. Jones, H. W. Haslam, L. Ault 1997. The Exeter Group, south Devon, England: a contribution to the early post-Variscan stratigraphy of northwest Europe. ''Geological Magazine ''134, 177–97.

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Fraser, A. J. & R. L. Gawthorpe 1990. Tectono-stratigraphic development and hydrocarbon habitat of the Carboniferous in northern England. In ''Tectonic events responsible for Britain’s oil and gas'', Hardman, R. F. P. & J. Brooks (eds), 49–86. Special Publication 55, Geological Society, London.

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Gebhardt, U., J. Schneider, N. Hoffmann 1991. Modelle zur Stratigraphie und Beckenentwicklung im Rotliegenden der Norddeutschen Senke. ''Geologische Jahrbuch ''127, 405–427.

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Glennie, K. W. & J. R. Underhill 1998. Origin, development and evolution of structural styles. In ''Petroleum geology of the North Sea: basic concepts and recent advances ''(4th edn), K. W. Glennie (ed.), 42–84. Oxford: Blackwell Science.

Glennie, K. W., G. C. Mudd, P. J. C. Nagtegaal 1978. Depositional environment and diagenesis of Permian Rotliegendes sandstones in Leman Bank and Sole Pit areas of the UK southern North Sea. ''Geological Society of London, Journal ''135, 25–34.

Glennie, K. W., J. Higham, L. Stemmerik 2003. Permian. In ''The millennium atlas: petroleum geology of the central and northern North Sea'', D. Evans, C. Graham, A. Armour, P. Bathurst (eds & co-ordinators), 90–103. London: Geological Society.

Glover, B. W., J. H. Powell, C. N. Waters 1993. Etruria Formation (Westphalian C) palaeoenvironments and volcanicity on the southern margins of the Pennine Basin, south Staffordshire, England. ''Geological Society of London, Journal ''150, 737–50.

Gralla, P. 1988. Das Oberrotliegende in NW-Deutschland – Lithostratigraphie und Faziesanalyse. ''Geologisches Jahrbuch A ''106, 5– 39.

Guion, P. D., P. Gutteridge, S. Davies 2000. Carboniferous sedimentation and volcanism on the Laurussian margin. In ''Geological history of Britain and Ireland'', N. Woodcock & R. Strachan (eds), 227–70. Oxford: Blackwell Science.

Hallsworth, C. R. & J. I. Chisholm 2000. Stratigraphic evolution of provenance characteristics in Westphalian sandstones of the Yorkshire coalfield. ''Yorkshire Geological Society, Proceedings ''53, 43–72.

Hoffmann, N., H-J. Kamps, J. Schneider 1988. Neuerkentnisse zur Biostratigraphie und Palaodynamik des Perms in der Nordostdeutschen Senks – ein Diskussionsbeitrag. ''Zeitschrift für Angewandte Geologie ''35, 189–207.

Hollywood, J. M. & C. V. Whorlow 1993. Structural development and hydrocarbon occurrences of the Carboniferous in the UK Southern North Sea Basin. In ''Petroleum geology of northwest Europe: proceedings of the 4th conference'', J. R. Parker (ed.), 689–96. London: Geological Society.

Jin, Yugan, B. R. Wardlaw, B. F. Glenister, G. V. Kotlyar 1997. Permian chronostratigraphic subdivisions. ''Episodes ''20, 10–15.

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Kockel, F. 1995. ''Structural and palaeogeographical development of the German North Sea sector''. Berlin: Gebrüder Borntraeger.

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Marshall, J. E. A., D. A. Rogers, M. J. White 1996. Devonian marine incursions into the Orcadian Basin, Scotland. ''Geological Society of London, Journal ''153, 451–66.

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Menning, M. 1995. A numerical timescale for the Permian and Triassic periods: an integrated time analysis. In ''Permian of northern Pangea'', P. Scholle, T. M. Peryt, N. Scholle-Ulmer (eds), 77–97. Berlin: Springer.

Michelsen, O. & L. H. Nielsen 1993. Structural development of the Fennoscandian Border Zone, offshore Denmark. ''Marine and Petroleum Geology ''10, 124–34.

Oele, J. A., A. C. P. J. Hol, J. Tiemans 1981. Some Rotliegend gas-fields of the K and L blocks, Netherlands offshore (1968–1978) – a case history. In ''Petroleum geology of the continental shelf of northwest Europe'', L. V. Illing & G. D. Hobson (eds), 289–300. London: Institute of Petroleum.

Plein, E. 1993. Bemerkungen zum Ablauf der paläeogeographischen Entwicklung im Stephan und Rotliegend des Norddeutschen Beck-ens. In ''Perm im Ostteil der Norddeutschen Senke ''[''Geologisches Jahrbuch A ''131], E. P. Müller & H. Porth (eds), 99–116. Stuttgart: Schweitzerbart’sche.

Plein, E. (compiler) 1995. Norddeutsches Rotliegendbecken, Rotliegend-monographie, Teil II: Stratigraphie von Deutschland. ''Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg ''183.

Richmond, L. K. & B. P. J. Williams 2000. A new terrane in the Old Red Sandstone of the Dingle Peninsula, southwest Ireland. In ''New perspectives on the Old Red Sandstone'', P. F. Friend & B. P. J. Williams (eds), 147–83. Special Publication 180, Geological Society, London.

Ritchie, J. S. & P. Pratsides 1993. The Caister fields, block 44/23a, UK North Sea. In ''Petroleum geology of northwest Europe: proceedings of the 4th conference'', J. R. Parker (ed.), 759–69. London: Geological Society.

Robson, D. 1991. The Argyll, Duncan and Innes fields, blocks 30/24 and 30/25a, UK North Sea. In ''United Kingdom oil and gasfields, 25 years commemorative volume'', I. L. Abbotts (ed.), 219–325. Memoir 14, Geological Society, London.

Rogers, D. A., J. E. A. Marshall, T. R. Astin 1989. Devonian and later movements on the Great Glen Fault system. ''Geological Society of London, Journal ''146, 369–72.

Schneider, J. W. 1996. Biostratigraphie des kontinentalen Oberkarbon und Perm im Thüringer Wald, SW-Saale-Senke – Stand und Probleme. ''Beitrage zur Geologie von Thüringen ''3, 121–51.

Schneider, J. W. 2001. Rotliegendstratigraphie – Prinzipien und Probleme. ''Beitrage zur Geologie von Thüringen ''8, 7–42.

Schneider, J. W. & U. Gebhardt 1993. Litho- und Biofaziesmuster in intra- und extramontanen Senken des Rotliegend (Perm, Nord- und Ostdeutschland). In ''Perm im Ostteil der Norddeutschen Senke'', E. P. Müller & H. Porth (eds), 57–98. ''Geologisches Jahrbuch A ''131.

Schneider, J. W., R. Rössler, B. Gaitzsch 1995. Time lines of the Late Variscan volcanism – holostratigraphic synthesis. ''Zentralblatt für Geologie und Palaontologie ''1, 477–90.

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Scotese, C. R. & W. S. McKerrow 1990. Revised world maps and introduction. In ''Palaeozoic palaeogeography and biogeography'', W. S. McKerrow & C. R. Scotese (eds), 1–21. Memoir 12, Geological Society, London.

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Smith, D. B. 1979. Rapid marine transgressions and regressions of the Upper Permian Zechstein Sea. ''Geological Society of London, Journal ''136, 155–6.

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[[category:Carboniferous hydrocarbon resources: the southern North Sea and surrounding onshore areas ]]

Regional tectonics in relation to Permo-Carboniferous hydrocarbon potential, Southern North Sea Basin

2020-08-08T17:06:32Z

YGSJET: /* *References */

Category:Carboniferous hydrocarbon resources: the southern North Sea and surrounding onshore areas

2020-08-08T16:40:20Z

YGSJET:

{{YGSCarbHydroRes}}

[[File:YGS CHR FROCOV.jpg|thumbnail|]]

== Contents ==

[[Regional tectonics in relation to Permo-Carboniferous hydrocarbon potential, Southern North Sea Basin|Regional tectonics in relation to Permo-Carboniferous hydrocarbon potential, Southern North Sea Basin by K. W. Glennie]]

[[Carboniferous miospore biostratigraphy of the North Sea|Carboniferous miospore biostratigraphy of the North Sea by D. McLean, B. Owens, R. Neves]]

[[Post-Carboniferous burial and exhumation histories of Carboniferous rocks of the southern North Sea and adjacent onshore UK|Post-Carboniferous burial and exhumation histories of Carboniferous rocks of the southern North Sea and adjacent onshore UK by Paul F. Green]]

[[Dinantian and Namurian depositional systems in the southern North Sea|Dinantian and Namurian depositional systems in the southern North Sea by John D. Collinson]]

[[Fluvial sandbody architecture, cyclicity and sequence stratigraphic setting – implications for hydrocarbon reservoirs: the Westphalian C and D of the Osnabrück–Ibbenbüren area, northwest Germany|Fluvial sandbody architecture, cyclicity and sequence stratigraphical setting – implications for hydrocarbon reservoirs: the Westphalian C and D of the Osnabrück–Ibbenbüren area, northwest Germany by Neil S. Jones & Brian W. Glover]]

[[A sequence-stratigraphy scheme of the Late Carboniferous, southern North Sea, Anglo-Dutch sector|A sequence-stratigraphical scheme for the Late Carboniferous, southern North Sea, Anglo-Dutch sector by J. M. Cole, M. Whitaker, M. Kirk, S. Crittenden]]

[[Westphalian mid-A to mid-C depositional controls, UK Pennine Basin: regional analyses and their relevance to southern North Sea interpretations|Westphalian mid-A to mid-C depositional controls, UK Pennine Basin: regional analyses and their relevance to southern North Sea interpretations by J. H. Rippon]]

[[Imaging coals with seismic reflection data for improved detection of sandstone bodies|Imaging coals with seismic reflection data for improved detection of sandstone bodies by B. A. McGlen & J. H. Rippon]]

[[Interplay between northern and southern sediment sources during Westphalian deposition in the Silverpit Basin, southern North Sea|Interplay between northern and southern sediment sources during Westphalian deposition in the Silverpit Basin, southern North Sea by Andrew Morton, Claire Hallsworth, Andrea Moscariello]]

[[Chemostratigraphy of the Upper Carboniferous Schooner Formation, southern North Sea|Chemostratigraphy of the Upper Carboniferous Schooner Formation, southern North Sea by T. J. Pearce, D. Wray, K. Ratcliffe, D. K. Wright, A. Moscariello]]

[[Stratigraphy of the Upper Carboniferous Schooner Formation, southern North Sea: chemostratigraphy, mineralogy, palynology and Sm–Nd isotope analysis|Stratigraphy of the Upper Carboniferous Schooner Formation, southern North Sea: chemostratigraphy, mineralogy, palynology and Sm–Nd isotope analysis by T. J. Pearce, D. McClean, D. Wray, D. K. Wright, C. J. Jeans, E. W. Mearns]]

[[Geological factors influencing gas production in the Tyne field (Block 44/18a), southern North Sea, and their impact on future infill well planning|Geological factors influencing gas production in the Tyne field (Block 44/18a), southern North Sea, and their impact on future infill well planning by Colin M. Jones, Philip J. Allen, Neville H. Morrison]]

[[Can new technologies be used to exploit the coal resources in the Yorkshire–Nottinghamshire Coalfield?|Can new technologies be used to exploit the coal resources in the Yorkshire–Nottinghamshire coalfield? by S. Holloway, N. S. Jones, D. P. Creedy, K. Garner]]

[[Remaining hydrocarbon exploration potential of the Carboniferous fairway, UK southern North Sea|Remaining hydrocarbon exploration potential of the Carboniferous fairway, UK southern North Sea by Don Cameron, Jim Munns, Sue Stoker]]

[[Late Carboniferous redbeds of the UK southern North Sea, viewed in a regional context|Appendix: Late Carboniferous redbeds of the UK southern North Sea, viewed in a regional context by Bernard Besly]]

== Introduction ==

Although hosting several small hydrocarbon fields in eastern England, and recognized in the 1960s as providing the main source rocks for the gasfields of the southern North Sea, Carboniferous rocks were thought until quite recently to have little reservoir potential off shore. However, since 1984, 23 significant gas discoveries have been made in the Carboniferous of the UK southern North Sea, along with other examples in the Netherlands sector. Thus, in recognition of its increasingly important contribution to total UK gas production, the offshore Carboniferous, particularly the Late Westphalian red bed sequence, has locally been the locus of considerable research by the hydrocarbon industry. However, the Carboniferous of much of the southern North Sea remains poorly known and under-explored.

In order to generate interest in unexplored areas and to highlight outstanding issues of field development and reservoir modelling, the Yorkshire Geological Society organized a conference in Sheffield on 13-14 September 2002. This brought together scientists working on the offshore area and those whose primary knowledge is of the Carboniferous of the adjacent onshore, which has been studied extensively for over two centuries. Over a hundred delegates attended, including many of the current key offshore and onshore researchers. The main aim of the conference — the promotion of the relevance of the well-studied onshore Carboniferous to the understanding of the lesser-known offshore successions, with the objective of locating and producing additional hydrocarbon reserves — was a major underlying feature of most of the papers presented.

This volume contains fourteen of the papers presented at the meeting by leading specialists in their fields. The papers range widely in stratigraphical and geographical extent, and review such topics as biostratigraphy, lithostratigraphy, chemostratigraphy, regional tectonics, provenance, sedimentology and reservoir architecture, depositional systems and sequence stratigraphy, post-depositional uplift and geophysical imaging of coal-bearing strata. Much new information is presented on the offshore sequences and several papers summarize current knowledge of the onshore strata that will aid investigation off shore. A detailed review of remaining offshore prospects is included.

== Preface ==
This volume is the proceedings of a conference organized by the Yorkshire Geological Society and held at Stephenson Hall, University of Sheffield on 13 and 14 September 2002. A further day of field trips was held on 15 September. The conference aimed to bring together geoscientists experienced in the Carboniferous of the southern North Sea and also those whose experience has been mainly derived from the study of the Carboniferous on shore, either at outcrop or in the subsurface. These two areas are mostly parts of the same set of basinal and depositional systems, and it was thought that a forum for transfer of knowledge and experience between the two communities would be widely beneficial and stimulating. The Yorkshire Geological Society, whose members probably represent the greatest accumulation of onshore Carboniferous experience in the UK, was thought to be an especially relevant organization to run such an event. The timing was also thought to be particularly appropriate, as the exploration for gas in the southern North Sea moves into a phase where most of (if not all) the major accumulations in the Rotliegendes reservoir have already been found and mostly exploited and where future exploration must increasingly focus on the deeper and more complex Carboniferous reservoir sections.

Some 120 participants attended the conference, mainly from the UK and The Netherlands, but also from Germany and Australia. Participants came from the petroleum industry, from geological surveys and other government institutes, and from academia. The facilities at Sheffield, with almost all participants resident on site, provided an ideal setting for both the formal sessions of the conference and also for much informal discussion. Twenty-eight talks were presented at the meeting, along with posters and a fascinating core-and-log display by Tony Hodge and colleagues at Roc Oil, giving an insight into the concealed Carboniferous of the East Midlands oil province. The topics ranged widely in their stratigraphical and geographical coverage, and across a range of subdisciplines. Although few contributions explicitly compared offshore with onshore, that theme was implicit in much of the conference discussion and was particularly apparent during the field trips, when the relevance of outcrops to particular offshore situations was widely discussed.

This proceedings volume reflects quite well the overall scope of the conference, although obviously it does not record all that was presented there. We hope that it will prove a useful resource for future work, both onshore and offshore, in the coming years.

As well as the full papers, the volume also includes the abstract of a talk given at the conference by Bernard Besly. The reasons for this slightly unusual presentation are that the stratigraphical nomenclature proposed in this abstract has, since the conference, become widely adopted in the industry and it is also widely cited in full papers within this volume. Its inclusion here will make it more widely accessible than if it remained confined to the abstract volume, which had only limited circulation. The abstract is published without full peer review. The absence of type sections for the proposed new formations will be rectified when the full account is eventually published, which it is hoped will be in a future volume of the Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society.

The conference and this volume would not have been possible without the encouragement and financial support of the conference sponsors who are listed below. All their contributions are warmly acknowledged. We would like to single out for particular thanks Andy Spencer of GDF Britain, whose initial encouragement and support led to the planning of the meeting. We would also like to thank Duncan McLean, Mike Romano and Gill Johnson of the University of Sheffield, who were responsible for most of the arrangements at Stephenson Hall. The production of this volume has been made possible by the help that the editors have received from many referees and from the excellent support and advice received from Roger Jones of Terra Publishing.

== Sponsors ==
{| class="wikitable"
| Baker Hughes || GDF Britain
|-
| BP || NAM
|-
| Calenergy Gas || Shell
|-
| Conoco || Yorkshire Geological Society
|-
| ExxonMobil ||
|}

== Referees ==

The Editors are indebted to the following, whose time was given freely to report on the manuscripts published in this volume and without whose efforts this volume would have been impossible.

{| class="wikitable"
| J. F. Aitken || D. G. Jones
|-
| T. D. J. Cameron || S. Kelly
|-
| J. I. Chisholm || R. W. O’B. Knox
|-
| A. J. Fraser || L. Macchi
|-
| S. S. Flint || K. Maguire
|-
| M. C. Geluk || T. McKie
|-
| N. R. Goulty || A. E. Milodowski
|-
| P. D. Guion || D. Quirk
|-
| G. Hampson || M. H. Stephenson
|-
| R. F. P. Hardman || S. Stoker
|-
| C. Hartkopf-Froeder || K. Thomson
|-
| K. Higgs || S. Tubb
|-
| P. Japsen || C. N. Waters
|-
| C. Jones || H. Williams
|}

[[category:Yorkshire Geological Society]]

Geology in Northumbrian Museums

2020-04-11T13:38:17Z

YGSJET:

{{YGSNorthumbrianRocks}}

By '''Steve McLean''' Hancock Museum, Newcastle upon Tyne

== Introduction ==

The museums listed in this guide are situated within the counties of Northumberland, Durham, Tyne and Wear, and Cleveland north of the River Tees. Local museums with geological collections or displays present an ideal starting point from which to investigate the geology of the immediate area. Such institutions tend to collect locally or regionally and often possess top quality specimens acquired over a long period of time, many from localities which are no longer accessible. This is particularly true considering the extensive mining history of the area and the quantity of specimens which have found their way into museums as a direct result. In addition, extensive U.K. or indeed world collections are not uncommon, usually resulting from the prodigious efforts of 19th century collectors during the 'Golden Age' of geology.

In the area represented by this guide, there are three principal geological collections housed in museums. By far the largest is the collection owned by the Natural History Society of Northumbria at the Hancock Museum in Newcastle (currently managed by Tyne and Wear Museums). The earliest part of this collection dates from the beginning of the 19th century and now contains approximately 50 000 specimens, the largest proportion of which are local Carboniferous and Permian fossils. There are over 8000 mineral specimens, principally from the North Pennine Orefield.

The second largest collection, located at Sunderland Museum, is owned by Tyne and Wear Museums. Although the oldest recorded specimen dates back to 1815, the rest of the collection was begun in 1836 when the Sunderland Natural History and Antiquarian Society was founded. There are approximately 20 000 geological specimens, the largest part consisting of Permian fossils and rocks from the Zechstein strata of northeast England. The mineral collection contains over 4000 specimens collected principally from the North Pennine Orefield.

The third largest collection in the area is owned by Cleveland County Council and is housed at the Southlands Centre in Middlesbrough. The geological collection dates from 1975 and currently numbers 12–15 000 specimens, including minerals from northern England, especially the north Pennines, the Lake District and Caldbeck Fells, and regional Carboniferous, Permian and Jurassic fossils.

== Museums ==

=== 1. Alnwick ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Museum of Antiquities''', Alnwick Castle, Alnwick, Northumberland, NE66 1NQ, Tel. (01665) 510777
|-
| | Collections
| | World wide, Regional, minerals (particular strength), geological library
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | April–Oct daily
|-
| | Website
| | [https://www.alnwickcastle.com/ https://www.alnwickcastle.com/]
|-
|}

=== 2. Ashington ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Woodhorn Colliery Museum''' Queen Elizabeth II Country Park, Ashington, Northumberland, Tel: (01670) 856968
|-
| | Displays
| | Social and industrial history of mining and mining communities in southeast Northumberland, working winding engine
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Wed.–Sun. all year
|-
| | Website
| | [https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/woodhorn-museum/ https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/woodhorn-museum/]
|-
|}

=== 3. Barnard Castle ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''The Bowes Museum''', Barnard Castle, Co. Durham, DL12 8NP. Tel. (01833) 690606
|-
| | Collections
| | Regional (Northern England generally, Northumberland , Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World wide, minerals, rocks fossils (Carboniferous plants and rocks minerals and rocks from around the world)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year.
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.bowesmuseum.org.uk/ http://www.bowesmuseum.org.uk/]
|-
|}
=== 4. Beamish ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''The North of England Open Air Museum''', Beamish, Co. Durham, DH9 ORG, Tel. (0191) 3704000
|-
| | Displays
| | Social history of Coal Mining, reconstructed pre-WW1 coal mine
|-
| | Collections
| | Photographic records, archive, geological library (relating to lead, coal and ironstone mining in North East England)
|-
| | Catalogues
| | Access to catalogues of Photographic records, archive, geological library collections by appointment
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale., mining
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Summer all week, winter closed Mon. and Fri closed over Christmas period.
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.beamish.org.uk/ http://www.beamish.org.uk/] www.beamish-museum.co.uk/
|-
|}
=== 5. Berwick ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Berwick-upon-Tweed Borough Museum and Art Gallery''', The Clock Block, Berwick Barracks, Ravensdowne, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland, TD15 1DQ, TeL (01289 330044 ext. 269).
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, UK, minerals, rocks, fossils, geological library
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| |
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Summer, all week; Winter, Wed.–Sun.
|-
| | Website
| | [https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/berwick-museum-art-gallery/ https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/berwick-museum-art-gallery/]
|-
|}
=== 6 Chillingham ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Chillingham Castle''', Chillingham, Northumberland, NE66 5NI, Tel. (01668) 215359
|-
| | Displays
| | Local, (very small, Carboniferous plants)
|-
| | Temporary exhibitions
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, fossils (Carboniferous plants, very small)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Easter-30 Sept., Winter by appointment.
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.chillingham-castle.com/ www.chillingham-castle.com/]
|-
|}
=== 7. Hartlepool ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Museum of Hartlepool''', Jackson Dock, Hartlepool, TS24 0XZ, TeL (01429) 860077.
|-
| | Collections
| | Regional (Northern England generally, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria), World Wide, (small), minerals, rocks, fossils, geological library
|-
| | Geological activities
| | Occasional
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | All week, all year
|-
|}
=== 8. Middlesborough ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Dorman Museum''', Linthorpe Road, Middlesborough, Cleveland, Tel. (01642) 813781
|-
| | Displays
| | Local Regional, Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria], General geology
|-
| | Temporary Exhibitions
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, Regional (Cleveland, Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World Wide, minerals (particular strength), rocks, fossils. Photographic records, Archive, geological library.
|-
| | Catalogues
| | Unpublished catalogues can be made available for study
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| | Professional geologist on staff
|-
| | Geological activities
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | All year, Tues–Sun. Study and laboratory facilities available
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.dormanmuseum.co.uk/ www.dormanmuseum.co.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 9. Morpeth ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Wallington Hall''' (National Trust), Cambo, .Near Morpeth, Northumberland, Tel. (01670) 773600
|-
| | Displays
| | General geology (curiosity collection of rocks, minerals and fossils)
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, UK (small), minerals, Regional fossils
|-
| | Catalogues
| | Available to view in building
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | April 1st Oct 31st all week, except Tuesday.
|-
| | Website
| | [https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/wallington https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/wallington]
|-
|}

=== 10. Newcastle ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Hancock Museum''', Barras Bridge, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, NE2 4PT, Tel. (0191) 2226765
|-
| | Displays
| | Local, Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), General geology
|-
| | Temporary exhibitions
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World Wide, minerals (particular strength), rocks, fossils (particular strength) (see above), Photographic records, Archive geological library
|-
| | Catalogues
| | Yes, other collection information can be made available
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| | Professional geologist on staff
|-
| | Geological activities
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | All week, all year (except Sunday mornings).
|-
| | Website
| | [https://greatnorthmuseum.org.uk/ https://greatnorthmuseum.org.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 11. South Shields ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''South Shields Museum and Art Gallery''', Ocean Road, South Shields, Tyne and Wear, NE33 2TA, Tel. (0191) 4568740
|-
| | Displays
| | Local (geology displays within local history context),
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| |
|-
| | Geological activities
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | All week, all year (except Sunday mornings)
|-
| | Website
| | [https://southshieldsmuseum.org.uk/ https://southshieldsmuseum.org.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 12. Sunderland ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens''', Burdon Road, Sunderland, SR1 1PP, Tel. (0191) 553 2323
|-
| | Displays
| | Local, Regional (Cleveland, Northern England (generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria])
|-
| | Temporary exhibitions
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World Wide, minerals (particular strength), rocks, fossils (particular strength) (see above) Photographic records, Archive, geological library
|-
| |
| | No, but collection information available
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| | professional geologist on staff
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year (except Sunday mornings)
|-
| | Website
| | [https://sunderlandculture.org.uk/our-venues/sunderland-museum-winter-gardens/ https://sunderlandculture.org.uk/our-venues/sunderland-museum-winter-gardens/]
|-
|}

=== 13. Weardale ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''The Weardale Museum''', Ireshopeburn, Weardale, Co. Durham, Tel. (01388) 537417
|-
| | Displays
| | Local (minerals and fossils, small)
|-
| | Temporary Exhibitions
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, minerals (particular strength), fossils, Photographic records, geological library (small)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | May–Sept, Wed–Sun August all week afternoons only
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.weardalemuseum.co.uk/ http://www.weardalemuseum.co.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 14. Weardale ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Killhope, The North of England Lead Mining Museum''', Cowshill, Upper Weardale, Co. Durham, DL13 1AR. Tel. (01388) 537505
|-
| | Displays
| | Local Regional (North Pennines), restored 19th century lead mining site with water wheel
|-
| | Temporary Exhibitions
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Regional (North Pennines, collections relating to the industrial history of lead mining)
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| |
|-
| | Geological activities
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale (including souvenir specimens)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | April 1st–Sept. 30th and weekends in October any other time by arrangement
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.killhope.org.uk/ http://www.killhope.org.uk/]
|-
|}

== Acknowledgements ==

Many thanks are due to all the institutions in this guide for providing the above information and particularly to Ken Sedman (Cleveland Geology and Environmental Resources), Tim Pettigrew and Alec Coles (Tyne and Wear Museums), and Andy Newman (University of Newcastle upon Tyne).

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Glossary|Glossary]] ==

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Bibliography|Bibliography]] ==

{{EWwalks}}

[[Category:7. Northern England]]

Geology in Northumbrian Museums

2020-04-11T13:34:26Z

YGSJET:

{{YGSNorthumbrianRocks}}

By '''Steve McLean''' Hancock Museum, Newcastle upon Tyne

== Introduction ==

The museums listed in this guide are situated within the counties of Northumberland, Durham, Tyne and Wear, and Cleveland north of the River Tees. Local museums with geological collections or displays present an ideal starting point from which to investigate the geology of the immediate area. Such institutions tend to collect locally or regionally and often possess top quality specimens acquired over a long period of time, many from localities which are no longer accessible. This is particularly true considering the extensive mining history of the area and the quantity of specimens which have found their way into museums as a direct result. In addition, extensive U.K. or indeed world collections are not uncommon, usually resulting from the prodigious efforts of 19th century collectors during the 'Golden Age' of geology.

In the area represented by this guide, there are three principal geological collections housed in museums. By far the largest is the collection owned by the Natural History Society of Northumbria at the Hancock Museum in Newcastle (currently managed by Tyne and Wear Museums). The earliest part of this collection dates from the beginning of the 19th century and now contains approximately 50 000 specimens, the largest proportion of which are local Carboniferous and Permian fossils. There are over 8000 mineral specimens, principally from the North Pennine Orefield.

The second largest collection, located at Sunderland Museum, is owned by Tyne and Wear Museums. Although the oldest recorded specimen dates back to 1815, the rest of the collection was begun in 1836 when the Sunderland Natural History and Antiquarian Society was founded. There are approximately 20 000 geological specimens, the largest part consisting of Permian fossils and rocks from the Zechstein strata of northeast England. The mineral collection contains over 4000 specimens collected principally from the North Pennine Orefield.

The third largest collection in the area is owned by Cleveland County Council and is housed at the Southlands Centre in Middlesbrough. The geological collection dates from 1975 and currently numbers 12–15 000 specimens, including minerals from northern England, especially the north Pennines, the Lake District and Caldbeck Fells, and regional Carboniferous, Permian and Jurassic fossils.

== Museums ==

=== 1. Alnwick ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Museum of Antiquities''', Alnwick Castle, Alnwick, Northumberland, NE66 1NQ, Tel. (01665) 510777
|-
| | Collections
| | World wide, Regional, minerals (particular strength), geological library
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | April–Oct daily
|-
| | Website
| | www.alnwickcastle.com/]
|-
|}

=== 2. Ashington ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Woodhorn Colliery Museum''' Queen Elizabeth II Country Park, Ashington, Northumberland, Tel: (01670) 856968
|-
| | Displays
| | Social and industrial history of mining and mining communities in southeast Northumberland, working winding engine
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Wed.–Sun. all year
|-
| | Website
| | [https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/woodhorn-museum/ https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/woodhorn-museum/]
|-
|}

=== 3. Barnard Castle ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''The Bowes Museum''', Barnard Castle, Co. Durham, DL12 8NP. Tel. (01833) 690606
|-
| | Collections
| | Regional (Northern England generally, Northumberland , Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World wide, minerals, rocks fossils (Carboniferous plants and rocks minerals and rocks from around the world)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year.
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.bowesmuseum.org.uk/ http://www.bowesmuseum.org.uk/]
|-
|}
=== 4. Beamish ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''The North of England Open Air Museum''', Beamish, Co. Durham, DH9 ORG, Tel. (0191) 3704000
|-
| | Displays
| | Social history of Coal Mining, reconstructed pre-WW1 coal mine
|-
| | Collections
| | Photographic records, archive, geological library (relating to lead, coal and ironstone mining in North East England)
|-
| | Catalogues
| | Access to catalogues of Photographic records, archive, geological library collections by appointment
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale., mining
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Summer all week, winter closed Mon. and Fri closed over Christmas period.
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.beamish.org.uk/ http://www.beamish.org.uk/] www.beamish-museum.co.uk/
|-
|}
=== 5. Berwick ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Berwick-upon-Tweed Borough Museum and Art Gallery''', The Clock Block, Berwick Barracks, Ravensdowne, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland, TD15 1DQ, TeL (01289 330044 ext. 269).
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, UK, minerals, rocks, fossils, geological library
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| |
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Summer, all week; Winter, Wed.–Sun.
|-
| | Website
| | [https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/berwick-museum-art-gallery/ https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/berwick-museum-art-gallery/]
|-
|}
=== 6 Chillingham ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Chillingham Castle''', Chillingham, Northumberland, NE66 5NI, Tel. (01668) 215359
|-
| | Displays
| | Local, (very small, Carboniferous plants)
|-
| | Temporary exhibitions
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, fossils (Carboniferous plants, very small)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Easter-30 Sept., Winter by appointment.
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.chillingham-castle.com/ www.chillingham-castle.com/]
|-
|}
=== 7. Hartlepool ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Museum of Hartlepool''', Jackson Dock, Hartlepool, TS24 0XZ, TeL (01429) 860077.
|-
| | Collections
| | Regional (Northern England generally, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria), World Wide, (small), minerals, rocks, fossils, geological library
|-
| | Geological activities
| | Occasional
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | All week, all year
|-
|}
=== 8. Middlesborough ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Dorman Museum''', Linthorpe Road, Middlesborough, Cleveland, Tel. (01642) 813781
|-
| | Displays
| | Local Regional, Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria], General geology
|-
| | Temporary Exhibitions
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, Regional (Cleveland, Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World Wide, minerals (particular strength), rocks, fossils. Photographic records, Archive, geological library.
|-
| | Catalogues
| | Unpublished catalogues can be made available for study
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| | Professional geologist on staff
|-
| | Geological activities
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | All year, Tues–Sun. Study and laboratory facilities available
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.dormanmuseum.co.uk/ www.dormanmuseum.co.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 9. Morpeth ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Wallington Hall''' (National Trust), Cambo, .Near Morpeth, Northumberland, Tel. (01670) 773600
|-
| | Displays
| | General geology (curiosity collection of rocks, minerals and fossils)
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, UK (small), minerals, Regional fossils
|-
| | Catalogues
| | Available to view in building
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | April 1st Oct 31st all week, except Tuesday.
|-
| | Website
| | [https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/wallington https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/wallington]
|-
|}

=== 10. Newcastle ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Hancock Museum''', Barras Bridge, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, NE2 4PT, Tel. (0191) 2226765
|-
| | Displays
| | Local, Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), General geology
|-
| | Temporary exhibitions
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World Wide, minerals (particular strength), rocks, fossils (particular strength) (see above), Photographic records, Archive geological library
|-
| | Catalogues
| | Yes, other collection information can be made available
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| | Professional geologist on staff
|-
| | Geological activities
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | All week, all year (except Sunday mornings).
|-
| | Website
| | [https://greatnorthmuseum.org.uk/ https://greatnorthmuseum.org.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 11. South Shields ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''South Shields Museum and Art Gallery''', Ocean Road, South Shields, Tyne and Wear, NE33 2TA, Tel. (0191) 4568740
|-
| | Displays
| | Local (geology displays within local history context),
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| |
|-
| | Geological activities
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | All week, all year (except Sunday mornings)
|-
| | Website
| | [https://southshieldsmuseum.org.uk/ https://southshieldsmuseum.org.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 12. Sunderland ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens''', Burdon Road, Sunderland, SR1 1PP, Tel. (0191) 553 2323
|-
| | Displays
| | Local, Regional (Cleveland, Northern England (generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria])
|-
| | Temporary exhibitions
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World Wide, minerals (particular strength), rocks, fossils (particular strength) (see above) Photographic records, Archive, geological library
|-
| |
| | No, but collection information available
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| | professional geologist on staff
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year (except Sunday mornings)
|-
| | Website
| | [https://sunderlandculture.org.uk/our-venues/sunderland-museum-winter-gardens/ https://sunderlandculture.org.uk/our-venues/sunderland-museum-winter-gardens/]
|-
|}

=== 13. Weardale ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''The Weardale Museum''', Ireshopeburn, Weardale, Co. Durham, Tel. (01388) 537417
|-
| | Displays
| | Local (minerals and fossils, small)
|-
| | Temporary Exhibitions
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, minerals (particular strength), fossils, Photographic records, geological library (small)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | May–Sept, Wed–Sun August all week afternoons only
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.weardalemuseum.co.uk/ http://www.weardalemuseum.co.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 14. Weardale ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Killhope, The North of England Lead Mining Museum''', Cowshill, Upper Weardale, Co. Durham, DL13 1AR. Tel. (01388) 537505
|-
| | Displays
| | Local Regional (North Pennines), restored 19th century lead mining site with water wheel
|-
| | Temporary Exhibitions
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Regional (North Pennines, collections relating to the industrial history of lead mining)
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| |
|-
| | Geological activities
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale (including souvenir specimens)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | April 1st–Sept. 30th and weekends in October any other time by arrangement
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.killhope.org.uk/ http://www.killhope.org.uk/]
|-
|}

== Acknowledgements ==

Many thanks are due to all the institutions in this guide for providing the above information and particularly to Ken Sedman (Cleveland Geology and Environmental Resources), Tim Pettigrew and Alec Coles (Tyne and Wear Museums), and Andy Newman (University of Newcastle upon Tyne).

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Glossary|Glossary]] ==

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Bibliography|Bibliography]] ==

{{EWwalks}}

[[Category:7. Northern England]]

Geology in Northumbrian Museums

2020-04-11T13:10:23Z

YGSJET:

{{YGSNorthumbrianRocks}}

By '''Steve McLean''' Hancock Museum, Newcastle upon Tyne

== Introduction ==

The museums listed in this guide are situated within the counties of Northumberland, Durham, Tyne and Wear, and Cleveland north of the River Tees. Local museums with geological collections or displays present an ideal starting point from which to investigate the geology of the immediate area. Such institutions tend to collect locally or regionally and often possess top quality specimens acquired over a long period of time, many from localities which are no longer accessible. This is particularly true considering the extensive mining history of the area and the quantity of specimens which have found their way into museums as a direct result. In addition, extensive U.K. or indeed world collections are not uncommon, usually resulting from the prodigious efforts of 19th century collectors during the 'Golden Age' of geology.

In the area represented by this guide, there are three principal geological collections housed in museums. By far the largest is the collection owned by the Natural History Society of Northumbria at the Hancock Museum in Newcastle (currently managed by Tyne and Wear Museums). The earliest part of this collection dates from the beginning of the 19th century and now contains approximately 50 000 specimens, the largest proportion of which are local Carboniferous and Permian fossils. There are over 8000 mineral specimens, principally from the North Pennine Orefield.

The second largest collection, located at Sunderland Museum, is owned by Tyne and Wear Museums. Although the oldest recorded specimen dates back to 1815, the rest of the collection was begun in 1836 when the Sunderland Natural History and Antiquarian Society was founded. There are approximately 20 000 geological specimens, the largest part consisting of Permian fossils and rocks from the Zechstein strata of northeast England. The mineral collection contains over 4000 specimens collected principally from the North Pennine Orefield.

The third largest collection in the area is owned by Cleveland County Council and is housed at the Southlands Centre in Middlesbrough. The geological collection dates from 1975 and currently numbers 12–15 000 specimens, including minerals from northern England, especially the north Pennines, the Lake District and Caldbeck Fells, and regional Carboniferous, Permian and Jurassic fossils.

== Museums ==

=== 1. Alnwick ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Museum of Antiquities''', Alnwick Castle, Alnwick, Northumberland, NE66 1NQ, Tel. (01665) 510777
|-
| | Collections
| | World wide, Regional, minerals (particular strength), geological library
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | April–Oct daily
|-
| | Website
| | www.alnwickcastle.com/]
|-
|}

=== 2. Ashington ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Woodhorn Colliery Museum''' Queen Elizabeth II Country Park, Ashington, Northumberland, Tel: (01670) 856968
|-
| | Displays
| | Social and industrial history of mining and mining communities in southeast Northumberland, working winding engine
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Wed.–Sun. all year
|-
| | Website
| | [https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/woodhorn-museum/ https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/woodhorn-museum/]
|-
|}

=== 3. Barnard Castle ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''The Bowes Museum''', Barnard Castle, Co. Durham, DL12 8NP. Tel. (01833) 690606
|-
| | Collections
| | Regional (Northern England generally, Northumberland , Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World wide, minerals, rocks fossils (Carboniferous plants and rocks minerals and rocks from around the world)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year.
|-
| | Website
| | www.bowesmuseum.org.uk/]
|-
|}
=== 4. Beamish ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''The North of England Open Air Museum''', Beamish, Co. Durham, DH9 ORG, Tel. (0191) 3704000
|-
| | Displays
| | Social history of Coal Mining, reconstructed pre-WW1 coal mine
|-
| | Collections
| | Photographic records, archive, geological library (relating to lead, coal and ironstone mining in North East England)
|-
| | Catalogues
| | Access to catalogues of Photographic records, archive, geological library collections by appointment
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale., mining
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Summer all week, winter closed Mon. and Fri closed over Christmas period.
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.beamish.org.uk/ http://www.beamish.org.uk/] www.beamish-museum.co.uk/
|-
|}
=== 5. Berwick ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Berwick-upon-Tweed Borough Museum and Art Gallery''', The Clock Block, Berwick Barracks, Ravensdowne, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland, TD15 1DQ, TeL (01289 330044 ext. 269).
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, UK, minerals, rocks, fossils, geological library
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| |
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Summer, all week; Winter, Wed.–Sun.
|-
| | Website
| | [https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/berwick-museum-art-gallery/ https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/berwick-museum-art-gallery/]
|-
|}
=== 6 Chillingham ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Chillingham Castle''', Chillingham, Northumberland, NE66 5NI, Tel. (01668) 215359
|-
| | Displays
| | Local, (very small, Carboniferous plants)
|-
| | Temporary exhibitions
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, fossils (Carboniferous plants, very small)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Easter-30 Sept., Winter by appointment.
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.chillingham-castle.com/ www.chillingham-castle.com/]
|-
|}
=== 7. Hartlepool ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Museum of Hartlepool''', Jackson Dock, Hartlepool, TS24 0XZ, TeL (01429) 860077.
|-
| | Collections
| | Regional (Northern England generally, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria), World Wide, (small), minerals, rocks, fossils, geological library
|-
| | Geological activities
| | Occasional
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | All week, all year
|-
|}
=== 8. Middlesborough ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Dorman Museum''', Linthorpe Road, Middlesborough, Cleveland, Tel. (01642) 813781
|-
| | Displays
| | Local Regional, Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria], General geology
|-
| | Temporary Exhibitions
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, Regional (Cleveland, Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World Wide, minerals (particular strength), rocks, fossils. Photographic records, Archive, geological library.
|-
| | Catalogues
| | Unpublished catalogues can be made available for study
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| | Professional geologist on staff
|-
| | Geological activities
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | All year, Tues–Sun. Study and laboratory facilities available
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.dormanmuseum.co.uk/ www.dormanmuseum.co.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 9. Morpeth ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Wallington Hall''' (National Trust), Cambo, .Near Morpeth, Northumberland, Tel. (01670) 773600
|-
| | Displays
| | General geology (curiosity collection of rocks, minerals and fossils)
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, UK (small), minerals, Regional fossils
|-
| | Catalogues
| | Available to view in building
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | April 1st Oct 31st all week, except Tuesday.
|-
| | Website
| | [https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/wallington https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/wallington]
|-
|}

=== 10. Newcastle ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Hancock Museum''', Barras Bridge, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, NE2 4PT, Tel. (0191) 2226765
|-
| | Displays
| | Local, Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), General geology
|-
| | Temporary exhibitions
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World Wide, minerals (particular strength), rocks, fossils (particular strength) (see above), Photographic records, Archive geological library
|-
| | Catalogues
| | Yes, other collection information can be made available
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| | Professional geologist on staff
|-
| | Geological activities
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | All week, all year (except Sunday mornings).
|-
| | Website
| | [https://greatnorthmuseum.org.uk/ https://greatnorthmuseum.org.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 11. South Shields ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''South Shields Museum and Art Gallery''', Ocean Road, South Shields, Tyne and Wear, NE33 2TA, Tel. (0191) 4568740
|-
| | Displays
| | Local (geology displays within local history context),
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| |
|-
| | Geological activities
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | All week, all year (except Sunday mornings)
|-
| | Website
| | [https://southshieldsmuseum.org.uk/ https://southshieldsmuseum.org.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 12. Sunderland ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens''', Burdon Road, Sunderland, SR1 1PP, Tel. (0191) 553 2323
|-
| | Displays
| | Local, Regional (Cleveland, Northern England (generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria])
|-
| | Temporary exhibitions
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World Wide, minerals (particular strength), rocks, fossils (particular strength) (see above) Photographic records, Archive, geological library
|-
| |
| | No, but collection information available
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| | professional geologist on staff
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year (except Sunday mornings)
|-
| | Website
| | [https://sunderlandculture.org.uk/our-venues/sunderland-museum-winter-gardens/ https://sunderlandculture.org.uk/our-venues/sunderland-museum-winter-gardens/]
|-
|}

=== 13. Weardale ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''The Weardale Museum''', Ireshopeburn, Weardale, Co. Durham, Tel. (01388) 537417
|-
| | Displays
| | Local (minerals and fossils, small)
|-
| | Temporary Exhibitions
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, minerals (particular strength), fossils, Photographic records, geological library (small)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | May–Sept, Wed–Sun August all week afternoons only
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.weardalemuseum.co.uk/ http://www.weardalemuseum.co.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 14. Weardale ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Killhope, The North of England Lead Mining Museum''', Cowshill, Upper Weardale, Co. Durham, DL13 1AR. Tel. (01388) 537505
|-
| | Displays
| | Local Regional (North Pennines), restored 19th century lead mining site with water wheel
|-
| | Temporary Exhibitions
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Regional (North Pennines, collections relating to the industrial history of lead mining)
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| |
|-
| | Geological activities
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale (including souvenir specimens)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | April 1st–Sept. 30th and weekends in October any other time by arrangement
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.killhope.org.uk/ http://www.killhope.org.uk/]
|-
|}

== Acknowledgements ==

Many thanks are due to all the institutions in this guide for providing the above information and particularly to Ken Sedman (Cleveland Geology and Environmental Resources), Tim Pettigrew and Alec Coles (Tyne and Wear Museums), and Andy Newman (University of Newcastle upon Tyne).

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Glossary|Glossary]] ==

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Bibliography|Bibliography]] ==

{{EWwalks}}

[[Category:7. Northern England]]

Geology in Northumbrian Museums

2020-04-10T17:50:15Z

YGSJET:

{{YGSNorthumbrianRocks}}

By '''Steve McLean''' Hancock Museum, Newcastle upon Tyne

== Introduction ==

The museums listed in this guide are situated within the counties of Northumberland, Durham, Tyne and Wear, and Cleveland north of the River Tees. Local museums with geological collections or displays present an ideal starting point from which to investigate the geology of the immediate area. Such institutions tend to collect locally or regionally and often possess top quality specimens acquired over a long period of time, many from localities which are no longer accessible. This is particularly true considering the extensive mining history of the area and the quantity of specimens which have found their way into museums as a direct result. In addition, extensive U.K. or indeed world collections are not uncommon, usually resulting from the prodigious efforts of 19th century collectors during the 'Golden Age' of geology.

In the area represented by this guide, there are three principal geological collections housed in museums. By far the largest is the collection owned by the Natural History Society of Northumbria at the Hancock Museum in Newcastle (currently managed by Tyne and Wear Museums). The earliest part of this collection dates from the beginning of the 19th century and now contains approximately 50 000 specimens, the largest proportion of which are local Carboniferous and Permian fossils. There are over 8000 mineral specimens, principally from the North Pennine Orefield.

The second largest collection, located at Sunderland Museum, is owned by Tyne and Wear Museums. Although the oldest recorded specimen dates back to 1815, the rest of the collection was begun in 1836 when the Sunderland Natural History and Antiquarian Society was founded. There are approximately 20 000 geological specimens, the largest part consisting of Permian fossils and rocks from the Zechstein strata of northeast England. The mineral collection contains over 4000 specimens collected principally from the North Pennine Orefield.

The third largest collection in the area is owned by Cleveland County Council and is housed at the Southlands Centre in Middlesbrough. The geological collection dates from 1975 and currently numbers 12–15 000 specimens, including minerals from northern England, especially the north Pennines, the Lake District and Caldbeck Fells, and regional Carboniferous, Permian and Jurassic fossils.

== Museums ==

=== 1. Alnwick ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Museum of Antiquities''', Alnwick Castle, Alnwick, Northumberland, NE66 1NQ, Tel. (01665) 510777
|-
| | Collections
| | World wide, Regional, minerals (particular strength), geological library
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | April–Oct daily
|-
| | Website
| | www.alnwickcastle.com/]
|-
|}

=== 2. Ashington ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Woodhorn Colliery Museum''' Queen Elizabeth II Country Park, Ashington, Northumberland, Tel: (01670) 856968
|-
| | Displays
| | Social and industrial history of mining and mining communities in southeast Northumberland, working winding engine
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Wed.–Sun. all year
|-
| | Website
| | [https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/woodhorn-museum/ https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/woodhorn-museum/]
|-
|}

=== 3. Barnard Castle ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''The Bowes Museum''', Barnard Castle, Co. Durham, DL12 8NP. Tel. (01833) 690606
|-
| | Collections
| | Regional (Northern England generally, Northumberland , Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World wide, minerals, rocks fossils (Carboniferous plants and rocks minerals and rocks from around the world)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year.
|-
| | Website
| | www.bowesmuseum.org.uk/]
|-
|}
=== 4. Beamish ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''The North of England Open Air Museum''', Beamish, Co. Durham, DH9 ORG, Tel. (0191) 3704000
|-
| | Displays
| | Social history of Coal Mining, reconstructed pre-WW1 coal mine
|-
| | Collections
| | Photographic records, archive, geological library (relating to lead, coal and ironstone mining in North East England)
|-
| | Catalogues
| | Access to catalogues of Photographic records, archive, geological library collections by appointment
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale., mining
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Summer all week, winter closed Mon. and Fri closed over Christmas period.
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.beamish.org.uk/ http://www.beamish.org.uk/] www.beamish-museum.co.uk/
|-
|}
=== 5. Berwick ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Berwick-upon-Tweed Borough Museum and Art Gallery''', The Clock Block, Berwick Barracks, Ravensdowne, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland, TD15 1DQ, TeL (01289 330044 ext. 269).
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, UK, minerals, rocks, fossils, geological library
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| |
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Summer, all week; Winter, Wed.–Sun.
|-
| | Website
| | [https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/berwick-museum-art-gallery/ https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/berwick-museum-art-gallery/]
|-
|}
=== 6 Chillingham ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Chillingham Castle''', Chillingham, Northumberland, NE66 5NI, Tel. (01668) 215359
|-
| | Displays
| | Local, (very small, Carboniferous plants)
|-
| | Temporary exhibitions
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, fossils (Carboniferous plants, very small)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Easter-30 Sept., Winter by appointment.
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.chillingham-castle.com/ www.chillingham-castle.com/]
|-
|}
=== 7. Hartlepool ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Museum of Hartlepool''', Jackson Dock, Hartlepool, TS24 0XZ, TeL (01429) 860077.
|-
| | Collections
| | Regional (Northern England generally, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria), World Wide, (small), minerals, rocks, fossils, geological library
|-
| | Geological activities
| | Occasional
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | All week, all year
|-
|}
=== 8. Middlesborough ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Dorman Museum''', Linthorpe Road, Middlesborough, Cleveland, Tel. (01642) 813781
|-
| | Displays
| | Local Regional, Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria], General geology
|-
| | Temporary Exhibitions
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, Regional (Cleveland, Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World Wide, minerals (particular strength), rocks, fossils. Photographic records, Archive, geological library.
|-
| | Catalogues
| | Unpublished catalogues can be made available for study
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| | Professional geologist on staff
|-
| | Geological activities
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | All year, Tues–Sun. Study and laboratory facilities available
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.dormanmuseum.co.uk/ www.dormanmuseum.co.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 9. Morpeth ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Wallington Hall''' (National Trust), Cambo, .Near Morpeth, Northumberland, Tel. (01670) 773600
|-
| | Displays
| | General geology (curiosity collection of rocks, minerals and fossils)
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, UK (small), minerals, Regional fossils
|-
| | Catalogues
| | Available to view in building
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | April 1st Oct 31st all week, except Tuesday.
|-
| | Website
| | [https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/wallington https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/wallington]
|-
|}

=== 10. Newcastle ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Hancock Museum''', Barras Bridge, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, NE2 4PT, Tel. (0191) 2226765
|-
| | Displays
| | Local, Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), General geology
|-
| | Temporary exhibitions
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World Wide, minerals (particular strength), rocks, fossils (particular strength) (see above), Photographic records, Archive geological library
|-
| | Catalogues
| | Yes, other collection information can be made available
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| | Professional geologist on staff
|-
| | Geological activities
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | All week, all year (except Sunday mornings).
|-
| | Website
| | [https://greatnorthmuseum.org.uk/ https://greatnorthmuseum.org.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 11. South Shields ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''South Shields Museum and Art Gallery''', Ocean Road, South Shields, Tyne and Wear, NE33 2TA, Tel. (0191) 4568740
|-
| | Displays
| | Local (geology displays within local history context),
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| |
|-
| | Geological activities
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | All week, all year (except Sunday mornings)
|-
| | Website
| | [https://southshieldsmuseum.org.uk/ https://southshieldsmuseum.org.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 12. Sunderland ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens''', Burdon Road, Sunderland, SR1 1PP, Tel. (0191) 553 2323
|-
| | Displays
| | Local, Regional (Cleveland, Northern England (generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria])
|-
| | Temporary exhibitions
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World Wide, minerals (particular strength), rocks, fossils (particular strength) (see above) Photographic records, Archive, geological library
|-
| |
| | No, but collection information available
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| | professional geologist on staff
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year (except Sunday mornings)
|-
| | Website
| | [https://sunderlandculture.org.uk/our-venues/sunderland-museum-winter-gardens/ https://sunderlandculture.org.uk/our-venues/sunderland-museum-winter-gardens/]
|-
|}

=== 13. Weardale ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''The Weardale Museum''', Ireshopeburn, Weardale, Co. Durham, Tel. (01388) 537417
|-
| | Displays
| | Local (minerals and fossils, small)
|-
| | Temporary Exhibitions
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, minerals (particular strength), fossils, Photographic records, geological library (small)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | May–Sept, Wed–Sun August all week afternoons only
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.weardalemuseum.co.uk/ http://www.weardalemuseum.co.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 14. Weardale ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Kilhope, The North of England Lead Mining Museum''', Cowshill, Upper Weardale, Co. Durham, DL13 1AR. Tel. (01388) 537505
|-
| | Displays
| | Local Regional (North Pennines), restored 19th century lead mining site with water wheel
|-
| | Temporary Exhibitions
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Regional (North Pennines, collections relating to the industrial history of lead mining)
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| |
|-
| | Geological activities
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale (including souvenir specimens)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | April 1st–Sept. 30th and weekends in October any other time by arrangement
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.killhope.org.uk/ http://www.killhope.org.uk/]
|-
|}

== Acknowledgements ==

Many thanks are due to all the institutions in this guide for providing the above information and particularly to Ken Sedman (Cleveland Geology and Environmental Resources), Tim Pettigrew and Alec Coles (Tyne and Wear Museums), and Andy Newman (University of Newcastle upon Tyne).

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Glossary|Glossary]] ==

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Bibliography|Bibliography]] ==

{{EWwalks}}

[[Category:7. Northern England]]

Geology in Northumbrian Museums

2020-04-10T17:46:53Z

YGSJET:

{{YGSNorthumbrianRocks}}

By '''Steve McLean''' Hancock Museum, Newcastle upon Tyne

== Introduction ==

The museums listed in this guide are situated within the counties of Northumberland, Durham, Tyne and Wear, and Cleveland north of the River Tees. Local museums with geological collections or displays present an ideal starting point from which to investigate the geology of the immediate area. Such institutions tend to collect locally or regionally and often possess top quality specimens acquired over a long period of time, many from localities which are no longer accessible. This is particularly true considering the extensive mining history of the area and the quantity of specimens which have found their way into museums as a direct result. In addition, extensive U.K. or indeed world collections are not uncommon, usually resulting from the prodigious efforts of 19th century collectors during the 'Golden Age' of geology.

In the area represented by this guide, there are three principal geological collections housed in museums. By far the largest is the collection owned by the Natural History Society of Northumbria at the Hancock Museum in Newcastle (currently managed by Tyne and Wear Museums). The earliest part of this collection dates from the beginning of the 19th century and now contains approximately 50 000 specimens, the largest proportion of which are local Carboniferous and Permian fossils. There are over 8000 mineral specimens, principally from the North Pennine Orefield.

The second largest collection, located at Sunderland Museum, is owned by Tyne and Wear Museums. Although the oldest recorded specimen dates back to 1815, the rest of the collection was begun in 1836 when the Sunderland Natural History and Antiquarian Society was founded. There are approximately 20 000 geological specimens, the largest part consisting of Permian fossils and rocks from the Zechstein strata of northeast England. The mineral collection contains over 4000 specimens collected principally from the North Pennine Orefield.

The third largest collection in the area is owned by Cleveland County Council and is housed at the Southlands Centre in Middlesbrough. The geological collection dates from 1975 and currently numbers 12–15 000 specimens, including minerals from northern England, especially the north Pennines, the Lake District and Caldbeck Fells, and regional Carboniferous, Permian and Jurassic fossils.

== Museums ==

=== 1. Alnwick ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Museum of Antiquities''', Alnwick Castle, Alnwick, Northumberland, NE66 1NQ, Tel. (01665) 510777
|-
| | Collections
| | World wide, Regional, minerals (particular strength), geological library
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | April–Oct daily
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.chillingham-castle.com/ www.alnwickcastle.com/]
|-
|}

=== 2. Ashington ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Woodhorn Colliery Museum''' Queen Elizabeth II Country Park, Ashington, Northumberland, Tel: (01670) 856968
|-
| | Displays
| | Social and industrial history of mining and mining communities in southeast Northumberland, working winding engine
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Wed.–Sun. all year
|-
| | Website
| | [https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/woodhorn-museum/ https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/woodhorn-museum/]
|-
|}

=== 3. Barnard Castle ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''The Bowes Museum''', Barnard Castle, Co. Durham, DL12 8NP. Tel. (01833) 690606
|-
| | Collections
| | Regional (Northern England generally, Northumberland , Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World wide, minerals, rocks fossils (Carboniferous plants and rocks minerals and rocks from around the world)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year.
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.chillingham-castle.com/ www. bowesmuseum.org.uk/]
|-
|}
=== 4. Beamish ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''The North of England Open Air Museum''', Beamish, Co. Durham, DH9 ORG, Tel. (0191) 3704000
|-
| | Displays
| | Social history of Coal Mining, reconstructed pre-WW1 coal mine
|-
| | Collections
| | Photographic records, archive, geological library (relating to lead, coal and ironstone mining in North East England)
|-
| | Catalogues
| | Access to catalogues of Photographic records, archive, geological library collections by appointment
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale., mining
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Summer all week, winter closed Mon. and Fri closed over Christmas period.
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.beamish.org.uk/ http://www.beamish.org.uk/] www.beamish-museum.co.uk/
|-
|}
=== 5. Berwick ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Berwick-upon-Tweed Borough Museum and Art Gallery''', The Clock Block, Berwick Barracks, Ravensdowne, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland, TD15 1DQ, TeL (01289 330044 ext. 269).
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, UK, minerals, rocks, fossils, geological library
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| |
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Summer, all week; Winter, Wed.–Sun.
|-
| | Website
| | [https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/berwick-museum-art-gallery/ https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/berwick-museum-art-gallery/]
|-
|}
=== 6 Chillingham ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Chillingham Castle''', Chillingham, Northumberland, NE66 5NI, Tel. (01668) 215359
|-
| | Displays
| | Local, (very small, Carboniferous plants)
|-
| | Temporary exhibitions
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, fossils (Carboniferous plants, very small)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Easter-30 Sept., Winter by appointment.
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.chillingham-castle.com/ www.chillingham-castle.com/]
|-
|}
=== 7. Hartlepool ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Museum of Hartlepool''', Jackson Dock, Hartlepool, TS24 0XZ, TeL (01429) 860077.
|-
| | Collections
| | Regional (Northern England generally, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria), World Wide, (small), minerals, rocks, fossils, geological library
|-
| | Geological activities
| | Occasional
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | All week, all year
|-
|}
=== 8. Middlesborough ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Dorman Museum''', Linthorpe Road, Middlesborough, Cleveland, Tel. (01642) 813781
|-
| | Displays
| | Local Regional, Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria], General geology
|-
| | Temporary Exhibitions
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, Regional (Cleveland, Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World Wide, minerals (particular strength), rocks, fossils. Photographic records, Archive, geological library.
|-
| | Catalogues
| | Unpublished catalogues can be made available for study
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| | Professional geologist on staff
|-
| | Geological activities
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | All year, Tues–Sun. Study and laboratory facilities available
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.dormanmuseum.co.uk/ www.dormanmuseum.co.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 9. Morpeth ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Wallington Hall''' (National Trust), Cambo, .Near Morpeth, Northumberland, Tel. (01670) 773600
|-
| | Displays
| | General geology (curiosity collection of rocks, minerals and fossils)
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, UK (small), minerals, Regional fossils
|-
| | Catalogues
| | Available to view in building
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | April 1st Oct 31st all week, except Tuesday.
|-
| | Website
| | [https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/wallington https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/wallington]
|-
|}

=== 10. Newcastle ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Hancock Museum''', Barras Bridge, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, NE2 4PT, Tel. (0191) 2226765
|-
| | Displays
| | Local, Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), General geology
|-
| | Temporary exhibitions
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World Wide, minerals (particular strength), rocks, fossils (particular strength) (see above), Photographic records, Archive geological library
|-
| | Catalogues
| | Yes, other collection information can be made available
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| | Professional geologist on staff
|-
| | Geological activities
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | All week, all year (except Sunday mornings).
|-
| | Website
| | [https://greatnorthmuseum.org.uk/ https://greatnorthmuseum.org.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 11. South Shields ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''South Shields Museum and Art Gallery''', Ocean Road, South Shields, Tyne and Wear, NE33 2TA, Tel. (0191) 4568740
|-
| | Displays
| | Local (geology displays within local history context),
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| |
|-
| | Geological activities
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | All week, all year (except Sunday mornings)
|-
| | Website
| | [https://southshieldsmuseum.org.uk/ https://southshieldsmuseum.org.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 12. Sunderland ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens''', Burdon Road, Sunderland, SR1 1PP, Tel. (0191) 553 2323
|-
| | Displays
| | Local, Regional (Cleveland, Northern England (generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria])
|-
| | Temporary exhibitions
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World Wide, minerals (particular strength), rocks, fossils (particular strength) (see above) Photographic records, Archive, geological library
|-
| |
| | No, but collection information available
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| | professional geologist on staff
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year (except Sunday mornings)
|-
| | Website
| | [https://sunderlandculture.org.uk/our-venues/sunderland-museum-winter-gardens/ https://sunderlandculture.org.uk/our-venues/sunderland-museum-winter-gardens/]
|-
|}

=== 13. Weardale ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''The Weardale Museum''', Ireshopeburn, Weardale, Co. Durham, Tel. (01388) 537417
|-
| | Displays
| | Local (minerals and fossils, small)
|-
| | Temporary Exhibitions
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, minerals (particular strength), fossils, Photographic records, geological library (small)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | May–Sept, Wed–Sun August all week afternoons only
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.weardalemuseum.co.uk/ http://www.weardalemuseum.co.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 14. Weardale ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Kilhope, The North of England Lead Mining Museum''', Cowshill, Upper Weardale, Co. Durham, DL13 1AR. Tel. (01388) 537505
|-
| | Displays
| | Local Regional (North Pennines), restored 19th century lead mining site with water wheel
|-
| | Temporary Exhibitions
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Regional (North Pennines, collections relating to the industrial history of lead mining)
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| |
|-
| | Geological activities
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale (including souvenir specimens)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | April 1st–Sept. 30th and weekends in October any other time by arrangement
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.killhope.org.uk/ http://www.killhope.org.uk/]
|-
|}

== Acknowledgements ==

Many thanks are due to all the institutions in this guide for providing the above information and particularly to Ken Sedman (Cleveland Geology and Environmental Resources), Tim Pettigrew and Alec Coles (Tyne and Wear Museums), and Andy Newman (University of Newcastle upon Tyne).

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Glossary|Glossary]] ==

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Bibliography|Bibliography]] ==

{{EWwalks}}

[[Category:7. Northern England]]

Geology in Northumbrian Museums

2020-04-10T17:44:36Z

YGSJET:

{{YGSNorthumbrianRocks}}

By '''Steve McLean''' Hancock Museum, Newcastle upon Tyne

== Introduction ==

The museums listed in this guide are situated within the counties of Northumberland, Durham, Tyne and Wear, and Cleveland north of the River Tees. Local museums with geological collections or displays present an ideal starting point from which to investigate the geology of the immediate area. Such institutions tend to collect locally or regionally and often possess top quality specimens acquired over a long period of time, many from localities which are no longer accessible. This is particularly true considering the extensive mining history of the area and the quantity of specimens which have found their way into museums as a direct result. In addition, extensive U.K. or indeed world collections are not uncommon, usually resulting from the prodigious efforts of 19th century collectors during the 'Golden Age' of geology.

In the area represented by this guide, there are three principal geological collections housed in museums. By far the largest is the collection owned by the Natural History Society of Northumbria at the Hancock Museum in Newcastle (currently managed by Tyne and Wear Museums). The earliest part of this collection dates from the beginning of the 19th century and now contains approximately 50 000 specimens, the largest proportion of which are local Carboniferous and Permian fossils. There are over 8000 mineral specimens, principally from the North Pennine Orefield.

The second largest collection, located at Sunderland Museum, is owned by Tyne and Wear Museums. Although the oldest recorded specimen dates back to 1815, the rest of the collection was begun in 1836 when the Sunderland Natural History and Antiquarian Society was founded. There are approximately 20 000 geological specimens, the largest part consisting of Permian fossils and rocks from the Zechstein strata of northeast England. The mineral collection contains over 4000 specimens collected principally from the North Pennine Orefield.

The third largest collection in the area is owned by Cleveland County Council and is housed at the Southlands Centre in Middlesbrough. The geological collection dates from 1975 and currently numbers 12–15 000 specimens, including minerals from northern England, especially the north Pennines, the Lake District and Caldbeck Fells, and regional Carboniferous, Permian and Jurassic fossils.

== Museums ==

=== 1. Alnwick ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Museum of Antiquities''', Alnwick Castle, Alnwick, Northumberland, NE66 1NQ, Tel. (01665) 510777
|-
| | Collections
| | World wide, Regional, minerals (particular strength), geological library
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | April–Oct daily
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.chillingham-castle.com/ www.alnwickcastle.com/]
|-
|}

=== 2. Ashington ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Woodhorn Colliery Museum''' Queen Elizabeth II Country Park, Ashington, Northumberland, Tel: (01670) 856968
|-
| | Displays
| | Social and industrial history of mining and mining communities in southeast Northumberland, working winding engine
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Wed.–Sun. all year
|-
| | Website
| | [https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/woodhorn-museum/ https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/woodhorn-museum/]
|-
|}

=== 3. Barnard Castle ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''The Bowes Museum''', Barnard Castle, Co. Durham, DL12 8NP. Tel. (01833) 690606
|-
| | Collections
| | Regional (Northern England generally, Northumberland , Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World wide, minerals, rocks fossils (Carboniferous plants and rocks minerals and rocks from around the world)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year.
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.chillingham-castle.com/ www. bowesmuseum.org.uk/]
|-
|}
=== 4. Beamish ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''The North of England Open Air Museum''', Beamish, Co. Durham, DH9 ORG, Tel. (0191) 3704000
|-
| | Displays
| | Social history of Coal Mining, reconstructed pre-WW1 coal mine
|-
| | Collections
| | Photographic records, archive, geological library (relating to lead, coal and ironstone mining in North East England)
|-
| | Catalogues
| | Access to catalogues of Photographic records, archive, geological library collections by appointment
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale., mining
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Summer all week, winter closed Mon. and Fri closed over Christmas period.
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.beamish.org.uk/ http://www.beamish.org.uk/] www.beamish-museum.co.uk/
|-
|}
=== 5. Berwick ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Berwick-upon-Tweed Borough Museum and Art Gallery''', The Clock Block, Berwick Barracks, Ravensdowne, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland, TD15 1DQ, TeL (01289 330044 ext. 269).
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, UK, minerals, rocks, fossils, geological library
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| |
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Summer, all week; Winter, Wed.–Sun.
|-
| | Website
| | [https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/berwick-museum-art-gallery/ https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/berwick-museum-art-gallery/]
|-
|}
=== 6 Chillingham ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Chillingham Castle''', Chillingham, Northumberland, NE66 5NI, Tel. (01668) 215359
|-
| | Displays
| | Local, (very small, Carboniferous plants)
|-
| | Temporary exhibitions
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, fossils (Carboniferous plants, very small)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Easter-30 Sept., Winter by appointment.
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.chillingham-castle.com/ www.chillingham-castle.com/]
|-
|}
=== 7. Hartlepool ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Museum of Hartlepool''', Jackson Dock, Hartlepool, TS24 0XZ, TeL (01429) 860077.
|-
| | Collections
| | Regional (Northern England generally, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria), World Wide, (small), minerals, rocks, fossils, geological library
|-
| | Geological activities
| | Occasional
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | All week, all year
|-
|}
=== 8. Middlesborough ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Dorman Museum''', Linthorpe Road, Middlesborough, Cleveland, Tel. (01642) 813781
|-
| | Displays
| | Local Regional, Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria], General geology
|-
| | Temporary Exhibitions
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, Regional (Cleveland, Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World Wide, minerals (particular strength), rocks, fossils. Photographic records, Archive, geological library.
|-
| | Catalogues
| | Unpublished catalogues can be made available for study
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| | Professional geologist on staff
|-
| | Geological activities
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | All year, Tues–Sun. Study and laboratory facilities available
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.dormanmuseum.co.uk/ www.dormanmuseum.co.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 9. Morpeth ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Wallington Hall''' (National Trust), Cambo, .Near Morpeth, Northumberland, Tel. (01670) 773600
|-
| | Displays
| | General geology (curiosity collection of rocks, minerals and fossils)
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, UK (small), minerals, Regional fossils
|-
| | Catalogues
| | Available to view in building
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | April 1st Oct 31st all week, except Tuesday.
|-
| | Website
| | [https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/wallington https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/wallington]
|-
|}

=== 10. Newcastle ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Hancock Museum''', Barras Bridge, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, NE2 4PT, Tel. (0191) 2226765
|-
| | Displays
| | Local, Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), General geology
|-
| | Temporary exhibitions
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World Wide, minerals (particular strength), rocks, fossils (particular strength) (see above), Photographic records, Archive geological library
|-
| | Catalogues
| | Yes, other collection information can be made available
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| | Professional geologist on staff
|-
| | Geological activities
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | All week, all year (except Sunday mornings).
|-
| | Website
| | [https://greatnorthmuseum.org.uk/ https://greatnorthmuseum.org.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 11. South Shields ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''South Shields Museum and Art Gallery''', Ocean Road, South Shields, Tyne and Wear, NE33 2TA, Tel. (0191) 4568740
|-
| | Displays
| | Local (geology displays within local history context),
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| |
|-
| | Geological activities
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | All week, all year (except Sunday mornings)
|-
| | Website
| | [https://southshieldsmuseum.org.uk/ https://southshieldsmuseum.org.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 12. Sunderland ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens''', Burdon Road, Sunderland, SR1 1PP, Tel. (0191) 553 2323
|-
| | Displays
| | Local, Regional (Cleveland, Northern England (generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria])
|-
| | Temporary exhibitions
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World Wide, minerals (particular strength), rocks, fossils (particular strength) (see above) Photographic records, Archive, geological library
|-
| |
| | No, but collection information available
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| | professional geologist on staff
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year (except Sunday mornings)
|-
| | Website
| | [https://sunderlandculture.org.uk/our-venues/sunderland-museum-winter-gardens/ https://sunderlandculture.org.uk/our-venues/sunderland-museum-winter-gardens/]
|-
|}

=== 13. Weardale ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''The Weardale Museum''', Ireshopeburn, Weardale, Co. Durham, Tel. (01388) 537417
|-
| | Displays
| | Local (minerals and fossils, small)
|-
| | Temporary Exhibitions
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, minerals (particular strength), fossils, Photographic records, geological library (small)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | May–Sept, Wed–Sun August all week afternoons only
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.weardalemuseum.co.uk/ http://www.weardalemuseum.co.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 14. Weardale ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Kilhope, The North of England Lead Mining Museum''', Cowshill, Upper Weardale, Co. Durham, DL13 1AR. Tel. (01388) 537505
|-
| | Displays
| | Local Regional (North Pennines), restored igth century lead mining site with water wheel)
|-
| | '''Temporary Exhibitions'''
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Regional (North Pennines, collections relating to the industrial history of lead mining)
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| |
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale (including souvenir specimens)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | April 1st–Sept. 30th and weekends in October any other time by arrangement
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.killhope.org.uk/ http://www.killhope.org.uk/]
|-
|}

== Acknowledgements ==

Many thanks are due to all the institutions in this guide for providing the above information and particularly to Ken Sedman (Cleveland Geology and Environmental Resources), Tim Pettigrew and Alec Coles (Tyne and Wear Museums), and Andy Newman (University of Newcastle upon Tyne).

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Glossary|Glossary]] ==

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Bibliography|Bibliography]] ==

{{EWwalks}}

[[Category:7. Northern England]]

Geology in Northumbrian Museums

2020-04-10T17:42:57Z

YGSJET:

{{YGSNorthumbrianRocks}}

By '''Steve McLean''' Hancock Museum, Newcastle upon Tyne

== Introduction ==

The museums listed in this guide are situated within the counties of Northumberland, Durham, Tyne and Wear, and Cleveland north of the River Tees. Local museums with geological collections or displays present an ideal starting point from which to investigate the geology of the immediate area. Such institutions tend to collect locally or regionally and often possess top quality specimens acquired over a long period of time, many from localities which are no longer accessible. This is particularly true considering the extensive mining history of the area and the quantity of specimens which have found their way into museums as a direct result. In addition, extensive U.K. or indeed world collections are not uncommon, usually resulting from the prodigious efforts of 19th century collectors during the 'Golden Age' of geology.

In the area represented by this guide, there are three principal geological collections housed in museums. By far the largest is the collection owned by the Natural History Society of Northumbria at the Hancock Museum in Newcastle (currently managed by Tyne and Wear Museums). The earliest part of this collection dates from the beginning of the 19th century and now contains approximately 50 000 specimens, the largest proportion of which are local Carboniferous and Permian fossils. There are over 8000 mineral specimens, principally from the North Pennine Orefield.

The second largest collection, located at Sunderland Museum, is owned by Tyne and Wear Museums. Although the oldest recorded specimen dates back to 1815, the rest of the collection was begun in 1836 when the Sunderland Natural History and Antiquarian Society was founded. There are approximately 20 000 geological specimens, the largest part consisting of Permian fossils and rocks from the Zechstein strata of northeast England. The mineral collection contains over 4000 specimens collected principally from the North Pennine Orefield.

The third largest collection in the area is owned by Cleveland County Council and is housed at the Southlands Centre in Middlesbrough. The geological collection dates from 1975 and currently numbers 12–15 000 specimens, including minerals from northern England, especially the north Pennines, the Lake District and Caldbeck Fells, and regional Carboniferous, Permian and Jurassic fossils.

== Museums ==

=== 1. Alnwick ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Museum of Antiquities''', Alnwick Castle, Alnwick, Northumberland, NE66 1NQ, Tel. (01665) 510777
|-
| | Collections
| | World wide, Regional, minerals (particular strength), geological library
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | April–Oct daily
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.chillingham-castle.com/ www.alnwickcastle.com/]
|-
|}

=== 2. Ashington ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Woodhorn Colliery Museum''' Queen Elizabeth II Country Park, Ashington, Northumberland, Tel: (01670) 856968
|-
| | Displays
| | Social and industrial history of mining and mining communities in southeast Northumberland, working winding engine
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Wed.–Sun. all year
|-
| | Website
| | [https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/woodhorn-museum/ https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/woodhorn-museum/]
|-
|}

=== 3. Barnard Castle ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''The Bowes Museum''', Barnard Castle, Co. Durham, DL12 8NP. Tel. (01833) 690606
|-
| | Collections
| | Regional (Northern England generally, Northumberland , Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World wide, minerals, rocks fossils (Carboniferous plants and rocks minerals and rocks from around the world)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year.
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.chillingham-castle.com/ www. bowesmuseum.org.uk/]
|-
|}
=== 4. Beamish ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''The North of England Open Air Museum''', Beamish, Co. Durham, DH9 ORG, Tel. (0191) 3704000
|-
| | Displays
| | Social history of Coal Mining, reconstructed pre-WW1 coal mine
|-
| | Collections
| | Photographic records, archive, geological library (relating to lead, coal and ironstone mining in North East England)
|-
| | Catalogues
| | Access to catalogues of Photographic records, archive, geological library collections by appointment
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale., mining
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Summer all week, winter closed Mon. and Fri closed over Christmas period.
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.beamish.org.uk/ http://www.beamish.org.uk/] www.beamish-museum.co.uk/
|-
|}
=== 5. Berwick ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Berwick-upon-Tweed Borough Museum and Art Gallery''', The Clock Block, Berwick Barracks, Ravensdowne, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland, TD15 1DQ, TeL (01289 330044 ext. 269).
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, UK, minerals, rocks, fossils, geological library
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| |
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Summer, all week; Winter, Wed.–Sun.
|-
| | Website
| | [https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/berwick-museum-art-gallery/ https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/berwick-museum-art-gallery/]
|-
|}
=== 6 Chillingham ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Chillingham Castle''', Chillingham, Northumberland, NE66 5NI, Tel. (01668) 215359
|-
| | Displays
| | Local, (very small, Carboniferous plants)
|-
| | Temporary exhibitions
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, fossils (Carboniferous plants, very small)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Easter-30 Sept., Winter by appointment.
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.chillingham-castle.com/ www.chillingham-castle.com/]
|-
|}
=== 7. Hartlepool ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Museum of Hartlepool''', Jackson Dock, Hartlepool, TS24 0XZ, TeL (01429) 860077.
|-
| | Collections
| | Regional (Northern England generally, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria), World Wide, (small), minerals, rocks, fossils, geological library
|-
| | Geological activities
| | Occasional
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | All week, all year
|-
|}
=== 8. Middlesborough ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Dorman Museum''', Linthorpe Road, Middlesborough, Cleveland, Tel. (01642) 813781
|-
| | Displays
| | Local Regional, Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria], General geology
|-
| | Temporary Exhibitions
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, Regional (Cleveland, Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World Wide, minerals (particular strength), rocks, fossils. Photographic records, Archive, geological library.
|-
| | Catalogues
| | Unpublished catalogues can be made available for study
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| | Professional geologist on staff
|-
| | Geological activities
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | All year, Tues–Sun. Study and laboratory facilities available
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.dormanmuseum.co.uk/ www.dormanmuseum.co.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 9. Morpeth ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Wallington Hall''' (National Trust), Cambo, .Near Morpeth, Northumberland, Tel. (01670) 773600
|-
| | Displays
| | General geology (curiosity collection of rocks, minerals and fossils)
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, UK (small), minerals, Regional fossils
|-
| | Catalogues
| | Available to view in building
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | April 1st Oct 31st all week, except Tuesday.
|-
| | Website
| | [https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/wallington https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/wallington]
|-
|}

=== 10. Newcastle ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Hancock Museum''', Barras Bridge, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, NE2 4PT, Tel. (0191) 2226765
|-
| | Displays
| | Local, Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), General geology
|-
| | Temporary exhibitions
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World Wide, minerals (particular strength), rocks, fossils (particular strength) (see above), Photographic records, Archive geological library
|-
| | Catalogues
| | Yes, other collection information can be made available
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| | Professional geologist on staff
|-
| | Geological activities
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | All week, all year (except Sunday mornings).
|-
| | Website
| | [https://greatnorthmuseum.org.uk/ https://greatnorthmuseum.org.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 11. South Shields ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''South Shields Museum and Art Gallery''', Ocean Road, South Shields, Tyne and Wear, NE33 2TA, Tel. (0191) 4568740
|-
| | Displays
| | Local (geology displays within local history context),
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| |
|-
| | Geological activities
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | All week, all year (except Sunday mornings)
|-
| | Website
| | [https://southshieldsmuseum.org.uk/ https://southshieldsmuseum.org.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 12. Sunderland ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens''', Burdon Road, Sunderland, SR1 1PP, Tel. (0191) 553 2323
|-
| | Displays
| | Local, Regional (Cleveland, Northern England (generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria])
|-
| | Temporary exhibitions
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World Wide, minerals (particular strength), rocks, fossils (particular strength) (see above) Photographic records, Archive, geological library
|-
| |
| | No, but collection information available
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| | professional geologist on staff
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year (except Sunday mornings)
|-
| | Website
| | [https://sunderlandculture.org.uk/our-venues/sunderland-museum-winter-gardens/ https://sunderlandculture.org.uk/our-venues/sunderland-museum-winter-gardens/]
|-
|}

=== 13. Weardale ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''The Weardale Museum''', Ireshopeburn, Weardale, Co. Durham, Tel. (01388) 537417
|-
| | Displays
| | Local (minerals and fossils, small)
|-
| | '''Temporary Exhibitions'''
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, minerals (particular strength), fossils, Photographic records, geological ibrary (small)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | May–Sept, Wed–Sun August all week afternoons only
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.weardalemuseum.co.uk/ http://www.weardalemuseum.co.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 14. Weardale ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Kilhope, The North of England Lead Mining Museum''', Cowshill, Upper Weardale, Co. Durham, DL13 1AR. Tel. (01388) 537505
|-
| | Displays
| | Local Regional (North Pennines), restored igth century lead mining site with water wheel)
|-
| | '''Temporary Exhibitions'''
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Regional (North Pennines, collections relating to the industrial history of lead mining)
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| |
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale (including souvenir specimens)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | April 1st–Sept. 30th and weekends in October any other time by arrangement
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.killhope.org.uk/ http://www.killhope.org.uk/]
|-
|}

== Acknowledgements ==

Many thanks are due to all the institutions in this guide for providing the above information and particularly to Ken Sedman (Cleveland Geology and Environmental Resources), Tim Pettigrew and Alec Coles (Tyne and Wear Museums), and Andy Newman (University of Newcastle upon Tyne).

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Glossary|Glossary]] ==

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Bibliography|Bibliography]] ==

{{EWwalks}}

[[Category:7. Northern England]]

Geology in Northumbrian Museums

2020-04-10T17:41:17Z

YGSJET:

{{YGSNorthumbrianRocks}}

By '''Steve McLean''' Hancock Museum, Newcastle upon Tyne

== Introduction ==

The museums listed in this guide are situated within the counties of Northumberland, Durham, Tyne and Wear, and Cleveland north of the River Tees. Local museums with geological collections or displays present an ideal starting point from which to investigate the geology of the immediate area. Such institutions tend to collect locally or regionally and often possess top quality specimens acquired over a long period of time, many from localities which are no longer accessible. This is particularly true considering the extensive mining history of the area and the quantity of specimens which have found their way into museums as a direct result. In addition, extensive U.K. or indeed world collections are not uncommon, usually resulting from the prodigious efforts of 19th century collectors during the 'Golden Age' of geology.

In the area represented by this guide, there are three principal geological collections housed in museums. By far the largest is the collection owned by the Natural History Society of Northumbria at the Hancock Museum in Newcastle (currently managed by Tyne and Wear Museums). The earliest part of this collection dates from the beginning of the 19th century and now contains approximately 50 000 specimens, the largest proportion of which are local Carboniferous and Permian fossils. There are over 8000 mineral specimens, principally from the North Pennine Orefield.

The second largest collection, located at Sunderland Museum, is owned by Tyne and Wear Museums. Although the oldest recorded specimen dates back to 1815, the rest of the collection was begun in 1836 when the Sunderland Natural History and Antiquarian Society was founded. There are approximately 20 000 geological specimens, the largest part consisting of Permian fossils and rocks from the Zechstein strata of northeast England. The mineral collection contains over 4000 specimens collected principally from the North Pennine Orefield.

The third largest collection in the area is owned by Cleveland County Council and is housed at the Southlands Centre in Middlesbrough. The geological collection dates from 1975 and currently numbers 12–15 000 specimens, including minerals from northern England, especially the north Pennines, the Lake District and Caldbeck Fells, and regional Carboniferous, Permian and Jurassic fossils.

== Museums ==

=== 1. Alnwick ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Museum of Antiquities''', Alnwick Castle, Alnwick, Northumberland, NE66 1NQ, Tel. (01665) 510777
|-
| | Collections
| | World wide, Regional, minerals (particular strength), geological library
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | April–Oct daily
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.chillingham-castle.com/ www.alnwickcastle.com/]
|-
|}

=== 2. Ashington ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Woodhorn Colliery Museum''' Queen Elizabeth II Country Park, Ashington, Northumberland, Tel: (01670) 856968
|-
| | Displays
| | Social and industrial history of mining and mining communities in southeast Northumberland, working winding engine
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Wed.–Sun. all year
|-
| | Website
| | [https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/woodhorn-museum/ https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/woodhorn-museum/]
|-
|}

=== 3. Barnard Castle ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''The Bowes Museum''', Barnard Castle, Co. Durham, DL12 8NP. Tel. (01833) 690606
|-
| | Collections
| | Regional (Northern England generally, Northumberland , Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World wide, minerals, rocks fossils (Carboniferous plants and rocks minerals and rocks from around the world)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year.
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.chillingham-castle.com/ www. bowesmuseum.org.uk/]
|-
|}
=== 4. Beamish ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''The North of England Open Air Museum''', Beamish, Co. Durham, DH9 ORG, Tel. (0191) 3704000
|-
| | Displays
| | Social history of Coal Mining, reconstructed pre-WW1 coal mine
|-
| | Collections
| | Photographic records, archive, geological library (relating to lead, coal and ironstone mining in North East England)
|-
| | Catalogues
| | Access to catalogues of Photographic records, archive, geological library collections by appointment
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale., mining
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Summer all week, winter closed Mon. and Fri closed over Christmas period.
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.beamish.org.uk/ http://www.beamish.org.uk/] www.beamish-museum.co.uk/
|-
|}
=== 5. Berwick ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Berwick-upon-Tweed Borough Museum and Art Gallery''', The Clock Block, Berwick Barracks, Ravensdowne, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland, TD15 1DQ, TeL (01289 330044 ext. 269).
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, UK, minerals, rocks, fossils, geological library
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| |
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Summer, all week; Winter, Wed.–Sun.
|-
| | Website
| | [https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/berwick-museum-art-gallery/ https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/berwick-museum-art-gallery/]
|-
|}
=== 6 Chillingham ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Chillingham Castle''', Chillingham, Northumberland, NE66 5NI, Tel. (01668) 215359
|-
| | Displays
| | Local, (very small, Carboniferous plants)
|-
| | Temporary exhibitions
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, fossils (Carboniferous plants, very small)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Easter-30 Sept., Winter by appointment.
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.chillingham-castle.com/ www.chillingham-castle.com/]
|-
|}
=== 7. Hartlepool ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Museum of Hartlepool''', Jackson Dock, Hartlepool, TS24 0XZ, TeL (01429) 860077.
|-
| | Collections
| | Regional (Northern England generally, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria), World Wide, (small), minerals, rocks, fossils, geological library
|-
| | Geological activities
| | Occasional
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | All week, all year
|-
|}
=== 8. Middlesborough ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Dorman Museum''', Linthorpe Road, Middlesborough, Cleveland, Tel. (01642) 813781
|-
| | Displays
| | Local Regional, Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria], General geology
|-
| | Temporary Exhibitions
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, Regional (Cleveland, Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World Wide, minerals (particular strength), rocks, fossils. Photographic records, Archive, geological library.
|-
| | Catalogues
| | Unpublished catalogues can be made available for study
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| | Professional geologist on staff
|-
| | Geological activities
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | All year, Tues–Sun. Study and laboratory facilities available
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.dormanmuseum.co.uk/ www.dormanmuseum.co.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 9. Morpeth ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Wallington Hall''' (National Trust), Cambo, .Near Morpeth, Northumberland, Tel. (01670) 773600
|-
| | Displays
| | General geology (curiosity collection of rocks, minerals and fossils)
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, UK (small), minerals, Regional fossils
|-
| | Catalogues
| | Available to view in building
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | April 1st Oct 31st all week, except Tuesday.
|-
| | Website
| | [https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/wallington https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/wallington]
|-
|}

=== 10. Newcastle ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Hancock Museum''', Barras Bridge, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, NE2 4PT, Tel. (0191) 2226765
|-
| | Displays
| | Local, Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), General geology
|-
| | Temporary exhibitions
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World Wide, minerals (particular strength), rocks, fossils (particular strength) (see above), Photographic records, Archive geological library
|-
| | Catalogues
| | Yes, other collection information can be made available
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| | Professional geologist on staff
|-
| | Geological activities
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | All week, all year (except Sunday mornings).
|-
| | Website
| | [https://greatnorthmuseum.org.uk/ https://greatnorthmuseum.org.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 11. South Shields ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''South Shields Museum and Art Gallery''', Ocean Road, South Shields, Tyne and Wear, NE33 2TA, Tel. (0191) 456 8740
|-
| | Displays
| | Local (geology displays within local history context),
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| |
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year (except Sunday mornings)
|-
| | Website
| | [https://southshieldsmuseum.org.uk/ https://southshieldsmuseum.org.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 12. Sunderland ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens''', Burdon Road, Sunderland, SR1 1PP, Tel. (0191) 553 2323
|-
| | Displays
| | Local, Regional (Cleveland, Northern England (generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria])
|-
| | Temporary exhibitions
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World Wide, minerals (particular strength), rocks, fossils (particular strength) (see above) Photographic records, Archive, geological library
|-
| |
| | No, but collection information available
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| | professional geologist on staff
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year (except Sunday mornings)
|-
| | Website
| | [https://sunderlandculture.org.uk/our-venues/sunderland-museum-winter-gardens/ https://sunderlandculture.org.uk/our-venues/sunderland-museum-winter-gardens/]
|-
|}

=== 13. Weardale ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''The Weardale Museum''', Ireshopeburn, Weardale, Co. Durham, Tel. (01388) 537417
|-
| | Displays
| | Local (minerals and fossils, small)
|-
| | '''Temporary Exhibitions'''
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, minerals (particular strength), fossils, Photographic records, geological ibrary (small)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | May–Sept, Wed–Sun August all week afternoons only
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.weardalemuseum.co.uk/ http://www.weardalemuseum.co.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 14. Weardale ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Kilhope, The North of England Lead Mining Museum''', Cowshill, Upper Weardale, Co. Durham, DL13 1AR. Tel. (01388) 537505
|-
| | Displays
| | Local Regional (North Pennines), restored igth century lead mining site with water wheel)
|-
| | '''Temporary Exhibitions'''
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Regional (North Pennines, collections relating to the industrial history of lead mining)
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| |
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale (including souvenir specimens)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | April 1st–Sept. 30th and weekends in October any other time by arrangement
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.killhope.org.uk/ http://www.killhope.org.uk/]
|-
|}

== Acknowledgements ==

Many thanks are due to all the institutions in this guide for providing the above information and particularly to Ken Sedman (Cleveland Geology and Environmental Resources), Tim Pettigrew and Alec Coles (Tyne and Wear Museums), and Andy Newman (University of Newcastle upon Tyne).

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Glossary|Glossary]] ==

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Bibliography|Bibliography]] ==

{{EWwalks}}

[[Category:7. Northern England]]

Geology in Northumbrian Museums

2020-04-10T17:39:09Z

YGSJET:

{{YGSNorthumbrianRocks}}

By '''Steve McLean''' Hancock Museum, Newcastle upon Tyne

== Introduction ==

The museums listed in this guide are situated within the counties of Northumberland, Durham, Tyne and Wear, and Cleveland north of the River Tees. Local museums with geological collections or displays present an ideal starting point from which to investigate the geology of the immediate area. Such institutions tend to collect locally or regionally and often possess top quality specimens acquired over a long period of time, many from localities which are no longer accessible. This is particularly true considering the extensive mining history of the area and the quantity of specimens which have found their way into museums as a direct result. In addition, extensive U.K. or indeed world collections are not uncommon, usually resulting from the prodigious efforts of 19th century collectors during the 'Golden Age' of geology.

In the area represented by this guide, there are three principal geological collections housed in museums. By far the largest is the collection owned by the Natural History Society of Northumbria at the Hancock Museum in Newcastle (currently managed by Tyne and Wear Museums). The earliest part of this collection dates from the beginning of the 19th century and now contains approximately 50 000 specimens, the largest proportion of which are local Carboniferous and Permian fossils. There are over 8000 mineral specimens, principally from the North Pennine Orefield.

The second largest collection, located at Sunderland Museum, is owned by Tyne and Wear Museums. Although the oldest recorded specimen dates back to 1815, the rest of the collection was begun in 1836 when the Sunderland Natural History and Antiquarian Society was founded. There are approximately 20 000 geological specimens, the largest part consisting of Permian fossils and rocks from the Zechstein strata of northeast England. The mineral collection contains over 4000 specimens collected principally from the North Pennine Orefield.

The third largest collection in the area is owned by Cleveland County Council and is housed at the Southlands Centre in Middlesbrough. The geological collection dates from 1975 and currently numbers 12–15 000 specimens, including minerals from northern England, especially the north Pennines, the Lake District and Caldbeck Fells, and regional Carboniferous, Permian and Jurassic fossils.

== Museums ==

=== 1. Alnwick ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Museum of Antiquities''', Alnwick Castle, Alnwick, Northumberland, NE66 1NQ, Tel. (01665) 510777
|-
| | Collections
| | World wide, Regional, minerals (particular strength), geological library
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | April–Oct daily
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.chillingham-castle.com/ www.alnwickcastle.com/]
|-
|}

=== 2. Ashington ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Woodhorn Colliery Museum''' Queen Elizabeth II Country Park, Ashington, Northumberland, Tel: (01670) 856968
|-
| | Displays
| | Social and industrial history of mining and mining communities in southeast Northumberland, working winding engine
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Wed.–Sun. all year
|-
| | Website
| | [https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/woodhorn-museum/ https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/woodhorn-museum/]
|-
|}

=== 3. Barnard Castle ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''The Bowes Museum''', Barnard Castle, Co. Durham, DL12 8NP. Tel. (01833) 690606
|-
| | Collections
| | Regional (Northern England generally, Northumberland , Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World wide, minerals, rocks fossils (Carboniferous plants and rocks minerals and rocks from around the world)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year.
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.chillingham-castle.com/ www. bowesmuseum.org.uk/]
|-
|}
=== 4. Beamish ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''The North of England Open Air Museum''', Beamish, Co. Durham, DH9 ORG, Tel. (0191) 3704000
|-
| | Displays
| | Social history of Coal Mining, reconstructed pre-WW1 coal mine
|-
| | Collections
| | Photographic records, archive, geological library (relating to lead, coal and ironstone mining in North East England)
|-
| | Catalogues
| | Access to catalogues of Photographic records, archive, geological library collections by appointment
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale., mining
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Summer all week, winter closed Mon. and Fri closed over Christmas period.
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.beamish.org.uk/ http://www.beamish.org.uk/] www.beamish-museum.co.uk/
|-
|}
=== 5. Berwick ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Berwick-upon-Tweed Borough Museum and Art Gallery''', The Clock Block, Berwick Barracks, Ravensdowne, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland, TD15 1DQ, TeL (01289 330044 ext. 269).
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, UK, minerals, rocks, fossils, geological library
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| |
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Summer, all week; Winter, Wed.–Sun.
|-
| | Website
| | [https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/berwick-museum-art-gallery/ https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/berwick-museum-art-gallery/]
|-
|}
=== 6 Chillingham ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Chillingham Castle''', Chillingham, Northumberland, NE66 5NI, Tel. (01668) 215359
|-
| | Displays
| | Local, (very small, Carboniferous plants)
|-
| | Temporary exhibitions
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, fossils (Carboniferous plants, very small)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Easter-30 Sept., Winter by appointment.
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.chillingham-castle.com/ www.chillingham-castle.com/]
|-
|}
=== 7. Hartlepool ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Museum of Hartlepool''', Jackson Dock, Hartlepool, TS24 0XZ, TeL (01429) 860077.
|-
| | Collections
| | Regional (Northern England generally, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria), World Wide, (small), minerals, rocks, fossils, geological library
|-
| | Geological activities
| | Occasional
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | All week, all year
|-
|}
=== 8. Middlesborough ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Dorman Museum''', Linthorpe Road, Middlesborough, Cleveland, Tel. (01642) 813781
|-
| | Displays
| | Local Regional, Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria], General geology
|-
| | Temporary Exhibitions
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, Regional (Cleveland, Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World Wide, minerals (particular strength), rocks, fossils. Photographic records, Archive, geological library.
|-
| | Catalogues
| | Unpublished catalogues can be made available for study
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| | Professional geologist on staff
|-
| | Geological activities
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | All year, Tues–Sun. Study and laboratory facilities available
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.dormanmuseum.co.uk/ www.dormanmuseum.co.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 9. Morpeth ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Wallington Hall''' (National Trust), Cambo, .Near Morpeth, Northumberland, Tel. (01670) 773600
|-
| | Displays
| | General geology (curiosity collection of rocks, minerals and fossils)
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, UK (small), minerals, Regional fossils
|-
| | Catalogues
| | Available to view in building
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | April 1st Oct 31st all week, except Tuesday.
|-
| | Website
| | [https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/wallington https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/wallington]
|-
|}

=== 10. Newcastle ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Hancock Museum''', Barras Bridge, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, NE2 4PT, Tel. (0191) 222 6765
|-
| | Displays
| | Local, Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), General geology
|-
| | Temporary exhibitions
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World Wide, minerals (particular strength), rocks, fossils (particular strength) (see above), Photographic records, Archive geological library
|-
| | Catalogues
| | Yes, other collection information can be made available
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| | professional geologist on staff
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year (except Sunday mornings).
|-
| | Website
| | [https://greatnorthmuseum.org.uk/ https://greatnorthmuseum.org.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 11. South Shields ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''South Shields Museum and Art Gallery''', Ocean Road, South Shields, Tyne and Wear, NE33 2TA, Tel. (0191) 456 8740
|-
| | Displays
| | Local (geology displays within local history context),
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| |
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year (except Sunday mornings)
|-
| | Website
| | [https://southshieldsmuseum.org.uk/ https://southshieldsmuseum.org.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 12. Sunderland ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens''', Burdon Road, Sunderland, SR1 1PP, Tel. (0191) 553 2323
|-
| | Displays
| | Local, Regional (Cleveland, Northern England (generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria])
|-
| | Temporary exhibitions
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World Wide, minerals (particular strength), rocks, fossils (particular strength) (see above) Photographic records, Archive, geological library
|-
| |
| | No, but collection information available
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| | professional geologist on staff
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year (except Sunday mornings)
|-
| | Website
| | [https://sunderlandculture.org.uk/our-venues/sunderland-museum-winter-gardens/ https://sunderlandculture.org.uk/our-venues/sunderland-museum-winter-gardens/]
|-
|}

=== 13. Weardale ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''The Weardale Museum''', Ireshopeburn, Weardale, Co. Durham, Tel. (01388) 537417
|-
| | Displays
| | Local (minerals and fossils, small)
|-
| | '''Temporary Exhibitions'''
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, minerals (particular strength), fossils, Photographic records, geological ibrary (small)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | May–Sept, Wed–Sun August all week afternoons only
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.weardalemuseum.co.uk/ http://www.weardalemuseum.co.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 14. Weardale ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Kilhope, The North of England Lead Mining Museum''', Cowshill, Upper Weardale, Co. Durham, DL13 1AR. Tel. (01388) 537505
|-
| | Displays
| | Local Regional (North Pennines), restored igth century lead mining site with water wheel)
|-
| | '''Temporary Exhibitions'''
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Regional (North Pennines, collections relating to the industrial history of lead mining)
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| |
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale (including souvenir specimens)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | April 1st–Sept. 30th and weekends in October any other time by arrangement
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.killhope.org.uk/ http://www.killhope.org.uk/]
|-
|}

== Acknowledgements ==

Many thanks are due to all the institutions in this guide for providing the above information and particularly to Ken Sedman (Cleveland Geology and Environmental Resources), Tim Pettigrew and Alec Coles (Tyne and Wear Museums), and Andy Newman (University of Newcastle upon Tyne).

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Glossary|Glossary]] ==

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Bibliography|Bibliography]] ==

{{EWwalks}}

[[Category:7. Northern England]]

Geology in Northumbrian Museums

2020-04-10T17:37:25Z

YGSJET:

{{YGSNorthumbrianRocks}}

By '''Steve McLean''' Hancock Museum, Newcastle upon Tyne

== Introduction ==

The museums listed in this guide are situated within the counties of Northumberland, Durham, Tyne and Wear, and Cleveland north of the River Tees. Local museums with geological collections or displays present an ideal starting point from which to investigate the geology of the immediate area. Such institutions tend to collect locally or regionally and often possess top quality specimens acquired over a long period of time, many from localities which are no longer accessible. This is particularly true considering the extensive mining history of the area and the quantity of specimens which have found their way into museums as a direct result. In addition, extensive U.K. or indeed world collections are not uncommon, usually resulting from the prodigious efforts of 19th century collectors during the 'Golden Age' of geology.

In the area represented by this guide, there are three principal geological collections housed in museums. By far the largest is the collection owned by the Natural History Society of Northumbria at the Hancock Museum in Newcastle (currently managed by Tyne and Wear Museums). The earliest part of this collection dates from the beginning of the 19th century and now contains approximately 50 000 specimens, the largest proportion of which are local Carboniferous and Permian fossils. There are over 8000 mineral specimens, principally from the North Pennine Orefield.

The second largest collection, located at Sunderland Museum, is owned by Tyne and Wear Museums. Although the oldest recorded specimen dates back to 1815, the rest of the collection was begun in 1836 when the Sunderland Natural History and Antiquarian Society was founded. There are approximately 20 000 geological specimens, the largest part consisting of Permian fossils and rocks from the Zechstein strata of northeast England. The mineral collection contains over 4000 specimens collected principally from the North Pennine Orefield.

The third largest collection in the area is owned by Cleveland County Council and is housed at the Southlands Centre in Middlesbrough. The geological collection dates from 1975 and currently numbers 12–15 000 specimens, including minerals from northern England, especially the north Pennines, the Lake District and Caldbeck Fells, and regional Carboniferous, Permian and Jurassic fossils.

== Museums ==

=== 1. Alnwick ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Museum of Antiquities''', Alnwick Castle, Alnwick, Northumberland, NE66 1NQ, Tel. (01665) 510777
|-
| | Collections
| | World wide, Regional, minerals (particular strength), geological library
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | April–Oct daily
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.chillingham-castle.com/ www.alnwickcastle.com/]
|-
|}

=== 2. Ashington ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Woodhorn Colliery Museum''' Queen Elizabeth II Country Park, Ashington, Northumberland, Tel: (01670) 856968
|-
| | Displays
| | Social and industrial history of mining and mining communities in southeast Northumberland, working winding engine
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Wed.–Sun. all year
|-
| | Website
| | [https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/woodhorn-museum/ https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/woodhorn-museum/]
|-
|}

=== 3. Barnard Castle ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''The Bowes Museum''', Barnard Castle, Co. Durham, DL12 8NP. Tel. (01833) 690606
|-
| | Collections
| | Regional (Northern England generally, Northumberland , Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World wide, minerals, rocks fossils (Carboniferous plants and rocks minerals and rocks from around the world)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year.
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.chillingham-castle.com/ www. bowesmuseum.org.uk/]
|-
|}
=== 4. Beamish ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''The North of England Open Air Museum''', Beamish, Co. Durham, DH9 ORG, Tel. (0191) 3704000
|-
| | Displays
| | Social history of Coal Mining, reconstructed pre-WW1 coal mine
|-
| | Collections
| | Photographic records, archive, geological library (relating to lead, coal and ironstone mining in North East England)
|-
| | Catalogues
| | Access to catalogues of Photographic records, archive, geological library collections by appointment
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale., mining
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Summer all week, winter closed Mon. and Fri closed over Christmas period.
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.beamish.org.uk/ http://www.beamish.org.uk/] www.beamish-museum.co.uk/
|-
|}
=== 5. Berwick ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Berwick-upon-Tweed Borough Museum and Art Gallery''', The Clock Block, Berwick Barracks, Ravensdowne, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland, TD15 1DQ, TeL (01289 330044 ext. 269).
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, UK, minerals, rocks, fossils, geological library
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| |
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Summer, all week; Winter, Wed.–Sun.
|-
| | Website
| | [https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/berwick-museum-art-gallery/ https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/berwick-museum-art-gallery/]
|-
|}
=== 6 Chillingham ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Chillingham Castle''', Chillingham, Northumberland, NE66 5NI, Tel. (01668) 215359
|-
| | Displays
| | Local, (very small, Carboniferous plants)
|-
| | Temporary exhibitions
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, fossils (Carboniferous plants, very small)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Easter-30 Sept., Winter by appointment.
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.chillingham-castle.com/ www.chillingham-castle.com/]
|-
|}
=== 7. Hartlepool ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Museum of Hartlepool''', Jackson Dock, Hartlepool, TS24 0XZ, TeL (01429) 860077.
|-
| | Collections
| | Regional (Northern England generally, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria), World Wide, (small), minerals, rocks, fossils, geological library
|-
| | Geological activities
| | Occasional
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | All week, all year
|-
|}
=== 8. Middlesborough ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Dorman Museum''', Linthorpe Road, Middlesborough, Cleveland, Tel. (01642) 813781
|-
| | Displays
| | Local Regional, Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria], General geology
|-
| | '''Temporary Exhibitions'''
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, Regional (Cleveland, Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World Wide, minerals (particular strength), rocks, fossils. Photographic records, Archive, geological library.
|-
| | Catalogues
| | Unpublished catalogues can be made available for study
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| | Professional geologist on staff
|-
| | Geological activities
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | All year, Tues–Sun. Study and laboratory facilities available
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.dormanmuseum.co.uk/ www.dormanmuseum.co.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 9. Morpeth ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Wallington Hall''' (National Trust), Cambo, .Near Morpeth, Northumberland, Tel. (01670) 773600
|-
| | Displays
| | General geology (curiosity collection of rocks, minerals and fossils)
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, UK (small), minerals, Regional fossils
|-
| | Catalogues
| | available to view in building
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | April 1st Oct 31st all week, except Tuesday.
|-
| | Website
| | [https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/wallington https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/wallington]
|-
|}

=== 10. Newcastle ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Hancock Museum''', Barras Bridge, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, NE2 4PT, Tel. (0191) 222 6765
|-
| | Displays
| | Local, Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), General geology
|-
| | Temporary exhibitions
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World Wide, minerals (particular strength), rocks, fossils (particular strength) (see above), Photographic records, Archive geological library
|-
| | Catalogues
| | Yes, other collection information can be made available
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| | professional geologist on staff
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year (except Sunday mornings).
|-
| | Website
| | [https://greatnorthmuseum.org.uk/ https://greatnorthmuseum.org.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 11. South Shields ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''South Shields Museum and Art Gallery''', Ocean Road, South Shields, Tyne and Wear, NE33 2TA, Tel. (0191) 456 8740
|-
| | Displays
| | Local (geology displays within local history context),
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| |
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year (except Sunday mornings)
|-
| | Website
| | [https://southshieldsmuseum.org.uk/ https://southshieldsmuseum.org.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 12. Sunderland ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens''', Burdon Road, Sunderland, SR1 1PP, Tel. (0191) 553 2323
|-
| | Displays
| | Local, Regional (Cleveland, Northern England (generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria])
|-
| | Temporary exhibitions
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World Wide, minerals (particular strength), rocks, fossils (particular strength) (see above) Photographic records, Archive, geological library
|-
| |
| | No, but collection information available
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| | professional geologist on staff
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year (except Sunday mornings)
|-
| | Website
| | [https://sunderlandculture.org.uk/our-venues/sunderland-museum-winter-gardens/ https://sunderlandculture.org.uk/our-venues/sunderland-museum-winter-gardens/]
|-
|}

=== 13. Weardale ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''The Weardale Museum''', Ireshopeburn, Weardale, Co. Durham, Tel. (01388) 537417
|-
| | Displays
| | Local (minerals and fossils, small)
|-
| | '''Temporary Exhibitions'''
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, minerals (particular strength), fossils, Photographic records, geological ibrary (small)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | May–Sept, Wed–Sun August all week afternoons only
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.weardalemuseum.co.uk/ http://www.weardalemuseum.co.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 14. Weardale ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Kilhope, The North of England Lead Mining Museum''', Cowshill, Upper Weardale, Co. Durham, DL13 1AR. Tel. (01388) 537505
|-
| | Displays
| | Local Regional (North Pennines), restored igth century lead mining site with water wheel)
|-
| | '''Temporary Exhibitions'''
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Regional (North Pennines, collections relating to the industrial history of lead mining)
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| |
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale (including souvenir specimens)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | April 1st–Sept. 30th and weekends in October any other time by arrangement
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.killhope.org.uk/ http://www.killhope.org.uk/]
|-
|}

== Acknowledgements ==

Many thanks are due to all the institutions in this guide for providing the above information and particularly to Ken Sedman (Cleveland Geology and Environmental Resources), Tim Pettigrew and Alec Coles (Tyne and Wear Museums), and Andy Newman (University of Newcastle upon Tyne).

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Glossary|Glossary]] ==

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Bibliography|Bibliography]] ==

{{EWwalks}}

[[Category:7. Northern England]]

Geology in Northumbrian Museums

2020-04-10T17:34:37Z

YGSJET:

{{YGSNorthumbrianRocks}}

By '''Steve McLean''' Hancock Museum, Newcastle upon Tyne

== Introduction ==

The museums listed in this guide are situated within the counties of Northumberland, Durham, Tyne and Wear, and Cleveland north of the River Tees. Local museums with geological collections or displays present an ideal starting point from which to investigate the geology of the immediate area. Such institutions tend to collect locally or regionally and often possess top quality specimens acquired over a long period of time, many from localities which are no longer accessible. This is particularly true considering the extensive mining history of the area and the quantity of specimens which have found their way into museums as a direct result. In addition, extensive U.K. or indeed world collections are not uncommon, usually resulting from the prodigious efforts of 19th century collectors during the 'Golden Age' of geology.

In the area represented by this guide, there are three principal geological collections housed in museums. By far the largest is the collection owned by the Natural History Society of Northumbria at the Hancock Museum in Newcastle (currently managed by Tyne and Wear Museums). The earliest part of this collection dates from the beginning of the 19th century and now contains approximately 50 000 specimens, the largest proportion of which are local Carboniferous and Permian fossils. There are over 8000 mineral specimens, principally from the North Pennine Orefield.

The second largest collection, located at Sunderland Museum, is owned by Tyne and Wear Museums. Although the oldest recorded specimen dates back to 1815, the rest of the collection was begun in 1836 when the Sunderland Natural History and Antiquarian Society was founded. There are approximately 20 000 geological specimens, the largest part consisting of Permian fossils and rocks from the Zechstein strata of northeast England. The mineral collection contains over 4000 specimens collected principally from the North Pennine Orefield.

The third largest collection in the area is owned by Cleveland County Council and is housed at the Southlands Centre in Middlesbrough. The geological collection dates from 1975 and currently numbers 12–15 000 specimens, including minerals from northern England, especially the north Pennines, the Lake District and Caldbeck Fells, and regional Carboniferous, Permian and Jurassic fossils.

== Museums ==

=== 1. Alnwick ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Museum of Antiquities''', Alnwick Castle, Alnwick, Northumberland, NE66 1NQ, Tel. (01665) 510777
|-
| | Collections
| | World wide, Regional, minerals (particular strength), geological library
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | April–Oct daily
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.chillingham-castle.com/ www.alnwickcastle.com/]
|-
|}

=== 2. Ashington ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Woodhorn Colliery Museum''' Queen Elizabeth II Country Park, Ashington, Northumberland, Tel: (01670) 856968
|-
| | Displays
| | Social and industrial history of mining and mining communities in southeast Northumberland, working winding engine
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Wed.–Sun. all year
|-
| | Website
| | [https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/woodhorn-museum/ https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/woodhorn-museum/]
|-
|}

=== 3. Barnard Castle ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''The Bowes Museum''', Barnard Castle, Co. Durham, DL12 8NP. Tel. (01833) 690606
|-
| | Collections
| | Regional (Northern England generally, Northumberland , Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World wide, minerals, rocks fossils (Carboniferous plants and rocks minerals and rocks from around the world)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year.
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.chillingham-castle.com/ www. bowesmuseum.org.uk/]
|-
|}
=== 4. Beamish ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''The North of England Open Air Museum''', Beamish, Co. Durham, DH9 ORG, Tel. (0191) 3704000
|-
| | Displays
| | Social history of Coal Mining, reconstructed pre-WW1 coal mine
|-
| | Collections
| | Photographic records, archive, geological library (relating to lead, coal and ironstone mining in North East England)
|-
| | Catalogues
| | Access to catalogues of Photographic records, archive, geological library collections by appointment
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale., mining
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Summer all week, winter closed Mon. and Fri closed over Christmas period.
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.beamish.org.uk/ http://www.beamish.org.uk/] www.beamish-museum.co.uk/
|-
|}
=== 5. Berwick ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Berwick-upon-Tweed Borough Museum and Art Gallery''', The Clock Block, Berwick Barracks, Ravensdowne, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland, TD15 1DQ, TeL (01289 330044 ext. 269).
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, UK, minerals, rocks, fossils, geological library
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| |
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Summer, all week; Winter, Wed.–Sun.
|-
| | Website
| | [https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/berwick-museum-art-gallery/ https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/berwick-museum-art-gallery/]
|-
|}
=== 6 Chillingham ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Chillingham Castle''', Chillingham, Northumberland, NE66 5NI, Tel. (01668) 215359
|-
| | Displays
| | Local, (very small, Carboniferous plants)
|-
| | Temporary exhibitions
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, fossils (Carboniferous plants, very small)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Easter-30 Sept., Winter by appointment.
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.chillingham-castle.com/ www.chillingham-castle.com/]
|-
|}
=== 7. Hartlepool ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Museum of Hartlepool''', Jackson Dock, Hartlepool, TS24 0XZ, TeL (01429) 860077.
|-
| | Collections
| | Regional (Northern England generally, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria), World Wide, (small), minerals, rocks, fossils, geological library
|-
| | Geological activities
| | Occasional
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | All week, all year
|-
|}
=== 8. Middlesborough ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Dorman Museum''', Linthorpe Road, Middlesborough, Cleveland, Tel. (01642) 813781
|-
| | Displays
| | Local Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria], General geology
|-
| | '''Temporary Exhibitions'''
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, Regional (Cleveland, Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World Wide, minerals (particular strength), rocks, fossils. Photographic records, Archive, geological library.
|-
| | Catalogues
| | unpublished catalogues can be made available for study
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| | professional geologist on staff
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all year, Tues–Sun. Study and laboratory facilities available
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.dormanmuseum.co.uk/ www.dormanmuseum.co.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 9. Morpeth ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Wallington Hall''' (National Trust), Cambo, .Near Morpeth, Northumberland, Tel. (01670) 773600
|-
| | Displays
| | General geology (curiosity collection of rocks, minerals and fossils)
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, UK (small), minerals, Regional fossils
|-
| | Catalogues
| | available to view in building
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | April 1st Oct 31st all week, except Tuesday.
|-
| | Website
| | [https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/wallington https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/wallington]
|-
|}

=== 10. Newcastle ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Hancock Museum''', Barras Bridge, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, NE2 4PT, Tel. (0191) 222 6765
|-
| | Displays
| | Local, Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), General geology
|-
| | Temporary exhibitions
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World Wide, minerals (particular strength), rocks, fossils (particular strength) (see above), Photographic records, Archive geological library
|-
| | Catalogues
| | Yes, other collection information can be made available
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| | professional geologist on staff
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year (except Sunday mornings).
|-
| | Website
| | [https://greatnorthmuseum.org.uk/ https://greatnorthmuseum.org.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 11. South Shields ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''South Shields Museum and Art Gallery''', Ocean Road, South Shields, Tyne and Wear, NE33 2TA, Tel. (0191) 456 8740
|-
| | Displays
| | Local (geology displays within local history context),
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| |
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year (except Sunday mornings)
|-
| | Website
| | [https://southshieldsmuseum.org.uk/ https://southshieldsmuseum.org.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 12. Sunderland ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens''', Burdon Road, Sunderland, SR1 1PP, Tel. (0191) 553 2323
|-
| | Displays
| | Local, Regional (Cleveland, Northern England (generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria])
|-
| | Temporary exhibitions
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World Wide, minerals (particular strength), rocks, fossils (particular strength) (see above) Photographic records, Archive, geological library
|-
| |
| | No, but collection information available
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| | professional geologist on staff
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year (except Sunday mornings)
|-
| | Website
| | [https://sunderlandculture.org.uk/our-venues/sunderland-museum-winter-gardens/ https://sunderlandculture.org.uk/our-venues/sunderland-museum-winter-gardens/]
|-
|}

=== 13. Weardale ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''The Weardale Museum''', Ireshopeburn, Weardale, Co. Durham, Tel. (01388) 537417
|-
| | Displays
| | Local (minerals and fossils, small)
|-
| | '''Temporary Exhibitions'''
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, minerals (particular strength), fossils, Photographic records, geological ibrary (small)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | May–Sept, Wed–Sun August all week afternoons only
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.weardalemuseum.co.uk/ http://www.weardalemuseum.co.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 14. Weardale ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Kilhope, The North of England Lead Mining Museum''', Cowshill, Upper Weardale, Co. Durham, DL13 1AR. Tel. (01388) 537505
|-
| | Displays
| | Local Regional (North Pennines), restored igth century lead mining site with water wheel)
|-
| | '''Temporary Exhibitions'''
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Regional (North Pennines, collections relating to the industrial history of lead mining)
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| |
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale (including souvenir specimens)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | April 1st–Sept. 30th and weekends in October any other time by arrangement
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.killhope.org.uk/ http://www.killhope.org.uk/]
|-
|}

== Acknowledgements ==

Many thanks are due to all the institutions in this guide for providing the above information and particularly to Ken Sedman (Cleveland Geology and Environmental Resources), Tim Pettigrew and Alec Coles (Tyne and Wear Museums), and Andy Newman (University of Newcastle upon Tyne).

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Glossary|Glossary]] ==

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Bibliography|Bibliography]] ==

{{EWwalks}}

[[Category:7. Northern England]]

Geology in Northumbrian Museums

2020-04-10T17:32:58Z

YGSJET:

{{YGSNorthumbrianRocks}}

By '''Steve McLean''' Hancock Museum, Newcastle upon Tyne

== Introduction ==

The museums listed in this guide are situated within the counties of Northumberland, Durham, Tyne and Wear, and Cleveland north of the River Tees. Local museums with geological collections or displays present an ideal starting point from which to investigate the geology of the immediate area. Such institutions tend to collect locally or regionally and often possess top quality specimens acquired over a long period of time, many from localities which are no longer accessible. This is particularly true considering the extensive mining history of the area and the quantity of specimens which have found their way into museums as a direct result. In addition, extensive U.K. or indeed world collections are not uncommon, usually resulting from the prodigious efforts of 19th century collectors during the 'Golden Age' of geology.

In the area represented by this guide, there are three principal geological collections housed in museums. By far the largest is the collection owned by the Natural History Society of Northumbria at the Hancock Museum in Newcastle (currently managed by Tyne and Wear Museums). The earliest part of this collection dates from the beginning of the 19th century and now contains approximately 50 000 specimens, the largest proportion of which are local Carboniferous and Permian fossils. There are over 8000 mineral specimens, principally from the North Pennine Orefield.

The second largest collection, located at Sunderland Museum, is owned by Tyne and Wear Museums. Although the oldest recorded specimen dates back to 1815, the rest of the collection was begun in 1836 when the Sunderland Natural History and Antiquarian Society was founded. There are approximately 20 000 geological specimens, the largest part consisting of Permian fossils and rocks from the Zechstein strata of northeast England. The mineral collection contains over 4000 specimens collected principally from the North Pennine Orefield.

The third largest collection in the area is owned by Cleveland County Council and is housed at the Southlands Centre in Middlesbrough. The geological collection dates from 1975 and currently numbers 12–15 000 specimens, including minerals from northern England, especially the north Pennines, the Lake District and Caldbeck Fells, and regional Carboniferous, Permian and Jurassic fossils.

== Museums ==

=== 1. Alnwick ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Museum of Antiquities''', Alnwick Castle, Alnwick, Northumberland, NE66 1NQ, Tel. (01665) 510777
|-
| | Collections
| | World wide, Regional, minerals (particular strength), geological library
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | April–Oct daily
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.chillingham-castle.com/ www.alnwickcastle.com/]
|-
|}

=== 2. Ashington ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Woodhorn Colliery Museum''' Queen Elizabeth II Country Park, Ashington, Northumberland, Tel: (01670) 856968
|-
| | Displays
| | Social and industrial history of mining and mining communities in southeast Northumberland, working winding engine
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Wed.–Sun. all year
|-
| | Website
| | [https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/woodhorn-museum/ https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/woodhorn-museum/]
|-
|}

=== 3. Barnard Castle ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''The Bowes Museum''', Barnard Castle, Co. Durham, DL12 8NP. Tel. (01833) 690606
|-
| | Collections
| | Regional (Northern England generally, Northumberland , Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World wide, minerals, rocks fossils (Carboniferous plants and rocks minerals and rocks from around the world)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year.
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.chillingham-castle.com/ www. bowesmuseum.org.uk/]
|-
|}
=== 4. Beamish ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''The North of England Open Air Museum''', Beamish, Co. Durham, DH9 ORG, Tel. (0191) 3704000
|-
| | Displays
| | Social history of Coal Mining, reconstructed pre-WW1 coal mine
|-
| | Collections
| | Photographic records, archive, geological library (relating to lead, coal and ironstone mining in North East England)
|-
| | Catalogues
| | Access to catalogues of Photographic records, archive, geological library collections by appointment
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale., mining
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Summer all week, winter closed Mon. and Fri closed over Christmas period.
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.beamish.org.uk/ http://www.beamish.org.uk/] www.beamish-museum.co.uk/
|-
|}
=== 5. Berwick ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Berwick-upon-Tweed Borough Museum and Art Gallery''', The Clock Block, Berwick Barracks, Ravensdowne, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland, TD15 1DQ, TeL (01289 330044 ext. 269).
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, UK, minerals, rocks, fossils, geological library
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| |
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Summer, all week; Winter, Wed.–Sun.
|-
| | Website
| | [https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/berwick-museum-art-gallery/ https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/berwick-museum-art-gallery/]
|-
|}
=== 6 Chillingham ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Chillingham Castle''', Chillingham, Northumberland, NE66 5NI, Tel. (01668) 215359
|-
| | Displays
| | Local, (very small, Carboniferous plants)
|-
| | Temporary exhibitions
| | Ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, fossils (Carboniferous plants, very small)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Easter-30 Sept., Winter by appointment.
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.chillingham-castle.com/ www.chillingham-castle.com/]
|-
|}
=== 7. Hartlepool ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Museum of Hartlepool''', Jackson Dock, Hartlepool, TS24 0XZ, TeL (01429) 860077.
|-
| | Collections
| | Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), World Wide, (small), minerals, rocks, fossils, geological library
|-
| | Geological activities
| | occasional
|-
| | Admission charge
| | no
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year
|-
|}
=== 8. Middlesborough ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Dorman Museum''', Linthorpe Road, Middlesborough, Cleveland, Tel. (01642) 813781
|-
| | Displays
| | Local Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria], General geology
|-
| | '''Temporary Exhibitions'''
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, Regional (Cleveland, Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World Wide, minerals (particular strength), rocks, fossils. Photographic records, Archive, geological library.
|-
| | Catalogues
| | unpublished catalogues can be made available for study
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| | professional geologist on staff
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all year, Tues–Sun. Study and laboratory facilities available
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.dormanmuseum.co.uk/ www.dormanmuseum.co.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 9. Morpeth ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Wallington Hall''' (National Trust), Cambo, .Near Morpeth, Northumberland, Tel. (01670) 773600
|-
| | Displays
| | General geology (curiosity collection of rocks, minerals and fossils)
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, UK (small), minerals, Regional fossils
|-
| | Catalogues
| | available to view in building
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | April 1st Oct 31st all week, except Tuesday.
|-
| | Website
| | [https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/wallington https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/wallington]
|-
|}

=== 10. Newcastle ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Hancock Museum''', Barras Bridge, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, NE2 4PT, Tel. (0191) 222 6765
|-
| | Displays
| | Local, Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), General geology
|-
| | Temporary exhibitions
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World Wide, minerals (particular strength), rocks, fossils (particular strength) (see above), Photographic records, Archive geological library
|-
| | Catalogues
| | Yes, other collection information can be made available
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| | professional geologist on staff
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year (except Sunday mornings).
|-
| | Website
| | [https://greatnorthmuseum.org.uk/ https://greatnorthmuseum.org.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 11. South Shields ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''South Shields Museum and Art Gallery''', Ocean Road, South Shields, Tyne and Wear, NE33 2TA, Tel. (0191) 456 8740
|-
| | Displays
| | Local (geology displays within local history context),
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| |
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year (except Sunday mornings)
|-
| | Website
| | [https://southshieldsmuseum.org.uk/ https://southshieldsmuseum.org.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 12. Sunderland ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens''', Burdon Road, Sunderland, SR1 1PP, Tel. (0191) 553 2323
|-
| | Displays
| | Local, Regional (Cleveland, Northern England (generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria])
|-
| | Temporary exhibitions
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World Wide, minerals (particular strength), rocks, fossils (particular strength) (see above) Photographic records, Archive, geological library
|-
| |
| | No, but collection information available
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| | professional geologist on staff
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year (except Sunday mornings)
|-
| | Website
| | [https://sunderlandculture.org.uk/our-venues/sunderland-museum-winter-gardens/ https://sunderlandculture.org.uk/our-venues/sunderland-museum-winter-gardens/]
|-
|}

=== 13. Weardale ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''The Weardale Museum''', Ireshopeburn, Weardale, Co. Durham, Tel. (01388) 537417
|-
| | Displays
| | Local (minerals and fossils, small)
|-
| | '''Temporary Exhibitions'''
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, minerals (particular strength), fossils, Photographic records, geological ibrary (small)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | May–Sept, Wed–Sun August all week afternoons only
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.weardalemuseum.co.uk/ http://www.weardalemuseum.co.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 14. Weardale ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Kilhope, The North of England Lead Mining Museum''', Cowshill, Upper Weardale, Co. Durham, DL13 1AR. Tel. (01388) 537505
|-
| | Displays
| | Local Regional (North Pennines), restored igth century lead mining site with water wheel)
|-
| | '''Temporary Exhibitions'''
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Regional (North Pennines, collections relating to the industrial history of lead mining)
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| |
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale (including souvenir specimens)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | April 1st–Sept. 30th and weekends in October any other time by arrangement
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.killhope.org.uk/ http://www.killhope.org.uk/]
|-
|}

== Acknowledgements ==

Many thanks are due to all the institutions in this guide for providing the above information and particularly to Ken Sedman (Cleveland Geology and Environmental Resources), Tim Pettigrew and Alec Coles (Tyne and Wear Museums), and Andy Newman (University of Newcastle upon Tyne).

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Glossary|Glossary]] ==

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Bibliography|Bibliography]] ==

{{EWwalks}}

[[Category:7. Northern England]]

Geology in Northumbrian Museums

2020-04-10T17:31:35Z

YGSJET:

{{YGSNorthumbrianRocks}}

By '''Steve McLean''' Hancock Museum, Newcastle upon Tyne

== Introduction ==

The museums listed in this guide are situated within the counties of Northumberland, Durham, Tyne and Wear, and Cleveland north of the River Tees. Local museums with geological collections or displays present an ideal starting point from which to investigate the geology of the immediate area. Such institutions tend to collect locally or regionally and often possess top quality specimens acquired over a long period of time, many from localities which are no longer accessible. This is particularly true considering the extensive mining history of the area and the quantity of specimens which have found their way into museums as a direct result. In addition, extensive U.K. or indeed world collections are not uncommon, usually resulting from the prodigious efforts of 19th century collectors during the 'Golden Age' of geology.

In the area represented by this guide, there are three principal geological collections housed in museums. By far the largest is the collection owned by the Natural History Society of Northumbria at the Hancock Museum in Newcastle (currently managed by Tyne and Wear Museums). The earliest part of this collection dates from the beginning of the 19th century and now contains approximately 50 000 specimens, the largest proportion of which are local Carboniferous and Permian fossils. There are over 8000 mineral specimens, principally from the North Pennine Orefield.

The second largest collection, located at Sunderland Museum, is owned by Tyne and Wear Museums. Although the oldest recorded specimen dates back to 1815, the rest of the collection was begun in 1836 when the Sunderland Natural History and Antiquarian Society was founded. There are approximately 20 000 geological specimens, the largest part consisting of Permian fossils and rocks from the Zechstein strata of northeast England. The mineral collection contains over 4000 specimens collected principally from the North Pennine Orefield.

The third largest collection in the area is owned by Cleveland County Council and is housed at the Southlands Centre in Middlesbrough. The geological collection dates from 1975 and currently numbers 12–15 000 specimens, including minerals from northern England, especially the north Pennines, the Lake District and Caldbeck Fells, and regional Carboniferous, Permian and Jurassic fossils.

== Museums ==

=== 1. Alnwick ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Museum of Antiquities''', Alnwick Castle, Alnwick, Northumberland, NE66 1NQ, Tel. (01665) 510777
|-
| | Collections
| | World wide, Regional, minerals (particular strength), geological library
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | April–Oct daily
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.chillingham-castle.com/ www.alnwickcastle.com/]
|-
|}

=== 2. Ashington ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Woodhorn Colliery Museum''' Queen Elizabeth II Country Park, Ashington, Northumberland, Tel: (01670) 856968
|-
| | Displays
| | Social and industrial history of mining and mining communities in southeast Northumberland, working winding engine
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Wed.–Sun. all year
|-
| | Website
| | [https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/woodhorn-museum/ https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/woodhorn-museum/]
|-
|}

=== 3. Barnard Castle ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''The Bowes Museum''', Barnard Castle, Co. Durham, DL12 8NP. Tel. (01833) 690606
|-
| | Collections
| | Regional (Northern England generally, Northumberland , Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World wide, minerals, rocks fossils (Carboniferous plants and rocks minerals and rocks from around the world)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year.
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.chillingham-castle.com/ www. bowesmuseum.org.uk/]
|-
|}
=== 4. Beamish ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''The North of England Open Air Museum''', Beamish, Co. Durham, DH9 ORG, Tel. (0191) 3704000
|-
| | Displays
| | Social history of Coal Mining, reconstructed pre-WW1 coal mine
|-
| | Collections
| | Photographic records, archive, geological library (relating to lead, coal and ironstone mining in North East England)
|-
| | Catalogues
| | Access to catalogues of Photographic records, archive, geological library collections by appointment
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale., mining
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Summer all week, winter closed Mon. and Fri closed over Christmas period.
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.beamish.org.uk/ http://www.beamish.org.uk/] www.beamish-museum.co.uk/
|-
|}
=== 5. Berwick ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Berwick-upon-Tweed Borough Museum and Art Gallery''', The Clock Block, Berwick Barracks, Ravensdowne, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland, TD15 1DQ, TeL (01289 330044 ext. 269).
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, UK, minerals, rocks, fossils, geological library
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| |
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Summer, all week; Winter, Wed.–Sun.
|-
| | Website
| | [https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/berwick-museum-art-gallery/ https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/berwick-museum-art-gallery/]
|-
|}
=== 6 Chillingham ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Chillingham Castle''', Chillingham, Northumberland, NE66 5NI, Tel. (01668) 215359
|-
| | Displays
| | Local, (very small, Carboniferous plants)
|-
| | Temporary exhibitions
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, fossils (Carboniferous plants, very small)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Easter-30 Sept., Winter by appointment.
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.chillingham-castle.com/ www.chillingham-castle.com/]
|-
|}
=== 7. Hartlepool ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Museum of Hartlepool''', Jackson Dock, Hartlepool, TS24 0XZ, TeL (01429) 860077.
|-
| | Collections
| | Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), World Wide, (small), minerals, rocks, fossils, geological library
|-
| | Geological activities
| | occasional
|-
| | Admission charge
| | no
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year
|-
|}
=== 8. Middlesborough ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Dorman Museum''', Linthorpe Road, Middlesborough, Cleveland, Tel. (01642) 813781
|-
| | Displays
| | Local Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria], General geology
|-
| | '''Temporary Exhibitions'''
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, Regional (Cleveland, Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World Wide, minerals (particular strength), rocks, fossils. Photographic records, Archive, geological library.
|-
| | Catalogues
| | unpublished catalogues can be made available for study
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| | professional geologist on staff
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all year, Tues–Sun. Study and laboratory facilities available
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.dormanmuseum.co.uk/ www.dormanmuseum.co.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 9. Morpeth ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Wallington Hall''' (National Trust), Cambo, .Near Morpeth, Northumberland, Tel. (01670) 773600
|-
| | Displays
| | General geology (curiosity collection of rocks, minerals and fossils)
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, UK (small), minerals, Regional fossils
|-
| | Catalogues
| | available to view in building
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | April 1st Oct 31st all week, except Tuesday.
|-
| | Website
| | [https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/wallington https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/wallington]
|-
|}

=== 10. Newcastle ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Hancock Museum''', Barras Bridge, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, NE2 4PT, Tel. (0191) 222 6765
|-
| | Displays
| | Local, Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), General geology
|-
| | Temporary exhibitions
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World Wide, minerals (particular strength), rocks, fossils (particular strength) (see above), Photographic records, Archive geological library
|-
| | Catalogues
| | Yes, other collection information can be made available
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| | professional geologist on staff
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year (except Sunday mornings).
|-
| | Website
| | [https://greatnorthmuseum.org.uk/ https://greatnorthmuseum.org.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 11. South Shields ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''South Shields Museum and Art Gallery''', Ocean Road, South Shields, Tyne and Wear, NE33 2TA, Tel. (0191) 456 8740
|-
| | Displays
| | Local (geology displays within local history context),
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| |
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year (except Sunday mornings)
|-
| | Website
| | [https://southshieldsmuseum.org.uk/ https://southshieldsmuseum.org.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 12. Sunderland ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens''', Burdon Road, Sunderland, SR1 1PP, Tel. (0191) 553 2323
|-
| | Displays
| | Local, Regional (Cleveland, Northern England (generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria])
|-
| | Temporary exhibitions
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World Wide, minerals (particular strength), rocks, fossils (particular strength) (see above) Photographic records, Archive, geological library
|-
| |
| | No, but collection information available
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| | professional geologist on staff
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year (except Sunday mornings)
|-
| | Website
| | [https://sunderlandculture.org.uk/our-venues/sunderland-museum-winter-gardens/ https://sunderlandculture.org.uk/our-venues/sunderland-museum-winter-gardens/]
|-
|}

=== 13. Weardale ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''The Weardale Museum''', Ireshopeburn, Weardale, Co. Durham, Tel. (01388) 537417
|-
| | Displays
| | Local (minerals and fossils, small)
|-
| | '''Temporary Exhibitions'''
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, minerals (particular strength), fossils, Photographic records, geological ibrary (small)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | May–Sept, Wed–Sun August all week afternoons only
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.weardalemuseum.co.uk/ http://www.weardalemuseum.co.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 14. Weardale ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Kilhope, The North of England Lead Mining Museum''', Cowshill, Upper Weardale, Co. Durham, DL13 1AR. Tel. (01388) 537505
|-
| | Displays
| | Local Regional (North Pennines), restored igth century lead mining site with water wheel)
|-
| | '''Temporary Exhibitions'''
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Regional (North Pennines, collections relating to the industrial history of lead mining)
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| |
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale (including souvenir specimens)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | April 1st–Sept. 30th and weekends in October any other time by arrangement
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.killhope.org.uk/ http://www.killhope.org.uk/]
|-
|}

== Acknowledgements ==

Many thanks are due to all the institutions in this guide for providing the above information and particularly to Ken Sedman (Cleveland Geology and Environmental Resources), Tim Pettigrew and Alec Coles (Tyne and Wear Museums), and Andy Newman (University of Newcastle upon Tyne).

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Glossary|Glossary]] ==

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Bibliography|Bibliography]] ==

{{EWwalks}}

[[Category:7. Northern England]]

Geology in Northumbrian Museums

2020-04-10T17:28:33Z

YGSJET:

{{YGSNorthumbrianRocks}}

By '''Steve McLean''' Hancock Museum, Newcastle upon Tyne

== Introduction ==

The museums listed in this guide are situated within the counties of Northumberland, Durham, Tyne and Wear, and Cleveland north of the River Tees. Local museums with geological collections or displays present an ideal starting point from which to investigate the geology of the immediate area. Such institutions tend to collect locally or regionally and often possess top quality specimens acquired over a long period of time, many from localities which are no longer accessible. This is particularly true considering the extensive mining history of the area and the quantity of specimens which have found their way into museums as a direct result. In addition, extensive U.K. or indeed world collections are not uncommon, usually resulting from the prodigious efforts of 19th century collectors during the 'Golden Age' of geology.

In the area represented by this guide, there are three principal geological collections housed in museums. By far the largest is the collection owned by the Natural History Society of Northumbria at the Hancock Museum in Newcastle (currently managed by Tyne and Wear Museums). The earliest part of this collection dates from the beginning of the 19th century and now contains approximately 50 000 specimens, the largest proportion of which are local Carboniferous and Permian fossils. There are over 8000 mineral specimens, principally from the North Pennine Orefield.

The second largest collection, located at Sunderland Museum, is owned by Tyne and Wear Museums. Although the oldest recorded specimen dates back to 1815, the rest of the collection was begun in 1836 when the Sunderland Natural History and Antiquarian Society was founded. There are approximately 20 000 geological specimens, the largest part consisting of Permian fossils and rocks from the Zechstein strata of northeast England. The mineral collection contains over 4000 specimens collected principally from the North Pennine Orefield.

The third largest collection in the area is owned by Cleveland County Council and is housed at the Southlands Centre in Middlesbrough. The geological collection dates from 1975 and currently numbers 12–15 000 specimens, including minerals from northern England, especially the north Pennines, the Lake District and Caldbeck Fells, and regional Carboniferous, Permian and Jurassic fossils.

== Museums ==

=== 1. Alnwick ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Museum of Antiquities''', Alnwick Castle, Alnwick, Northumberland, NE66 1NQ, Tel. (01665) 510777
|-
| | Collections
| | World wide, Regional, minerals (particular strength), geological library
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | April–Oct daily
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.chillingham-castle.com/ www.alnwickcastle.com/]
|-
|}

=== 2. Ashington ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Woodhorn Colliery Museum''' Queen Elizabeth II Country Park, Ashington, Northumberland, Tel: (01670) 856968
|-
| | Displays
| | Social and industrial history of mining and mining communities in southeast Northumberland, working winding engine
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Wed.–Sun. all year
|-
| | Website
| | [https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/woodhorn-museum/ https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/woodhorn-museum/]
|-
|}

=== 3. Barnard Castle ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''The Bowes Museum''', Barnard Castle, Co. Durham, DL12 8NP. Tel. (01833) 690606
|-
| | Collections
| | Regional (Northern England generally, Northumberland , Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World wide, minerals, rocks fossils (Carboniferous plants and rocks minerals and rocks from around the world)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year.
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.chillingham-castle.com/ www. bowesmuseum.org.uk/]
|-
|}
=== 4. Beamish ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''The North of England Open Air Museum''', Beamish, Co. Durham, DH9 ORG, Tel. (0191) 3704000
|-
| | Displays
| | Social history of Coal Mining, reconstructed pre-WW1 coal mine
|-
| | Collections
| | Photographic records, archive, geological library (relating to lead, coal and ironstone mining in North East England)
|-
| | Catalogues
| | Access to catalogues of Photographic records, archive, geological library collections by appointment
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale., mining
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Summer all week, winter closed Mon. and Fri closed over Christmas period.
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.beamish.org.uk/ http://www.beamish.org.uk/] www.beamish-museum.co.uk/
|-
|}
=== 5. Berwick ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Berwick-upon-Tweed Borough Museum and Art Gallery''', The Clock Block, Berwick Barracks, Ravensdowne, Berwick-upon-Tweed, ,Northumberland, 7Dr5 1DQ, TeL (01289 330044 ext. 269).
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, UK, minerals, rocks, fossils, geological library
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| |
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | summer, all week Winter, Wed.–Sun.
|-
| | Website
| | [https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/berwick-museum-art-gallery/ https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/berwick-museum-art-gallery/]
|-
|}
=== 6 Chillingham ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Chillingham Castle''', Chillingham, Northumberland, NE66 5NI, Tel. (01668) 215359
|-
| | Displays
| | Local, (very small, Carboniferous plants)
|-
| | Temporary exhibitions
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, fossils (Carboniferous plants, very small)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Easter-30 Sept., Winter by appointment.
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.chillingham-castle.com/ www.chillingham-castle.com/]
|-
|}
=== 7. Hartlepool ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Museum of Hartlepool''', Jackson Dock, Hartlepool, TS24 0XZ, TeL (01429) 860077.
|-
| | Collections
| | Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), World Wide, (small), minerals, rocks, fossils, geological library
|-
| | Geological activities
| | occasional
|-
| | Admission charge
| | no
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year
|-
|}
=== 8. Middlesborough ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Dorman Museum''', Linthorpe Road, Middlesborough, Cleveland, Tel. (01642) 813781
|-
| | Displays
| | Local Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria], General geology
|-
| | '''Temporary Exhibitions'''
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, Regional (Cleveland, Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World Wide, minerals (particular strength), rocks, fossils. Photographic records, Archive, geological library.
|-
| | Catalogues
| | unpublished catalogues can be made available for study
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| | professional geologist on staff
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all year, Tues–Sun. Study and laboratory facilities available
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.dormanmuseum.co.uk/ www.dormanmuseum.co.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 9. Morpeth ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Wallington Hall''' (National Trust), Cambo, .Near Morpeth, Northumberland, Tel. (01670) 773600
|-
| | Displays
| | General geology (curiosity collection of rocks, minerals and fossils)
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, UK (small), minerals, Regional fossils
|-
| | Catalogues
| | available to view in building
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | April 1st Oct 31st all week, except Tuesday.
|-
| | Website
| | [https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/wallington https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/wallington]
|-
|}

=== 10. Newcastle ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Hancock Museum''', Barras Bridge, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, NE2 4PT, Tel. (0191) 222 6765
|-
| | Displays
| | Local, Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), General geology
|-
| | Temporary exhibitions
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World Wide, minerals (particular strength), rocks, fossils (particular strength) (see above), Photographic records, Archive geological library
|-
| | Catalogues
| | Yes, other collection information can be made available
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| | professional geologist on staff
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year (except Sunday mornings).
|-
| | Website
| | [https://greatnorthmuseum.org.uk/ https://greatnorthmuseum.org.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 11. South Shields ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''South Shields Museum and Art Gallery''', Ocean Road, South Shields, Tyne and Wear, NE33 2TA, Tel. (0191) 456 8740
|-
| | Displays
| | Local (geology displays within local history context),
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| |
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year (except Sunday mornings)
|-
| | Website
| | [https://southshieldsmuseum.org.uk/ https://southshieldsmuseum.org.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 12. Sunderland ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens''', Burdon Road, Sunderland, SR1 1PP, Tel. (0191) 553 2323
|-
| | Displays
| | Local, Regional (Cleveland, Northern England (generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria])
|-
| | Temporary exhibitions
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World Wide, minerals (particular strength), rocks, fossils (particular strength) (see above) Photographic records, Archive, geological library
|-
| |
| | No, but collection information available
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| | professional geologist on staff
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year (except Sunday mornings)
|-
| | Website
| | [https://sunderlandculture.org.uk/our-venues/sunderland-museum-winter-gardens/ https://sunderlandculture.org.uk/our-venues/sunderland-museum-winter-gardens/]
|-
|}

=== 13. Weardale ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''The Weardale Museum''', Ireshopeburn, Weardale, Co. Durham, Tel. (01388) 537417
|-
| | Displays
| | Local (minerals and fossils, small)
|-
| | '''Temporary Exhibitions'''
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, minerals (particular strength), fossils, Photographic records, geological ibrary (small)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | May–Sept, Wed–Sun August all week afternoons only
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.weardalemuseum.co.uk/ http://www.weardalemuseum.co.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 14. Weardale ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Kilhope, The North of England Lead Mining Museum''', Cowshill, Upper Weardale, Co. Durham, DL13 1AR. Tel. (01388) 537505
|-
| | Displays
| | Local Regional (North Pennines), restored igth century lead mining site with water wheel)
|-
| | '''Temporary Exhibitions'''
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Regional (North Pennines, collections relating to the industrial history of lead mining)
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| |
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale (including souvenir specimens)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | April 1st–Sept. 30th and weekends in October any other time by arrangement
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.killhope.org.uk/ http://www.killhope.org.uk/]
|-
|}

== Acknowledgements ==

Many thanks are due to all the institutions in this guide for providing the above information and particularly to Ken Sedman (Cleveland Geology and Environmental Resources), Tim Pettigrew and Alec Coles (Tyne and Wear Museums), and Andy Newman (University of Newcastle upon Tyne).

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Glossary|Glossary]] ==

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Bibliography|Bibliography]] ==

{{EWwalks}}

[[Category:7. Northern England]]

Geology in Northumbrian Museums

2020-04-10T17:26:23Z

YGSJET:

{{YGSNorthumbrianRocks}}

By '''Steve McLean''' Hancock Museum, Newcastle upon Tyne

== Introduction ==

The museums listed in this guide are situated within the counties of Northumberland, Durham, Tyne and Wear, and Cleveland north of the River Tees. Local museums with geological collections or displays present an ideal starting point from which to investigate the geology of the immediate area. Such institutions tend to collect locally or regionally and often possess top quality specimens acquired over a long period of time, many from localities which are no longer accessible. This is particularly true considering the extensive mining history of the area and the quantity of specimens which have found their way into museums as a direct result. In addition, extensive U.K. or indeed world collections are not uncommon, usually resulting from the prodigious efforts of 19th century collectors during the 'Golden Age' of geology.

In the area represented by this guide, there are three principal geological collections housed in museums. By far the largest is the collection owned by the Natural History Society of Northumbria at the Hancock Museum in Newcastle (currently managed by Tyne and Wear Museums). The earliest part of this collection dates from the beginning of the 19th century and now contains approximately 50 000 specimens, the largest proportion of which are local Carboniferous and Permian fossils. There are over 8000 mineral specimens, principally from the North Pennine Orefield.

The second largest collection, located at Sunderland Museum, is owned by Tyne and Wear Museums. Although the oldest recorded specimen dates back to 1815, the rest of the collection was begun in 1836 when the Sunderland Natural History and Antiquarian Society was founded. There are approximately 20 000 geological specimens, the largest part consisting of Permian fossils and rocks from the Zechstein strata of northeast England. The mineral collection contains over 4000 specimens collected principally from the North Pennine Orefield.

The third largest collection in the area is owned by Cleveland County Council and is housed at the Southlands Centre in Middlesbrough. The geological collection dates from 1975 and currently numbers 12–15 000 specimens, including minerals from northern England, especially the north Pennines, the Lake District and Caldbeck Fells, and regional Carboniferous, Permian and Jurassic fossils.

== Museums ==

=== 1. Alnwick ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Museum of Antiquities''', Alnwick Castle, Alnwick, Northumberland, NE66 1NQ, Tel. (01665) 510777
|-
| | Collections
| | World wide, Regional, minerals (particular strength), geological library
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | April–Oct daily
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.chillingham-castle.com/ www.alnwickcastle.com/]
|-
|}

=== 2. Ashington ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Woodhorn Colliery Museum''' Queen Elizabeth II Country Park, Ashington, Northumberland, Tel: (01670) 856968
|-
| | Displays
| | Social and industrial history of mining and mining communities in southeast Northumberland, working winding engine
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Wed.–Sun. all year
|-
| | Website
| | [https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/woodhorn-museum/ https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/woodhorn-museum/]
|-
|}

=== 3. Barnard Castle ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''The Bowes Museum''', Barnard Castle, Co. Durham, DL12 8NP. Tel. (01833) 690606
|-
| | Collections
| | Regional (Northern England generally, Northumberland , Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World wide, minerals, rocks fossils (Carboniferous plants and rocks minerals and rocks from around the world)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year.
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.chillingham-castle.com/ www. bowesmuseum.org.uk/]
|-
|}
=== 4. Beamish ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''The North of England Open Air Museum''', Beamish, Co. Durham, DH9 ORG, Tel. (0191) 370 4000
|-
| | Displays
| | Social history of Coal Mining, reconstructed pre-World Wide, coal mine
|-
| | Collections
| | Photographic records, Archive, geological library (relating to lead, coal and ironstone mining in North East England)
|-
| | Catalogues
| | access to catalogues of Photographic records, Archive, geological library collections by appointment
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale., mining
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | summer all week, winter closed Mon. and Fri closed over Christmas period.
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.beamish.org.uk/ http://www.beamish.org.uk/] www.beamish-museum.co.uk/
|-
|}
=== 5. Berwick ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Berwick-upon-Tweed Borough Museum and Art Gallery''', The Clock Block, Berwick Barracks, Ravensdowne, Berwick-upon-Tweed, ,Northumberland, 7Dr5 1DQ, TeL (01289 330044 ext. 269).
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, UK, minerals, rocks, fossils, geological library
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| |
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | summer, all week Winter, Wed.–Sun.
|-
| | Website
| | [https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/berwick-museum-art-gallery/ https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/berwick-museum-art-gallery/]
|-
|}
=== 6 Chillingham ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Chillingham Castle''', Chillingham, Northumberland, NE66 5NI, Tel. (01668) 215359
|-
| | Displays
| | Local, (very small, Carboniferous plants)
|-
| | Temporary exhibitions
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, fossils (Carboniferous plants, very small)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Easter-30 Sept., Winter by appointment.
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.chillingham-castle.com/ www.chillingham-castle.com/]
|-
|}
=== 7. Hartlepool ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Museum of Hartlepool''', Jackson Dock, Hartlepool, TS24 0XZ, TeL (01429) 860077.
|-
| | Collections
| | Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), World Wide, (small), minerals, rocks, fossils, geological library
|-
| | Geological activities
| | occasional
|-
| | Admission charge
| | no
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year
|-
|}
=== 8. Middlesborough ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Dorman Museum''', Linthorpe Road, Middlesborough, Cleveland, Tel. (01642) 813781
|-
| | Displays
| | Local Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria], General geology
|-
| | '''Temporary Exhibitions'''
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, Regional (Cleveland, Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World Wide, minerals (particular strength), rocks, fossils. Photographic records, Archive, geological library.
|-
| | Catalogues
| | unpublished catalogues can be made available for study
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| | professional geologist on staff
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all year, Tues–Sun. Study and laboratory facilities available
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.dormanmuseum.co.uk/ www.dormanmuseum.co.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 9. Morpeth ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Wallington Hall''' (National Trust), Cambo, .Near Morpeth, Northumberland, Tel. (01670) 773600
|-
| | Displays
| | General geology (curiosity collection of rocks, minerals and fossils)
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, UK (small), minerals, Regional fossils
|-
| | Catalogues
| | available to view in building
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | April 1st Oct 31st all week, except Tuesday.
|-
| | Website
| | [https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/wallington https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/wallington]
|-
|}

=== 10. Newcastle ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Hancock Museum''', Barras Bridge, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, NE2 4PT, Tel. (0191) 222 6765
|-
| | Displays
| | Local, Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), General geology
|-
| | Temporary exhibitions
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World Wide, minerals (particular strength), rocks, fossils (particular strength) (see above), Photographic records, Archive geological library
|-
| | Catalogues
| | Yes, other collection information can be made available
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| | professional geologist on staff
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year (except Sunday mornings).
|-
| | Website
| | [https://greatnorthmuseum.org.uk/ https://greatnorthmuseum.org.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 11. South Shields ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''South Shields Museum and Art Gallery''', Ocean Road, South Shields, Tyne and Wear, NE33 2TA, Tel. (0191) 456 8740
|-
| | Displays
| | Local (geology displays within local history context),
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| |
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year (except Sunday mornings)
|-
| | Website
| | [https://southshieldsmuseum.org.uk/ https://southshieldsmuseum.org.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 12. Sunderland ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens''', Burdon Road, Sunderland, SR1 1PP, Tel. (0191) 553 2323
|-
| | Displays
| | Local, Regional (Cleveland, Northern England (generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria])
|-
| | Temporary exhibitions
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World Wide, minerals (particular strength), rocks, fossils (particular strength) (see above) Photographic records, Archive, geological library
|-
| |
| | No, but collection information available
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| | professional geologist on staff
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year (except Sunday mornings)
|-
| | Website
| | [https://sunderlandculture.org.uk/our-venues/sunderland-museum-winter-gardens/ https://sunderlandculture.org.uk/our-venues/sunderland-museum-winter-gardens/]
|-
|}

=== 13. Weardale ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''The Weardale Museum''', Ireshopeburn, Weardale, Co. Durham, Tel. (01388) 537417
|-
| | Displays
| | Local (minerals and fossils, small)
|-
| | '''Temporary Exhibitions'''
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, minerals (particular strength), fossils, Photographic records, geological ibrary (small)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | May–Sept, Wed–Sun August all week afternoons only
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.weardalemuseum.co.uk/ http://www.weardalemuseum.co.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 14. Weardale ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Kilhope, The North of England Lead Mining Museum''', Cowshill, Upper Weardale, Co. Durham, DL13 1AR. Tel. (01388) 537505
|-
| | Displays
| | Local Regional (North Pennines), restored igth century lead mining site with water wheel)
|-
| | '''Temporary Exhibitions'''
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Regional (North Pennines, collections relating to the industrial history of lead mining)
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| |
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale (including souvenir specimens)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | April 1st–Sept. 30th and weekends in October any other time by arrangement
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.killhope.org.uk/ http://www.killhope.org.uk/]
|-
|}

== Acknowledgements ==

Many thanks are due to all the institutions in this guide for providing the above information and particularly to Ken Sedman (Cleveland Geology and Environmental Resources), Tim Pettigrew and Alec Coles (Tyne and Wear Museums), and Andy Newman (University of Newcastle upon Tyne).

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Glossary|Glossary]] ==

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Bibliography|Bibliography]] ==

{{EWwalks}}

[[Category:7. Northern England]]

Geology in Northumbrian Museums

2020-04-10T17:24:28Z

YGSJET:

{{YGSNorthumbrianRocks}}

By '''Steve McLean''' Hancock Museum, Newcastle upon Tyne

== Introduction ==

The museums listed in this guide are situated within the counties of Northumberland, Durham, Tyne and Wear, and Cleveland north of the River Tees. Local museums with geological collections or displays present an ideal starting point from which to investigate the geology of the immediate area. Such institutions tend to collect locally or regionally and often possess top quality specimens acquired over a long period of time, many from localities which are no longer accessible. This is particularly true considering the extensive mining history of the area and the quantity of specimens which have found their way into museums as a direct result. In addition, extensive U.K. or indeed world collections are not uncommon, usually resulting from the prodigious efforts of 19th century collectors during the 'Golden Age' of geology.

In the area represented by this guide, there are three principal geological collections housed in museums. By far the largest is the collection owned by the Natural History Society of Northumbria at the Hancock Museum in Newcastle (currently managed by Tyne and Wear Museums). The earliest part of this collection dates from the beginning of the 19th century and now contains approximately 50 000 specimens, the largest proportion of which are local Carboniferous and Permian fossils. There are over 8000 mineral specimens, principally from the North Pennine Orefield.

The second largest collection, located at Sunderland Museum, is owned by Tyne and Wear Museums. Although the oldest recorded specimen dates back to 1815, the rest of the collection was begun in 1836 when the Sunderland Natural History and Antiquarian Society was founded. There are approximately 20 000 geological specimens, the largest part consisting of Permian fossils and rocks from the Zechstein strata of northeast England. The mineral collection contains over 4000 specimens collected principally from the North Pennine Orefield.

The third largest collection in the area is owned by Cleveland County Council and is housed at the Southlands Centre in Middlesbrough. The geological collection dates from 1975 and currently numbers 12–15 000 specimens, including minerals from northern England, especially the north Pennines, the Lake District and Caldbeck Fells, and regional Carboniferous, Permian and Jurassic fossils.

== Museums ==

=== 1. Alnwick ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Museum of Antiquities''', Alnwick Castle, Alnwick, Northumberland, NE66 1NQ, Tel. (01665) 510777
|-
| | Collections
| | World wide, Regional, minerals (particular strength), geological library
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | April–Oct daily
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.chillingham-castle.com/ www.alnwickcastle.com/]
|-
|}

=== 2. Ashington ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Woodhorn Colliery Museum''' Queen Elizabeth II Country Park, Ashington, Northumberland, Tel: (01670) 856968
|-
| | Displays
| | Social and industrial history of mining and mining communities in southeast Northumberland, working winding engine
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Wed.–Sun. all year
|-
| | Website
| | [https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/woodhorn-museum/ https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/woodhorn-museum/]
|-
|}

=== 3. Barnard Castle ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''The Bowes Museum''', Barnard Castle, Co. Durham, DL12 8NP. Tel. (01833) 690606
|-
| | Collections
| | Regional (Northern England 1generally Northumberland , Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World wide, minerals, rocks fossils (Carboniferous plants and rocks minerals and rocks from around the world)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year.
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.chillingham-castle.com/ www. bowesmuseum.org.uk/]
|-
|}
=== 4. Beamish ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''The North of England Open Air Museum''', Beamish, Co. Durham, DH9 ORG, Tel. (0191) 370 4000
|-
| | Displays
| | Social history of Coal Mining, reconstructed pre-World Wide, coal mine
|-
| | Collections
| | Photographic records, Archive, geological library (relating to lead, coal and ironstone mining in North East England)
|-
| | Catalogues
| | access to catalogues of Photographic records, Archive, geological library collections by appointment
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale., mining
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | summer all week, winter closed Mon. and Fri closed over Christmas period.
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.beamish.org.uk/ http://www.beamish.org.uk/] www.beamish-museum.co.uk/
|-
|}
=== 5. Berwick ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Berwick-upon-Tweed Borough Museum and Art Gallery''', The Clock Block, Berwick Barracks, Ravensdowne, Berwick-upon-Tweed, ,Northumberland, 7Dr5 1DQ, TeL (01289 330044 ext. 269).
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, UK, minerals, rocks, fossils, geological library
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| |
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | summer, all week Winter, Wed.–Sun.
|-
| | Website
| | [https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/berwick-museum-art-gallery/ https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/berwick-museum-art-gallery/]
|-
|}
=== 6 Chillingham ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Chillingham Castle''', Chillingham, Northumberland, NE66 5NI, Tel. (01668) 215359
|-
| | Displays
| | Local, (very small, Carboniferous plants)
|-
| | Temporary exhibitions
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, fossils (Carboniferous plants, very small)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Easter-30 Sept., Winter by appointment.
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.chillingham-castle.com/ www.chillingham-castle.com/]
|-
|}
=== 7. Hartlepool ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Museum of Hartlepool''', Jackson Dock, Hartlepool, TS24 0XZ, TeL (01429) 860077.
|-
| | Collections
| | Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), World Wide, (small), minerals, rocks, fossils, geological library
|-
| | Geological activities
| | occasional
|-
| | Admission charge
| | no
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year
|-
|}
=== 8. Middlesborough ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Dorman Museum''', Linthorpe Road, Middlesborough, Cleveland, Tel. (01642) 813781
|-
| | Displays
| | Local Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria], General geology
|-
| | '''Temporary Exhibitions'''
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, Regional (Cleveland, Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World Wide, minerals (particular strength), rocks, fossils. Photographic records, Archive, geological library.
|-
| | Catalogues
| | unpublished catalogues can be made available for study
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| | professional geologist on staff
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all year, Tues–Sun. Study and laboratory facilities available
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.dormanmuseum.co.uk/ www.dormanmuseum.co.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 9. Morpeth ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Wallington Hall''' (National Trust), Cambo, .Near Morpeth, Northumberland, Tel. (01670) 773600
|-
| | Displays
| | General geology (curiosity collection of rocks, minerals and fossils)
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, UK (small), minerals, Regional fossils
|-
| | Catalogues
| | available to view in building
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | April 1st Oct 31st all week, except Tuesday.
|-
| | Website
| | [https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/wallington https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/wallington]
|-
|}

=== 10. Newcastle ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Hancock Museum''', Barras Bridge, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, NE2 4PT, Tel. (0191) 222 6765
|-
| | Displays
| | Local, Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), General geology
|-
| | Temporary exhibitions
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World Wide, minerals (particular strength), rocks, fossils (particular strength) (see above), Photographic records, Archive geological library
|-
| | Catalogues
| | Yes, other collection information can be made available
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| | professional geologist on staff
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year (except Sunday mornings).
|-
| | Website
| | [https://greatnorthmuseum.org.uk/ https://greatnorthmuseum.org.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 11. South Shields ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''South Shields Museum and Art Gallery''', Ocean Road, South Shields, Tyne and Wear, NE33 2TA, Tel. (0191) 456 8740
|-
| | Displays
| | Local (geology displays within local history context),
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| |
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year (except Sunday mornings)
|-
| | Website
| | [https://southshieldsmuseum.org.uk/ https://southshieldsmuseum.org.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 12. Sunderland ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens''', Burdon Road, Sunderland, SR1 1PP, Tel. (0191) 553 2323
|-
| | Displays
| | Local, Regional (Cleveland, Northern England (generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria])
|-
| | Temporary exhibitions
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World Wide, minerals (particular strength), rocks, fossils (particular strength) (see above) Photographic records, Archive, geological library
|-
| |
| | No, but collection information available
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| | professional geologist on staff
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year (except Sunday mornings)
|-
| | Website
| | [https://sunderlandculture.org.uk/our-venues/sunderland-museum-winter-gardens/ https://sunderlandculture.org.uk/our-venues/sunderland-museum-winter-gardens/]
|-
|}

=== 13. Weardale ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''The Weardale Museum''', Ireshopeburn, Weardale, Co. Durham, Tel. (01388) 537417
|-
| | Displays
| | Local (minerals and fossils, small)
|-
| | '''Temporary Exhibitions'''
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, minerals (particular strength), fossils, Photographic records, geological ibrary (small)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | May–Sept, Wed–Sun August all week afternoons only
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.weardalemuseum.co.uk/ http://www.weardalemuseum.co.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 14. Weardale ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Kilhope, The North of England Lead Mining Museum''', Cowshill, Upper Weardale, Co. Durham, DL13 1AR. Tel. (01388) 537505
|-
| | Displays
| | Local Regional (North Pennines), restored igth century lead mining site with water wheel)
|-
| | '''Temporary Exhibitions'''
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Regional (North Pennines, collections relating to the industrial history of lead mining)
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| |
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale (including souvenir specimens)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | April 1st–Sept. 30th and weekends in October any other time by arrangement
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.killhope.org.uk/ http://www.killhope.org.uk/]
|-
|}

== Acknowledgements ==

Many thanks are due to all the institutions in this guide for providing the above information and particularly to Ken Sedman (Cleveland Geology and Environmental Resources), Tim Pettigrew and Alec Coles (Tyne and Wear Museums), and Andy Newman (University of Newcastle upon Tyne).

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Glossary|Glossary]] ==

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Bibliography|Bibliography]] ==

{{EWwalks}}

[[Category:7. Northern England]]

Geology in Northumbrian Museums

2020-04-10T17:19:35Z

YGSJET:

{{YGSNorthumbrianRocks}}

By '''Steve McLean''' Hancock Museum, Newcastle upon Tyne

== Introduction ==

The museums listed in this guide are situated within the counties of Northumberland, Durham, Tyne and Wear, and Cleveland north of the River Tees. Local museums with geological collections or displays present an ideal starting point from which to investigate the geology of the immediate area. Such institutions tend to collect locally or regionally and often possess top quality specimens acquired over a long period of time, many from localities which are no longer accessible. This is particularly true considering the extensive mining history of the area and the quantity of specimens which have found their way into museums as a direct result. In addition, extensive U.K. or indeed world collections are not uncommon, usually resulting from the prodigious efforts of 19th century collectors during the 'Golden Age' of geology.

In the area represented by this guide, there are three principal geological collections housed in museums. By far the largest is the collection owned by the Natural History Society of Northumbria at the Hancock Museum in Newcastle (currently managed by Tyne and Wear Museums). The earliest part of this collection dates from the beginning of the 19th century and now contains approximately 50 000 specimens, the largest proportion of which are local Carboniferous and Permian fossils. There are over 8000 mineral specimens, principally from the North Pennine Orefield.

The second largest collection, located at Sunderland Museum, is owned by Tyne and Wear Museums. Although the oldest recorded specimen dates back to 1815, the rest of the collection was begun in 1836 when the Sunderland Natural History and Antiquarian Society was founded. There are approximately 20 000 geological specimens, the largest part consisting of Permian fossils and rocks from the Zechstein strata of northeast England. The mineral collection contains over 4000 specimens collected principally from the North Pennine Orefield.

The third largest collection in the area is owned by Cleveland County Council and is housed at the Southlands Centre in Middlesbrough. The geological collection dates from 1975 and currently numbers 12–15 000 specimens, including minerals from northern England, especially the north Pennines, the Lake District and Caldbeck Fells, and regional Carboniferous, Permian and Jurassic fossils.

== Museums ==

=== 1. Alnwick ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Museum of Antiquities''', Alnwick Castle, Alnwick, Northumberland, NE66 1NQ, Tel. (01665) 510 777
|-
| | Collections
| | World wide, Regional, minerals (particular strength), geological library
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | April–Oct daily
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.chillingham-castle.com/ www.alnwickcastle.com/]
|-
|}

=== 2. Ashington ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Woodhorn Colliery Museum''' Queen Elizabeth II Country Park, Ashington, Northumberland, Tel: (01670) 856968
|-
| | Displays
| | (social and industrial history of mining and mining communities in southeast Northumberland, working winding engine)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Wed.–Sun. all year
|-
| | Website
| | [https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/woodhorn-museum/ https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/woodhorn-museum/]
|-
|}

=== 3. Barnard Castle ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''The Bowes Museum''', Barnard Castle, Co. Durham, DL12 8NP. Tel. (01833) 690606
|-
| | Collections
| | Regional (Northern England 1generally Northumberland , Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World wide, minerals, rocks fossils (Carboniferous plants and rocks minerals and rocks from around the world)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year.
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.chillingham-castle.com/ www. bowesmuseum.org.uk/]
|-
|}
=== 4. Beamish ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''The North of England Open Air Museum''', Beamish, Co. Durham, DH9 ORG, Tel. (0191) 370 4000
|-
| | Displays
| | Social history of Coal Mining, reconstructed pre-World Wide, coal mine
|-
| | Collections
| | Photographic records, Archive, geological library (relating to lead, coal and ironstone mining in North East England)
|-
| | Catalogues
| | access to catalogues of Photographic records, Archive, geological library collections by appointment
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale., mining
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | summer all week, winter closed Mon. and Fri closed over Christmas period.
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.beamish.org.uk/ http://www.beamish.org.uk/] www.beamish-museum.co.uk/
|-
|}
=== 5. Berwick ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Berwick-upon-Tweed Borough Museum and Art Gallery''', The Clock Block, Berwick Barracks, Ravensdowne, Berwick-upon-Tweed, ,Northumberland, 7Dr5 1DQ, TeL (01289 330044 ext. 269).
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, UK, minerals, rocks, fossils, geological library
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| |
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | summer, all week Winter, Wed.–Sun.
|-
| | Website
| | [https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/berwick-museum-art-gallery/ https://museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/berwick-museum-art-gallery/]
|-
|}
=== 6 Chillingham ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Chillingham Castle''', Chillingham, Northumberland, NE66 5NI, Tel. (01668) 215359
|-
| | Displays
| | Local, (very small, Carboniferous plants)
|-
| | Temporary exhibitions
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, fossils (Carboniferous plants, very small)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | Easter-30 Sept., Winter by appointment.
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.chillingham-castle.com/ www.chillingham-castle.com/]
|-
|}
=== 7. Hartlepool ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Museum of Hartlepool''', Jackson Dock, Hartlepool, TS24 0XZ, TeL (01429) 860077.
|-
| | Collections
| | Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), World Wide, (small), minerals, rocks, fossils, geological library
|-
| | Geological activities
| | occasional
|-
| | Admission charge
| | no
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year
|-
|}
=== 8. Middlesborough ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Dorman Museum''', Linthorpe Road, Middlesborough, Cleveland, Tel. (01642) 813781
|-
| | Displays
| | Local Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria], General geology
|-
| | '''Temporary Exhibitions'''
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, Regional (Cleveland, Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World Wide, minerals (particular strength), rocks, fossils. Photographic records, Archive, geological library.
|-
| | Catalogues
| | unpublished catalogues can be made available for study
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| | professional geologist on staff
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all year, Tues–Sun. Study and laboratory facilities available
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.dormanmuseum.co.uk/ www.dormanmuseum.co.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 9. Morpeth ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Wallington Hall''' (National Trust), Cambo, .Near Morpeth, Northumberland, Tel. (01670) 773600
|-
| | Displays
| | General geology (curiosity collection of rocks, minerals and fossils)
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, UK (small), minerals, Regional fossils
|-
| | Catalogues
| | available to view in building
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | April 1st Oct 31st all week, except Tuesday.
|-
| | Website
| | [https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/wallington https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/wallington]
|-
|}

=== 10. Newcastle ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Hancock Museum''', Barras Bridge, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, NE2 4PT, Tel. (0191) 222 6765
|-
| | Displays
| | Local, Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), General geology
|-
| | Temporary exhibitions
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World Wide, minerals (particular strength), rocks, fossils (particular strength) (see above), Photographic records, Archive geological library
|-
| | Catalogues
| | Yes, other collection information can be made available
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| | professional geologist on staff
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year (except Sunday mornings).
|-
| | Website
| | [https://greatnorthmuseum.org.uk/ https://greatnorthmuseum.org.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 11. South Shields ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''South Shields Museum and Art Gallery''', Ocean Road, South Shields, Tyne and Wear, NE33 2TA, Tel. (0191) 456 8740
|-
| | Displays
| | Local (geology displays within local history context),
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| |
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year (except Sunday mornings)
|-
| | Website
| | [https://southshieldsmuseum.org.uk/ https://southshieldsmuseum.org.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 12. Sunderland ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens''', Burdon Road, Sunderland, SR1 1PP, Tel. (0191) 553 2323
|-
| | Displays
| | Local, Regional (Cleveland, Northern England (generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria])
|-
| | Temporary exhibitions
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, Regional (Northern England [generally Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Cumbria]), UK, World Wide, minerals (particular strength), rocks, fossils (particular strength) (see above) Photographic records, Archive, geological library
|-
| |
| | No, but collection information available
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| | professional geologist on staff
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale
|-
| | Admission charge
| | No
|-
| | General opening hours
| | all week, all year (except Sunday mornings)
|-
| | Website
| | [https://sunderlandculture.org.uk/our-venues/sunderland-museum-winter-gardens/ https://sunderlandculture.org.uk/our-venues/sunderland-museum-winter-gardens/]
|-
|}

=== 13. Weardale ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''The Weardale Museum''', Ireshopeburn, Weardale, Co. Durham, Tel. (01388) 537417
|-
| | Displays
| | Local (minerals and fossils, small)
|-
| | '''Temporary Exhibitions'''
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Local, minerals (particular strength), fossils, Photographic records, geological ibrary (small)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | May–Sept, Wed–Sun August all week afternoons only
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.weardalemuseum.co.uk/ http://www.weardalemuseum.co.uk/]
|-
|}

=== 14. Weardale ===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| | Museum name and address
| | '''Kilhope, The North of England Lead Mining Museum''', Cowshill, Upper Weardale, Co. Durham, DL13 1AR. Tel. (01388) 537505
|-
| | Displays
| | Local Regional (North Pennines), restored igth century lead mining site with water wheel)
|-
| | '''Temporary Exhibitions'''
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Collections
| | Regional (North Pennines, collections relating to the industrial history of lead mining)
|-
| | Enquiry Service
| |
|-
| | Geological activities
| | ask museum for details
|-
| | Sales
| | Geological publications for sale (including souvenir specimens)
|-
| | Admission charge
| | Yes
|-
| | General opening hours
| | April 1st–Sept. 30th and weekends in October any other time by arrangement
|-
| | Website
| | [http://www.killhope.org.uk/ http://www.killhope.org.uk/]
|-
|}

== Acknowledgements ==

Many thanks are due to all the institutions in this guide for providing the above information and particularly to Ken Sedman (Cleveland Geology and Environmental Resources), Tim Pettigrew and Alec Coles (Tyne and Wear Museums), and Andy Newman (University of Newcastle upon Tyne).

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Glossary|Glossary]] ==

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Bibliography|Bibliography]] ==

{{EWwalks}}

[[Category:7. Northern England]]

Carboniferous and Permian rocks in southern County Durham - an excursion

2020-04-09T15:05:28Z

YGSJET:

{{YGSNorthumbrianRocks}}
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_1.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 17.1 Geological map of southern County Durham showing the localities described in the text (after Mills & Hull 1976).]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_2.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 17.2 Geological cross-section of the northern limb of the Middleton Tyas anticline. Line of section on Fig. 17.1.]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_3.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 17.3 Succession of Carboniferous Limestone cyclothems between Barnard Castle and Piercebridge, indicating sections exposed at each locality.]]

By '''Trevor Morse''' University of Durham and '''Denys Smith''' GEOPERM & University of Durham.

== Purpose ==

To examine the Carboniferous and Permian rocks, and the Tertiary Cleveland '''Dyke''', of the lower Tees valley and adjoining areas, southern County Durham.

== Logistics ==

{{YGSLogistics}}

The complete excursion occupies two days but can be split conveniently into shorter sections. A vehicle is essential because the localities are widely spaced ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_1.jpg|Figure 17.1]]). Cars can be parked at or near the roadside, and all roads are suitable for small coaches. Localities 1 and 2 involve up to 3 km walking on paths and rough ground in the Butterknowle and Cockfield Fell area. Localities 3–10 entail a total of up to 10 km walking along riverside paths of the Tees and Greta between Barnard Castle and Piercebridge, finishing at a quarry at High Coniscliffe (Locality 11). The excursion has been ordered for convenience of travel but could be rearranged in geological sequence to finish with Localities 1, 2, 10 and 11 ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_3.jpg|Figure 17.3]]). It would be best undertaken in early spring, when vegetation least masks outcrops and views.

Barnard Castle has pubs, public toilets, shops, restaurants and buildings of historical interest. Most of the other localities are near to villages with pubs and shops.

''Note: ''If the Rivers Tees and Greta are in flood, this excursion should not be attempted.

== Maps ==

O.S. 1:25 000 sheets NZ 02/12 Woodland & West Auckland, NZ 01/11 Barnard Castle & Gainford, NZ 21/31 Darlington; O.S. 1:50 000 sheets 92 Barnard Castle, 93 Middlesbrough & Darlington; B.G.S. 1:63 360 Sheet 32 Barnard Castle (solid and drift editions).

== Geological background ==

The area is dominated by the Carboniferous rocks on the northern flank of the broad, open Middleton Tyas '''Anticline''', an east–west striking '''Variscan''' structure ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_2.jpg|Figure 17.2]]) within the Stainmore Trough. The major subdivisions of the Carboniferous form three distinct east–west belts across the excursion area, generally '''dipping''' and younging towards the north ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_1.jpg|Figure 17.1]]). Dinantian rocks occupy the core of the anticline south of the River Tees (Barnard Castle to Piercebridge), the Namurian a central area from the River Tees to the north side of Langleydale, and the coal-bearing Westphalian rocks in the north form the southern edge of the Durham coalfield.

The Carboniferous succession is dominated by numerous repetitions of lithological sequences, called '''cyclothems''', which change in character from dominantly marine in the Dinantian to fluvio'''lacustrine''' in the Westphalian. This cyclicity reflects '''eustatic''' rise and fall of sea level, probably driven by an extended period of glaciation in polar regions, locally modified by '''tectonic''' and sedimentological effects. Dinantian '''lithologies''' are characterized by thick marine limestones, shales and sandstones, so called '''Yoredale''' cyclothems. During the Namurian, fluvial systems '''prograded''' from the northeast and east, resulting in the increasing dominance of medium to coarse-grained, usually '''cross-bedded''' sandstones. By Westphalian times, a vast floodplain had developed, with deltaic complexes building out into lakes and frequent episodes of soil formation with the development of a rich, tropical vegetation. These Coal Measures cycles consist of inter-distributary sands, silts and muds with well developed '''seatearths''' and coals, cut by medium-grained channel sandstones. Marine influence is limited to occasional thin bands of shales with marine fossils.

Following the Variscan Orogeny and a prolonged period of late Carboniferous and early Permian erosion, the Permian sequence, now dipping gently eastwards, '''unconformably oversteps''' successively lower units of the Carboniferous to the south. The fine-grained '''dolostone''' of the late Permian Raisby Formation (formerly the Lower Magnesian Limestone) is succeeded by the '''oolitic '''dolostone of the Ford Formation (formerly the Middle Magnesian Limestone). Younger Permian and Mesozoic rocks lie beyond the eastern margin of the area. During the early Tertiary the '''tholeiitic''' Cleveland Dyke, the most southerly representative of the Mull dyke swarm, was intruded into the country rock.

Apart from the exposures in the banks of the Tees and Greta, the southern part of County Durham has few good continuous sections. This is due to a variably thick covering of glacial deposits left by the most recent, late Devensian, ice advance. Resistant rock types form features in the landscape that rarely project through this mantle of '''drift'''.

== Excursion details ==

=== Locality 1, Butterknowle [NZ 115 255] ===

Park on the B6282 at the south side of the bridge, then follow the track along the River Guanless downstream to where it bends sharply to the north. Continue straight on into the linear quarry which worked the Cleveland Dyke, here 10 m wide, for roadstone. Note the method of quarrying whereby 0.5 m of the dyke rock was left as a retaining wall on each side to prevent the collapse of the Westphalian country rock into the workings. Where the retaining wall has fallen away, weak contact '''metamorphism''' can be seen, the effect most pronounced in fine-grained lithologies. The dyke is a '''porphyritic''' tholeiitic dolerite with a microcrystalline ground-mass and plagioclase '''feldspar phenocrysts'''; vesicles are also present. It is a typically massive, hard, dark grey to bluish-grey rock when fresh, but tends to darken when weathered and is easily distinguished from the country rock. The pattern of '''joints''' is rather irregular but appears to be sub-horizontal columnar jointing at the quarry face [NZ 118 253].

On Cockfield Fell [NZ 122 251] the dyke is 22 m wide, but entry to the workings is not possible there.

=== Locality 2 [NZ 131 251]–[NZ 118 255] ===

From the quarry by the River Guanless, cross rough ground to the south to the dismantled Bishop Auckland to Tebay railway, which crosses Cockfield Fell, and follow its course eastwards until it crosses the river. Upstream along the south bank, several exposures of Westphalian sediments, between the Brockwell and Busty coal seams, can be seen. There is evidence of past coal mining activity, with many spoil heaps, and on the opposite bank, a dismantled railway (West Auckland to Butterknowle) which served the mines of the area. These mines were worked by pillar and stall. The coal in the pillars is now being removed by opencast mining throughout the area. Siltstones overlying a ripple cross-bedded sandstone crop out at [NZ 126 253], a cross-bedded sandstone at [NZ 121 255], and shales dipping 5° to the northwest at [NZ 118 255].

Return to the vehicle, drive south through Cockfield and take the A688 via Staindrop to Barnard Castle.

=== Locality 3, Barnard Castle [NZ 053 159]–[NZ 048 165] ===

There is ample free car parking on the Demesnes [NZ 052 161], on the north bank of the River Tees. From the footpath on the south bank, reach the riverside near the mill where a traverse through Yoredale cycles of the early Namurian can be examined ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_3.jpg|Figure 17.3]]). The waterfall at the mill is formed by the dark-grey, thin-beddded, fine-grained Bottom Little Limestone (2.5 m) dipping 10° north. The 9 m shale with limestone ribs between the Bottom and Top Little Limestones is exposed between Demesnes and Thorngate Mills. Cross the footbridge to where the Top Little Limestone (5 m) can be seen on the north bank upstream of Thorngate Wynd [NZ 048 161] forming a natural ledge across the River Tees. The overlying shale (6 m), which is poorly exposed, is capped by the Ten Fathom Grit (9 m) and can be seen under the County Bridge. This is succeeded by the Bottom (11 m) and Top (7 m) Crag Limestones with intervening shales; the castle stands on this sequence.

Return to the vehicle and from the market cross in Barnard Castle, take the minor road towards Whorlton, turning off to Egglestone Abbey.

=== Locality 4, Egglestone Abbey [NZ 066 149] ===

Park just before the Abbey Bridge under which the River Tees has cut a gorge in the grey, massively bedded, '''bioclastic''' Great Limestone which marks the base of the Namurian. Upstream, the soft overlying beds are covered until, on the northern side and set back from the river bank, the White Hazle Sandstone forms a cliff. The overlying Bottom Little Limestone is not seen. The siltstones, shales and thin Coal Sills sandstones between the Great Limestone and the White Hazle Sandstone are exposed further upstream in the northern bank of the river.

Drive onto the A66, turn left then first right to Greta Bridge.

=== Locality 5, Greta Bridge and Brignall [NZ 076 119]–[NZ 086 132] ===

There is parking between the bridge and the Morritt Arms. Follow the River Greta upstream on the west bank to an exposure of the Five Yard Limestone [NZ 076 119], the lowest limestone seen in the western half of the Middleton Tyas Anticline. It is a grey, fine-grained, bioclastic limestone with a fauna of '''crinoid''' stems, '''corals''' and '''brachiopods''', gently dipping to the north. It forms a pavement at the river edge with the characteristic blocky pattern of the well-jointed Carboniferous limestones. Further downstream a brown, medium-grained, '''limonitic''' sandstone between the Five Yard and overlying Three Yard Limestones [NZ 078 124] is exposed in a river cliff. Return to the footpath and continue to the Scotchman's Stone (NZ 081 125), where the blue-grey, fine-grained, crinoidal Three Yard Limestone is exposed (better seen on the eastern bank). The Scotchman's Stone is a joint block of a brown, thick bedded, coarse-grained sandstone that has broken away from the cliff section seen above the eastern bank. It is seen again on the opposite bank at NZ 085 128. The top of this sandstone is approximately 8 m below the base of the Four Fathom Limestone which is not exposed. From the bridge looking north, the high ground is formed by the outcrop of the Great Limestone, which is seen in the next locality.

Return across the A66 to the 'Meeting of the Waters'.

=== Locality 6, 'Meeting of the Waters' [NZ 085 145] ===

The metalled road to this locality is private but may be used as a footpath. Approaching the confluence with the River Tees, the River Greta has cut through the top 20 m of the east–west striking Great Limestone, and is generally flowing down the gentle northerly dip slope into the River Tees.

Return to the A66, turn left and take the first left to Whorlton.

=== Locality 7, Whorlton Lido [NZ 108 145]–[NZ 113 145] ===

This is private property and a charge is made during the summer months for use of facilities and parking. However, there is a right of way through the property following the River Tees downstream to Wycliffe. Here the Tees flows over two small waterfalls formed by the resistant dark grey bioclastic Top Little Limestone. This 4 m thick unit dips 6° north, and is made up of three limestones, separated by grey shales that contain brachiopods. Overlying the Top Little Limestone are beds of fossiliferous shale and sandstone, which can be seen in the north bank and in Whorlton Beck. Continue through Whorlton and take the A67 to Winston

===Locality 8, Winston Bridge [NZ 138 158]–[NZ 143 163]===

There is ample car parking by the roadside, on each side of the bridge. Take the footpath upstream on the south side to the river bank, then continue upstream with care along the water's edge to a small waterfall, formed by the 10 m thick, grey, fine-grained, thin bedded Knucton Shell Bed Limestone. This unit is full of well preserved brachiopods, principally ''Spirifer. ''Turn back towards the bridge to work up the easterly dipping succession. Note 5 m of fossiliferous shales with fine-grained sandstone ribs overlying the shell bed, succeeded by 6 m of medium-grained ferruginous sandstone. This sandstone dips into the river under the bridge, and with care can be viewed on the north bank upstream of the bridge. Above the path between the road and the southern river bank just downstream of the bridge, it is possible with care to view the overlying grey, fine to medium-grained, Rookhope Shell Bed Limestone. There is a brachiopod-rich block of the limestone beside the footpath.

Continue east on the A67 to a lay-by on the right at Gainford Spa.

=== Locality 9, Gainford Spa [NZ 162 173] ===

From the lay-by, take the footpath to the river. Adjacent to the spa is an exposure of yellow to brown-weathered, medium-grained, laminated Namurian sandstone, with abundant carbonaceous laminae at the base. The upper unit truncates the underlying unit, approximately 1 m above the footpath. This sandstone lies between the Lower and Upper Felltop Limestone and directly above the Yoredale Coal.

Continue east on the A67 to Piercebridge.

=== Locality 10, Piercebridge [NZ 2100 1545] ===

Park in the village (can be difficult) and walk to a gap in the wall at the southwest end of the bridge. Through the gap, take the slippery steep 'path' to the riverside and walk c.70 m upstream to a vertical cliff. The gently dipping rock exposed here is near the base of the late Permian Raisby Formation and just above the unconformity on the Carboniferous. The unconformity crops out to the west but is unexposed. The Raisby Formation comprises buff slightly '''calcitic''' dolostone that is mainly vaguely thin-to medium-bedded but is divided into 1–1.5 m major units by notch-forming thin beds of brown leathery clay. The rock is very finely crystalline and microporous and much of it has been fragmented by internal mineralogical changes (''''autobrecciation''''). Poorly-preserved moulds of brachiopods, '''bivalves''', '''ostracodes''' and '''foraminifera''' are present in some beds.

Continue east on the A67 to High Coniscliffe.

=== Locality 11, old quarry at High Coniscliffe [NZ 2251 1525] ===

There is limited parking at the entry gate [NZ 2253 1530] on the A67 near the church. The enigmatic section in the main face is in lagoonal beds of the Ford Formation and comprises two rock units that meet at a sharp sub-horizontal very uneven surface (relief c.2 m). The lower unit (up to 3.5 m thick) is of soft, porous, finely oolitic buff dolostone in regular beds mainly 0.1–0.3 m thick, of which some are planar cross-bedded; the upper unit (up to 5 m ) is generally massive finely crystalline pale grey hard limestone that bears faint hints of bedding (and ?cross-bedding) in a few patches. The massive unit has a reef-like appearance and it may be a lagoonal patch-reef, but samples of it have so far failed to reveal a diagnostic reef fauna. The limestone may be secondary ('dedolomite) and produced by the reaction between former dolostone and groundwater rich in dissolved calcium sulphate. Dome-shaped structures up to about 1.2 m across in a minor north face could be '''algal'''.

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Glossary|Glossary]] ==

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Bibliography|Bibliography]] ==

{{EWwalks}}

[[Category:7. Northern England]]

Carboniferous and Permian rocks in southern County Durham - an excursion

2020-04-09T15:04:38Z

YGSJET:

{{YGSNorthumbrianRocks}}
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_1.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 17.1 Geological map of southern County Durham showing the localities described in the text (after Mills & Hull 1976).]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_2.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 17.2 Geological cross-section of the northern limb of the Middleton Tyas anticline. Line of section on Fig. 17.1.]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_3.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 17.3 Succession of Carboniferous Limestone cyclothems between Barnard Castle and Piercebridge, indicating sections exposed at each locality.]]

By '''Trevor Morse''' University of Durham and '''Denys Smith''' GEOPERM & University of Durham.

== Purpose ==

To examine the Carboniferous and Permian rocks, and the Tertiary Cleveland '''Dyke''', of the lower Tees valley and adjoining areas, southern County Durham.

== Logistics ==

{{YGSLogistics}}

The complete excursion occupies two days but can be split conveniently into shorter sections. A vehicle is essential because the localities are widely spaced ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_1.jpg|Figure 17.1]]). Cars can be parked at or near the roadside, and all roads are suitable for small coaches. Localities 1 and 2 involve up to 3 km walking on paths and rough ground in the Butterknowle and Cockfield Fell area. Localities 3–10 entail a total of up to 10 km walking along riverside paths of the Tees and Greta between Barnard Castle and Piercebridge, finishing at a quarry at High Coniscliffe (Locality 11). The excursion has been ordered for convenience of travel but could be rearranged in geological sequence to finish with Localities 1, 2, 10 and 11 ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_3.jpg|Figure 17.3]]). It would be best undertaken in early spring, when vegetation least masks outcrops and views.

Barnard Castle has pubs, public toilets, shops, restaurants and buildings of historical interest. Most of the other localities are near to villages with pubs and shops.

''Note: ''If the Rivers Tees and Greta are in flood, this excursion should not be attempted.

== Maps ==

O.S. 1:25 000 sheets NZ 02/12 Woodland & West Auckland, NZ 01/11 Barnard Castle & Gainford, NZ 21/31 Darlington; O.S. 1:50 000 sheets 92 Barnard Castle, 93 Middlesbrough & Darlington; B.G.S. 1:63 360 Sheet 32 Barnard Castle (solid and drift editions).

== Geological background ==

The area is dominated by the Carboniferous rocks on the northern flank of the broad, open Middleton Tyas '''Anticline''', an east–west striking '''Variscan''' structure ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_2.jpg|Figure 17.2]]) within the Stainmore Trough. The major subdivisions of the Carboniferous form three distinct east–west belts across the excursion area, generally '''dipping''' and younging towards the north ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_1.jpg|Figure 17.1]]). Dinantian rocks occupy the core of the anticline south of the River Tees (Barnard Castle to Piercebridge), the Namurian a central area from the River Tees to the north side of Langleydale, and the coal-bearing Westphalian rocks in the north form the southern edge of the Durham coalfield.

The Carboniferous succession is dominated by numerous repetitions of lithological sequences, called '''cyclothems''', which change in character from dominantly marine in the Dinantian to fluvio'''lacustrine''' in the Westphalian. This cyclicity reflects '''eustatic''' rise and fall of sea level, probably driven by an extended period of glaciation in polar regions, locally modified by '''tectonic''' and sedimentological effects. Dinantian '''lithologies''' are characterized by thick marine limestones, shales and sandstones, so called '''Yoredale''' cyclothems. During the Namurian, fluvial systems '''prograded''' from the northeast and east, resulting in the increasing dominance of medium to coarse-grained, usually '''cross-bedded''' sandstones. By Westphalian times, a vast floodplain had developed, with deltaic complexes building out into lakes and frequent episodes of soil formation with the development of a rich, tropical vegetation. These Coal Measures cycles consist of inter-distributary sands, silts and muds with well developed '''seatearths''' and coals, cut by medium-grained channel sandstones. Marine influence is limited to occasional thin bands of shales with marine fossils.

Following the Variscan Orogeny and a prolonged period of late Carboniferous and early Permian erosion, the Permian sequence, now dipping gently eastwards, '''unconformably oversteps''' successively lower units of the Carboniferous to the south. The fine-grained '''dolostone''' of the late Permian Raisby Formation (formerly the Lower Magnesian Limestone) is succeeded by the '''oolitic '''dolostone of the Ford Formation (formerly the Middle Magnesian Limestone). Younger Permian and Mesozoic rocks lie beyond the eastern margin of the area. During the early Tertiary the '''tholeiitic''' Cleveland Dyke, the most southerly representative of the Mull dyke swarm, was intruded into the country rock.

Apart from the exposures in the banks of the Tees and Greta, the southern part of County Durham has few good continuous sections. This is due to a variably thick covering of glacial deposits left by the most recent, late Devensian, ice advance. Resistant rock types form features in the landscape that rarely project through this mantle of '''drift'''.

== Excursion details ==

=== Locality 1, Butterknowle [NZ 115 255] ===

Park on the B6282 at the south side of the bridge, then follow the track along the River Guanless downstream to where it bends sharply to the north. Continue straight on into the linear quarry which worked the Cleveland Dyke, here 10 m wide, for roadstone. Note the method of quarrying whereby 0.5 m of the dyke rock was left as a retaining wall on each side to prevent the collapse of the Westphalian country rock into the workings. Where the retaining wall has fallen away, weak contact '''metamorphism''' can be seen, the effect most pronounced in fine-grained lithologies. The dyke is a '''porphyritic''' tholeiitic dolerite with a microcrystalline ground-mass and plagioclase '''feldspar phenocrysts'''; vesicles are also present. It is a typically massive, hard, dark grey to bluish-grey rock when fresh, but tends to darken when weathered and is easily distinguished from the country rock. The pattern of '''joints''' is rather irregular but appears to be sub-horizontal columnar jointing at the quarry face [NZ 118 253].

On Cockfield Fell [NZ 122 251] the dyke is 22 m wide, but entry to the workings is not possible there.

=== Locality 2 [NZ 131 251]–[NZ 118 255] ===

From the quarry by the River Guanless, cross rough ground to the south to the dismantled Bishop Auckland to Tebay railway, which crosses Cockfield Fell, and follow its course eastwards until it crosses the river. Upstream along the south bank, several exposures of Westphalian sediments, between the Brockwell and Busty coal seams, can be seen. There is evidence of past coal mining activity, with many spoil heaps, and on the opposite bank, a dismantled railway (West Auckland to Butterknowle) which served the mines of the area. These mines were worked by pillar and stall. The coal in the pillars is now being removed by opencast mining throughout the area. Siltstones overlying a ripple cross-bedded sandstone crop out at [NZ 126 253], a cross-bedded sandstone at [NZ 121 255], and shales dipping 5° to the northwest at [NZ 118 255].

Return to the vehicle, drive south through Cockfield and take the A688 via Staindrop to Barnard Castle.

=== Locality 3, Barnard Castle [NZ 053 159]–[NZ 048 165] ===

There is ample free car parking on the Demesnes [NZ 052 161], on the north bank of the River Tees. From the footpath on the south bank, reach the riverside near the mill where a traverse through Yoredale cycles of the early Namurian can be examined ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_3.jpg|Figure 17.3]]). The waterfall at the mill is formed by the dark-grey, thin-beddded, fine-grained Bottom Little Limestone (2.5 m) dipping 10° north. The 9 m shale with limestone ribs between the Bottom and Top Little Limestones is exposed between Demesnes and Thorngate Mills. Cross the footbridge to where the Top Little Limestone (5 m) can be seen on the north bank upstream of Thorngate Wynd [NZ 048 161] forming a natural ledge across the River Tees. The overlying shale (6 m), which is poorly exposed, is capped by the Ten Fathom Grit (9 m) and can be seen under the County Bridge. This is succeeded by the Bottom (11 m) and Top (7 m) Crag Limestones with intervening shales; the castle stands on this sequence.

Return to the vehicle and from the market cross in Barnard Castle, take the minor road towards Whorlton, turning off to Egglestone Abbey.

=== Locality 4, Egglestone Abbey [NZ 066 149] ===

Park just before the Abbey Bridge under which the River Tees has cut a gorge in the grey, massively bedded, '''bioclastic''' Great Limestone which marks the base of the Namurian. Upstream, the soft overlying beds are covered until, on the northern side and set back from the river bank, the White Hazle Sandstone forms a cliff. The overlying Bottom Little Limestone is not seen. The siltstones, shales and thin Coal Sills sandstones between the Great Limestone and the White Hazle Sandstone are exposed further upstream in the northern bank of the river.

Drive onto the A66, turn left then first right to Greta Bridge.

=== Locality 5, Greta Bridge and Brignall [NZ 076 119]–[NZ 086 132] ===

There is parking between the bridge and the Morritt Arms. Follow the River Greta upstream on the west bank to an exposure of the Five Yard Limestone [NZ 076 119], the lowest limestone seen in the western half of the Middleton Tyas Anticline. It is a grey, fine-grained, bioclastic limestone with a fauna of '''crinoid''' stems, '''corals''' and '''brachiopods''', gently dipping to the north. It forms a pavement at the river edge with the characteristic blocky pattern of the well-jointed Carboniferous limestones. Further downstream a brown, medium-grained, '''limonitic''' sandstone between the Five Yard and overlying Three Yard Limestones [NZ 078 124] is exposed in a river cliff. Return to the footpath and continue to the Scotchman's Stone (NZ 081 125), where the blue-grey, fine-grained, crinoidal Three Yard Limestone is exposed (better seen on the eastern bank). The Scotchman's Stone is a joint block of a brown, thick bedded, coarse-grained sandstone that has broken away from the cliff section seen above the eastern bank. It is seen again on the opposite bank at NZ 085 128. The top of this sandstone is approximately 8 m below the base of the Four Fathom Limestone which is not exposed. From the bridge looking north, the high ground is formed by the outcrop of the Great Limestone, which is seen in the next locality.

Return across the A66 to the 'Meeting of the Waters'.

=== Locality 6, 'Meeting of the Waters' [NZ 085 145] ===

The metalled road to this locality is private but may be used as a footpath. Approaching the confluence with the River Tees, the River Greta has cut through the top 20 m of the east–west striking Great Limestone, and is generally flowing down the gentle northerly dip slope into the River Tees.

Return to the A66, turn left and take the first left to Whorlton.

=== Locality 7, Whorlton Lido [NZ 108 145]–[NZ 113 145] ===

This is private property and a charge is made during the summer months for use of facilities and parking. However, there is a right of way through the property following the River Tees downstream to Wycliffe. Here the Tees flows over two small waterfalls formed by the resistant dark grey bioclastic Top Little Limestone. This 4 m thick unit dips 6° north, and is made up of three limestones, separated by grey shales that contain brachiopods. Overlying the Top Little Limestone are beds of fossiliferous shale and sandstone, which can be seen in the north bank and in Whorlton Beck. Continue through Whorlton and take the A67 to Winston

===Locality 8, Winston Bridge [NZ 138 158]–[NZ 143 163]===

There is ample car parking by the roadside, on each side of the bridge. Take the footpath upstream on the south side to the river bank, then continue upstream with care along the water's edge to a small waterfall, formed by the 10 m thick, grey, fine-grained, thin bedded Knucton Shell Bed Limestone. This unit is full of well preserved brachiopods, principally ''Spirifer. ''Turn back towards the bridge to work up the easterly dipping succession. Note 5 m of fossiliferous shales with fine-grained sandstone ribs overlying the shell bed, succeeded by 6 m of medium-grained ferruginous sandstone. This sandstone dips into the river under the bridge, and with care can be viewed on the north bank upstream of the bridge. Above the path between the road and the southern river bank just downstream of the bridge, it is possible with care to view the overlying grey, fine to medium-grained, Rookhope Shell Bed Limestone. There is a brachiopod-rich block of the limestone beside the footpath.

Continue east on the A67 to a lay-by on the right at Gainford Spa.

=== Locality 9, Gainford Spa [NZ 162 173] ===

From the lay-by, take the footpath to the river. Adjacent to the spa is an exposure of yellow to brown-weathered, medium-grained, laminated Namurian sandstone, with abundant carbonaceous laminae at the base. The upper unit truncates the underlying unit, approximately 1 m above the footpath. This sandstone lies between the Lower and Upper Felltop Limestone and directly above the Yoredale Coal.

Continue east on the A67 to Piercebridge.

=== Locality 10, Piercebridge [NZ 2100 1545] ===

Park in the village (can be difficult) and walk to a gap in the wall at the southwest end of the bridge. Through the gap, take the slippery steep 'path' to the riverside and walk c.70 m upstream to a vertical cliff. The gently dipping rock exposed here is near the base of the late Permian Raisby Formation and just above the unconformity on the Carboniferous. The unconformity crops out to the west but is unexposed. The Raisby Formation comprises buff slightly '''calcitic''' dolostone that is mainly vaguely thin-to medium-bedded but is divided into 1–1.5 m major units by notch-forming thin beds of brown leathery clay. The rock is very finely crystalline and microporous and much of it has been fragmented by internal mineralogical changes (''''autobrecciation''''). Poorly-preserved moulds of brachiopods, '''bivalves''', '''ostracodes''' and '''foraminifera''' are present in some beds.

Continue east on the A67 to High Coniscliffe.

=== Locality 11, old quarry at High Coniscliffe [NZ 2251 1525] ===

There is limited parking at the entry gate [NZ 2253 1530] on the A67 near the church. The enigmatic section in the main face is in lagoonal beds of the Ford Formation and comprises two rock units that meet at a sharp sub-horizontal very uneven surface (relief c.2 m). The lower unit (up to 3.5 m thick) is of soft, porous, finely oolitic buff dolostone in regular beds mainly 0.1–0.3 m thick, of which some are planar cross-bedded; the upper unit (up to 5 m ) is generally massive finely crystalline pale grey hard limestone that bears faint hints of bedding (and ?cross-bedding) in a few patches. The massive unit has a reef-like appearance and it may be a lagoonal patch-reef, but samples of it have so far failed to reveal a diagnostic reef fauna. The limestone may be secondary ('dedolomite) and produced by the reaction between former dolostone and groundwater rich in dissolved calcium sulphate. Dome-shaped structures up to about 1.2 m across in a minor north face could be algal.

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Glossary|Glossary]] ==

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Bibliography|Bibliography]] ==

{{EWwalks}}

[[Category:7. Northern England]]

Carboniferous and Permian rocks in southern County Durham - an excursion

2020-04-09T15:01:03Z

YGSJET:

{{YGSNorthumbrianRocks}}
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_1.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 17.1 Geological map of southern County Durham showing the localities described in the text (after Mills & Hull 1976).]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_2.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 17.2 Geological cross-section of the northern limb of the Middleton Tyas anticline. Line of section on Fig. 17.1.]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_3.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 17.3 Succession of Carboniferous Limestone cyclothems between Barnard Castle and Piercebridge, indicating sections exposed at each locality.]]

By '''Trevor Morse''' University of Durham and '''Denys Smith''' GEOPERM & University of Durham.

== Purpose ==

To examine the Carboniferous and Permian rocks, and the Tertiary Cleveland '''Dyke''', of the lower Tees valley and adjoining areas, southern County Durham.

== Logistics ==

{{YGSLogistics}}

The complete excursion occupies two days but can be split conveniently into shorter sections. A vehicle is essential because the localities are widely spaced ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_1.jpg|Figure 17.1]]). Cars can be parked at or near the roadside, and all roads are suitable for small coaches. Localities 1 and 2 involve up to 3 km walking on paths and rough ground in the Butterknowle and Cockfield Fell area. Localities 3–10 entail a total of up to 10 km walking along riverside paths of the Tees and Greta between Barnard Castle and Piercebridge, finishing at a quarry at High Coniscliffe (Locality 11). The excursion has been ordered for convenience of travel but could be rearranged in geological sequence to finish with Localities 1, 2, 10 and 11 ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_3.jpg|Figure 17.3]]). It would be best undertaken in early spring, when vegetation least masks outcrops and views.

Barnard Castle has pubs, public toilets, shops, restaurants and buildings of historical interest. Most of the other localities are near to villages with pubs and shops.

''Note: ''If the Rivers Tees and Greta are in flood, this excursion should not be attempted.

== Maps ==

O.S. 1:25 000 sheets NZ 02/12 Woodland & West Auckland, NZ 01/11 Barnard Castle & Gainford, NZ 21/31 Darlington; O.S. 1:50 000 sheets 92 Barnard Castle, 93 Middlesbrough & Darlington; B.G.S. 1:63 360 Sheet 32 Barnard Castle (solid and drift editions).

== Geological background ==

The area is dominated by the Carboniferous rocks on the northern flank of the broad, open Middleton Tyas '''Anticline''', an east–west striking '''Variscan''' structure ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_2.jpg|Figure 17.2]]) within the Stainmore Trough. The major subdivisions of the Carboniferous form three distinct east–west belts across the excursion area, generally '''dipping''' and younging towards the north ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_1.jpg|Figure 17.1]]). Dinantian rocks occupy the core of the anticline south of the River Tees (Barnard Castle to Piercebridge), the Namurian a central area from the River Tees to the north side of Langleydale, and the coal-bearing Westphalian rocks in the north form the southern edge of the Durham coalfield.

The Carboniferous succession is dominated by numerous repetitions of lithological sequences, called '''cyclothems''', which change in character from dominantly marine in the Dinantian to fluvio'''lacustrine''' in the Westphalian. This cyclicity reflects '''eustatic''' rise and fall of sea level, probably driven by an extended period of glaciation in polar regions, locally modified by '''tectonic''' and sedimentological effects. Dinantian '''lithologies''' are characterized by thick marine limestones, shales and sandstones, so called '''Yoredale''' cyclothems. During the Namurian, fluvial systems '''prograded''' from the northeast and east, resulting in the increasing dominance of medium to coarse-grained, usually '''cross-bedded''' sandstones. By Westphalian times, a vast floodplain had developed, with deltaic complexes building out into lakes and frequent episodes of soil formation with the development of a rich, tropical vegetation. These Coal Measures cycles consist of inter-distributary sands, silts and muds with well developed '''seatearths''' and coals, cut by medium-grained channel sandstones. Marine influence is limited to occasional thin bands of shales with marine fossils.

Following the Variscan Orogeny and a prolonged period of late Carboniferous and early Permian erosion, the Permian sequence, now dipping gently eastwards, '''unconformably oversteps''' successively lower units of the Carboniferous to the south. The fine-grained '''dolostone''' of the late Permian Raisby Formation (formerly the Lower Magnesian Limestone) is succeeded by the '''oolitic '''dolostone of the Ford Formation (formerly the Middle Magnesian Limestone). Younger Permian and Mesozoic rocks lie beyond the eastern margin of the area. During the early Tertiary the '''tholeiitic''' Cleveland Dyke, the most southerly representative of the Mull dyke swarm, was intruded into the country rock.

Apart from the exposures in the banks of the Tees and Greta, the southern part of County Durham has few good continuous sections. This is due to a variably thick covering of glacial deposits left by the most recent, late Devensian, ice advance. Resistant rock types form features in the landscape that rarely project through this mantle of '''drift'''.

== Excursion details ==

=== Locality 1, Butterknowle [NZ 115 255] ===

Park on the B6282 at the south side of the bridge, then follow the track along the River Guanless downstream to where it bends sharply to the north. Continue straight on into the linear quarry which worked the Cleveland Dyke, here 10 m wide, for roadstone. Note the method of quarrying whereby 0.5 m of the dyke rock was left as a retaining wall on each side to prevent the collapse of the Westphalian country rock into the workings. Where the retaining wall has fallen away, weak contact '''metamorphism''' can be seen, the effect most pronounced in fine-grained lithologies. The dyke is a '''porphyritic''' tholeiitic dolerite with a microcrystalline ground-mass and plagioclase '''feldspar phenocrysts'''; vesicles are also present. It is a typically massive, hard, dark grey to bluish-grey rock when fresh, but tends to darken when weathered and is easily distinguished from the country rock. The pattern of '''joints''' is rather irregular but appears to be sub-horizontal columnar jointing at the quarry face [NZ 118 253].

On Cockfield Fell [NZ 122 251] the dyke is 22 m wide, but entry to the workings is not possible there.

=== Locality 2 [NZ 131 251]–[NZ 118 255] ===

From the quarry by the River Guanless, cross rough ground to the south to the dismantled Bishop Auckland to Tebay railway, which crosses Cockfield Fell, and follow its course eastwards until it crosses the river. Upstream along the south bank, several exposures of Westphalian sediments, between the Brockwell and Busty coal seams, can be seen. There is evidence of past coal mining activity, with many spoil heaps, and on the opposite bank, a dismantled railway (West Auckland to Butterknowle) which served the mines of the area. These mines were worked by pillar and stall. The coal in the pillars is now being removed by opencast mining throughout the area. Siltstones overlying a ripple cross-bedded sandstone crop out at [NZ 126 253], a cross-bedded sandstone at [NZ 121 255], and shales dipping 5° to the northwest at [NZ 118 255].

Return to the vehicle, drive south through Cockfield and take the A688 via Staindrop to Barnard Castle.

=== Locality 3, Barnard Castle [NZ 053 159]–[NZ 048 165] ===

There is ample free car parking on the Demesnes [NZ 052 161], on the north bank of the River Tees. From the footpath on the south bank, reach the riverside near the mill where a traverse through Yoredale cycles of the early Namurian can be examined ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_3.jpg|Figure 17.3]]). The waterfall at the mill is formed by the dark-grey, thin-beddded, fine-grained Bottom Little Limestone (2.5 m) dipping 10° north. The 9 m shale with limestone ribs between the Bottom and Top Little Limestones is exposed between Demesnes and Thorngate Mills. Cross the footbridge to where the Top Little Limestone (5 m) can be seen on the north bank upstream of Thorngate Wynd [NZ 048 161] forming a natural ledge across the River Tees. The overlying shale (6 m), which is poorly exposed, is capped by the Ten Fathom Grit (9 m) and can be seen under the County Bridge. This is succeeded by the Bottom (11 m) and Top (7 m) Crag Limestones with intervening shales; the castle stands on this sequence.

Return to the vehicle and from the market cross in Barnard Castle, take the minor road towards Whorlton, turning off to Egglestone Abbey.

=== Locality 4, Egglestone Abbey [NZ 066 149] ===

Park just before the Abbey Bridge under which the River Tees has cut a gorge in the grey, massively bedded, '''bioclastic''' Great Limestone which marks the base of the Namurian. Upstream, the soft overlying beds are covered until, on the northern side and set back from the river bank, the White Hazle Sandstone forms a cliff. The overlying Bottom Little Limestone is not seen. The siltstones, shales and thin Coal Sills sandstones between the Great Limestone and the White Hazle Sandstone are exposed further upstream in the northern bank of the river.

Drive onto the A66, turn left then first right to Greta Bridge.

=== Locality 5, Greta Bridge and Brignall [NZ 076 119]–[NZ 086 132] ===

There is parking between the bridge and the Morritt Arms. Follow the River Greta upstream on the west bank to an exposure of the Five Yard Limestone [NZ 076 119], the lowest limestone seen in the western half of the Middleton Tyas Anticline. It is a grey, fine-grained, bioclastic limestone with a fauna of '''crinoid''' stems, '''corals''' and '''brachiopods''', gently dipping to the north. It forms a pavement at the river edge with the characteristic blocky pattern of the well-jointed Carboniferous limestones. Further downstream a brown, medium-grained, '''limonitic''' sandstone between the Five Yard and overlying Three Yard Limestones [NZ 078 124] is exposed in a river cliff. Return to the footpath and continue to the Scotchman's Stone (NZ 081 125), where the blue-grey, fine-grained, crinoidal Three Yard Limestone is exposed (better seen on the eastern bank). The Scotchman's Stone is a joint block of a brown, thick bedded, coarse-grained sandstone that has broken away from the cliff section seen above the eastern bank. It is seen again on the opposite bank at NZ 085 128. The top of this sandstone is approximately 8 m below the base of the Four Fathom Limestone which is not exposed. From the bridge looking north, the high ground is formed by the outcrop of the Great Limestone, which is seen in the next locality.

Return across the A66 to the 'Meeting of the Waters'.

=== Locality 6, 'Meeting of the Waters' [NZ 085 145] ===

The metalled road to this locality is private but may be used as a footpath. Approaching the confluence with the River Tees, the River Greta has cut through the top 20 m of the east–west striking Great Limestone, and is generally flowing down the gentle northerly dip slope into the River Tees.

Return to the A66, turn left and take the first left to Whorlton.

=== Locality 7, Whorlton Lido [NZ 108 145]–[NZ 113 145] ===

This is private property and a charge is made during the summer months for use of facilities and parking. However, there is a right of way through the property following the River Tees downstream to Wycliffe. Here the Tees flows over two small waterfalls formed by the resistant dark grey bioclastic Top Little Limestone. This 4 m thick unit dips 6° north, and is made up of three limestones, separated by grey shales that contain brachiopods. Overlying the Top Little Limestone are beds of fossiliferous shale and sandstone, which can be seen in the north bank and in Whorlton Beck. Continue through Whorlton and take the A67 to Winston

===Locality 8, Winston Bridge [NZ 138 158]–[NZ 143 163]===

There is ample car parking by the roadside, on each side of the bridge. Take the footpath upstream on the south side to the river bank, then continue upstream with care along the water's edge to a small waterfall, formed by the 10 m thick, grey, fine-grained, thin bedded Knucton Shell Bed Limestone. This unit is full of well preserved brachiopods, principally ''Spirifer. ''Turn back towards the bridge to work up the easterly dipping succession. Note 5 m of fossiliferous shales with fine-grained sandstone ribs overlying the shell bed, succeeded by 6 m of medium-grained ferruginous sandstone. This sandstone dips into the river under the bridge, and with care can be viewed on the north bank upstream of the bridge. Above the path between the road and the southern river bank just downstream of the bridge, it is possible with care to view the overlying grey, fine to medium-grained, Rookhope Shell Bed Limestone. There is a brachiopod-rich block of the limestone beside the footpath.

Continue east on the A67 to a lay-by on the right at Gainford Spa.

=== Locality 9, Gainford Spa [NZ 162 173] ===

From the lay-by, take the footpath to the river. Adjacent to the spa is an exposure of yellow to brown-weathered, medium-grained, laminated Namurian sandstone, with abundant carbonaceous laminae at the base. The upper unit truncates the underlying unit, approximately 1 m above the footpath. This sandstone lies between the Lower and Upper Felltop Limestone and directly above the Yoredale Coal.

Continue east on the A67 to Piercebridge.

=== Locality 10, Piercebridge [NZ 2100 1545] ===

Park in the village (can be difficult) and walk to a gap in the wall at the southwest end of the bridge. Through the gap, take the slippery steep 'path' to the riverside and walk c.70 m upstream to a vertical cliff. The gently dipping rock exposed here is near the base of the late Permian Raisby Formation and just above the unconformity on the Carboniferous. The unconformity crops out to the west but is unexposed. The Raisby Formation comprises buff slightly '''calcitic''' dolostone that is mainly vaguely thin-to medium-bedded but is divided into 1–1.5 m major units by notch-forming thin beds of brown leathery clay. The rock is very finely crystalline and microporous and much of it has been fragmented by internal mineralogical changes (''''autobrecciation''''). Poorly-preserved moulds of brachiopods, '''bivalves''', '''ostracodes''' and '''foraminifera''' are present in some beds.

Continue east on the A67 to High Coniscliffe.

=== Locality 11, old quarry at High Coniscliffe [NZ 2251 1525] ===

There is limited parking at the entry gate [NZ 2253 1530] on the A67 near the church. The enigmatic section in the main face is in lagoonal beds of the Ford Formation and comprises two rock units that meet at a sharp sub-horizontal very uneven surface (relief C.2 m). The lower unit (up to 3.5 m thick) is of soft, porous, finely oolitic buff dolostone in regular beds mainly 0.1–0.3 m thick, of which some are planar cross-bedded; the upper unit (up to 5 m ) is generally massive finely crystalline pale grey hard limestone that bears faint hints of bedding (and ?cross-bedding) in a few patches. The massive unit has a reef-like appearance and it may be a lagoonal patch-reef, but samples of it have so far failed to reveal a diagnostic reef fauna. The limestone may be secondary ('dedolomite) and produced by the reaction between former dolostone and groundwater rich in dissolved calcium sulphate. Dome-shaped structures up to about 1.2 m across in a minor north face could be algal.

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Glossary|Glossary]] ==

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Bibliography|Bibliography]] ==

{{EWwalks}}

[[Category:7. Northern England]]

Carboniferous and Permian rocks in southern County Durham - an excursion

2020-04-09T14:57:16Z

YGSJET:

{{YGSNorthumbrianRocks}}
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_1.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 17.1 Geological map of southern County Durham showing the localities described in the text (after Mills & Hull 1976).]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_2.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 17.2 Geological cross-section of the northern limb of the Middleton Tyas anticline. Line of section on Fig. 17.1.]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_3.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 17.3 Succession of Carboniferous Limestone cyclothems between Barnard Castle and Piercebridge, indicating sections exposed at each locality.]]

By '''Trevor Morse''' University of Durham and '''Denys Smith''' GEOPERM & University of Durham.

== Purpose ==

To examine the Carboniferous and Permian rocks, and the Tertiary Cleveland '''Dyke''', of the lower Tees valley and adjoining areas, southern County Durham.

== Logistics ==

{{YGSLogistics}}

The complete excursion occupies two days but can be split conveniently into shorter sections. A vehicle is essential because the localities are widely spaced ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_1.jpg|Figure 17.1]]). Cars can be parked at or near the roadside, and all roads are suitable for small coaches. Localities 1 and 2 involve up to 3 km walking on paths and rough ground in the Butterknowle and Cockfield Fell area. Localities 3–10 entail a total of up to 10 km walking along riverside paths of the Tees and Greta between Barnard Castle and Piercebridge, finishing at a quarry at High Coniscliffe (Locality 11). The excursion has been ordered for convenience of travel but could be rearranged in geological sequence to finish with Localities 1, 2, 10 and 11 ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_3.jpg|Figure 17.3]]). It would be best undertaken in early spring, when vegetation least masks outcrops and views.

Barnard Castle has pubs, public toilets, shops, restaurants and buildings of historical interest. Most of the other localities are near to villages with pubs and shops.

''Note: ''If the Rivers Tees and Greta are in flood, this excursion should not be attempted.

== Maps ==

O.S. 1:25 000 sheets NZ 02/12 Woodland & West Auckland, NZ 01/11 Barnard Castle & Gainford, NZ 21/31 Darlington; O.S. 1:50 000 sheets 92 Barnard Castle, 93 Middlesbrough & Darlington; B.G.S. 1:63 360 Sheet 32 Barnard Castle (solid and drift editions).

== Geological background ==

The area is dominated by the Carboniferous rocks on the northern flank of the broad, open Middleton Tyas '''Anticline''', an east–west striking '''Variscan''' structure ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_2.jpg|Figure 17.2]]) within the Stainmore Trough. The major subdivisions of the Carboniferous form three distinct east–west belts across the excursion area, generally '''dipping''' and younging towards the north ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_1.jpg|Figure 17.1]]). Dinantian rocks occupy the core of the anticline south of the River Tees (Barnard Castle to Piercebridge), the Namurian a central area from the River Tees to the north side of Langleydale, and the coal-bearing Westphalian rocks in the north form the southern edge of the Durham coalfield.

The Carboniferous succession is dominated by numerous repetitions of lithological sequences, called '''cyclothems''', which change in character from dominantly marine in the Dinantian to fluvio'''lacustrine''' in the Westphalian. This cyclicity reflects '''eustatic''' rise and fall of sea level, probably driven by an extended period of glaciation in polar regions, locally modified by '''tectonic''' and sedimentological effects. Dinantian '''lithologies''' are characterized by thick marine limestones, shales and sandstones, so called '''Yoredale''' cyclothems. During the Namurian, fluvial systems '''prograded''' from the northeast and east, resulting in the increasing dominance of medium to coarse-grained, usually '''cross-bedded''' sandstones. By Westphalian times, a vast floodplain had developed, with deltaic complexes building out into lakes and frequent episodes of soil formation with the development of a rich, tropical vegetation. These Coal Measures cycles consist of inter-distributary sands, silts and muds with well developed '''seatearths''' and coals, cut by medium-grained channel sandstones. Marine influence is limited to occasional thin bands of shales with marine fossils.

Following the Variscan Orogeny and a prolonged period of late Carboniferous and early Permian erosion, the Permian sequence, now dipping gently eastwards, '''unconformably oversteps''' successively lower units of the Carboniferous to the south. The fine-grained '''dolostone''' of the late Permian Raisby Formation (formerly the Lower Magnesian Limestone) is succeeded by the '''oolitic '''dolostone of the Ford Formation (formerly the Middle Magnesian Limestone). Younger Permian and Mesozoic rocks lie beyond the eastern margin of the area. During the early Tertiary the '''tholeiitic''' Cleveland Dyke, the most southerly representative of the Mull dyke swarm, was intruded into the country rock.

Apart from the exposures in the banks of the Tees and Greta, the southern part of County Durham has few good continuous sections. This is due to a variably thick covering of glacial deposits left by the most recent, late Devensian, ice advance. Resistant rock types form features in the landscape that rarely project through this mantle of '''drift'''.

== Excursion details ==

=== Locality 1, Butterknowle [NZ 115 255] ===

Park on the B6282 at the south side of the bridge, then follow the track along the River Guanless downstream to where it bends sharply to the north. Continue straight on into the linear quarry which worked the Cleveland Dyke, here 10 m wide, for roadstone. Note the method of quarrying whereby 0.5 m of the dyke rock was left as a retaining wall on each side to prevent the collapse of the Westphalian country rock into the workings. Where the retaining wall has fallen away, weak contact '''metamorphism''' can be seen, the effect most pronounced in fine-grained lithologies. The dyke is a '''porphyritic''' tholeiitic dolerite with a microcrystalline ground-mass and plagioclase '''feldspar phenocrysts'''; vesicles are also present. It is a typically massive, hard, dark grey to bluish-grey rock when fresh, but tends to darken when weathered and is easily distinguished from the country rock. The pattern of '''joints''' is rather irregular but appears to be sub-horizontal columnar jointing at the quarry face [NZ 118 253].

On Cockfield Fell [NZ 122 251] the dyke is 22 m wide, but entry to the workings is not possible there.

=== Locality 2 [NZ 131 251]–[NZ 118 255] ===

From the quarry by the River Guanless, cross rough ground to the south to the dismantled Bishop Auckland to Tebay railway, which crosses Cockfield Fell, and follow its course eastwards until it crosses the river. Upstream along the south bank, several exposures of Westphalian sediments, between the Brockwell and Busty coal seams, can be seen. There is evidence of past coal mining activity, with many spoil heaps, and on the opposite bank, a dismantled railway (West Auckland to Butterknowle) which served the mines of the area. These mines were worked by pillar and stall. The coal in the pillars is now being removed by opencast mining throughout the area. Siltstones overlying a ripple cross-bedded sandstone crop out at [NZ 126 253], a cross-bedded sandstone at [NZ 121 255], and shales dipping 5° to the northwest at [NZ 118 255].

Return to the vehicle, drive south through Cockfield and take the A688 via Staindrop to Barnard Castle.

=== Locality 3, Barnard Castle [NZ 053 159]–[NZ 048 165] ===

There is ample free car parking on the Demesnes [NZ 052 161], on the north bank of the River Tees. From the footpath on the south bank, reach the riverside near the mill where a traverse through Yoredale cycles of the early Namurian can be examined ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_3.jpg|Figure 17.3]]). The waterfall at the mill is formed by the dark-grey, thin-beddded, fine-grained Bottom Little Limestone (2.5 m) dipping 10° north. The 9 m shale with limestone ribs between the Bottom and Top Little Limestones is exposed between Demesnes and Thorngate Mills. Cross the footbridge to where the Top Little Limestone (5 m) can be seen on the north bank upstream of Thorngate Wynd [NZ 048 161] forming a natural ledge across the River Tees. The overlying shale (6 m), which is poorly exposed, is capped by the Ten Fathom Grit (9 m) and can be seen under the County Bridge. This is succeeded by the Bottom (11 m) and Top (7 m) Crag Limestones with intervening shales; the castle stands on this sequence.

Return to the vehicle and from the market cross in Barnard Castle, take the minor road towards Whorlton, turning off to Egglestone Abbey.

=== Locality 4, Egglestone Abbey [NZ 066 149] ===

Park just before the Abbey Bridge under which the River Tees has cut a gorge in the grey, massively bedded, '''bioclastic''' Great Limestone which marks the base of the Namurian. Upstream, the soft overlying beds are covered until, on the northern side and set back from the river bank, the White Hazle Sandstone forms a cliff. The overlying Bottom Little Limestone is not seen. The siltstones, shales and thin Coal Sills sandstones between the Great Limestone and the White Hazle Sandstone are exposed further upstream in the northern bank of the river.

Drive onto the A66, turn left then first right to Greta Bridge.

=== Locality 5, Greta Bridge and Brignall [NZ 076 119]–[NZ 086 132] ===

There is parking between the bridge and the Morritt Arms. Follow the River Greta upstream on the west bank to an exposure of the Five Yard Limestone [NZ 076 119], the lowest limestone seen in the western half of the Middleton Tyas Anticline. It is a grey, fine-grained, bioclastic limestone with a fauna of '''crinoid''' stems, '''corals''' and '''brachiopods''', gently dipping to the north. It forms a pavement at the river edge with the characteristic blocky pattern of the well-jointed Carboniferous limestones. Further downstream a brown, medium-grained, '''limonitic''' sandstone between the Five Yard and overlying Three Yard Limestones [NZ 078 124] is exposed in a river cliff. Return to the footpath and continue to the Scotchman's Stone (NZ 081 125), where the blue-grey, fine-grained, crinoidal Three Yard Limestone is exposed (better seen on the eastern bank). The Scotchman's Stone is a joint block of a brown, thick bedded, coarse-grained sandstone that has broken away from the cliff section seen above the eastern bank. It is seen again on the opposite bank at NZ 085 128. The top of this sandstone is approximately 8 m below the base of the Four Fathom Limestone which is not exposed. From the bridge looking north, the high ground is formed by the outcrop of the Great Limestone, which is seen in the next locality.

Return across the A66 to the 'Meeting of the Waters'.

=== Locality 6, 'Meeting of the Waters' [NZ 085 145] ===

The metalled road to this locality is private but may be used as a footpath. Approaching the confluence with the River Tees, the River Greta has cut through the top 20 m of the east–west striking Great Limestone, and is generally flowing down the gentle northerly dip slope into the River Tees.

Return to the A66, turn left and take the first left to Whorlton.

=== Locality 7, Whorlton Lido [NZ 108 145]–[NZ 113 145] ===

This is private property and a charge is made during the summer months for use of facilities and parking. However, there is a right of way through the property following the River Tees downstream to Wycliffe. Here the Tees flows over two small waterfalls formed by the resistant dark grey bioclastic Top Little Limestone. This 4 m thick unit dips 6° north, and is made up of three limestones, separated by grey shales that contain brachiopods. Overlying the Top Little Limestone are beds of fossiliferous shale and sandstone, which can be seen in the north bank and in Whorlton Beck. Continue through Whorlton and take the A67 to Winston

===Locality 8, Winston Bridge [NZ 138 158]–[NZ 143 163]===

There is ample car parking by the roadside, on each side of the bridge. Take the footpath upstream on the south side to the river bank, then continue upstream with care along the water's edge to a small waterfall, formed by the 10 m thick, grey, fine-grained, thin bedded Knucton Shell Bed Limestone. This unit is full of well preserved brachiopods, principally ''Spirifer. ''Turn back towards the bridge to work up the easterly dipping succession. Note 5 m of fossiliferous shales with fine-grained sandstone ribs overlying the shell bed, succeeded by 6 m of medium-grained ferruginous sandstone. This sandstone dips into the river under the bridge, and with care can be viewed on the north bank upstream of the bridge. Above the path between the road and the southern river bank just downstream of the bridge, it is possible with care to view the overlying grey, fine to medium-grained, Rookhope Shell Bed Limestone. There is a brachiopod-rich block of the limestone beside the footpath.

Continue east on the A67 to a lay-by on the right at Gainford Spa.

=== Locality 9, Gainford Spa [NZ 162 173] ===

From the lay-by, take the footpath to the river. Adjacent to the spa is an exposure of yellow to brown-weathered, medium-grained, laminated Namurian sandstone, with abundant carbonaceous laminae at the base. The upper unit truncates the underlying unit, approximately t m above the footpath. This sandstone lies between the Lower and Upper Felltop Limestone and directly above the Yoredale Coal.

Continue east on the A67 to Piercebridge.

=== Locality 10, Piercebridge [NZ 2100 1545] ===

Park in the village (can be difficult) and walk to a gap in the wall at the southwest end of the bridge. Through the gap, take the slippery steep 'path' to the riverside and walk c.70 m upstream to a vertical cliff. The gently dipping rock exposed here is near the base of the late Permian Raisby Formation and just above the unconformity on the Carboniferous. The unconformity crops out to the west but is unexposed. The Raisby Formation comprises buff slightly '''calcitic''' dolostone that is mainly vaguely thin-to medium-bedded but is divided into 1–1.5 m major units by notch-forming thin beds of brown leathery clay. The rock is very finely crystalline and microporous and much of it has been fragmented by internal mineralogical changes (''''autobrecciation''''). Poorly-preserved moulds of brachiopods, '''bivalves''', '''ostracodes''' and '''foraminifera''' are present in some beds.

Continue east on the A67 to High Coniscliffe.

=== Locality 11, old quarry at High Coniscliffe [NZ 2251 1525] ===

There is limited parking at the entry gate [NZ 2253 1530] on the A67 near the church. The enigmatic section in the main face is in lagoonal beds of the Ford Formation and comprises two rock units that meet at a sharp sub-horizontal very uneven surface (relief C.2 m). The lower unit (up to 3.5 m thick) is of soft, porous, finely oolitic buff dolostone in regular beds mainly 0.1–0.3 m thick, of which some are planar cross-bedded; the upper unit (up to 5 m ) is generally massive finely crystalline pale grey hard limestone that bears faint hints of bedding (and ?cross-bedding) in a few patches. The massive unit has a reef-like appearance and it may be a lagoonal patch-reef, but samples of it have so far failed to reveal a diagnostic reef fauna. The limestone may be secondary ('dedolomite) and produced by the reaction between former dolostone and groundwater rich in dissolved calcium sulphate. Dome-shaped structures up to about 1.2 m across in a minor north face could be algal.

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Glossary|Glossary]] ==

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Bibliography|Bibliography]] ==

{{EWwalks}}

[[Category:7. Northern England]]

Carboniferous and Permian rocks in southern County Durham - an excursion

2020-04-09T14:55:09Z

YGSJET:

{{YGSNorthumbrianRocks}}
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_1.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 17.1 Geological map of southern County Durham showing the localities described in the text (after Mills & Hull 1976).]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_2.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 17.2 Geological cross-section of the northern limb of the Middleton Tyas anticline. Line of section on Fig. 17.1.]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_3.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 17.3 Succession of Carboniferous Limestone cyclothems between Barnard Castle and Piercebridge, indicating sections exposed at each locality.]]

By '''Trevor Morse''' University of Durham and '''Denys Smith''' GEOPERM & University of Durham.

== Purpose ==

To examine the Carboniferous and Permian rocks, and the Tertiary Cleveland '''Dyke''', of the lower Tees valley and adjoining areas, southern County Durham.

== Logistics ==

{{YGSLogistics}}

The complete excursion occupies two days but can be split conveniently into shorter sections. A vehicle is essential because the localities are widely spaced ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_1.jpg|Figure 17.1]]). Cars can be parked at or near the roadside, and all roads are suitable for small coaches. Localities 1 and 2 involve up to 3 km walking on paths and rough ground in the Butterknowle and Cockfield Fell area. Localities 3–10 entail a total of up to 10 km walking along riverside paths of the Tees and Greta between Barnard Castle and Piercebridge, finishing at a quarry at High Coniscliffe (Locality 11). The excursion has been ordered for convenience of travel but could be rearranged in geological sequence to finish with Localities 1, 2, 10 and 11 ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_3.jpg|Figure 17.3]]). It would be best undertaken in early spring, when vegetation least masks outcrops and views.

Barnard Castle has pubs, public toilets, shops, restaurants and buildings of historical interest. Most of the other localities are near to villages with pubs and shops.

''Note: ''If the Rivers Tees and Greta are in flood, this excursion should not be attempted.

== Maps ==

O.S. 1:25 000 sheets NZ 02/12 Woodland & West Auckland, NZ 01/11 Barnard Castle & Gainford, NZ 21/31 Darlington; O.S. 1:50 000 sheets 92 Barnard Castle, 93 Middlesbrough & Darlington; B.G.S. 1:63 360 Sheet 32 Barnard Castle (solid and drift editions).

== Geological background ==

The area is dominated by the Carboniferous rocks on the northern flank of the broad, open Middleton Tyas '''Anticline''', an east–west striking '''Variscan''' structure ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_2.jpg|Figure 17.2]]) within the Stainmore Trough. The major subdivisions of the Carboniferous form three distinct east–west belts across the excursion area, generally '''dipping''' and younging towards the north ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_1.jpg|Figure 17.1]]). Dinantian rocks occupy the core of the anticline south of the River Tees (Barnard Castle to Piercebridge), the Namurian a central area from the River Tees to the north side of Langleydale, and the coal-bearing Westphalian rocks in the north form the southern edge of the Durham coalfield.

The Carboniferous succession is dominated by numerous repetitions of lithological sequences, called '''cyclothems''', which change in character from dominantly marine in the Dinantian to fluvio'''lacustrine''' in the Westphalian. This cyclicity reflects '''eustatic''' rise and fall of sea level, probably driven by an extended period of glaciation in polar regions, locally modified by '''tectonic''' and sedimentological effects. Dinantian '''lithologies''' are characterized by thick marine limestones, shales and sandstones, so called '''Yoredale''' cyclothems. During the Namurian, fluvial systems '''prograded''' from the northeast and east, resulting in the increasing dominance of medium to coarse-grained, usually '''cross-bedded''' sandstones. By Westphalian times, a vast floodplain had developed, with deltaic complexes building out into lakes and frequent episodes of soil formation with the development of a rich, tropical vegetation. These Coal Measures cycles consist of inter-distributary sands, silts and muds with well developed '''seatearths''' and coals, cut by medium-grained channel sandstones. Marine influence is limited to occasional thin bands of shales with marine fossils.

Following the Variscan Orogeny and a prolonged period of late Carboniferous and early Permian erosion, the Permian sequence, now dipping gently eastwards, '''unconformably oversteps''' successively lower units of the Carboniferous to the south. The fine-grained '''dolostone''' of the late Permian Raisby Formation (formerly the Lower Magnesian Limestone) is succeeded by the '''oolitic '''dolostone of the Ford Formation (formerly the Middle Magnesian Limestone). Younger Permian and Mesozoic rocks lie beyond the eastern margin of the area. During the early Tertiary the '''tholeiitic''' Cleveland Dyke, the most southerly representative of the Mull dyke swarm, was intruded into the country rock.

Apart from the exposures in the banks of the Tees and Greta, the southern part of County Durham has few good continuous sections. This is due to a variably thick covering of glacial deposits left by the most recent, late Devensian, ice advance. Resistant rock types form features in the landscape that rarely project through this mantle of '''drift'''.

== Excursion details ==

=== Locality 1, Butterknowle [NZ 115 255] ===

Park on the B6282 at the south side of the bridge, then follow the track along the River Guanless downstream to where it bends sharply to the north. Continue straight on into the linear quarry which worked the Cleveland Dyke, here 10 m wide, for roadstone. Note the method of quarrying whereby 0.5 m of the dyke rock was left as a retaining wall on each side to prevent the collapse of the Westphalian country rock into the workings. Where the retaining wall has fallen away, weak contact '''metamorphism''' can be seen, the effect most pronounced in fine-grained lithologies. The dyke is a '''porphyritic''' tholeiitic dolerite with a microcrystalline ground-mass and plagioclase '''feldspar phenocrysts'''; vesicles are also present. It is a typically massive, hard, dark grey to bluish-grey rock when fresh, but tends to darken when weathered and is easily distinguished from the country rock. The pattern of '''joints''' is rather irregular but appears to be sub-horizontal columnar jointing at the quarry face [NZ 118 253].

On Cockfield Fell [NZ 122 251] the dyke is 22 m wide, but entry to the workings is not possible there.

=== Locality 2 [NZ 131 251]–[NZ 118 255] ===

From the quarry by the River Guanless, cross rough ground to the south to the dismantled Bishop Auckland to Tebay railway, which crosses Cockfield Fell, and follow its course eastwards until it crosses the river. Upstream along the south bank, several exposures of Westphalian sediments, between the Brockwell and Busty coal seams, can be seen. There is evidence of past coal mining activity, with many spoil heaps, and on the opposite bank, a dismantled railway (West Auckland to Butterknowle) which served the mines of the area. These mines were worked by pillar and stall. The coal in the pillars is now being removed by opencast mining throughout the area. Siltstones overlying a ripple cross-bedded sandstone crop out at [NZ 126 253], a cross-bedded sandstone at [NZ 121 255], and shales dipping 5° to the northwest at [NZ 118 255].

Return to the vehicle, drive south through Cockfield and take the A688 via Staindrop to Barnard Castle.

=== Locality 3, Barnard Castle [NZ 053 159]–[NZ 048 165] ===

There is ample free car parking on the Demesnes [NZ 052 161], on the north bank of the River Tees. From the footpath on the south bank, reach the riverside near the mill where a traverse through Yoredale cycles of the early Namurian can be examined ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_3.jpg|Figure 17.3]]). The waterfall at the mill is formed by the dark-grey, thin-beddded, fine-grained Bottom Little Limestone (2.5 m) dipping 10° north. The 9 m shale with limestone ribs between the Bottom and Top Little Limestones is exposed between Demesnes and Thorngate Mills. Cross the footbridge to where the Top Little Limestone (5 m) can be seen on the north bank upstream of Thorngate Wynd [NZ 048 161] forming a natural ledge across the River Tees. The overlying shale (6 m), which is poorly exposed, is capped by the Ten Fathom Grit (9 m) and can be seen under the County Bridge. This is succeeded by the Bottom (11 m) and Top (7 m) Crag Limestones with intervening shales; the castle stands on this sequence.

Return to the vehicle and from the market cross in Barnard Castle, take the minor road towards Whorlton, turning off to Egglestone Abbey.

=== Locality 4, Egglestone Abbey [NZ 066 149] ===

Park just before the Abbey Bridge under which the River Tees has cut a gorge in the grey, massively bedded, '''bioclastic''' Great Limestone which marks the base of the Namurian. Upstream, the soft overlying beds are covered until, on the northern side and set back from the river bank, the White Hazle Sandstone forms a cliff. The overlying Bottom Little Limestone is not seen. The siltstones, shales and thin Coal Sills sandstones between the Great Limestone and the White Hazle Sandstone are exposed further upstream in the northern bank of the river.

Drive onto the A66, turn left then first right to Greta Bridge.

=== Locality 5, Greta Bridge and Brignall [NZ 076 119]–[NZ 086 132] ===

There is parking between the bridge and the Morritt Arms. Follow the River Greta upstream on the west bank to an exposure of the Five Yard Limestone [NZ 076 119], the lowest limestone seen in the western half of the Middleton Tyas Anticline. It is a grey, fine-grained, bioclastic limestone with a fauna of '''crinoid''' stems, '''corals''' and '''brachiopods''', gently dipping to the north. It forms a pavement at the river edge with the characteristic blocky pattern of the well-jointed Carboniferous limestones. Further downstream a brown, medium-grained, '''limonitic''' sandstone between the Five Yard and overlying Three Yard Limestones [NZ 078 124] is exposed in a river cliff. Return to the footpath and continue to the Scotchman's Stone (NZ 081 125), where the blue-grey, fine-grained, crinoidal Three Yard Limestone is exposed (better seen on the eastern bank). The Scotchman's Stone is a joint block of a brown, thick bedded, coarse-grained sandstone that has broken away from the cliff section seen above the eastern bank. It is seen again on the opposite bank at NZ 085 128. The top of this sandstone is approximately 8 m below the base of the Four Fathom Limestone which is not exposed. From the bridge looking north, the high ground is formed by the outcrop of the Great Limestone, which is seen in the next locality.

Return across the A66 to the 'Meeting of the Waters'.

=== Locality 6, 'Meeting of the Waters' [NZ 085 145] ===

The metalled road to this locality is private but may be used as a footpath. Approaching the confluence with the River Tees, the River Greta has cut through the top 20 m of the east–west striking Great Limestone, and is generally flowing down the gentle northerly dip slope into the River Tees.

Return to the A66, turn left and take the first left to Whorlton.

=== Locality 7, Whorlton Lido [NZ 108 145]–[NZ 113 145] ===

This is private property and a charge is made during the summer months for use of facilities and parking. However, there is a right of way through the property following the River Tees downstream to Wycliffe. Here the Tees flows over two small waterfalls formed by the resistant dark grey bioclastic Top Little Limestone. This 4 m thick unit dips 6° north, and is made up of three limestones, separated by grey shales that contain brachiopods. Overlying the Top Little Limestone are beds of fossiliferous shale and sandstone, which can be seen in the north bank and in Whorlton Beck. Continue through Whorlton and take the A67 to Winston

===Locality 8, Winston Bridge [NZ 138 158]–[NZ 143 163]===

There is ample car parking by the roadside, on each side of the bridge. Take the footpath upstream on the south side to the river bank, then continue upstream with care along the water's edge to a small waterfall, formed by the 10 m thick, grey, fine-grained, thin bedded Knucton Shell Bed Limestone. This unit is full of well preserved brachiopods, principally ''Spirifer. ''Turn back towards the bridge to work up the easterly dipping succession. Note 5 m of fossiliferous shales with fine-grained sandstone ribs overlying the shell bed, succeeded by 6 m of medium-grained ferruginous sandstone. This sandstone dips into the river under the bridge, and with care can be viewed on the north bank upstream of the bridge. Above the path between the road and the southern river bank just downstream of the bridge, it is possible with care to view the overlying grey, fine to medium-grained, Rookhope Shell Bed Limestone. There is a brachiopod-rich block of the limestone beside the footpath.

Continue east on the A67 to a lay-by on the right at Gainford Spa.

=== Locality 9, Gainford Spa [NZ 162 173] ===

From the lay-by, take the footpath to the river. Adjacent to the spa is an exposure of yellow to brown-weathered, medium-grained, laminated Namurian sandstone, with abundant carbonaceous laminae at the base. The upper unit truncates the underlying unit, approximately t m above the footpath. This sandstone lies between the Lower and Upper Felltop Limestone and directly above the Yoredale Coal.

Continue east on the A67 to Piercebridge.

=== Locality 10, Piercebridge [NZ 2100 1545] ===

Park in the village (can be difficult) and walk to a gap in the wall at the southwest end of the bridge. Through the gap, take the slippery steep 'path' to the riverside and walk c.70 m upstream to a vertical cliff. The gently dipping rock exposed here is near the base of the late Permian Raisby Formation and just above the unconformity on the Carboniferous. The unconformity crops out to the west but is unexposed. The Raisby Formation comprises buff slightly calcitic dolostone that is mainly vaguely thin-to medium-bedded but is divided into 1–1.5 m major units by notch-forming thin beds of brown leathery clay. The rock is very finely crystalline and microporous and much of it has been fragmented by internal mineralogical changes ('autobrecciation'). Poorly-preserved moulds of brachiopods, bivalves, ostracodes and foraminifera are present in some beds.

Continue east on the A67 to High Coniscliffe.

=== Locality 11, old quarry at High Coniscliffe [NZ 2251 1525] ===

There is limited parking at the entry gate [NZ 2253 1530] on the A67 near the church. The enigmatic section in the main face is in lagoonal beds of the Ford Formation and comprises two rock units that meet at a sharp sub-horizontal very uneven surface (relief C.2 m). The lower unit (up to 3.5 m thick) is of soft, porous, finely oolitic buff dolostone in regular beds mainly 0.1–0.3 m thick, of which some are planar cross-bedded; the upper unit (up to 5 m ) is generally massive finely crystalline pale grey hard limestone that bears faint hints of bedding (and ?cross-bedding) in a few patches. The massive unit has a reef-like appearance and it may be a lagoonal patch-reef, but samples of it have so far failed to reveal a diagnostic reef fauna. The limestone may be secondary ('dedolomite) and produced by the reaction between former dolostone and groundwater rich in dissolved calcium sulphate. Dome-shaped structures up to about 1.2 m across in a minor north face could be algal.

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Glossary|Glossary]] ==

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Bibliography|Bibliography]] ==

{{EWwalks}}

[[Category:7. Northern England]]

Carboniferous and Permian rocks in southern County Durham - an excursion

2020-04-09T14:50:43Z

YGSJET:

{{YGSNorthumbrianRocks}}
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_1.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 17.1 Geological map of southern County Durham showing the localities described in the text (after Mills & Hull 1976).]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_2.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 17.2 Geological cross-section of the northern limb of the Middleton Tyas anticline. Line of section on Fig. 17.1.]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_3.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 17.3 Succession of Carboniferous Limestone cyclothems between Barnard Castle and Piercebridge, indicating sections exposed at each locality.]]

By '''Trevor Morse''' University of Durham and '''Denys Smith''' GEOPERM & University of Durham.

== Purpose ==

To examine the Carboniferous and Permian rocks, and the Tertiary Cleveland '''Dyke''', of the lower Tees valley and adjoining areas, southern County Durham.

== Logistics ==

{{YGSLogistics}}

The complete excursion occupies two days but can be split conveniently into shorter sections. A vehicle is essential because the localities are widely spaced ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_1.jpg|Figure 17.1]]). Cars can be parked at or near the roadside, and all roads are suitable for small coaches. Localities 1 and 2 involve up to 3 km walking on paths and rough ground in the Butterknowle and Cockfield Fell area. Localities 3–10 entail a total of up to 10 km walking along riverside paths of the Tees and Greta between Barnard Castle and Piercebridge, finishing at a quarry at High Coniscliffe (Locality 11). The excursion has been ordered for convenience of travel but could be rearranged in geological sequence to finish with Localities 1, 2, 10 and 11 ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_3.jpg|Figure 17.3]]). It would be best undertaken in early spring, when vegetation least masks outcrops and views.

Barnard Castle has pubs, public toilets, shops, restaurants and buildings of historical interest. Most of the other localities are near to villages with pubs and shops.

''Note: ''If the Rivers Tees and Greta are in flood, this excursion should not be attempted.

== Maps ==

O.S. 1:25 000 sheets NZ 02/12 Woodland & West Auckland, NZ 01/11 Barnard Castle & Gainford, NZ 21/31 Darlington; O.S. 1:50 000 sheets 92 Barnard Castle, 93 Middlesbrough & Darlington; B.G.S. 1:63 360 Sheet 32 Barnard Castle (solid and drift editions).

== Geological background ==

The area is dominated by the Carboniferous rocks on the northern flank of the broad, open Middleton Tyas '''Anticline''', an east–west striking '''Variscan''' structure ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_2.jpg|Figure 17.2]]) within the Stainmore Trough. The major subdivisions of the Carboniferous form three distinct east–west belts across the excursion area, generally '''dipping''' and younging towards the north ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_1.jpg|Figure 17.1]]). Dinantian rocks occupy the core of the anticline south of the River Tees (Barnard Castle to Piercebridge), the Namurian a central area from the River Tees to the north side of Langleydale, and the coal-bearing Westphalian rocks in the north form the southern edge of the Durham coalfield.

The Carboniferous succession is dominated by numerous repetitions of lithological sequences, called '''cyclothems''', which change in character from dominantly marine in the Dinantian to fluvio'''lacustrine''' in the Westphalian. This cyclicity reflects '''eustatic''' rise and fall of sea level, probably driven by an extended period of glaciation in polar regions, locally modified by '''tectonic''' and sedimentological effects. Dinantian '''lithologies''' are characterized by thick marine limestones, shales and sandstones, so called '''Yoredale''' cyclothems. During the Namurian, fluvial systems '''prograded''' from the northeast and east, resulting in the increasing dominance of medium to coarse-grained, usually '''cross-bedded''' sandstones. By Westphalian times, a vast floodplain had developed, with deltaic complexes building out into lakes and frequent episodes of soil formation with the development of a rich, tropical vegetation. These Coal Measures cycles consist of inter-distributary sands, silts and muds with well developed '''seatearths''' and coals, cut by medium-grained channel sandstones. Marine influence is limited to occasional thin bands of shales with marine fossils.

Following the Variscan Orogeny and a prolonged period of late Carboniferous and early Permian erosion, the Permian sequence, now dipping gently eastwards, '''unconformably oversteps''' successively lower units of the Carboniferous to the south. The fine-grained '''dolostone''' of the late Permian Raisby Formation (formerly the Lower Magnesian Limestone) is succeeded by the '''oolitic '''dolostone of the Ford Formation (formerly the Middle Magnesian Limestone). Younger Permian and Mesozoic rocks lie beyond the eastern margin of the area. During the early Tertiary the '''tholeiitic''' Cleveland Dyke, the most southerly representative of the Mull dyke swarm, was intruded into the country rock.

Apart from the exposures in the banks of the Tees and Greta, the southern part of County Durham has few good continuous sections. This is due to a variably thick covering of glacial deposits left by the most recent, late Devensian, ice advance. Resistant rock types form features in the landscape that rarely project through this mantle of '''drift'''.

== Excursion details ==

=== Locality 1, Butterknowle [NZ 115 255] ===

Park on the B6282 at the south side of the bridge, then follow the track along the River Guanless downstream to where it bends sharply to the north. Continue straight on into the linear quarry which worked the Cleveland Dyke, here 10 m wide, for roadstone. Note the method of quarrying whereby 0.5 m of the dyke rock was left as a retaining wall on each side to prevent the collapse of the Westphalian country rock into the workings. Where the retaining wall has fallen away, weak contact '''metamorphism''' can be seen, the effect most pronounced in fine-grained lithologies. The dyke is a '''porphyritic''' tholeiitic dolerite with a microcrystalline ground-mass and plagioclase '''feldspar phenocrysts'''; vesicles are also present. It is a typically massive, hard, dark grey to bluish-grey rock when fresh, but tends to darken when weathered and is easily distinguished from the country rock. The pattern of '''joints''' is rather irregular but appears to be sub-horizontal columnar jointing at the quarry face [NZ 118 253].

On Cockfield Fell [NZ 122 251] the dyke is 22 m wide, but entry to the workings is not possible there.

=== Locality 2 [NZ 131 251]–[NZ 118 255] ===

From the quarry by the River Guanless, cross rough ground to the south to the dismantled Bishop Auckland to Tebay railway, which crosses Cockfield Fell, and follow its course eastwards until it crosses the river. Upstream along the south bank, several exposures of Westphalian sediments, between the Brockwell and Busty coal seams, can be seen. There is evidence of past coal mining activity, with many spoil heaps, and on the opposite bank, a dismantled railway (West Auckland to Butterknowle) which served the mines of the area. These mines were worked by pillar and stall. The coal in the pillars is now being removed by opencast mining throughout the area. Siltstones overlying a ripple cross-bedded sandstone crop out at [NZ 126 253], a cross-bedded sandstone at [NZ 121 255], and shales dipping 5° to the northwest at [NZ 118 255].

Return to the vehicle, drive south through Cockfield and take the A688 via Staindrop to Barnard Castle.

=== Locality 3, Barnard Castle [NZ 053 159]–[NZ 048 165] ===

There is ample free car parking on the Demesnes [NZ 052 161], on the north bank of the River Tees. From the footpath on the south bank, reach the riverside near the mill where a traverse through Yoredale cycles of the early Namurian can be examined ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_3.jpg|Figure 17.3]]). The waterfall at the mill is formed by the dark-grey, thin-beddded, fine-grained Bottom Little Limestone (2.5 m) dipping 10° north. The 9 m shale with limestone ribs between the Bottom and Top Little Limestones is exposed between Demesnes and Thorngate Mills. Cross the footbridge to where the Top Little Limestone (5 m) can be seen on the north bank upstream of Thorngate Wynd [NZ 048 161] forming a natural ledge across the River Tees. The overlying shale (6 m), which is poorly exposed, is capped by the Ten Fathom Grit (9 m) and can be seen under the County Bridge. This is succeeded by the Bottom (11 m) and Top (7 m) Crag Limestones with intervening shales; the castle stands on this sequence.

Return to the vehicle and from the market cross in Barnard Castle, take the minor road towards Whorlton, turning off to Egglestone Abbey.

=== Locality 4, Egglestone Abbey [NZ 066 149] ===

Park just before the Abbey Bridge under which the River Tees has cut a gorge in the grey, massively bedded, '''bioclastic''' Great Limestone which marks the base of the Namurian. Upstream, the soft overlying beds are covered until, on the northern side and set back from the river bank, the White Hazle Sandstone forms a cliff. The overlying Bottom Little Limestone is not seen. The siltstones, shales and thin Coal Sills sandstones between the Great Limestone and the White Hazle Sandstone are exposed further upstream in the northern bank of the river.

Drive onto the A66, turn left then first right to Greta Bridge.

=== Locality 5, Greta Bridge and Brignall [NZ 076 119]–[NZ 086 132] ===

There is parking between the bridge and the Morritt Arms. Follow the River Greta upstream on the west bank to an exposure of the Five Yard Limestone [NZ 076 119], the lowest limestone seen in the western half of the Middleton Tyas Anticline. It is a grey, fine-grained, bioclastic limestone with a fauna of '''crinoid''' stems, '''corals''' and '''brachiopods''', gently dipping to the north. It forms a pavement at the river edge with the characteristic blocky pattern of the well-jointed Carboniferous limestones. Further downstream a brown, medium-grained, '''limonitic''' sandstone between the Five Yard and overlying Three Yard Limestones [NZ 078 124] is exposed in a river cliff. Return to the footpath and continue to the Scotchman's Stone (NZ 081 125), where the blue-grey, fine-grained, crinoidal Three Yard Limestone is exposed (better seen on the eastern bank). The Scotchman's Stone is a joint block of a brown, thick bedded, coarse-grained sandstone that has broken away from the cliff section seen above the eastern bank. It is seen again on the opposite bank at NZ 085 128. The top of this sandstone is approximately 8 m below the base of the Four Fathom Limestone which is not exposed. From the bridge looking north, the high ground is formed by the outcrop of the Great Limestone, which is seen in the next locality.

Return across the A66 to the 'Meeting of the Waters'.

=== Locality 6, 'Meeting of the Waters' [NZ 085 145] ===

The metalled road to this locality is private but may be used as a footpath. Approaching the confluence with the River Tees, the River Greta has cut through the top 20 m of the east–west striking Great Limestone, and is generally flowing down the gentle northerly dip slope into the River Tees.

Return to the A66, turn left and take the first left to Whorlton.

=== Locality 7, Whorlton Lido [NZ 108 145]–[NZ 113 145] ===

This is private property and a charge is made during the summer months for use of facilities and parking. However, there is a right of way through the property following the River Tees downstream to Wycliffe. Here the Tees flows over two small waterfalls formed by the resistant dark grey bioclastic Top Little Limestone. This 4 m thick unit dips 6° north, and is made up of three limestones, separated by grey shales that contain brachiopods. Overlying the Top Little Limestone are beds of fossiliferous shale and sandstone, which can be seen in the north bank and in Whorlton Beck. Continue through Whorlton and take the A67 to Winston

===Locality 8, Winston Bridge [NZ 138 158]–[NZ 143 163]===

There is ample car parking by the roadside, on each side of the bridge. Take the footpath upstream on the south side to the river bank, then continue upstream with care along the water's edge to a small waterfall, formed by the to m thick, grey, fine-grained, thin bedded Knucton Shell Bed Limestone. This unit is full of well preserved brachiopods, principally ''Spirifer. ''Turn back towards the bridge to work up the easterly dipping succession. Note 5 m of fossiliferous shales with fine-grained sandstone ribs overlying the shell bed, succeeded by 6 m of medium-grained ferruginous sandstone. This sandstone dips into the river under the bridge, and with care can be viewed on the north bank upstream of the bridge. Above the path between the road and the southern river bank just downstream of the bridge, it is possible with care to view the overlying grey, fine to medium-grained, Rookhope Shell Bed Limestone. There is a brachiopod-rich block of the limestone beside the footpath.

Continue east on the A67 to a lay-by on the right at Gainford Spa.

=== Locality 9, Gainford Spa [NZ 162 173] ===

From the lay-by, take the footpath to the river. Adjacent to the spa is an exposure of yellow to brown-weathered, medium-grained, laminated Namurian sandstone, with abundant carbonaceous laminae at the base. The upper unit truncates the underlying unit, approximately t m above the footpath. This sandstone lies between the Lower and Upper Felltop Limestone and directly above the Yoredale Coal.

Continue east on the A67 to Piercebridge.

=== Locality 10, Piercebridge [NZ 2100 1545] ===

Park in the village (can be difficult) and walk to a gap in the wall at the southwest end of the bridge. Through the gap, take the slippery steep 'path' to the riverside and walk c.70 m upstream to a vertical cliff. The gently dipping rock exposed here is near the base of the late Permian Raisby Formation and just above the unconformity on the Carboniferous. The unconformity crops out to the west but is unexposed. The Raisby Formation comprises buff slightly calcitic dolostone that is mainly vaguely thin-to medium-bedded but is divided into 1–1.5 m major units by notch-forming thin beds of brown leathery clay. The rock is very finely crystalline and microporous and much of it has been fragmented by internal mineralogical changes ('autobrecciation'). Poorly-preserved moulds of brachiopods, bivalves, ostracodes and foraminifera are present in some beds.

Continue east on the A67 to High Coniscliffe.

=== Locality 11, old quarry at High Coniscliffe [NZ 2251 1525] ===

There is limited parking at the entry gate [NZ 2253 1530] on the A67 near the church. The enigmatic section in the main face is in lagoonal beds of the Ford Formation and comprises two rock units that meet at a sharp sub-horizontal very uneven surface (relief C.2 m). The lower unit (up to 3.5 m thick) is of soft, porous, finely oolitic buff dolostone in regular beds mainly 0.1–0.3 m thick, of which some are planar cross-bedded; the upper unit (up to 5 m ) is generally massive finely crystalline pale grey hard limestone that bears faint hints of bedding (and ?cross-bedding) in a few patches. The massive unit has a reef-like appearance and it may be a lagoonal patch-reef, but samples of it have so far failed to reveal a diagnostic reef fauna. The limestone may be secondary ('dedolomite) and produced by the reaction between former dolostone and groundwater rich in dissolved calcium sulphate. Dome-shaped structures up to about 1.2 m across in a minor north face could be algal.

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Glossary|Glossary]] ==

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Bibliography|Bibliography]] ==

{{EWwalks}}

[[Category:7. Northern England]]

Carboniferous and Permian rocks in southern County Durham - an excursion

2020-04-09T14:49:38Z

YGSJET:

{{YGSNorthumbrianRocks}}
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_1.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 17.1 Geological map of southern County Durham showing the localities described in the text (after Mills & Hull 1976).]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_2.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 17.2 Geological cross-section of the northern limb of the Middleton Tyas anticline. Line of section on Fig. 17.1.]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_3.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 17.3 Succession of Carboniferous Limestone cyclothems between Barnard Castle and Piercebridge, indicating sections exposed at each locality.]]

By '''Trevor Morse''' University of Durham and '''Denys Smith''' GEOPERM & University of Durham.

== Purpose ==

To examine the Carboniferous and Permian rocks, and the Tertiary Cleveland '''Dyke''', of the lower Tees valley and adjoining areas, southern County Durham.

== Logistics ==

{{YGSLogistics}}

The complete excursion occupies two days but can be split conveniently into shorter sections. A vehicle is essential because the localities are widely spaced ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_1.jpg|Figure 17.1]]). Cars can be parked at or near the roadside, and all roads are suitable for small coaches. Localities 1 and 2 involve up to 3 km walking on paths and rough ground in the Butterknowle and Cockfield Fell area. Localities 3–10 entail a total of up to 10 km walking along riverside paths of the Tees and Greta between Barnard Castle and Piercebridge, finishing at a quarry at High Coniscliffe (Locality 11). The excursion has been ordered for convenience of travel but could be rearranged in geological sequence to finish with Localities 1, 2, 10 and 11 ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_3.jpg|Figure 17.3]]). It would be best undertaken in early spring, when vegetation least masks outcrops and views.

Barnard Castle has pubs, public toilets, shops, restaurants and buildings of historical interest. Most of the other localities are near to villages with pubs and shops.

''Note: ''If the Rivers Tees and Greta are in flood, this excursion should not be attempted.

== Maps ==

O.S. 1:25 000 sheets NZ 02/12 Woodland & West Auckland, NZ 01/11 Barnard Castle & Gainford, NZ 21/31 Darlington; O.S. 1:50 000 sheets 92 Barnard Castle, 93 Middlesbrough & Darlington; B.G.S. 1:63 360 Sheet 32 Barnard Castle (solid and drift editions).

== Geological background ==

The area is dominated by the Carboniferous rocks on the northern flank of the broad, open Middleton Tyas '''Anticline''', an east–west striking '''Variscan''' structure ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_2.jpg|Figure 17.2]]) within the Stainmore Trough. The major subdivisions of the Carboniferous form three distinct east–west belts across the excursion area, generally '''dipping''' and younging towards the north ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_1.jpg|Figure 17.1]]). Dinantian rocks occupy the core of the anticline south of the River Tees (Barnard Castle to Piercebridge), the Namurian a central area from the River Tees to the north side of Langleydale, and the coal-bearing Westphalian rocks in the north form the southern edge of the Durham coalfield.

The Carboniferous succession is dominated by numerous repetitions of lithological sequences, called '''cyclothems''', which change in character from dominantly marine in the Dinantian to fluvio'''lacustrine''' in the Westphalian. This cyclicity reflects '''eustatic''' rise and fall of sea level, probably driven by an extended period of glaciation in polar regions, locally modified by '''tectonic''' and sedimentological effects. Dinantian '''lithologies''' are characterized by thick marine limestones, shales and sandstones, so called '''Yoredale''' cyclothems. During the Namurian, fluvial systems '''prograded''' from the northeast and east, resulting in the increasing dominance of medium to coarse-grained, usually '''cross-bedded''' sandstones. By Westphalian times, a vast floodplain had developed, with deltaic complexes building out into lakes and frequent episodes of soil formation with the development of a rich, tropical vegetation. These Coal Measures cycles consist of inter-distributary sands, silts and muds with well developed '''seatearths''' and coals, cut by medium-grained channel sandstones. Marine influence is limited to occasional thin bands of shales with marine fossils.

Following the Variscan Orogeny and a prolonged period of late Carboniferous and early Permian erosion, the Permian sequence, now dipping gently eastwards, '''unconformably oversteps''' successively lower units of the Carboniferous to the south. The fine-grained '''dolostone''' of the late Permian Raisby Formation (formerly the Lower Magnesian Limestone) is succeeded by the '''oolitic '''dolostone of the Ford Formation (formerly the Middle Magnesian Limestone). Younger Permian and Mesozoic rocks lie beyond the eastern margin of the area. During the early Tertiary the '''tholeiitic''' Cleveland Dyke, the most southerly representative of the Mull dyke swarm, was intruded into the country rock.

Apart from the exposures in the banks of the Tees and Greta, the southern part of County Durham has few good continuous sections. This is due to a variably thick covering of glacial deposits left by the most recent, late Devensian, ice advance. Resistant rock types form features in the landscape that rarely project through this mantle of '''drift'''.

== Excursion details ==

=== Locality 1, Butterknowle [NZ 115 255] ===

Park on the B6282 at the south side of the bridge, then follow the track along the River Guanless downstream to where it bends sharply to the north. Continue straight on into the linear quarry which worked the Cleveland Dyke, here 10 m wide, for roadstone. Note the method of quarrying whereby 0.5 m of the dyke rock was left as a retaining wall on each side to prevent the collapse of the Westphalian country rock into the workings. Where the retaining wall has fallen away, weak contact '''metamorphism''' can be seen, the effect most pronounced in fine-grained lithologies. The dyke is a '''porphyritic''' tholeiitic dolerite with a microcrystalline ground-mass and plagioclase '''feldspar phenocrysts'''; vesicles are also present. It is a typically massive, hard, dark grey to bluish-grey rock when fresh, but tends to darken when weathered and is easily distinguished from the country rock. The pattern of '''joints''' is rather irregular but appears to be sub-horizontal columnar jointing at the quarry face [NZ 118 253].

On Cockfield Fell [NZ 122 251] the dyke is 22 m wide, but entry to the workings is not possible there.

=== Locality 2 [NZ 131 251]–[NZ 118 255] ===

From the quarry by the River Guanless, cross rough ground to the south to the dismantled Bishop Auckland to Tebay railway, which crosses Cockfield Fell, and follow its course eastwards until it crosses the river. Upstream along the south bank, several exposures of Westphalian sediments, between the Brockwell and Busty coal seams, can be seen. There is evidence of past coal mining activity, with many spoil heaps, and on the opposite bank, a dismantled railway (West Auckland to Butterknowle) which served the mines of the area. These mines were worked by pillar and stall. The coal in the pillars is now being removed by opencast mining throughout the area. Siltstones overlying a ripple cross-bedded sandstone crop out at [NZ 126 253], a cross-bedded sandstone at [NZ 121 255], and shales dipping 5° to the northwest at [NZ 118 255].

Return to the vehicle, drive south through Cockfield and take the A688 via Staindrop to Barnard Castle.

=== Locality 3, Barnard Castle [NZ 053 159]–[NZ 048 165] ===

There is ample free car parking on the Demesnes [NZ 052 161], on the north bank of the River Tees. From the footpath on the south bank, reach the riverside near the mill where a traverse through Yoredale cycles of the early Namurian can be examined ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_3.jpg|Figure 17.3]]). The waterfall at the mill is formed by the dark-grey, thin-beddded, fine-grained Bottom Little Limestone (2.5 m) dipping 10° north. The 9 m shale with limestone ribs between the Bottom and Top Little Limestones is exposed between Demesnes and Thorngate Mills. Cross the footbridge to where the Top Little Limestone (5 m) can be seen on the north bank upstream of Thorngate Wynd [NZ 048 161] forming a natural ledge across the River Tees. The overlying shale (6 m), which is poorly exposed, is capped by the Ten Fathom Grit (9 m) and can be seen under the County Bridge. This is succeeded by the Bottom (11 m) and Top (7 m) Crag Limestones with intervening shales; the castle stands on this sequence.

Return to the vehicle and from the market cross in Barnard Castle, take the minor road towards Whorlton, turning off to Egglestone Abbey.

=== Locality 4, Egglestone Abbey [NZ 066 149] ===

Park just before the Abbey Bridge under which the River Tees has cut a gorge in the grey, massively bedded, '''bioclastic''' Great Limestone which marks the base of the Namurian. Upstream, the soft overlying beds are covered until, on the northern side and set back from the river bank, the White Hazle Sandstone forms a cliff. The overlying Bottom Little Limestone is not seen. The siltstones, shales and thin Coal Sills sandstones between the Great Limestone and the White Hazle Sandstone are exposed further upstream in the northern bank of the river.

Drive onto the A66, turn left then first right to Greta Bridge.

=== Locality 5, Greta Bridge and Brignall [NZ 076 119]–[NZ 086 132] ===

There is parking between the bridge and the Morritt Arms. Follow the River Greta upstream on the west bank to an exposure of the Five Yard Limestone [NZ 076 119], the lowest limestone seen in the western half of the Middleton Tyas Anticline. It is a grey, fine-grained, bioclastic limestone with a fauna of '''crinoid''' stems, '''corals''' and '''brachiopods''', gently dipping to the north. It forms a pavement at the river edge with the characteristic blocky pattern of the well-jointed Carboniferous limestones. Further downstream a brown, medium-grained, '''limonitic''' sandstone between the Five Yard and overlying Three Yard Limestones [NZ 078 124] is exposed in a river cliff. Return to the footpath and continue to the Scotchman's Stone (NZ 081 125), where the blue-grey, fine-grained, crinoidal Three Yard Limestone is exposed (better seen on the eastern bank). The Scotchman's Stone is a joint block of a brown, thick bedded, coarse-grained sandstone that has broken away from the cliff section seen above the eastern bank. It is seen again on the opposite bank at NZ 085 128. The top of this sandstone is approximately 8 m below the base of the Four Fathom Limestone which is not exposed. From the bridge looking north, the high ground is formed by the outcrop of the Great Limestone, which is seen in the next locality.

Return across the A66 to the 'Meeting of the Waters'.

=== Locality 6, 'Meeting of the Waters' [NZ 085 145] ===

The metalled road to this locality is private but may be used as a footpath. Approaching the confluence with the River Tees, the River Greta has cut through the top 20 m of the east–west striking Great Limestone, and is generally flowing down the gentle northerly dip slope into the River Tees.

Return to the A66, turn left and take the first left to Whorlton.

=== Locality 7, Whorlton Lido [NZ 108 145]–[NZ 113 145] ===

This is private property and a charge is made during the summer months for use of facilities and parking. However, there is a right of way through the property following the River Tees downstream to Wycliffe. Here the Tees flows over two small waterfalls formed by the resistant dark grey bioclastic Top Little Limestone. This 4 m thick unit dips 6° north, and is made up of three limestones, separated by grey shales that contain brachiopods. Overlying the Top Little Limestone are beds of fossiliferous shale and sandstone, which can be seen in the north bank and in Whorlton Beck. Continue through Whorlton and take the A67 to Winston ===

===''Locality 8, ''Winston Bridge [NZ 138 158]–[NZ 143 163]===

There is ample car parking by the roadside, on each side of the bridge. Take the footpath upstream on the south side to the river bank, then continue upstream with care along the water's edge to a small waterfall, formed by the to m thick, grey, fine-grained, thin bedded Knucton Shell Bed Limestone. This unit is full of well preserved brachiopods, principally ''Spirifer. ''Turn back towards the bridge to work up the easterly dipping succession. Note 5 m of fossiliferous shales with fine-grained sandstone ribs overlying the shell bed, succeeded by 6 m of medium-grained ferruginous sandstone. This sandstone dips into the river under the bridge, and with care can be viewed on the north bank upstream of the bridge. Above the path between the road and the southern river bank just downstream of the bridge, it is possible with care to view the overlying grey, fine to medium-grained, Rookhope Shell Bed Limestone. There is a brachiopod-rich block of the limestone beside the footpath.

Continue east on the A67 to a lay-by on the right at Gainford Spa.

=== Locality 9, Gainford Spa [NZ 162 173] ===

From the lay-by, take the footpath to the river. Adjacent to the spa is an exposure of yellow to brown-weathered, medium-grained, laminated Namurian sandstone, with abundant carbonaceous laminae at the base. The upper unit truncates the underlying unit, approximately t m above the footpath. This sandstone lies between the Lower and Upper Felltop Limestone and directly above the Yoredale Coal.

Continue east on the A67 to Piercebridge.

=== Locality 10, Piercebridge [NZ 2100 1545] ===

Park in the village (can be difficult) and walk to a gap in the wall at the southwest end of the bridge. Through the gap, take the slippery steep 'path' to the riverside and walk c.70 m upstream to a vertical cliff. The gently dipping rock exposed here is near the base of the late Permian Raisby Formation and just above the unconformity on the Carboniferous. The unconformity crops out to the west but is unexposed. The Raisby Formation comprises buff slightly calcitic dolostone that is mainly vaguely thin-to medium-bedded but is divided into 1–1.5 m major units by notch-forming thin beds of brown leathery clay. The rock is very finely crystalline and microporous and much of it has been fragmented by internal mineralogical changes ('autobrecciation'). Poorly-preserved moulds of brachiopods, bivalves, ostracodes and foraminifera are present in some beds.

Continue east on the A67 to High Coniscliffe.

=== Locality 11, old quarry at High Coniscliffe [NZ 2251 1525] ===

There is limited parking at the entry gate [NZ 2253 1530] on the A67 near the church. The enigmatic section in the main face is in lagoonal beds of the Ford Formation and comprises two rock units that meet at a sharp sub-horizontal very uneven surface (relief C.2 m). The lower unit (up to 3.5 m thick) is of soft, porous, finely oolitic buff dolostone in regular beds mainly 0.1–0.3 m thick, of which some are planar cross-bedded; the upper unit (up to 5 m ) is generally massive finely crystalline pale grey hard limestone that bears faint hints of bedding (and ?cross-bedding) in a few patches. The massive unit has a reef-like appearance and it may be a lagoonal patch-reef, but samples of it have so far failed to reveal a diagnostic reef fauna. The limestone may be secondary ('dedolomite) and produced by the reaction between former dolostone and groundwater rich in dissolved calcium sulphate. Dome-shaped structures up to about 1.2 m across in a minor north face could be algal.

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Glossary|Glossary]] ==

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Bibliography|Bibliography]] ==

{{EWwalks}}

[[Category:7. Northern England]]

Carboniferous and Permian rocks in southern County Durham - an excursion

2020-04-09T14:47:28Z

YGSJET:

{{YGSNorthumbrianRocks}}
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_1.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 17.1 Geological map of southern County Durham showing the localities described in the text (after Mills & Hull 1976).]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_2.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 17.2 Geological cross-section of the northern limb of the Middleton Tyas anticline. Line of section on Fig. 17.1.]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_3.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 17.3 Succession of Carboniferous Limestone cyclothems between Barnard Castle and Piercebridge, indicating sections exposed at each locality.]]

By '''Trevor Morse''' University of Durham and '''Denys Smith''' GEOPERM & University of Durham.

== Purpose ==

To examine the Carboniferous and Permian rocks, and the Tertiary Cleveland '''Dyke''', of the lower Tees valley and adjoining areas, southern County Durham.

== Logistics ==

{{YGSLogistics}}

The complete excursion occupies two days but can be split conveniently into shorter sections. A vehicle is essential because the localities are widely spaced ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_1.jpg|Figure 17.1]]). Cars can be parked at or near the roadside, and all roads are suitable for small coaches. Localities 1 and 2 involve up to 3 km walking on paths and rough ground in the Butterknowle and Cockfield Fell area. Localities 3–10 entail a total of up to 10 km walking along riverside paths of the Tees and Greta between Barnard Castle and Piercebridge, finishing at a quarry at High Coniscliffe (Locality 11). The excursion has been ordered for convenience of travel but could be rearranged in geological sequence to finish with Localities 1, 2, 10 and 11 ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_3.jpg|Figure 17.3]]). It would be best undertaken in early spring, when vegetation least masks outcrops and views.

Barnard Castle has pubs, public toilets, shops, restaurants and buildings of historical interest. Most of the other localities are near to villages with pubs and shops.

''Note: ''If the Rivers Tees and Greta are in flood, this excursion should not be attempted.

== Maps ==

O.S. 1:25 000 sheets NZ 02/12 Woodland & West Auckland, NZ 01/11 Barnard Castle & Gainford, NZ 21/31 Darlington; O.S. 1:50 000 sheets 92 Barnard Castle, 93 Middlesbrough & Darlington; B.G.S. 1:63 360 Sheet 32 Barnard Castle (solid and drift editions).

== Geological background ==

The area is dominated by the Carboniferous rocks on the northern flank of the broad, open Middleton Tyas '''Anticline''', an east–west striking '''Variscan''' structure ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_2.jpg|Figure 17.2]]) within the Stainmore Trough. The major subdivisions of the Carboniferous form three distinct east–west belts across the excursion area, generally '''dipping''' and younging towards the north ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_1.jpg|Figure 17.1]]). Dinantian rocks occupy the core of the anticline south of the River Tees (Barnard Castle to Piercebridge), the Namurian a central area from the River Tees to the north side of Langleydale, and the coal-bearing Westphalian rocks in the north form the southern edge of the Durham coalfield.

The Carboniferous succession is dominated by numerous repetitions of lithological sequences, called '''cyclothems''', which change in character from dominantly marine in the Dinantian to fluvio'''lacustrine''' in the Westphalian. This cyclicity reflects '''eustatic''' rise and fall of sea level, probably driven by an extended period of glaciation in polar regions, locally modified by '''tectonic''' and sedimentological effects. Dinantian '''lithologies''' are characterized by thick marine limestones, shales and sandstones, so called '''Yoredale''' cyclothems. During the Namurian, fluvial systems '''prograded''' from the northeast and east, resulting in the increasing dominance of medium to coarse-grained, usually '''cross-bedded''' sandstones. By Westphalian times, a vast floodplain had developed, with deltaic complexes building out into lakes and frequent episodes of soil formation with the development of a rich, tropical vegetation. These Coal Measures cycles consist of inter-distributary sands, silts and muds with well developed '''seatearths''' and coals, cut by medium-grained channel sandstones. Marine influence is limited to occasional thin bands of shales with marine fossils.

Following the Variscan Orogeny and a prolonged period of late Carboniferous and early Permian erosion, the Permian sequence, now dipping gently eastwards, '''unconformably oversteps''' successively lower units of the Carboniferous to the south. The fine-grained '''dolostone''' of the late Permian Raisby Formation (formerly the Lower Magnesian Limestone) is succeeded by the '''oolitic '''dolostone of the Ford Formation (formerly the Middle Magnesian Limestone). Younger Permian and Mesozoic rocks lie beyond the eastern margin of the area. During the early Tertiary the '''tholeiitic''' Cleveland Dyke, the most southerly representative of the Mull dyke swarm, was intruded into the country rock.

Apart from the exposures in the banks of the Tees and Greta, the southern part of County Durham has few good continuous sections. This is due to a variably thick covering of glacial deposits left by the most recent, late Devensian, ice advance. Resistant rock types form features in the landscape that rarely project through this mantle of '''drift'''.

== Excursion details ==

=== Locality 1, Butterknowle [NZ 115 255] ===

Park on the B6282 at the south side of the bridge, then follow the track along the River Guanless downstream to where it bends sharply to the north. Continue straight on into the linear quarry which worked the Cleveland Dyke, here 10 m wide, for roadstone. Note the method of quarrying whereby 0.5 m of the dyke rock was left as a retaining wall on each side to prevent the collapse of the Westphalian country rock into the workings. Where the retaining wall has fallen away, weak contact '''metamorphism''' can be seen, the effect most pronounced in fine-grained lithologies. The dyke is a '''porphyritic''' tholeiitic dolerite with a microcrystalline ground-mass and plagioclase '''feldspar phenocrysts'''; vesicles are also present. It is a typically massive, hard, dark grey to bluish-grey rock when fresh, but tends to darken when weathered and is easily distinguished from the country rock. The pattern of '''joints''' is rather irregular but appears to be sub-horizontal columnar jointing at the quarry face [NZ 118 253].

On Cockfield Fell [NZ 122 251] the dyke is 22 m wide, but entry to the workings is not possible there.

=== Locality 2 [NZ 131 251]–[NZ 118 255] ===

From the quarry by the River Guanless, cross rough ground to the south to the dismantled Bishop Auckland to Tebay railway, which crosses Cockfield Fell, and follow its course eastwards until it crosses the river. Upstream along the south bank, several exposures of Westphalian sediments, between the Brockwell and Busty coal seams, can be seen. There is evidence of past coal mining activity, with many spoil heaps, and on the opposite bank, a dismantled railway (West Auckland to Butterknowle) which served the mines of the area. These mines were worked by pillar and stall. The coal in the pillars is now being removed by opencast mining throughout the area. Siltstones overlying a ripple cross-bedded sandstone crop out at [NZ 126 253], a cross-bedded sandstone at [NZ 121 255], and shales dipping 5° to the northwest at [NZ 118 255].

Return to the vehicle, drive south through Cockfield and take the A688 via Staindrop to Barnard Castle.

=== Locality 3, Barnard Castle [NZ 053 159]–[NZ 048 165] ===

There is ample free car parking on the Demesnes [NZ 052 161], on the north bank of the River Tees. From the footpath on the south bank, reach the riverside near the mill where a traverse through Yoredale cycles of the early Namurian can be examined ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_3.jpg|Figure 17.3]]). The waterfall at the mill is formed by the dark-grey, thin-beddded, fine-grained Bottom Little Limestone (2.5 m) dipping 10° north. The 9 m shale with limestone ribs between the Bottom and Top Little Limestones is exposed between Demesnes and Thorngate Mills. Cross the footbridge to where the Top Little Limestone (5 m) can be seen on the north bank upstream of Thorngate Wynd [NZ 048 161] forming a natural ledge across the River Tees. The overlying shale (6 m), which is poorly exposed, is capped by the Ten Fathom Grit (9 m) and can be seen under the County Bridge. This is succeeded by the Bottom (11 m) and Top (7 m) Crag Limestones with intervening shales; the castle stands on this sequence.

Return to the vehicle and from the market cross in Barnard Castle, take the minor road towards Whorlton, turning off to Egglestone Abbey.

=== Locality 4, Egglestone Abbey [NZ 066 149] ===

Park just before the Abbey Bridge under which the River Tees has cut a gorge in the grey, massively bedded, '''bioclastic''' Great Limestone which marks the base of the Namurian. Upstream, the soft overlying beds are covered until, on the northern side and set back from the river bank, the White Hazle Sandstone forms a cliff. The overlying Bottom Little Limestone is not seen. The siltstones, shales and thin Coal Sills sandstones between the Great Limestone and the White Hazle Sandstone are exposed further upstream in the northern bank of the river.

Drive onto the A66, turn left then first right to Greta Bridge.

=== Locality 5, Greta Bridge and Brignall [NZ 076 119]–[NZ 086 132] ===

There is parking between the bridge and the Morritt Arms. Follow the River Greta upstream on the west bank to an exposure of the Five Yard Limestone [NZ 076 119], the lowest limestone seen in the western half of the Middleton Tyas Anticline. It is a grey, fine-grained, bioclastic limestone with a fauna of '''crinoid''' stems, '''corals''' and '''brachiopods''', gently dipping to the north. It forms a pavement at the river edge with the characteristic blocky pattern of the well-jointed Carboniferous limestones. Further downstream a brown, medium-grained, '''limonitic''' sandstone between the Five Yard and overlying Three Yard Limestones [NZ 078 124] is exposed in a river cliff. Return to the footpath and continue to the Scotchman's Stone (NZ 081 125), where the blue-grey, fine-grained, crinoidal Three Yard Limestone is exposed (better seen on the eastern bank). The Scotchman's Stone is a joint block of a brown, thick bedded, coarse-grained sandstone that has broken away from the cliff section seen above the eastern bank. It is seen again on the opposite bank at NZ 085 128. The top of this sandstone is approximately 8 m below the base of the Four Fathom Limestone which is not exposed. From the bridge looking north, the high ground is formed by the outcrop of the Great Limestone, which is seen in the next locality.

Return across the A66 to the 'Meeting of the Waters'.

=== Locality 6, 'Meeting of the Waters' [NZ 085 145] ===

The metalled road to this locality is private but may be used as a footpath. Approaching the confluence with the River Tees, the River Greta has cut through the top 20 m of the east–west striking Great Limestone, and is generally flowing down the gentle northerly dip slope into the River Tees.

Return to the A66, turn left and take the first left to Whorlton.

=== Locality 7, Whorlton Lido [NZ 108 145]–[NZ 113 145] ===

This is private property and a charge is made during the summer months for use of facilities and parking. However, there is a right of way through the property following the River Tees downstream to Wycliffe. Here the Tees flows over two small waterfalls formed by the resistant dark grey bioclastic Top Little Limestone. This 4 m thick unit dips 6° north, and is made up of three limestones, separated by grey shales that contain brachiopods. Overlying the Top Little Limestone are beds of fossiliferous shale and sandstone, which can be seen in the north bank and in Whorlton Beck.

=== Continue through Whorlton and take the A67 to Winston ===

''Locality 8, ''Winston Bridge [NZ 138 158]–[NZ 143 163]. There is ample car parking by the roadside, on each side of the bridge. Take the footpath upstream on the south side to the river bank, then continue upstream with care along the water's edge to a small waterfall, formed by the to m thick, grey, fine-grained, thin bedded Knucton Shell Bed Limestone. This unit is full of well preserved brachiopods, principally ''Spirifer. ''Turn back towards the bridge to work up the easterly dipping succession. Note 5 m of fossiliferous shales with fine-grained sandstone ribs overlying the shell bed, succeeded by 6 m of medium-grained ferruginous sandstone. This sandstone dips into the river under the bridge, and with care can be viewed on the north bank upstream of the bridge. Above the path between the road and the southern river bank just downstream of the bridge, it is possible with care to view the overlying grey, fine to medium-grained, Rookhope Shell Bed Limestone. There is a brachiopod-rich block of the limestone beside the footpath.

Continue east on the A67 to a lay-by on the right at Gainford Spa.

=== Locality 9, Gainford Spa [NZ 162 173] ===

From the lay-by, take the footpath to the river. Adjacent to the spa is an exposure of yellow to brown-weathered, medium-grained, laminated Namurian sandstone, with abundant carbonaceous laminae at the base. The upper unit truncates the underlying unit, approximately t m above the footpath. This sandstone lies between the Lower and Upper Felltop Limestone and directly above the Yoredale Coal.

Continue east on the A67 to Piercebridge.

=== Locality 10, Piercebridge [NZ 2100 1545] ===

Park in the village (can be difficult) and walk to a gap in the wall at the southwest end of the bridge. Through the gap, take the slippery steep 'path' to the riverside and walk c.70 m upstream to a vertical cliff. The gently dipping rock exposed here is near the base of the late Permian Raisby Formation and just above the unconformity on the Carboniferous. The unconformity crops out to the west but is unexposed. The Raisby Formation comprises buff slightly calcitic dolostone that is mainly vaguely thin-to medium-bedded but is divided into 1–1.5 m major units by notch-forming thin beds of brown leathery clay. The rock is very finely crystalline and microporous and much of it has been fragmented by internal mineralogical changes ('autobrecciation'). Poorly-preserved moulds of brachiopods, bivalves, ostracodes and foraminifera are present in some beds.

Continue east on the A67 to High Coniscliffe.

=== Locality 11, old quarry at High Coniscliffe [NZ 2251 1525] ===

There is limited parking at the entry gate [NZ 2253 1530] on the A67 near the church. The enigmatic section in the main face is in lagoonal beds of the Ford Formation and comprises two rock units that meet at a sharp sub-horizontal very uneven surface (relief C.2 m). The lower unit (up to 3.5 m thick) is of soft, porous, finely oolitic buff dolostone in regular beds mainly 0.1–0.3 m thick, of which some are planar cross-bedded; the upper unit (up to 5 m ) is generally massive finely crystalline pale grey hard limestone that bears faint hints of bedding (and ?cross-bedding) in a few patches. The massive unit has a reef-like appearance and it may be a lagoonal patch-reef, but samples of it have so far failed to reveal a diagnostic reef fauna. The limestone may be secondary ('dedolomite) and produced by the reaction between former dolostone and groundwater rich in dissolved calcium sulphate. Dome-shaped structures up to about 1.2 m across in a minor north face could be algal.

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Glossary|Glossary]] ==

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Bibliography|Bibliography]] ==

{{EWwalks}}

[[Category:7. Northern England]]

Carboniferous and Permian rocks in southern County Durham - an excursion

2020-04-09T14:42:42Z

YGSJET:

{{YGSNorthumbrianRocks}}
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_1.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 17.1 Geological map of southern County Durham showing the localities described in the text (after Mills & Hull 1976).]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_2.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 17.2 Geological cross-section of the northern limb of the Middleton Tyas anticline. Line of section on Fig. 17.1.]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_3.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 17.3 Succession of Carboniferous Limestone cyclothems between Barnard Castle and Piercebridge, indicating sections exposed at each locality.]]

By '''Trevor Morse''' University of Durham and '''Denys Smith''' GEOPERM & University of Durham.

== Purpose ==

To examine the Carboniferous and Permian rocks, and the Tertiary Cleveland '''Dyke''', of the lower Tees valley and adjoining areas, southern County Durham.

== Logistics ==

{{YGSLogistics}}

The complete excursion occupies two days but can be split conveniently into shorter sections. A vehicle is essential because the localities are widely spaced ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_1.jpg|Figure 17.1]]). Cars can be parked at or near the roadside, and all roads are suitable for small coaches. Localities 1 and 2 involve up to 3 km walking on paths and rough ground in the Butterknowle and Cockfield Fell area. Localities 3–10 entail a total of up to 10 km walking along riverside paths of the Tees and Greta between Barnard Castle and Piercebridge, finishing at a quarry at High Coniscliffe (Locality 11). The excursion has been ordered for convenience of travel but could be rearranged in geological sequence to finish with Localities 1, 2, 10 and 11 ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_3.jpg|Figure 17.3]]). It would be best undertaken in early spring, when vegetation least masks outcrops and views.

Barnard Castle has pubs, public toilets, shops, restaurants and buildings of historical interest. Most of the other localities are near to villages with pubs and shops.

''Note: ''If the Rivers Tees and Greta are in flood, this excursion should not be attempted.

== Maps ==

O.S. 1:25 000 sheets NZ 02/12 Woodland & West Auckland, NZ 01/11 Barnard Castle & Gainford, NZ 21/31 Darlington; O.S. 1:50 000 sheets 92 Barnard Castle, 93 Middlesbrough & Darlington; B.G.S. 1:63 360 Sheet 32 Barnard Castle (solid and drift editions).

== Geological background ==

The area is dominated by the Carboniferous rocks on the northern flank of the broad, open Middleton Tyas '''Anticline''', an east–west striking '''Variscan''' structure ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_2.jpg|Figure 17.2]]) within the Stainmore Trough. The major subdivisions of the Carboniferous form three distinct east–west belts across the excursion area, generally '''dipping''' and younging towards the north ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_1.jpg|Figure 17.1]]). Dinantian rocks occupy the core of the anticline south of the River Tees (Barnard Castle to Piercebridge), the Namurian a central area from the River Tees to the north side of Langleydale, and the coal-bearing Westphalian rocks in the north form the southern edge of the Durham coalfield.

The Carboniferous succession is dominated by numerous repetitions of lithological sequences, called '''cyclothems''', which change in character from dominantly marine in the Dinantian to fluvio'''lacustrine''' in the Westphalian. This cyclicity reflects '''eustatic''' rise and fall of sea level, probably driven by an extended period of glaciation in polar regions, locally modified by '''tectonic''' and sedimentological effects. Dinantian '''lithologies''' are characterized by thick marine limestones, shales and sandstones, so called '''Yoredale''' cyclothems. During the Namurian, fluvial systems '''prograded''' from the northeast and east, resulting in the increasing dominance of medium to coarse-grained, usually '''cross-bedded''' sandstones. By Westphalian times, a vast floodplain had developed, with deltaic complexes building out into lakes and frequent episodes of soil formation with the development of a rich, tropical vegetation. These Coal Measures cycles consist of inter-distributary sands, silts and muds with well developed '''seatearths''' and coals, cut by medium-grained channel sandstones. Marine influence is limited to occasional thin bands of shales with marine fossils.

Following the Variscan Orogeny and a prolonged period of late Carboniferous and early Permian erosion, the Permian sequence, now dipping gently eastwards, '''unconformably oversteps''' successively lower units of the Carboniferous to the south. The fine-grained '''dolostone''' of the late Permian Raisby Formation (formerly the Lower Magnesian Limestone) is succeeded by the '''oolitic '''dolostone of the Ford Formation (formerly the Middle Magnesian Limestone). Younger Permian and Mesozoic rocks lie beyond the eastern margin of the area. During the early Tertiary the '''tholeiitic''' Cleveland Dyke, the most southerly representative of the Mull dyke swarm, was intruded into the country rock.

Apart from the exposures in the banks of the Tees and Greta, the southern part of County Durham has few good continuous sections. This is due to a variably thick covering of glacial deposits left by the most recent, late Devensian, ice advance. Resistant rock types form features in the landscape that rarely project through this mantle of '''drift'''.

== Excursion details ==

=== Locality 1, Butterknowle [NZ 115 255] ===

Park on the B6282 at the south side of the bridge, then follow the track along the River Guanless downstream to where it bends sharply to the north. Continue straight on into the linear quarry which worked the Cleveland Dyke, here 10 m wide, for roadstone. Note the method of quarrying whereby 0.5 m of the dyke rock was left as a retaining wall on each side to prevent the collapse of the Westphalian country rock into the workings. Where the retaining wall has fallen away, weak contact '''metamorphism''' can be seen, the effect most pronounced in fine-grained lithologies. The dyke is a '''porphyritic''' tholeiitic dolerite with a microcrystalline ground-mass and plagioclase '''feldspar phenocrysts'''; vesicles are also present. It is a typically massive, hard, dark grey to bluish-grey rock when fresh, but tends to darken when weathered and is easily distinguished from the country rock. The pattern of '''joints''' is rather irregular but appears to be sub-horizontal columnar jointing at the quarry face [NZ 118 253].

On Cockfield Fell [NZ 122 251] the dyke is 22 m wide, but entry to the workings is not possible there.

=== Locality 2 [NZ 131 251]–[NZ 118 255] ===

From the quarry by the River Guanless, cross rough ground to the south to the dismantled Bishop Auckland to Tebay railway, which crosses Cockfield Fell, and follow its course eastwards until it crosses the river. Upstream along the south bank, several exposures of Westphalian sediments, between the Brockwell and Busty coal seams, can be seen. There is evidence of past coal mining activity, with many spoil heaps, and on the opposite bank, a dismantled railway (West Auckland to Butterknowle) which served the mines of the area. These mines were worked by pillar and stall. The coal in the pillars is now being removed by opencast mining throughout the area. Siltstones overlying a ripple cross-bedded sandstone crop out at [NZ 126 253], a cross-bedded sandstone at [NZ 121 255], and shales dipping 5° to the northwest at [NZ 118 255].

Return to the vehicle, drive south through Cockfield and take the A688 via Staindrop to Barnard Castle.

=== Locality 3, Barnard Castle [NZ 053 159]–[NZ 048 165] ===

There is ample free car parking on the Demesnes [NZ 052 161], on the north bank of the River Tees. From the footpath on the south bank, reach the riverside near the mill where a traverse through Yoredale cycles of the early Namurian can be examined ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_3.jpg|Figure 17.3]]). The waterfall at the mill is formed by the dark-grey, thin-beddded, fine-grained Bottom Little Limestone (2.5 m) dipping 10° north. The 9 m shale with limestone ribs between the Bottom and Top Little Limestones is exposed between Demesnes and Thorngate Mills. Cross the footbridge to where the Top Little Limestone (5 m) can be seen on the north bank upstream of Thorngate Wynd [NZ 048 161] forming a natural ledge across the River Tees. The overlying shale (6 m), which is poorly exposed, is capped by the Ten Fathom Grit (9 m) and can be seen under the County Bridge. This is succeeded by the Bottom (11 m) and Top (7 m) Crag Limestones with intervening shales; the castle stands on this sequence.

Return to the vehicle and from the market cross in Barnard Castle, take the minor road towards Whorlton, turning off to Egglestone Abbey.

=== Locality 4, Egglestone Abbey [NZ 066 149] ===

Park just before the Abbey Bridge under which the River Tees has cut a gorge in the grey, massively bedded, '''bioclastic''' Great Limestone which marks the base of the Namurian. Upstream, the soft overlying beds are covered until, on the northern side and set back from the river bank, the White Hazle Sandstone forms a cliff. The overlying Bottom Little Limestone is not seen. The siltstones, shales and thin Coal Sills sandstones between the Great Limestone and the White Hazle Sandstone are exposed further upstream in the northern bank of the river.

Drive onto the A66, turn left then first right to Greta Bridge.

=== Locality 5, Greta Bridge and Brignall [NZ 076 119]–[NZ 086 132] ===

There is parking between the bridge and the Morritt Arms. Follow the River Greta upstream on the west bank to an exposure of the Five Yard Limestone [NZ 076 119], the lowest limestone seen in the western half of the Middleton Tyas Anticline. It is a grey, fine-grained, bioclastic limestone with a fauna of '''crinoid''' stems, '''corals''' and '''brachiopods''', gently dipping to the north. It forms a pavement at the river edge with the characteristic blocky pattern of the well-jointed Carboniferous limestones. Further downstream a brown, medium-grained, '''limonitic''' sandstone between the Five Yard and overlying Three Yard Limestones [NZ 078 124] is exposed in a river cliff. Return to the footpath and continue to the Scotchman's Stone (NZ o81125), where the blue-grey, fine-grained, crinoidal Three Yard Limestone is exposed (better seen on the eastern bank). The Scotchman's Stone is a joint block of a brown, thick bedded, coarse-grained sandstone that has broken away from the cliff section seen above the eastern bank. It is seen again on the opposite bank at NZ 085128. The top of this sandstone is approximately 8 m below the base of the Four Fathom Limestone which is not exposed. From the bridge looking north, the high ground is formed by the outcrop of the Great Limestone, which is seen in the next locality.

Return across the A66 to the 'Meeting of the Waters'.

=== Locality 6, 'Meeting of the Waters' [NZ 085 145] ===

The metalled road to this locality is private but may be used as a footpath. Approaching the confluence with the River Tees, the River Greta has cut through the top 20 m of the east–west striking Great Limestone, and is generally flowing down the gentle northerly dip slope into the River Tees.

Return to the A66, turn left and take the first left to Whorlton.

=== Locality 7, Whorlton Lido [NZ 108 145]–[NZ 113 145] ===

This is private property and a charge is made during the summer months for use of facilities and parking. However, there is a right of way through the property following the River Tees downstream to Wycliffe. Here the Tees flows over two small waterfalls formed by the resistant dark grey bioclastic Top Little Limestone. This 4 m thick unit dips 6° north, and is made up of three limestones, separated by grey shales that contain brachiopods. Overlying the Top Little Limestone are beds of fossiliferous shale and sandstone, which can be seen in the north bank and in Whorlton Beck.

=== Continue through Whorlton and take the A67 to Winston ===

''Locality 8, ''Winston Bridge [NZ 138 158]–[NZ 143 163]. There is ample car parking by the roadside, on each side of the bridge. Take the footpath upstream on the south side to the river bank, then continue upstream with care along the water's edge to a small waterfall, formed by the to m thick, grey, fine-grained, thin bedded Knucton Shell Bed Limestone. This unit is full of well preserved brachiopods, principally ''Spirifer. ''Turn back towards the bridge to work up the easterly dipping succession. Note 5 m of fossiliferous shales with fine-grained sandstone ribs overlying the shell bed, succeeded by 6 m of medium-grained ferruginous sandstone. This sandstone dips into the river under the bridge, and with care can be viewed on the north bank upstream of the bridge. Above the path between the road and the southern river bank just downstream of the bridge, it is possible with care to view the overlying grey, fine to medium-grained, Rookhope Shell Bed Limestone. There is a brachiopod-rich block of the limestone beside the footpath.

Continue east on the A67 to a lay-by on the right at Gainford Spa.

=== Locality 9, Gainford Spa [NZ 162 173] ===

From the lay-by, take the footpath to the river. Adjacent to the spa is an exposure of yellow to brown-weathered, medium-grained, laminated Namurian sandstone, with abundant carbonaceous laminae at the base. The upper unit truncates the underlying unit, approximately t m above the footpath. This sandstone lies between the Lower and Upper Felltop Limestone and directly above the Yoredale Coal.

Continue east on the A67 to Piercebridge.

=== Locality 10, Piercebridge [NZ 2100 1545] ===

Park in the village (can be difficult) and walk to a gap in the wall at the southwest end of the bridge. Through the gap, take the slippery steep 'path' to the riverside and walk c.70 m upstream to a vertical cliff. The gently dipping rock exposed here is near the base of the late Permian Raisby Formation and just above the unconformity on the Carboniferous. The unconformity crops out to the west but is unexposed. The Raisby Formation comprises buff slightly calcitic dolostone that is mainly vaguely thin-to medium-bedded but is divided into 1–1.5 m major units by notch-forming thin beds of brown leathery clay. The rock is very finely crystalline and microporous and much of it has been fragmented by internal mineralogical changes ('autobrecciation'). Poorly-preserved moulds of brachiopods, bivalves, ostracodes and foraminifera are present in some beds.

Continue east on the A67 to High Coniscliffe.

=== Locality 11, old quarry at High Coniscliffe [NZ 2251 1525] ===

There is limited parking at the entry gate [NZ 2253 1530] on the A67 near the church. The enigmatic section in the main face is in lagoonal beds of the Ford Formation and comprises two rock units that meet at a sharp sub-horizontal very uneven surface (relief C.2 m). The lower unit (up to 3.5 m thick) is of soft, porous, finely oolitic buff dolostone in regular beds mainly 0.1–0.3 m thick, of which some are planar cross-bedded; the upper unit (up to 5 m ) is generally massive finely crystalline pale grey hard limestone that bears faint hints of bedding (and ?cross-bedding) in a few patches. The massive unit has a reef-like appearance and it may be a lagoonal patch-reef, but samples of it have so far failed to reveal a diagnostic reef fauna. The limestone may be secondary ('dedolomite) and produced by the reaction between former dolostone and groundwater rich in dissolved calcium sulphate. Dome-shaped structures up to about 1.2 m across in a minor north face could be algal.

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Glossary|Glossary]] ==

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Bibliography|Bibliography]] ==

{{EWwalks}}

[[Category:7. Northern England]]

Carboniferous and Permian rocks in southern County Durham - an excursion

2020-04-09T14:38:48Z

YGSJET:

{{YGSNorthumbrianRocks}}
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_1.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 17.1 Geological map of southern County Durham showing the localities described in the text (after Mills & Hull 1976).]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_2.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 17.2 Geological cross-section of the northern limb of the Middleton Tyas anticline. Line of section on Fig. 17.1.]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_3.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 17.3 Succession of Carboniferous Limestone cyclothems between Barnard Castle and Piercebridge, indicating sections exposed at each locality.]]

By '''Trevor Morse''' University of Durham and '''Denys Smith''' GEOPERM & University of Durham.

== Purpose ==

To examine the Carboniferous and Permian rocks, and the Tertiary Cleveland '''Dyke''', of the lower Tees valley and adjoining areas, southern County Durham.

== Logistics ==

{{YGSLogistics}}

The complete excursion occupies two days but can be split conveniently into shorter sections. A vehicle is essential because the localities are widely spaced ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_1.jpg|Figure 17.1]]). Cars can be parked at or near the roadside, and all roads are suitable for small coaches. Localities 1 and 2 involve up to 3 km walking on paths and rough ground in the Butterknowle and Cockfield Fell area. Localities 3–10 entail a total of up to 10 km walking along riverside paths of the Tees and Greta between Barnard Castle and Piercebridge, finishing at a quarry at High Coniscliffe (Locality 11). The excursion has been ordered for convenience of travel but could be rearranged in geological sequence to finish with Localities 1, 2, 10 and 11 ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_3.jpg|Figure 17.3]]). It would be best undertaken in early spring, when vegetation least masks outcrops and views.

Barnard Castle has pubs, public toilets, shops, restaurants and buildings of historical interest. Most of the other localities are near to villages with pubs and shops.

''Note: ''If the Rivers Tees and Greta are in flood, this excursion should not be attempted.

== Maps ==

O.S. 1:25 000 sheets NZ 02/12 Woodland & West Auckland, NZ 01/11 Barnard Castle & Gainford, NZ 21/31 Darlington; O.S. 1:50 000 sheets 92 Barnard Castle, 93 Middlesbrough & Darlington; B.G.S. 1:63 360 Sheet 32 Barnard Castle (solid and drift editions).

== Geological background ==

The area is dominated by the Carboniferous rocks on the northern flank of the broad, open Middleton Tyas '''Anticline''', an east–west striking '''Variscan''' structure ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_2.jpg|Figure 17.2]]) within the Stainmore Trough. The major subdivisions of the Carboniferous form three distinct east–west belts across the excursion area, generally '''dipping''' and younging towards the north ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_1.jpg|Figure 17.1]]). Dinantian rocks occupy the core of the anticline south of the River Tees (Barnard Castle to Piercebridge), the Namurian a central area from the River Tees to the north side of Langleydale, and the coal-bearing Westphalian rocks in the north form the southern edge of the Durham coalfield.

The Carboniferous succession is dominated by numerous repetitions of lithological sequences, called '''cyclothems''', which change in character from dominantly marine in the Dinantian to fluvio'''lacustrine''' in the Westphalian. This cyclicity reflects '''eustatic''' rise and fall of sea level, probably driven by an extended period of glaciation in polar regions, locally modified by '''tectonic''' and sedimentological effects. Dinantian '''lithologies''' are characterized by thick marine limestones, shales and sandstones, so called '''Yoredale''' cyclothems. During the Namurian, fluvial systems '''prograded''' from the northeast and east, resulting in the increasing dominance of medium to coarse-grained, usually '''cross-bedded''' sandstones. By Westphalian times, a vast floodplain had developed, with deltaic complexes building out into lakes and frequent episodes of soil formation with the development of a rich, tropical vegetation. These Coal Measures cycles consist of inter-distributary sands, silts and muds with well developed '''seatearths''' and coals, cut by medium-grained channel sandstones. Marine influence is limited to occasional thin bands of shales with marine fossils.

Following the Variscan Orogeny and a prolonged period of late Carboniferous and early Permian erosion, the Permian sequence, now dipping gently eastwards, '''unconformably oversteps''' successively lower units of the Carboniferous to the south. The fine-grained '''dolostone''' of the late Permian Raisby Formation (formerly the Lower Magnesian Limestone) is succeeded by the '''oolitic '''dolostone of the Ford Formation (formerly the Middle Magnesian Limestone). Younger Permian and Mesozoic rocks lie beyond the eastern margin of the area. During the early Tertiary the '''tholeiitic''' Cleveland Dyke, the most southerly representative of the Mull dyke swarm, was intruded into the country rock.

Apart from the exposures in the banks of the Tees and Greta, the southern part of County Durham has few good continuous sections. This is due to a variably thick covering of glacial deposits left by the most recent, late Devensian, ice advance. Resistant rock types form features in the landscape that rarely project through this mantle of '''drift'''.

== Excursion details ==

=== Locality 1, Butterknowle [NZ 115 255] ===

Park on the B6282 at the south side of the bridge, then follow the track along the River Guanless downstream to where it bends sharply to the north. Continue straight on into the linear quarry which worked the Cleveland Dyke, here 10 m wide, for roadstone. Note the method of quarrying whereby 0.5 m of the dyke rock was left as a retaining wall on each side to prevent the collapse of the Westphalian country rock into the workings. Where the retaining wall has fallen away, weak contact '''metamorphism''' can be seen, the effect most pronounced in fine-grained lithologies. The dyke is a '''porphyritic''' tholeiitic dolerite with a microcrystalline ground-mass and plagioclase '''feldspar phenocrysts'''; vesicles are also present. It is a typically massive, hard, dark grey to bluish-grey rock when fresh, but tends to darken when weathered and is easily distinguished from the country rock. The pattern of '''joints''' is rather irregular but appears to be sub-horizontal columnar jointing at the quarry face [NZ 118 253].

On Cockfield Fell [NZ 122 251] the dyke is 22 m wide, but entry to the workings is not possible there.

=== Locality 2 [NZ 131 251]–[NZ 118 255] ===

From the quarry by the River Guanless, cross rough ground to the south to the dismantled Bishop Auckland to Tebay railway, which crosses Cockfield Fell, and follow its course eastwards until it crosses the river. Upstream along the south bank, several exposures of Westphalian sediments, between the Brockwell and Busty coal seams, can be seen. There is evidence of past coal mining activity, with many spoil heaps, and on the opposite bank, a dismantled railway (West Auckland to Butterknowle) which served the mines of the area. These mines were worked by pillar and stall. The coal in the pillars is now being removed by opencast mining throughout the area. Siltstones overlying a ripple cross-bedded sandstone crop out at [NZ 126 253], a cross-bedded sandstone at [NZ 121 255], and shales dipping 5° to the northwest at [NZ 118 255].

Return to the vehicle, drive south through Cockfield and take the A688 via Staindrop to Barnard Castle.

=== Locality 3, Barnard Castle [NZ 053 159]–[NZ 048 165] ===

There is ample free car parking on the Demesnes [NZ 052 161], on the north bank of the River Tees. From the footpath on the south bank, reach the riverside near the mill where a traverse through Yoredale cycles of the early Namurian can be examined ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_3.jpg|Figure 17.3]]). The waterfall at the mill is formed by the dark-grey, thin-beddded, fine-grained Bottom Little Limestone (2.5 m) dipping 10° north. The 9 m shale with limestone ribs between the Bottom and Top Little Limestones is exposed between Demesnes and Thorngate Mills. Cross the footbridge to where the Top Little Limestone (5 m) can be seen on the north bank upstream of Thorngate Wynd [NZ 048 161] forming a natural ledge across the River Tees. The overlying shale (6 m), which is poorly exposed, is capped by the Ten Fathom Grit (9 m) and can be seen under the County Bridge. This is succeeded by the Bottom (11 m) and Top (7 m) Crag Limestones with intervening shales; the castle stands on this sequence.

Return to the vehicle and from the market cross in Barnard Castle, take the minor road towards Whorlton, turning off to Egglestone Abbey.

=== Locality 4, Egglestone Abbey [NZ 066 149] ===

Park just before the Abbey Bridge under which the River Tees has cut a gorge in the grey, massively bedded, '''bioclastic''' Great Limestone which marks the base of the Namurian. Upstream, the soft overlying beds are covered until, on the northern side and set back from the river bank, the White Hazle Sandstone forms a cliff. The overlying Bottom Little Limestone is not seen. The siltstones, shales and thin Coal Sills sandstones between the Great Limestone and the White Hazle Sandstone are exposed further upstream in the northern bank of the river.

Drive onto the A66, turn left then first right to Greta Bridge.

=== Locality 5, Greta Bridge and Brignall [NZ 076 119]–[NZ 086 132] ===

There is parking between the bridge and the Morritt Arms. Follow the River Greta upstream on the west bank to an exposure of the Five Yard Limestone [NZ 076 119], the lowest limestone seen in the western half of the Middleton Tyas Anticline. It is a grey, fine-grained, bioclastic limestone with a fauna of crinoid stems, corals and brachiopods, gently dipping to the north. It forms a pavement at the river edge with the characteristic blocky pattern of the well-jointed Carboniferous limestones. Further downstream a brown, medium-grained, limonitic sandstone between the Five Yard and overlying Three Yard Limestones [NZ 078 124] is exposed in a river cliff. Return to the footpath and continue to the Scotchman's Stone (NZ o81125), where the blue-grey, fine-grained, crinoidal Three Yard Limestone is exposed (better seen on the eastern bank). The Scotchman's Stone is a joint block of a brown, thick bedded, coarse-grained sandstone that has broken away from the cliff section seen above the eastern bank. It is seen again on the opposite bank at NZ 085128. The top of this sandstone is approximately 8 m below the base of the Four Fathom Limestone which is not exposed. From the bridge looking north, the high ground is formed by the outcrop of the Great Limestone, which is seen in the next locality.

Return across the A66 to the 'Meeting of the Waters'.

=== Locality 6, 'Meeting of the Waters' [NZ 085 145] ===

The metalled road to this locality is private but may be used as a footpath. Approaching the confluence with the River Tees, the River Greta has cut through the top 20 m of the east–west striking Great Limestone, and is generally flowing down the gentle northerly dip slope into the River Tees.

Return to the A66, turn left and take the first left to Whorlton.

=== Locality 7, Whorlton Lido [NZ 108 145]–[NZ 113 145] ===

This is private property and a charge is made during the summer months for use of facilities and parking. However, there is a right of way through the property following the River Tees downstream to Wycliffe. Here the Tees flows over two small waterfalls formed by the resistant dark grey bioclastic Top Little Limestone. This 4 m thick unit dips 6° north, and is made up of three limestones, separated by grey shales that contain brachiopods. Overlying the Top Little Limestone are beds of fossiliferous shale and sandstone, which can be seen in the north bank and in Whorlton Beck.

=== Continue through Whorlton and take the A67 to Winston ===

''Locality 8, ''Winston Bridge [NZ 138 158]–[NZ 143 163]. There is ample car parking by the roadside, on each side of the bridge. Take the footpath upstream on the south side to the river bank, then continue upstream with care along the water's edge to a small waterfall, formed by the to m thick, grey, fine-grained, thin bedded Knucton Shell Bed Limestone. This unit is full of well preserved brachiopods, principally ''Spirifer. ''Turn back towards the bridge to work up the easterly dipping succession. Note 5 m of fossiliferous shales with fine-grained sandstone ribs overlying the shell bed, succeeded by 6 m of medium-grained ferruginous sandstone. This sandstone dips into the river under the bridge, and with care can be viewed on the north bank upstream of the bridge. Above the path between the road and the southern river bank just downstream of the bridge, it is possible with care to view the overlying grey, fine to medium-grained, Rookhope Shell Bed Limestone. There is a brachiopod-rich block of the limestone beside the footpath.

Continue east on the A67 to a lay-by on the right at Gainford Spa.

=== Locality 9, Gainford Spa [NZ 162 173] ===

From the lay-by, take the footpath to the river. Adjacent to the spa is an exposure of yellow to brown-weathered, medium-grained, laminated Namurian sandstone, with abundant carbonaceous laminae at the base. The upper unit truncates the underlying unit, approximately t m above the footpath. This sandstone lies between the Lower and Upper Felltop Limestone and directly above the Yoredale Coal.

Continue east on the A67 to Piercebridge.

=== Locality 10, Piercebridge [NZ 2100 1545] ===

Park in the village (can be difficult) and walk to a gap in the wall at the southwest end of the bridge. Through the gap, take the slippery steep 'path' to the riverside and walk c.70 m upstream to a vertical cliff. The gently dipping rock exposed here is near the base of the late Permian Raisby Formation and just above the unconformity on the Carboniferous. The unconformity crops out to the west but is unexposed. The Raisby Formation comprises buff slightly calcitic dolostone that is mainly vaguely thin-to medium-bedded but is divided into 1–1.5 m major units by notch-forming thin beds of brown leathery clay. The rock is very finely crystalline and microporous and much of it has been fragmented by internal mineralogical changes ('autobrecciation'). Poorly-preserved moulds of brachiopods, bivalves, ostracodes and foraminifera are present in some beds.

Continue east on the A67 to High Coniscliffe.

=== Locality 11, old quarry at High Coniscliffe [NZ 2251 1525] ===

There is limited parking at the entry gate [NZ 2253 1530] on the A67 near the church. The enigmatic section in the main face is in lagoonal beds of the Ford Formation and comprises two rock units that meet at a sharp sub-horizontal very uneven surface (relief C.2 m). The lower unit (up to 3.5 m thick) is of soft, porous, finely oolitic buff dolostone in regular beds mainly 0.1–0.3 m thick, of which some are planar cross-bedded; the upper unit (up to 5 m ) is generally massive finely crystalline pale grey hard limestone that bears faint hints of bedding (and ?cross-bedding) in a few patches. The massive unit has a reef-like appearance and it may be a lagoonal patch-reef, but samples of it have so far failed to reveal a diagnostic reef fauna. The limestone may be secondary ('dedolomite) and produced by the reaction between former dolostone and groundwater rich in dissolved calcium sulphate. Dome-shaped structures up to about 1.2 m across in a minor north face could be algal.

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Glossary|Glossary]] ==

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Bibliography|Bibliography]] ==

{{EWwalks}}

[[Category:7. Northern England]]

Carboniferous and Permian rocks in southern County Durham - an excursion

2020-04-09T14:34:00Z

YGSJET:

{{YGSNorthumbrianRocks}}
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_1.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 17.1 Geological map of southern County Durham showing the localities described in the text (after Mills & Hull 1976).]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_2.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 17.2 Geological cross-section of the northern limb of the Middleton Tyas anticline. Line of section on Fig. 17.1.]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_3.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 17.3 Succession of Carboniferous Limestone cyclothems between Barnard Castle and Piercebridge, indicating sections exposed at each locality.]]

By '''Trevor Morse''' University of Durham and '''Denys Smith''' GEOPERM & University of Durham.

== Purpose ==

To examine the Carboniferous and Permian rocks, and the Tertiary Cleveland '''Dyke''', of the lower Tees valley and adjoining areas, southern County Durham.

== Logistics ==

{{YGSLogistics}}

The complete excursion occupies two days but can be split conveniently into shorter sections. A vehicle is essential because the localities are widely spaced ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_1.jpg|Figure 17.1]]). Cars can be parked at or near the roadside, and all roads are suitable for small coaches. Localities 1 and 2 involve up to 3 km walking on paths and rough ground in the Butterknowle and Cockfield Fell area. Localities 3–10 entail a total of up to 10 km walking along riverside paths of the Tees and Greta between Barnard Castle and Piercebridge, finishing at a quarry at High Coniscliffe (Locality 11). The excursion has been ordered for convenience of travel but could be rearranged in geological sequence to finish with Localities 1, 2, 10 and 11 ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_3.jpg|Figure 17.3]]). It would be best undertaken in early spring, when vegetation least masks outcrops and views.

Barnard Castle has pubs, public toilets, shops, restaurants and buildings of historical interest. Most of the other localities are near to villages with pubs and shops.

''Note: ''If the Rivers Tees and Greta are in flood, this excursion should not be attempted.

== Maps ==

O.S. 1:25 000 sheets NZ 02/12 Woodland & West Auckland, NZ 01/11 Barnard Castle & Gainford, NZ 21/31 Darlington; O.S. 1:50 000 sheets 92 Barnard Castle, 93 Middlesbrough & Darlington; B.G.S. 1:63 360 Sheet 32 Barnard Castle (solid and drift editions).

== Geological background ==

The area is dominated by the Carboniferous rocks on the northern flank of the broad, open Middleton Tyas '''Anticline''', an east–west striking '''Variscan''' structure ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_2.jpg|Figure 17.2]]) within the Stainmore Trough. The major subdivisions of the Carboniferous form three distinct east–west belts across the excursion area, generally '''dipping''' and younging towards the north ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_1.jpg|Figure 17.1]]). Dinantian rocks occupy the core of the anticline south of the River Tees (Barnard Castle to Piercebridge), the Namurian a central area from the River Tees to the north side of Langleydale, and the coal-bearing Westphalian rocks in the north form the southern edge of the Durham coalfield.

The Carboniferous succession is dominated by numerous repetitions of lithological sequences, called '''cyclothems''', which change in character from dominantly marine in the Dinantian to fluvio'''lacustrine''' in the Westphalian. This cyclicity reflects '''eustatic''' rise and fall of sea level, probably driven by an extended period of glaciation in polar regions, locally modified by '''tectonic''' and sedimentological effects. Dinantian '''lithologies''' are characterized by thick marine limestones, shales and sandstones, so called '''Yoredale''' cyclothems. During the Namurian, fluvial systems '''prograded''' from the northeast and east, resulting in the increasing dominance of medium to coarse-grained, usually '''cross-bedded''' sandstones. By Westphalian times, a vast floodplain had developed, with deltaic complexes building out into lakes and frequent episodes of soil formation with the development of a rich, tropical vegetation. These Coal Measures cycles consist of inter-distributary sands, silts and muds with well developed '''seatearths''' and coals, cut by medium-grained channel sandstones. Marine influence is limited to occasional thin bands of shales with marine fossils.

Following the Variscan Orogeny and a prolonged period of late Carboniferous and early Permian erosion, the Permian sequence, now dipping gently eastwards, '''unconformably oversteps''' successively lower units of the Carboniferous to the south. The fine-grained '''dolostone''' of the late Permian Raisby Formation (formerly the Lower Magnesian Limestone) is succeeded by the '''oolitic '''dolostone of the Ford Formation (formerly the Middle Magnesian Limestone). Younger Permian and Mesozoic rocks lie beyond the eastern margin of the area. During the early Tertiary the '''tholeiitic''' Cleveland Dyke, the most southerly representative of the Mull dyke swarm, was intruded into the country rock.

Apart from the exposures in the banks of the Tees and Greta, the southern part of County Durham has few good continuous sections. This is due to a variably thick covering of glacial deposits left by the most recent, late Devensian, ice advance. Resistant rock types form features in the landscape that rarely project through this mantle of '''drift'''.

== Excursion details ==

=== Locality 1, Butterknowle [NZ 115 255] ===

Park on the B6282 at the south side of the bridge, then follow the track along the River Guanless downstream to where it bends sharply to the north. Continue straight on into the linear quarry which worked the Cleveland Dyke, here 10 m wide, for roadstone. Note the method of quarrying whereby 0.5 m of the dyke rock was left as a retaining wall on each side to prevent the collapse of the Westphalian country rock into the workings. Where the retaining wall has fallen away, weak contact '''metamorphism''' can be seen, the effect most pronounced in fine-grained lithologies. The dyke is a '''porphyritic''' tholeiitic dolerite with a microcrystalline ground-mass and plagioclase '''feldspar phenocrysts'''; vesicles are also present. It is a typically massive, hard, dark grey to bluish-grey rock when fresh, but tends to darken when weathered and is easily distinguished from the country rock. The pattern of '''joints''' is rather irregular but appears to be sub-horizontal columnar jointing at the quarry face [NZ 118 253].

On Cockfield Fell [NZ 122 251] the dyke is 22 m wide, but entry to the workings is not possible there.

=== Locality 2 [NZ 131 251]–[NZ 118 255] ===

From the quarry by the River Guanless, cross rough ground to the south to the dismantled Bishop Auckland to Tebay railway, which crosses Cockfield Fell, and follow its course eastwards until it crosses the river. Upstream along the south bank, several exposures of Westphalian sediments, between the Brockwell and Busty coal seams, can be seen. There is evidence of past coal mining activity, with many spoil heaps, and on the opposite bank, a dismantled railway (West Auckland to Butterknowle) which served the mines of the area. These mines were worked by pillar and stall. The coal in the pillars is now being removed by opencast mining throughout the area. Siltstones overlying a ripple cross-bedded sandstone crop out at [NZ 126 253], a cross-bedded sandstone at [NZ 121 255], and shales dipping 5° to the northwest at [NZ 118 255].

Return to the vehicle, drive south through Cockfield and take the A688 via Staindrop to Barnard Castle.

=== Locality 3, Barnard Castle [NZ 053 159]–[NZ 048 165] ===

There is ample free car parking on the Demesnes [NZ 052 161], on the north bank of the River Tees. From the footpath on the south bank, reach the riverside near the mill where a traverse through Yoredale cycles of the early Namurian can be examined ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_3.jpg|Figure 17.3]]). The waterfall at the mill is formed by the dark-grey, thin-beddded, fine-grained Bottom Little Limestone (2.5 m) dipping to° north. The g m shale with limestone ribs between the Bottom and Top Little Limestones is exposed between Demesnes and Thorngate Mills. Cross the footbridge to where the Top Little Limestone (5 m) can be seen on the north bank upstream of Thorngate Wynd [NZ 048 161] forming a natural ledge across the River Tees. The overlying shale (6 m), which is poorly exposed, is capped by the Ten Fathom Grit (9 m) and can be seen under the County Bridge. This is succeeded by the Bottom (1 1 m) and Top (7 m) Crag Limestones with intervening shales; the castle stands on this sequence.

Return to the vehicle and from the market cross in Barnard Castle, take the minor road towards Whorlton, turning off to Egglestone Abbey.

=== Locality 4, Egglestone Abbey [NZ 066 149] ===

Park just before the Abbey Bridge under which the River Tees has cut a gorge in the grey, massively bedded, '''bioclastic''' Great Limestone which marks the base of the Namurian. Upstream, the soft overlying beds are covered until, on the northern side and set back from the river bank, the White Hazle Sandstone forms a cliff. The overlying Bottom Little Limestone is not seen. The siltstones, shales and thin Coal Sills sandstones between the Great Limestone and the White Hazle Sandstone are exposed further upstream in the northern bank of the river.

Drive onto the A66, turn left then first right to Greta Bridge.

=== Locality 5, Greta Bridge and Brignall [NZ 076 119]–[NZ 086 132] ===

There is parking between the bridge and the Morritt Arms. Follow the River Greta upstream on the west bank to an exposure of the Five Yard Limestone [NZ 076 119], the lowest limestone seen in the western half of the Middleton Tyas Anticline. It is a grey, fine-grained, bioclastic limestone with a fauna of crinoid stems, corals and brachiopods, gently dipping to the north. It forms a pavement at the river edge with the characteristic blocky pattern of the well-jointed Carboniferous limestones. Further downstream a brown, medium-grained, limonitic sandstone between the Five Yard and overlying Three Yard Limestones [NZ 078 124] is exposed in a river cliff. Return to the footpath and continue to the Scotchman's Stone (NZ o81125), where the blue-grey, fine-grained, crinoidal Three Yard Limestone is exposed (better seen on the eastern bank). The Scotchman's Stone is a joint block of a brown, thick bedded, coarse-grained sandstone that has broken away from the cliff section seen above the eastern bank. It is seen again on the opposite bank at NZ 085128. The top of this sandstone is approximately 8 m below the base of the Four Fathom Limestone which is not exposed. From the bridge looking north, the high ground is formed by the outcrop of the Great Limestone, which is seen in the next locality.

Return across the A66 to the 'Meeting of the Waters'.

=== Locality 6, 'Meeting of the Waters' [NZ 085 145] ===

The metalled road to this locality is private but may be used as a footpath. Approaching the confluence with the River Tees, the River Greta has cut through the top 20 m of the east–west striking Great Limestone, and is generally flowing down the gentle northerly dip slope into the River Tees.

Return to the A66, turn left and take the first left to Whorlton.

=== Locality 7, Whorlton Lido [NZ 108 145]–[NZ 113 145] ===

This is private property and a charge is made during the summer months for use of facilities and parking. However, there is a right of way through the property following the River Tees downstream to Wycliffe. Here the Tees flows over two small waterfalls formed by the resistant dark grey bioclastic Top Little Limestone. This 4 m thick unit dips 6° north, and is made up of three limestones, separated by grey shales that contain brachiopods. Overlying the Top Little Limestone are beds of fossiliferous shale and sandstone, which can be seen in the north bank and in Whorlton Beck.

=== Continue through Whorlton and take the A67 to Winston ===

''Locality 8, ''Winston Bridge [NZ 138 158]–[NZ 143 163]. There is ample car parking by the roadside, on each side of the bridge. Take the footpath upstream on the south side to the river bank, then continue upstream with care along the water's edge to a small waterfall, formed by the to m thick, grey, fine-grained, thin bedded Knucton Shell Bed Limestone. This unit is full of well preserved brachiopods, principally ''Spirifer. ''Turn back towards the bridge to work up the easterly dipping succession. Note 5 m of fossiliferous shales with fine-grained sandstone ribs overlying the shell bed, succeeded by 6 m of medium-grained ferruginous sandstone. This sandstone dips into the river under the bridge, and with care can be viewed on the north bank upstream of the bridge. Above the path between the road and the southern river bank just downstream of the bridge, it is possible with care to view the overlying grey, fine to medium-grained, Rookhope Shell Bed Limestone. There is a brachiopod-rich block of the limestone beside the footpath.

Continue east on the A67 to a lay-by on the right at Gainford Spa.

=== Locality 9, Gainford Spa [NZ 162 173] ===

From the lay-by, take the footpath to the river. Adjacent to the spa is an exposure of yellow to brown-weathered, medium-grained, laminated Namurian sandstone, with abundant carbonaceous laminae at the base. The upper unit truncates the underlying unit, approximately t m above the footpath. This sandstone lies between the Lower and Upper Felltop Limestone and directly above the Yoredale Coal.

Continue east on the A67 to Piercebridge.

=== Locality 10, Piercebridge [NZ 2100 1545] ===

Park in the village (can be difficult) and walk to a gap in the wall at the southwest end of the bridge. Through the gap, take the slippery steep 'path' to the riverside and walk c.70 m upstream to a vertical cliff. The gently dipping rock exposed here is near the base of the late Permian Raisby Formation and just above the unconformity on the Carboniferous. The unconformity crops out to the west but is unexposed. The Raisby Formation comprises buff slightly calcitic dolostone that is mainly vaguely thin-to medium-bedded but is divided into 1–1.5 m major units by notch-forming thin beds of brown leathery clay. The rock is very finely crystalline and microporous and much of it has been fragmented by internal mineralogical changes ('autobrecciation'). Poorly-preserved moulds of brachiopods, bivalves, ostracodes and foraminifera are present in some beds.

Continue east on the A67 to High Coniscliffe.

=== Locality 11, old quarry at High Coniscliffe [NZ 2251 1525] ===

There is limited parking at the entry gate [NZ 2253 1530] on the A67 near the church. The enigmatic section in the main face is in lagoonal beds of the Ford Formation and comprises two rock units that meet at a sharp sub-horizontal very uneven surface (relief C.2 m). The lower unit (up to 3.5 m thick) is of soft, porous, finely oolitic buff dolostone in regular beds mainly 0.1–0.3 m thick, of which some are planar cross-bedded; the upper unit (up to 5 m ) is generally massive finely crystalline pale grey hard limestone that bears faint hints of bedding (and ?cross-bedding) in a few patches. The massive unit has a reef-like appearance and it may be a lagoonal patch-reef, but samples of it have so far failed to reveal a diagnostic reef fauna. The limestone may be secondary ('dedolomite) and produced by the reaction between former dolostone and groundwater rich in dissolved calcium sulphate. Dome-shaped structures up to about 1.2 m across in a minor north face could be algal.

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Glossary|Glossary]] ==

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Bibliography|Bibliography]] ==

{{EWwalks}}

[[Category:7. Northern England]]

Carboniferous and Permian rocks in southern County Durham - an excursion

2020-04-09T14:32:17Z

YGSJET:

{{YGSNorthumbrianRocks}}
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_1.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 17.1 Geological map of southern County Durham showing the localities described in the text (after Mills & Hull 1976).]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_2.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 17.2 Geological cross-section of the northern limb of the Middleton Tyas anticline. Line of section on Fig. 17.1.]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_3.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 17.3 Succession of Carboniferous Limestone cyclothems between Barnard Castle and Piercebridge, indicating sections exposed at each locality.]]

By '''Trevor Morse''' University of Durham and '''Denys Smith''' GEOPERM & University of Durham.

== Purpose ==

To examine the Carboniferous and Permian rocks, and the Tertiary Cleveland '''Dyke''', of the lower Tees valley and adjoining areas, southern County Durham.

== Logistics ==

{{YGSLogistics}}

The complete excursion occupies two days but can be split conveniently into shorter sections. A vehicle is essential because the localities are widely spaced ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_1.jpg|Figure 17.1]]). Cars can be parked at or near the roadside, and all roads are suitable for small coaches. Localities 1 and 2 involve up to 3 km walking on paths and rough ground in the Butterknowle and Cockfield Fell area. Localities 3–10 entail a total of up to 10 km walking along riverside paths of the Tees and Greta between Barnard Castle and Piercebridge, finishing at a quarry at High Coniscliffe (Locality 11). The excursion has been ordered for convenience of travel but could be rearranged in geological sequence to finish with Localities 1, 2, 10 and 11 ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_3.jpg|Figure 17.3]]). It would be best undertaken in early spring, when vegetation least masks outcrops and views.

Barnard Castle has pubs, public toilets, shops, restaurants and buildings of historical interest. Most of the other localities are near to villages with pubs and shops.

''Note: ''If the Rivers Tees and Greta are in flood, this excursion should not be attempted.

== Maps ==

O.S. 1:25 000 sheets NZ 02/12 Woodland & West Auckland, NZ 01/11 Barnard Castle & Gainford, NZ 21/31 Darlington; O.S. 1:50 000 sheets 92 Barnard Castle, 93 Middlesbrough & Darlington; B.G.S. 1:63 360 Sheet 32 Barnard Castle (solid and drift editions).

== Geological background ==

The area is dominated by the Carboniferous rocks on the northern flank of the broad, open Middleton Tyas '''Anticline''', an east–west striking '''Variscan''' structure ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_2.jpg|Figure 17.2]]) within the Stainmore Trough. The major subdivisions of the Carboniferous form three distinct east–west belts across the excursion area, generally '''dipping''' and younging towards the north ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_1.jpg|Figure 17.1]]). Dinantian rocks occupy the core of the anticline south of the River Tees (Barnard Castle to Piercebridge), the Namurian a central area from the River Tees to the north side of Langleydale, and the coal-bearing Westphalian rocks in the north form the southern edge of the Durham coalfield.

The Carboniferous succession is dominated by numerous repetitions of lithological sequences, called '''cyclothems''', which change in character from dominantly marine in the Dinantian to fluvio'''lacustrine''' in the Westphalian. This cyclicity reflects '''eustatic''' rise and fall of sea level, probably driven by an extended period of glaciation in polar regions, locally modified by '''tectonic''' and sedimentological effects. Dinantian '''lithologies''' are characterized by thick marine limestones, shales and sandstones, so called '''Yoredale''' cyclothems. During the Namurian, fluvial systems '''prograded''' from the northeast and east, resulting in the increasing dominance of medium to coarse-grained, usually '''cross-bedded''' sandstones. By Westphalian times, a vast floodplain had developed, with deltaic complexes building out into lakes and frequent episodes of soil formation with the development of a rich, tropical vegetation. These Coal Measures cycles consist of inter-distributary sands, silts and muds with well developed '''seatearths''' and coals, cut by medium-grained channel sandstones. Marine influence is limited to occasional thin bands of shales with marine fossils.

Following the Variscan Orogeny and a prolonged period of late Carboniferous and early Permian erosion, the Permian sequence, now dipping gently eastwards, '''unconformably oversteps''' successively lower units of the Carboniferous to the south. The fine-grained '''dolostone''' of the late Permian Raisby Formation (formerly the Lower Magnesian Limestone) is succeeded by the '''oolitic '''dolostone of the Ford Formation (formerly the Middle Magnesian Limestone). Younger Permian and Mesozoic rocks lie beyond the eastern margin of the area. During the early Tertiary the '''tholeiitic''' Cleveland Dyke, the most southerly representative of the Mull dyke swarm, was intruded into the country rock.

Apart from the exposures in the banks of the Tees and Greta, the southern part of County Durham has few good continuous sections. This is due to a variably thick covering of glacial deposits left by the most recent, late Devensian, ice advance. Resistant rock types form features in the landscape that rarely project through this mantle of '''drift'''.

== Excursion details ==

=== Locality 1, Butterknowle [NZ 115 255] ===

Park on the B6282 at the south side of the bridge, then follow the track along the River Guanless downstream to where it bends sharply to the north. Continue straight on into the linear quarry which worked the Cleveland Dyke, here 10 m wide, for roadstone. Note the method of quarrying whereby 0.5 m of the dyke rock was left as a retaining wall on each side to prevent the collapse of the Westphalian country rock into the workings. Where the retaining wall has fallen away, weak contact '''metamorphism''' can be seen, the effect most pronounced in fine-grained lithologies. The dyke is a '''porphyritic''' tholeiitic dolerite with a microcrystalline ground-mass and plagioclase '''feldspar phenocrysts'''; vesicles are also present. It is a typically massive, hard, dark grey to bluish-grey rock when fresh, but tends to darken when weathered and is easily distinguished from the country rock. The pattern of '''joints''' is rather irregular but appears to be sub-horizontal columnar jointing at the quarry face [NZ 118 253].

On Cockfield Fell [NZ 122 251] the dyke is 22 m wide, but entry to the workings is not possible there.

=== Locality 2 [NZ 131 251]–[NZ 118 255] ===

From the quarry by the River Guanless, cross rough ground to the south to the dismantled Bishop Auckland to Tebay railway, which crosses Cockfield Fell, and follow its course eastwards until it crosses the river. Upstream along the south bank, several exposures of Westphalian sediments, between the Brockwell and Busty coal seams, can be seen. There is evidence of past coal mining activity, with many spoil heaps, and on the opposite bank, a dismantled railway (West Auckland to Butterknowle) which served the mines of the area. These mines were worked by pillar and stall. The coal in the pillars is now being removed by opencast mining throughout the area. Siltstones overlying a ripple cross-bedded sandstone crop out at [NZ 126 253], a cross-bedded sandstone at [NZ 121 255], and shales dipping 5° to the northwest at [NZ 118 255].

Return to the vehicle, drive south through Cockfield and take the A688 via Staindrop to Barnard Castle.

=== Locality 3, Barnard Castle [NZ 053 159]–[NZ 048 165] ===

There is ample free car parking on the Demesnes [NZ 052 161], on the north bank of the River Tees. From the footpath on the south bank, reach the riverside near the mill where a traverse through Yoredale cycles of the early Namurian can be examined ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_3.jpg|Figure 17.3]]). The waterfall at the mill is formed by the dark-grey, thin-beddded, fine-grained Bottom Little Limestone (2.5 m) dipping to° north. The g m shale with limestone ribs between the Bottom and Top Little Limestones is exposed between Demesnes and Thorngate Mills. Cross the footbridge to where the Top Little Limestone (5 m) can be seen on the north bank upstream of Thorngate Wynd [NZ 048 161] forming a natural ledge across the River Tees. The overlying shale (6 m), which is poorly exposed, is capped by the Ten Fathom Grit (9 m) and can be seen under the County Bridge. This is succeeded by the Bottom (1 1 m) and Top (7 m) Crag Limestones with intervening shales; the castle stands on this sequence.

Return to the vehicle and from the market cross in Barnard Castle, take the minor road towards Whorlton, turning off to Egglestone Abbey.

=== Locality 4, Egglestone Abbey [NZ 066 149] ===

Park just before the Abbey Bridge under which the River Tees has cut a gorge in the grey, massively bedded, bioclastic Great Limestone which marks the base of the Namurian. Upstream, the soft overlying beds are covered until, on the northern side and set back from the river bank, the White Hazle Sandstone forms a cliff. The overlying Bottom Little Limestone is not seen. The siltstones, shales and thin Coal Sills sandstones between the Great Limestone and the White Hazle Sandstone are exposed further upstream in the northern bank of the river.

Drive onto the A66, turn left then first right to Greta Bridge.

=== Locality 5, Greta Bridge and Brignall [NZ 076 119]–[NZ 086 132] ===

There is parking between the bridge and the Morritt Arms. Follow the River Greta upstream on the west bank to an exposure of the Five Yard Limestone [NZ 076 119], the lowest limestone seen in the western half of the Middleton Tyas Anticline. It is a grey, fine-grained, bioclastic limestone with a fauna of crinoid stems, corals and brachiopods, gently dipping to the north. It forms a pavement at the river edge with the characteristic blocky pattern of the well-jointed Carboniferous limestones. Further downstream a brown, medium-grained, limonitic sandstone between the Five Yard and overlying Three Yard Limestones [NZ 078 124] is exposed in a river cliff. Return to the footpath and continue to the Scotchman's Stone (NZ o81125), where the blue-grey, fine-grained, crinoidal Three Yard Limestone is exposed (better seen on the eastern bank). The Scotchman's Stone is a joint block of a brown, thick bedded, coarse-grained sandstone that has broken away from the cliff section seen above the eastern bank. It is seen again on the opposite bank at NZ 085128. The top of this sandstone is approximately 8 m below the base of the Four Fathom Limestone which is not exposed. From the bridge looking north, the high ground is formed by the outcrop of the Great Limestone, which is seen in the next locality.

Return across the A66 to the 'Meeting of the Waters'.

=== Locality 6, 'Meeting of the Waters' [NZ 085 145] ===

The metalled road to this locality is private but may be used as a footpath. Approaching the confluence with the River Tees, the River Greta has cut through the top 20 m of the east–west striking Great Limestone, and is generally flowing down the gentle northerly dip slope into the River Tees.

Return to the A66, turn left and take the first left to Whorlton.

=== Locality 7, Whorlton Lido [NZ 108 145]–[NZ 113 145] ===

This is private property and a charge is made during the summer months for use of facilities and parking. However, there is a right of way through the property following the River Tees downstream to Wycliffe. Here the Tees flows over two small waterfalls formed by the resistant dark grey bioclastic Top Little Limestone. This 4 m thick unit dips 6° north, and is made up of three limestones, separated by grey shales that contain brachiopods. Overlying the Top Little Limestone are beds of fossiliferous shale and sandstone, which can be seen in the north bank and in Whorlton Beck.

=== Continue through Whorlton and take the A67 to Winston ===

''Locality 8, ''Winston Bridge [NZ 138 158]–[NZ 143 163]. There is ample car parking by the roadside, on each side of the bridge. Take the footpath upstream on the south side to the river bank, then continue upstream with care along the water's edge to a small waterfall, formed by the to m thick, grey, fine-grained, thin bedded Knucton Shell Bed Limestone. This unit is full of well preserved brachiopods, principally ''Spirifer. ''Turn back towards the bridge to work up the easterly dipping succession. Note 5 m of fossiliferous shales with fine-grained sandstone ribs overlying the shell bed, succeeded by 6 m of medium-grained ferruginous sandstone. This sandstone dips into the river under the bridge, and with care can be viewed on the north bank upstream of the bridge. Above the path between the road and the southern river bank just downstream of the bridge, it is possible with care to view the overlying grey, fine to medium-grained, Rookhope Shell Bed Limestone. There is a brachiopod-rich block of the limestone beside the footpath.

Continue east on the A67 to a lay-by on the right at Gainford Spa.

=== Locality 9, Gainford Spa [NZ 162 173] ===

From the lay-by, take the footpath to the river. Adjacent to the spa is an exposure of yellow to brown-weathered, medium-grained, laminated Namurian sandstone, with abundant carbonaceous laminae at the base. The upper unit truncates the underlying unit, approximately t m above the footpath. This sandstone lies between the Lower and Upper Felltop Limestone and directly above the Yoredale Coal.

Continue east on the A67 to Piercebridge.

=== Locality 10, Piercebridge [NZ 2100 1545] ===

Park in the village (can be difficult) and walk to a gap in the wall at the southwest end of the bridge. Through the gap, take the slippery steep 'path' to the riverside and walk c.70 m upstream to a vertical cliff. The gently dipping rock exposed here is near the base of the late Permian Raisby Formation and just above the unconformity on the Carboniferous. The unconformity crops out to the west but is unexposed. The Raisby Formation comprises buff slightly calcitic dolostone that is mainly vaguely thin-to medium-bedded but is divided into 1–1.5 m major units by notch-forming thin beds of brown leathery clay. The rock is very finely crystalline and microporous and much of it has been fragmented by internal mineralogical changes ('autobrecciation'). Poorly-preserved moulds of brachiopods, bivalves, ostracodes and foraminifera are present in some beds.

Continue east on the A67 to High Coniscliffe.

=== Locality 11, old quarry at High Coniscliffe [NZ 2251 1525] ===

There is limited parking at the entry gate [NZ 2253 1530] on the A67 near the church. The enigmatic section in the main face is in lagoonal beds of the Ford Formation and comprises two rock units that meet at a sharp sub-horizontal very uneven surface (relief C.2 m). The lower unit (up to 3.5 m thick) is of soft, porous, finely oolitic buff dolostone in regular beds mainly 0.1–0.3 m thick, of which some are planar cross-bedded; the upper unit (up to 5 m ) is generally massive finely crystalline pale grey hard limestone that bears faint hints of bedding (and ?cross-bedding) in a few patches. The massive unit has a reef-like appearance and it may be a lagoonal patch-reef, but samples of it have so far failed to reveal a diagnostic reef fauna. The limestone may be secondary ('dedolomite) and produced by the reaction between former dolostone and groundwater rich in dissolved calcium sulphate. Dome-shaped structures up to about 1.2 m across in a minor north face could be algal.

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Glossary|Glossary]] ==

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Bibliography|Bibliography]] ==

{{EWwalks}}

[[Category:7. Northern England]]

Carboniferous and Permian rocks in southern County Durham - an excursion

2020-04-09T14:25:56Z

YGSJET:

{{YGSNorthumbrianRocks}}
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_1.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 17.1 Geological map of southern County Durham showing the localities described in the text (after Mills & Hull 1976).]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_2.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 17.2 Geological cross-section of the northern limb of the Middleton Tyas anticline. Line of section on Fig. 17.1.]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_3.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 17.3 Succession of Carboniferous Limestone cyclothems between Barnard Castle and Piercebridge, indicating sections exposed at each locality.]]

By '''Trevor Morse''' University of Durham and '''Denys Smith''' GEOPERM & University of Durham.

== Purpose ==

To examine the Carboniferous and Permian rocks, and the Tertiary Cleveland '''Dyke''', of the lower Tees valley and adjoining areas, southern County Durham.

== Logistics ==

{{YGSLogistics}}

The complete excursion occupies two days but can be split conveniently into shorter sections. A vehicle is essential because the localities are widely spaced ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_1.jpg|Figure 17.1]]). Cars can be parked at or near the roadside, and all roads are suitable for small coaches. Localities 1 and 2 involve up to 3 km walking on paths and rough ground in the Butterknowle and Cockfield Fell area. Localities 3–10 entail a total of up to 10 km walking along riverside paths of the Tees and Greta between Barnard Castle and Piercebridge, finishing at a quarry at High Coniscliffe (Locality 11). The excursion has been ordered for convenience of travel but could be rearranged in geological sequence to finish with Localities 1, 2, 10 and 11 ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_3.jpg|Figure 17.3]]). It would be best undertaken in early spring, when vegetation least masks outcrops and views.

Barnard Castle has pubs, public toilets, shops, restaurants and buildings of historical interest. Most of the other localities are near to villages with pubs and shops.

''Note: ''If the Rivers Tees and Greta are in flood, this excursion should not be attempted.

== Maps ==

O.S. 1:25 000 sheets NZ 02/12 Woodland & West Auckland, NZ 01/11 Barnard Castle & Gainford, NZ 21/31 Darlington; O.S. 1:50 000 sheets 92 Barnard Castle, 93 Middlesbrough & Darlington; B.G.S. 1:63 360 Sheet 32 Barnard Castle (solid and drift editions).

== Geological background ==

The area is dominated by the Carboniferous rocks on the northern flank of the broad, open Middleton Tyas '''Anticline''', an east–west striking '''Variscan''' structure ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_2.jpg|Figure 17.2]]) within the Stainmore Trough. The major subdivisions of the Carboniferous form three distinct east–west belts across the excursion area, generally '''dipping''' and younging towards the north ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_1.jpg|Figure 17.1]]). Dinantian rocks occupy the core of the anticline south of the River Tees (Barnard Castle to Piercebridge), the Namurian a central area from the River Tees to the north side of Langleydale, and the coal-bearing Westphalian rocks in the north form the southern edge of the Durham coalfield.

The Carboniferous succession is dominated by numerous repetitions of lithological sequences, called '''cyclothems''', which change in character from dominantly marine in the Dinantian to fluvio'''lacustrine''' in the Westphalian. This cyclicity reflects '''eustatic''' rise and fall of sea level, probably driven by an extended period of glaciation in polar regions, locally modified by '''tectonic''' and sedimentological effects. Dinantian '''lithologies''' are characterized by thick marine limestones, shales and sandstones, so called '''Yoredale''' cyclothems. During the Namurian, fluvial systems '''prograded''' from the northeast and east, resulting in the increasing dominance of medium to coarse-grained, usually '''cross-bedded''' sandstones. By Westphalian times, a vast floodplain had developed, with deltaic complexes building out into lakes and frequent episodes of soil formation with the development of a rich, tropical vegetation. These Coal Measures cycles consist of inter-distributary sands, silts and muds with well developed '''seatearths''' and coals, cut by medium-grained channel sandstones. Marine influence is limited to occasional thin bands of shales with marine fossils.

Following the Variscan Orogeny and a prolonged period of late Carboniferous and early Permian erosion, the Permian sequence, now dipping gently eastwards, '''unconformably oversteps''' successively lower units of the Carboniferous to the south. The fine-grained '''dolostone''' of the late Permian Raisby Formation (formerly the Lower Magnesian Limestone) is succeeded by the '''oolitic '''dolostone of the Ford Formation (formerly the Middle Magnesian Limestone). Younger Permian and Mesozoic rocks lie beyond the eastern margin of the area. During the early Tertiary the '''tholeiitic''' Cleveland Dyke, the most southerly representative of the Mull dyke swarm, was intruded into the country rock.

Apart from the exposures in the banks of the Tees and Greta, the southern part of County Durham has few good continuous sections. This is due to a variably thick covering of glacial deposits left by the most recent, late Devensian, ice advance. Resistant rock types form features in the landscape that rarely project through this mantle of '''drift'''.

== Excursion details ==

=== Locality 1, Butterknowle [NZ 115 255] ===

Park on the B6282 at the south side of the bridge, then follow the track along the River Guanless downstream to where it bends sharply to the north. Continue straight on into the linear quarry which worked the Cleveland Dyke, here 1 o m wide, for roadstone. Note the method of quarrying whereby 0.5 m of the dyke rock was left as a retaining wall on each side to prevent the collapse of the Westphalian country rock into the workings. Where the retaining wall has fallen away, weak contact '''metamorphism''' can be seen, the effect most pronounced in fine-grained lithologies. The dyke is a '''porphyritic''' tholeiitic dolerite with a microcrystalline ground-mass and plagioclase '''feldspar phenocrysts'''; vesicles are also present. It is a typically massive, hard, dark grey to bluish-grey rock when fresh, but tends to darken when weathered and is easily distinguished from the country rock. The pattern of '''joints''' is rather irregular but appears to be sub-horizontal columnar jointing at the quarry face [NZ 118 253].

On Cockfield Fell [NZ 122 251] the dyke is 22 m wide, but entry to the workings is not possible there.

=== Locality 2 [NZ 131 251]–[NZ 118 255] ===

From the quarry by the River Guanless, cross rough ground to the south to the dismantled Bishop Auckland to Tebay railway, which crosses Cockfield Fell, and follow its course eastwards until it crosses the river. Upstream along the south bank, several exposures of Westphalian sediments, between the Brockwell and Busty coal seams, can be seen. There is evidence of past coal mining activity, with many spoil heaps, and on the opposite bank, a dismantled railway (West Auckland to Butterknowle) which served the mines of the area. These mines were worked by pillar and stall. The coal in the pillars is now being removed by opencast mining throughout the area. Siltstones overlying a ripple cross-bedded sandstone crop out at [NZ 126 253], a cross-bedded sandstone at [NZ 121 255], and shales dipping 5° to the northwest at [NZ 118 255].

Return to the vehicle, drive south through Cockfield and take the A688 via Staindrop to Barnard Castle.

=== Locality 3, Barnard Castle [NZ 053 159]–[NZ 048 165] ===

There is ample free car parking on the Demesnes [NZ 052 161], on the north bank of the River Tees. From the footpath on the south bank, reach the riverside near the mill where a traverse through Yoredale cycles of the early Namurian can be examined ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_3.jpg|Figure 17.3]]). The waterfall at the mill is formed by the dark-grey, thin-beddded, fine-grained Bottom Little Limestone (2.5 m) dipping to° north. The g m shale with limestone ribs between the Bottom and Top Little Limestones is exposed between Demesnes and Thorngate Mills. Cross the footbridge to where the Top Little Limestone (5 m) can be seen on the north bank upstream of Thorngate Wynd [NZ 048 161] forming a natural ledge across the River Tees. The overlying shale (6 m), which is poorly exposed, is capped by the Ten Fathom Grit (9 m) and can be seen under the County Bridge. This is succeeded by the Bottom (1 1 m) and Top (7 m) Crag Limestones with intervening shales; the castle stands on this sequence.

Return to the vehicle and from the market cross in Barnard Castle, take the minor road towards Whorlton, turning off to Egglestone Abbey.

=== Locality 4, Egglestone Abbey [NZ 066 149] ===

Park just before the Abbey Bridge under which the River Tees has cut a gorge in the grey, massively bedded, bioclastic Great Limestone which marks the base of the Namurian. Upstream, the soft overlying beds are covered until, on the northern side and set back from the river bank, the White Hazle Sandstone forms a cliff. The overlying Bottom Little Limestone is not seen. The siltstones, shales and thin Coal Sills sandstones between the Great Limestone and the White Hazle Sandstone are exposed further upstream in the northern bank of the river.

Drive onto the A66, turn left then first right to Greta Bridge.

=== Locality 5, Greta Bridge and Brignall [NZ 076 119]–[NZ 086 132] ===

There is parking between the bridge and the Morritt Arms. Follow the River Greta upstream on the west bank to an exposure of the Five Yard Limestone [NZ 076 119], the lowest limestone seen in the western half of the Middleton Tyas Anticline. It is a grey, fine-grained, bioclastic limestone with a fauna of crinoid stems, corals and brachiopods, gently dipping to the north. It forms a pavement at the river edge with the characteristic blocky pattern of the well-jointed Carboniferous limestones. Further downstream a brown, medium-grained, limonitic sandstone between the Five Yard and overlying Three Yard Limestones [NZ 078 124] is exposed in a river cliff. Return to the footpath and continue to the Scotchman's Stone (NZ o81125), where the blue-grey, fine-grained, crinoidal Three Yard Limestone is exposed (better seen on the eastern bank). The Scotchman's Stone is a joint block of a brown, thick bedded, coarse-grained sandstone that has broken away from the cliff section seen above the eastern bank. It is seen again on the opposite bank at NZ 085128. The top of this sandstone is approximately 8 m below the base of the Four Fathom Limestone which is not exposed. From the bridge looking north, the high ground is formed by the outcrop of the Great Limestone, which is seen in the next locality.

Return across the A66 to the 'Meeting of the Waters'.

=== Locality 6, 'Meeting of the Waters' [NZ 085 145] ===

The metalled road to this locality is private but may be used as a footpath. Approaching the confluence with the River Tees, the River Greta has cut through the top 20 m of the east–west striking Great Limestone, and is generally flowing down the gentle northerly dip slope into the River Tees.

Return to the A66, turn left and take the first left to Whorlton.

=== Locality 7, Whorlton Lido [NZ 108 145]–[NZ 113 145] ===

This is private property and a charge is made during the summer months for use of facilities and parking. However, there is a right of way through the property following the River Tees downstream to Wycliffe. Here the Tees flows over two small waterfalls formed by the resistant dark grey bioclastic Top Little Limestone. This 4 m thick unit dips 6° north, and is made up of three limestones, separated by grey shales that contain brachiopods. Overlying the Top Little Limestone are beds of fossiliferous shale and sandstone, which can be seen in the north bank and in Whorlton Beck.

=== Continue through Whorlton and take the A67 to Winston ===

''Locality 8, ''Winston Bridge [NZ 138 158]–[NZ 143 163]. There is ample car parking by the roadside, on each side of the bridge. Take the footpath upstream on the south side to the river bank, then continue upstream with care along the water's edge to a small waterfall, formed by the to m thick, grey, fine-grained, thin bedded Knucton Shell Bed Limestone. This unit is full of well preserved brachiopods, principally ''Spirifer. ''Turn back towards the bridge to work up the easterly dipping succession. Note 5 m of fossiliferous shales with fine-grained sandstone ribs overlying the shell bed, succeeded by 6 m of medium-grained ferruginous sandstone. This sandstone dips into the river under the bridge, and with care can be viewed on the north bank upstream of the bridge. Above the path between the road and the southern river bank just downstream of the bridge, it is possible with care to view the overlying grey, fine to medium-grained, Rookhope Shell Bed Limestone. There is a brachiopod-rich block of the limestone beside the footpath.

Continue east on the A67 to a lay-by on the right at Gainford Spa.

=== Locality 9, Gainford Spa [NZ 162 173] ===

From the lay-by, take the footpath to the river. Adjacent to the spa is an exposure of yellow to brown-weathered, medium-grained, laminated Namurian sandstone, with abundant carbonaceous laminae at the base. The upper unit truncates the underlying unit, approximately t m above the footpath. This sandstone lies between the Lower and Upper Felltop Limestone and directly above the Yoredale Coal.

Continue east on the A67 to Piercebridge.

=== Locality 10, Piercebridge [NZ 2100 1545] ===

Park in the village (can be difficult) and walk to a gap in the wall at the southwest end of the bridge. Through the gap, take the slippery steep 'path' to the riverside and walk c.70 m upstream to a vertical cliff. The gently dipping rock exposed here is near the base of the late Permian Raisby Formation and just above the unconformity on the Carboniferous. The unconformity crops out to the west but is unexposed. The Raisby Formation comprises buff slightly calcitic dolostone that is mainly vaguely thin-to medium-bedded but is divided into 1–1.5 m major units by notch-forming thin beds of brown leathery clay. The rock is very finely crystalline and microporous and much of it has been fragmented by internal mineralogical changes ('autobrecciation'). Poorly-preserved moulds of brachiopods, bivalves, ostracodes and foraminifera are present in some beds.

Continue east on the A67 to High Coniscliffe.

=== Locality 11, old quarry at High Coniscliffe [NZ 2251 1525] ===

There is limited parking at the entry gate [NZ 2253 1530] on the A67 near the church. The enigmatic section in the main face is in lagoonal beds of the Ford Formation and comprises two rock units that meet at a sharp sub-horizontal very uneven surface (relief C.2 m). The lower unit (up to 3.5 m thick) is of soft, porous, finely oolitic buff dolostone in regular beds mainly 0.1–0.3 m thick, of which some are planar cross-bedded; the upper unit (up to 5 m ) is generally massive finely crystalline pale grey hard limestone that bears faint hints of bedding (and ?cross-bedding) in a few patches. The massive unit has a reef-like appearance and it may be a lagoonal patch-reef, but samples of it have so far failed to reveal a diagnostic reef fauna. The limestone may be secondary ('dedolomite) and produced by the reaction between former dolostone and groundwater rich in dissolved calcium sulphate. Dome-shaped structures up to about 1.2 m across in a minor north face could be algal.

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Glossary|Glossary]] ==

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Bibliography|Bibliography]] ==

{{EWwalks}}

[[Category:7. Northern England]]

Carboniferous and Permian rocks in southern County Durham - an excursion

2020-04-09T14:20:19Z

YGSJET:

{{YGSNorthumbrianRocks}}
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_1.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 17.1 Geological map of southern County Durham showing the localities described in the text (after Mills & Hull 1976).]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_2.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 17.2 Geological cross-section of the northern limb of the Middleton Tyas anticline. Line of section on Fig. 17.1.]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_3.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 17.3 Succession of Carboniferous Limestone cyclothems between Barnard Castle and Piercebridge, indicating sections exposed at each locality.]]

By '''Trevor Morse''' University of Durham and '''Denys Smith''' GEOPERM & University of Durham.

== Purpose ==

To examine the Carboniferous and Permian rocks, and the Tertiary Cleveland '''Dyke''', of the lower Tees valley and adjoining areas, southern County Durham.

== Logistics ==

{{YGSLogistics}}

The complete excursion occupies two days but can be split conveniently into shorter sections. A vehicle is essential because the localities are widely spaced ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_1.jpg|Figure 17.1]]). Cars can be parked at or near the roadside, and all roads are suitable for small coaches. Localities 1 and 2 involve up to 3 km walking on paths and rough ground in the Butterknowle and Cockfield Fell area. Localities 3–10 entail a total of up to 10 km walking along riverside paths of the Tees and Greta between Barnard Castle and Piercebridge, finishing at a quarry at High Coniscliffe (Locality 11). The excursion has been ordered for convenience of travel but could be rearranged in geological sequence to finish with Localities 1, 2, 10 and 11 ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_3.jpg|Figure 17.3]]). It would be best undertaken in early spring, when vegetation least masks outcrops and views.

Barnard Castle has pubs, public toilets, shops, restaurants and buildings of historical interest. Most of the other localities are near to villages with pubs and shops.

''Note: ''If the Rivers Tees and Greta are in flood, this excursion should not be attempted.

== Maps ==

O.S. 1:25 000 sheets NZ 02/12 Woodland & West Auckland, NZ 01/11 Barnard Castle & Gainford, NZ 21/31 Darlington; O.S. 1:50 000 sheets 92 Barnard Castle, 93 Middlesbrough & Darlington; B.G.S. 1:63 360 Sheet 32 Barnard Castle (solid and drift editions).

== Geological background ==

The area is dominated by the Carboniferous rocks on the northern flank of the broad, open Middleton Tyas '''Anticline''', an east–west striking '''Variscan''' structure ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_2.jpg|Figure 17.2]]) within the Stainmore Trough. The major subdivisions of the Carboniferous form three distinct east–west belts across the excursion area, generally '''dipping''' and younging towards the north ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_1.jpg|Figure 17.1]]). Dinantian rocks occupy the core of the anticline south of the River Tees (Barnard Castle to Piercebridge), the Namurian a central area from the River Tees to the north side of Langleydale, and the coal-bearing Westphalian rocks in the north form the southern edge of the Durham coalfield.

The Carboniferous succession is dominated by numerous repetitions of lithological sequences, called '''cyclothems''', which change in character from dominantly marine in the Dinantian to fluvio'''lacustrine''' in the Westphalian. This cyclicity reflects '''eustatic''' rise and fall of sea level, probably driven by an extended period of glaciation in polar regions, locally modified by '''tectonic''' and sedimentological effects. Dinantian '''lithologies''' are characterized by thick marine limestones, shales and sandstones, so called '''Yoredale''' cyclothems. During the Namurian, fluvial systems '''prograded''' from the northeast and east, resulting in the increasing dominance of medium to coarse-grained, usually '''cross-bedded''' sandstones. By Westphalian times, a vast floodplain had developed, with deltaic complexes building out into lakes and frequent episodes of soil formation with the development of a rich, tropical vegetation. These Coal Measures cycles consist of inter-distributary sands, silts and muds with well developed '''seatearths''' and coals, cut by medium-grained channel sandstones. Marine influence is limited to occasional thin bands of shales with marine fossils.

Following the Variscan Orogeny and a prolonged period of late Carboniferous and early Permian erosion, the Permian sequence, now dipping gently eastwards, '''unconformably oversteps''' successively lower units of the Carboniferous to the south. The fine-grained '''dolostone''' of the late Permian Raisby Formation (formerly the Lower Magnesian Limestone) is succeeded by the '''oolitic '''dolostone of the Ford Formation (formerly the Middle Magnesian Limestone). Younger Permian and Mesozoic rocks lie beyond the eastern margin of the area. During the early Tertiary the '''tholeiitic''' Cleveland Dyke, the most southerly representative of the Mull dyke swarm, was intruded into the country rock.

Apart from the exposures in the banks of the Tees and Greta, the southern part of County Durham has few good continuous sections. This is due to a variably thick covering of glacial deposits left by the most recent, late Devensian, ice advance. Resistant rock types form features in the landscape that rarely project through this mantle of '''drift'''.

== Excursion details ==

=== Locality 1, Butterknowle [NZ 115 255] ===

Park on the B6282 at the south side of the bridge, then follow the track along the River Guanless downstream to where it bends sharply to the north. Continue straight on into the linear quarry which worked the Cleveland Dyke, here 1 o m wide, for roadstone. Note the method of quarrying whereby 0.5 m of the dyke rock was left as a retaining wall on each side to prevent the collapse of the Westphalian country rock into the workings. Where the retaining wall has fallen away, weak contact metamorphism can be seen, the effect most pronounced in fine-grained lithologies. The dyke is a porphyritic tholeiitic dolerite with a microcrystalline ground-mass and plagioclase feldspar phenocrysts; vesicles are also present. It is a typically massive, hard, dark grey to bluish-grey rock when fresh, but tends to darken when weathered and is easily distinguished from the country rock. The pattern of joints is rather irregular but appears to be sub-horizontal columnar jointing at the quarry face [NZ 118 253].

On Cockfield Fell [NZ 122 251] the dyke is 22 m wide, but entry to the workings is not possible there.

=== Locality 2 [NZ 131 251]–[NZ 118 255] ===

From the quarry by the River Guanless, cross rough ground to the south to the dismantled Bishop Auckland to Tebay railway, which crosses Cockfield Fell, and follow its course eastwards until it crosses the river. Upstream along the south bank, several exposures of Westphalian sediments, between the Brockwell and Busty coal seams, can be seen. There is evidence of past coal mining activity, with many spoil heaps, and on the opposite bank, a dismantled railway (West Auckland to Butterknowle) which served the mines of the area. These mines were worked by pillar and stall. The coal in the pillars is now being removed by opencast mining throughout the area. Siltstones overlying a ripple cross-bedded sandstone crop out at [NZ 126 253], a cross-bedded sandstone at [NZ 121 255], and shales dipping 5° to the northwest at [NZ 118 255].

Return to the vehicle, drive south through Cockfield and take the A688 via Staindrop to Barnard Castle.

=== Locality 3, Barnard Castle [NZ 053 159]–[NZ 048 165] ===

There is ample free car parking on the Demesnes [NZ 052 161], on the north bank of the River Tees. From the footpath on the south bank, reach the riverside near the mill where a traverse through Yoredale cycles of the early Namurian can be examined ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_3.jpg|Figure 17.3]]). The waterfall at the mill is formed by the dark-grey, thin-beddded, fine-grained Bottom Little Limestone (2.5 m) dipping to° north. The g m shale with limestone ribs between the Bottom and Top Little Limestones is exposed between Demesnes and Thorngate Mills. Cross the footbridge to where the Top Little Limestone (5 m) can be seen on the north bank upstream of Thorngate Wynd [NZ 048 161] forming a natural ledge across the River Tees. The overlying shale (6 m), which is poorly exposed, is capped by the Ten Fathom Grit (9 m) and can be seen under the County Bridge. This is succeeded by the Bottom (1 1 m) and Top (7 m) Crag Limestones with intervening shales; the castle stands on this sequence.

Return to the vehicle and from the market cross in Barnard Castle, take the minor road towards Whorlton, turning off to Egglestone Abbey.

=== Locality 4, Egglestone Abbey [NZ 066 149] ===

Park just before the Abbey Bridge under which the River Tees has cut a gorge in the grey, massively bedded, bioclastic Great Limestone which marks the base of the Namurian. Upstream, the soft overlying beds are covered until, on the northern side and set back from the river bank, the White Hazle Sandstone forms a cliff. The overlying Bottom Little Limestone is not seen. The siltstones, shales and thin Coal Sills sandstones between the Great Limestone and the White Hazle Sandstone are exposed further upstream in the northern bank of the river.

Drive onto the A66, turn left then first right to Greta Bridge.

=== Locality 5, Greta Bridge and Brignall [NZ 076 119]–[NZ 086 132] ===

There is parking between the bridge and the Morritt Arms. Follow the River Greta upstream on the west bank to an exposure of the Five Yard Limestone [NZ 076 119], the lowest limestone seen in the western half of the Middleton Tyas Anticline. It is a grey, fine-grained, bioclastic limestone with a fauna of crinoid stems, corals and brachiopods, gently dipping to the north. It forms a pavement at the river edge with the characteristic blocky pattern of the well-jointed Carboniferous limestones. Further downstream a brown, medium-grained, limonitic sandstone between the Five Yard and overlying Three Yard Limestones [NZ 078 124] is exposed in a river cliff. Return to the footpath and continue to the Scotchman's Stone (NZ o81125), where the blue-grey, fine-grained, crinoidal Three Yard Limestone is exposed (better seen on the eastern bank). The Scotchman's Stone is a joint block of a brown, thick bedded, coarse-grained sandstone that has broken away from the cliff section seen above the eastern bank. It is seen again on the opposite bank at NZ 085128. The top of this sandstone is approximately 8 m below the base of the Four Fathom Limestone which is not exposed. From the bridge looking north, the high ground is formed by the outcrop of the Great Limestone, which is seen in the next locality.

Return across the A66 to the 'Meeting of the Waters'.

=== Locality 6, 'Meeting of the Waters' [NZ 085 145] ===

The metalled road to this locality is private but may be used as a footpath. Approaching the confluence with the River Tees, the River Greta has cut through the top 20 m of the east–west striking Great Limestone, and is generally flowing down the gentle northerly dip slope into the River Tees.

Return to the A66, turn left and take the first left to Whorlton.

=== Locality 7, Whorlton Lido [NZ 108 145]–[NZ 113 145] ===

This is private property and a charge is made during the summer months for use of facilities and parking. However, there is a right of way through the property following the River Tees downstream to Wycliffe. Here the Tees flows over two small waterfalls formed by the resistant dark grey bioclastic Top Little Limestone. This 4 m thick unit dips 6° north, and is made up of three limestones, separated by grey shales that contain brachiopods. Overlying the Top Little Limestone are beds of fossiliferous shale and sandstone, which can be seen in the north bank and in Whorlton Beck.

=== Continue through Whorlton and take the A67 to Winston ===

''Locality 8, ''Winston Bridge [NZ 138 158]–[NZ 143 163]. There is ample car parking by the roadside, on each side of the bridge. Take the footpath upstream on the south side to the river bank, then continue upstream with care along the water's edge to a small waterfall, formed by the to m thick, grey, fine-grained, thin bedded Knucton Shell Bed Limestone. This unit is full of well preserved brachiopods, principally ''Spirifer. ''Turn back towards the bridge to work up the easterly dipping succession. Note 5 m of fossiliferous shales with fine-grained sandstone ribs overlying the shell bed, succeeded by 6 m of medium-grained ferruginous sandstone. This sandstone dips into the river under the bridge, and with care can be viewed on the north bank upstream of the bridge. Above the path between the road and the southern river bank just downstream of the bridge, it is possible with care to view the overlying grey, fine to medium-grained, Rookhope Shell Bed Limestone. There is a brachiopod-rich block of the limestone beside the footpath.

Continue east on the A67 to a lay-by on the right at Gainford Spa.

=== Locality 9, Gainford Spa [NZ 162 173] ===

From the lay-by, take the footpath to the river. Adjacent to the spa is an exposure of yellow to brown-weathered, medium-grained, laminated Namurian sandstone, with abundant carbonaceous laminae at the base. The upper unit truncates the underlying unit, approximately t m above the footpath. This sandstone lies between the Lower and Upper Felltop Limestone and directly above the Yoredale Coal.

Continue east on the A67 to Piercebridge.

=== Locality 10, Piercebridge [NZ 2100 1545] ===

Park in the village (can be difficult) and walk to a gap in the wall at the southwest end of the bridge. Through the gap, take the slippery steep 'path' to the riverside and walk c.70 m upstream to a vertical cliff. The gently dipping rock exposed here is near the base of the late Permian Raisby Formation and just above the unconformity on the Carboniferous. The unconformity crops out to the west but is unexposed. The Raisby Formation comprises buff slightly calcitic dolostone that is mainly vaguely thin-to medium-bedded but is divided into 1–1.5 m major units by notch-forming thin beds of brown leathery clay. The rock is very finely crystalline and microporous and much of it has been fragmented by internal mineralogical changes ('autobrecciation'). Poorly-preserved moulds of brachiopods, bivalves, ostracodes and foraminifera are present in some beds.

Continue east on the A67 to High Coniscliffe.

=== Locality 11, old quarry at High Coniscliffe [NZ 2251 1525] ===

There is limited parking at the entry gate [NZ 2253 1530] on the A67 near the church. The enigmatic section in the main face is in lagoonal beds of the Ford Formation and comprises two rock units that meet at a sharp sub-horizontal very uneven surface (relief C.2 m). The lower unit (up to 3.5 m thick) is of soft, porous, finely oolitic buff dolostone in regular beds mainly 0.1–0.3 m thick, of which some are planar cross-bedded; the upper unit (up to 5 m ) is generally massive finely crystalline pale grey hard limestone that bears faint hints of bedding (and ?cross-bedding) in a few patches. The massive unit has a reef-like appearance and it may be a lagoonal patch-reef, but samples of it have so far failed to reveal a diagnostic reef fauna. The limestone may be secondary ('dedolomite) and produced by the reaction between former dolostone and groundwater rich in dissolved calcium sulphate. Dome-shaped structures up to about 1.2 m across in a minor north face could be algal.

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Glossary|Glossary]] ==

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Bibliography|Bibliography]] ==

{{EWwalks}}

[[Category:7. Northern England]]

Carboniferous and Permian rocks in southern County Durham - an excursion

2020-04-09T14:18:00Z

YGSJET:

{{YGSNorthumbrianRocks}}
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_1.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 17.1 Geological map of southern County Durham showing the localities described in the text (after Mills & Hull 1976).]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_2.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 17.2 Geological cross-section of the northern limb of the Middleton Tyas anticline. Line of section on Fig. 17.1.]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_3.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 17.3 Succession of Carboniferous Limestone cyclothems between Barnard Castle and Piercebridge, indicating sections exposed at each locality.]]

By '''Trevor Morse''' University of Durham and '''Denys Smith''' GEOPERM & University of Durham.

== Purpose ==

To examine the Carboniferous and Permian rocks, and the Tertiary Cleveland '''Dyke''', of the lower Tees valley and adjoining areas, southern County Durham.

== Logistics ==

{{YGSLogistics}}

The complete excursion occupies two days but can be split conveniently into shorter sections. A vehicle is essential because the localities are widely spaced ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_1.jpg|Figure 17.1]]). Cars can be parked at or near the roadside, and all roads are suitable for small coaches. Localities 1 and 2 involve up to 3 km walking on paths and rough ground in the Butterknowle and Cockfield Fell area. Localities 3–10 entail a total of up to 10 km walking along riverside paths of the Tees and Greta between Barnard Castle and Piercebridge, finishing at a quarry at High Coniscliffe (Locality 11). The excursion has been ordered for convenience of travel but could be rearranged in geological sequence to finish with Localities 1, 2, 10 and 11 ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_3.jpg|Figure 17.3]]). It would be best undertaken in early spring, when vegetation least masks outcrops and views.

Barnard Castle has pubs, public toilets, shops, restaurants and buildings of historical interest. Most of the other localities are near to villages with pubs and shops.

''Note: ''If the Rivers Tees and Greta are in flood, this excursion should not be attempted.

== Maps ==

O.S. 1:25 000 sheets NZ 02/12 Woodland & West Auckland, NZ 01/11 Barnard Castle & Gainford, NZ 21/31 Darlington; O.S. 1:50 000 sheets 92 Barnard Castle, 93 Middlesbrough & Darlington; B.G.S. 1:63 360 Sheet 32 Barnard Castle (solid and drift editions).

== Geological background ==

The area is dominated by the Carboniferous rocks on the northern flank of the broad, open Middleton Tyas '''Anticline''', an east–west striking '''Variscan''' structure ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_2.jpg|Figure 17.2]]) within the Stainmore Trough. The major subdivisions of the Carboniferous form three distinct east–west belts across the excursion area, generally '''dipping''' and younging towards the north ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_1.jpg|Figure 17.1]]). Dinantian rocks occupy the core of the anticline south of the River Tees (Barnard Castle to Piercebridge), the Namurian a central area from the River Tees to the north side of Langleydale, and the coal-bearing Westphalian rocks in the north form the southern edge of the Durham coalfield.

The Carboniferous succession is dominated by numerous repetitions of lithological sequences, called '''cyclothems''', which change in character from dominantly marine in the Dinantian to fluvio'''lacustrine''' in the Westphalian. This cyclicity reflects '''eustatic''' rise and fall of sea level, probably driven by an extended period of glaciation in polar regions, locally modified by '''tectonic''' and sedimentological effects. Dinantian '''lithologies''' are characterized by thick marine limestones, shales and sandstones, so called Yoredale cyclothems. During the Namurian, fluvial systems prograded from the northeast and east, resulting in the increasing dominance of medium to coarse-grained, usually cross-bedded sandstones. By Westphalian times, a vast floodplain had developed, with deltaic complexes building out into lakes and frequent episodes of soil formation with the development of a rich, tropical vegetation. These Coal Measures cycles consist of inter-distributary sands, silts and muds with well developed seatearths and coals, cut by medium-grained channel sandstones. Marine influence is limited to occasional thin bands of shales with marine fossils.

Following the Variscan Orogeny and a prolonged period of late Carboniferous and early Permian erosion, the Permian sequence, now dipping gently eastwards, unconformably oversteps successively lower units of the Carboniferous to the south. The fine-grained dolostone of the late Permian Raisby Formation (formerly the Lower Magnesian Limestone) is succeeded by the oolitic dolostone of the Ford Formation (formerly the Middle Magnesian Limestone). Younger Permian and Mesozoic rocks lie beyond the eastern margin of the area. During the early Tertiary the tholeiitic Cleveland Dyke, the most southerly representative of the Mull dyke swarm, was intruded into the country rock.

Apart from the exposures in the banks of the Tees and Greta, the southern part of County Durham has few good continuous sections. This is due to a variably thick covering of glacial deposits left by the most recent, late Devensian, ice advance. Resistant rock types form features in the landscape that rarely project through this mantle of drift.

== Excursion details ==

=== Locality 1, Butterknowle [NZ 115 255] ===

Park on the B6282 at the south side of the bridge, then follow the track along the River Guanless downstream to where it bends sharply to the north. Continue straight on into the linear quarry which worked the Cleveland Dyke, here 1 o m wide, for roadstone. Note the method of quarrying whereby 0.5 m of the dyke rock was left as a retaining wall on each side to prevent the collapse of the Westphalian country rock into the workings. Where the retaining wall has fallen away, weak contact metamorphism can be seen, the effect most pronounced in fine-grained lithologies. The dyke is a porphyritic tholeiitic dolerite with a microcrystalline ground-mass and plagioclase feldspar phenocrysts; vesicles are also present. It is a typically massive, hard, dark grey to bluish-grey rock when fresh, but tends to darken when weathered and is easily distinguished from the country rock. The pattern of joints is rather irregular but appears to be sub-horizontal columnar jointing at the quarry face [NZ 118 253].

On Cockfield Fell [NZ 122 251] the dyke is 22 m wide, but entry to the workings is not possible there.

=== Locality 2 [NZ 131 251]–[NZ 118 255] ===

From the quarry by the River Guanless, cross rough ground to the south to the dismantled Bishop Auckland to Tebay railway, which crosses Cockfield Fell, and follow its course eastwards until it crosses the river. Upstream along the south bank, several exposures of Westphalian sediments, between the Brockwell and Busty coal seams, can be seen. There is evidence of past coal mining activity, with many spoil heaps, and on the opposite bank, a dismantled railway (West Auckland to Butterknowle) which served the mines of the area. These mines were worked by pillar and stall. The coal in the pillars is now being removed by opencast mining throughout the area. Siltstones overlying a ripple cross-bedded sandstone crop out at [NZ 126 253], a cross-bedded sandstone at [NZ 121 255], and shales dipping 5° to the northwest at [NZ 118 255].

Return to the vehicle, drive south through Cockfield and take the A688 via Staindrop to Barnard Castle.

=== Locality 3, Barnard Castle [NZ 053 159]–[NZ 048 165] ===

There is ample free car parking on the Demesnes [NZ 052 161], on the north bank of the River Tees. From the footpath on the south bank, reach the riverside near the mill where a traverse through Yoredale cycles of the early Namurian can be examined ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_3.jpg|Figure 17.3]]). The waterfall at the mill is formed by the dark-grey, thin-beddded, fine-grained Bottom Little Limestone (2.5 m) dipping to° north. The g m shale with limestone ribs between the Bottom and Top Little Limestones is exposed between Demesnes and Thorngate Mills. Cross the footbridge to where the Top Little Limestone (5 m) can be seen on the north bank upstream of Thorngate Wynd [NZ 048 161] forming a natural ledge across the River Tees. The overlying shale (6 m), which is poorly exposed, is capped by the Ten Fathom Grit (9 m) and can be seen under the County Bridge. This is succeeded by the Bottom (1 1 m) and Top (7 m) Crag Limestones with intervening shales; the castle stands on this sequence.

Return to the vehicle and from the market cross in Barnard Castle, take the minor road towards Whorlton, turning off to Egglestone Abbey.

=== Locality 4, Egglestone Abbey [NZ 066 149] ===

Park just before the Abbey Bridge under which the River Tees has cut a gorge in the grey, massively bedded, bioclastic Great Limestone which marks the base of the Namurian. Upstream, the soft overlying beds are covered until, on the northern side and set back from the river bank, the White Hazle Sandstone forms a cliff. The overlying Bottom Little Limestone is not seen. The siltstones, shales and thin Coal Sills sandstones between the Great Limestone and the White Hazle Sandstone are exposed further upstream in the northern bank of the river.

Drive onto the A66, turn left then first right to Greta Bridge.

=== Locality 5, Greta Bridge and Brignall [NZ 076 119]–[NZ 086 132] ===

There is parking between the bridge and the Morritt Arms. Follow the River Greta upstream on the west bank to an exposure of the Five Yard Limestone [NZ 076 119], the lowest limestone seen in the western half of the Middleton Tyas Anticline. It is a grey, fine-grained, bioclastic limestone with a fauna of crinoid stems, corals and brachiopods, gently dipping to the north. It forms a pavement at the river edge with the characteristic blocky pattern of the well-jointed Carboniferous limestones. Further downstream a brown, medium-grained, limonitic sandstone between the Five Yard and overlying Three Yard Limestones [NZ 078 124] is exposed in a river cliff. Return to the footpath and continue to the Scotchman's Stone (NZ o81125), where the blue-grey, fine-grained, crinoidal Three Yard Limestone is exposed (better seen on the eastern bank). The Scotchman's Stone is a joint block of a brown, thick bedded, coarse-grained sandstone that has broken away from the cliff section seen above the eastern bank. It is seen again on the opposite bank at NZ 085128. The top of this sandstone is approximately 8 m below the base of the Four Fathom Limestone which is not exposed. From the bridge looking north, the high ground is formed by the outcrop of the Great Limestone, which is seen in the next locality.

Return across the A66 to the 'Meeting of the Waters'.

=== Locality 6, 'Meeting of the Waters' [NZ 085 145] ===

The metalled road to this locality is private but may be used as a footpath. Approaching the confluence with the River Tees, the River Greta has cut through the top 20 m of the east–west striking Great Limestone, and is generally flowing down the gentle northerly dip slope into the River Tees.

Return to the A66, turn left and take the first left to Whorlton.

=== Locality 7, Whorlton Lido [NZ 108 145]–[NZ 113 145] ===

This is private property and a charge is made during the summer months for use of facilities and parking. However, there is a right of way through the property following the River Tees downstream to Wycliffe. Here the Tees flows over two small waterfalls formed by the resistant dark grey bioclastic Top Little Limestone. This 4 m thick unit dips 6° north, and is made up of three limestones, separated by grey shales that contain brachiopods. Overlying the Top Little Limestone are beds of fossiliferous shale and sandstone, which can be seen in the north bank and in Whorlton Beck.

=== Continue through Whorlton and take the A67 to Winston ===

''Locality 8, ''Winston Bridge [NZ 138 158]–[NZ 143 163]. There is ample car parking by the roadside, on each side of the bridge. Take the footpath upstream on the south side to the river bank, then continue upstream with care along the water's edge to a small waterfall, formed by the to m thick, grey, fine-grained, thin bedded Knucton Shell Bed Limestone. This unit is full of well preserved brachiopods, principally ''Spirifer. ''Turn back towards the bridge to work up the easterly dipping succession. Note 5 m of fossiliferous shales with fine-grained sandstone ribs overlying the shell bed, succeeded by 6 m of medium-grained ferruginous sandstone. This sandstone dips into the river under the bridge, and with care can be viewed on the north bank upstream of the bridge. Above the path between the road and the southern river bank just downstream of the bridge, it is possible with care to view the overlying grey, fine to medium-grained, Rookhope Shell Bed Limestone. There is a brachiopod-rich block of the limestone beside the footpath.

Continue east on the A67 to a lay-by on the right at Gainford Spa.

=== Locality 9, Gainford Spa [NZ 162 173] ===

From the lay-by, take the footpath to the river. Adjacent to the spa is an exposure of yellow to brown-weathered, medium-grained, laminated Namurian sandstone, with abundant carbonaceous laminae at the base. The upper unit truncates the underlying unit, approximately t m above the footpath. This sandstone lies between the Lower and Upper Felltop Limestone and directly above the Yoredale Coal.

Continue east on the A67 to Piercebridge.

=== Locality 10, Piercebridge [NZ 2100 1545] ===

Park in the village (can be difficult) and walk to a gap in the wall at the southwest end of the bridge. Through the gap, take the slippery steep 'path' to the riverside and walk c.70 m upstream to a vertical cliff. The gently dipping rock exposed here is near the base of the late Permian Raisby Formation and just above the unconformity on the Carboniferous. The unconformity crops out to the west but is unexposed. The Raisby Formation comprises buff slightly calcitic dolostone that is mainly vaguely thin-to medium-bedded but is divided into 1–1.5 m major units by notch-forming thin beds of brown leathery clay. The rock is very finely crystalline and microporous and much of it has been fragmented by internal mineralogical changes ('autobrecciation'). Poorly-preserved moulds of brachiopods, bivalves, ostracodes and foraminifera are present in some beds.

Continue east on the A67 to High Coniscliffe.

=== Locality 11, old quarry at High Coniscliffe [NZ 2251 1525] ===

There is limited parking at the entry gate [NZ 2253 1530] on the A67 near the church. The enigmatic section in the main face is in lagoonal beds of the Ford Formation and comprises two rock units that meet at a sharp sub-horizontal very uneven surface (relief C.2 m). The lower unit (up to 3.5 m thick) is of soft, porous, finely oolitic buff dolostone in regular beds mainly 0.1–0.3 m thick, of which some are planar cross-bedded; the upper unit (up to 5 m ) is generally massive finely crystalline pale grey hard limestone that bears faint hints of bedding (and ?cross-bedding) in a few patches. The massive unit has a reef-like appearance and it may be a lagoonal patch-reef, but samples of it have so far failed to reveal a diagnostic reef fauna. The limestone may be secondary ('dedolomite) and produced by the reaction between former dolostone and groundwater rich in dissolved calcium sulphate. Dome-shaped structures up to about 1.2 m across in a minor north face could be algal.

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Glossary|Glossary]] ==

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Bibliography|Bibliography]] ==

{{EWwalks}}

[[Category:7. Northern England]]

Carboniferous and Permian rocks in southern County Durham - an excursion

2020-04-09T14:15:08Z

YGSJET:

{{YGSNorthumbrianRocks}}
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_1.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 17.1 Geological map of southern County Durham showing the localities described in the text (after Mills & Hull 1976).]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_2.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 17.2 Geological cross-section of the northern limb of the Middleton Tyas anticline. Line of section on Fig. 17.1.]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_3.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 17.3 Succession of Carboniferous Limestone cyclothems between Barnard Castle and Piercebridge, indicating sections exposed at each locality.]]

By '''Trevor Morse''' University of Durham and '''Denys Smith''' GEOPERM & University of Durham.

== Purpose ==

To examine the Carboniferous and Permian rocks, and the Tertiary Cleveland '''Dyke''', of the lower Tees valley and adjoining areas, southern County Durham.

== Logistics ==

{{YGSLogistics}}

The complete excursion occupies two days but can be split conveniently into shorter sections. A vehicle is essential because the localities are widely spaced ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_1.jpg|Figure 17.1]]). Cars can be parked at or near the roadside, and all roads are suitable for small coaches. Localities 1 and 2 involve up to 3 km walking on paths and rough ground in the Butterknowle and Cockfield Fell area. Localities 3–10 entail a total of up to 10 km walking along riverside paths of the Tees and Greta between Barnard Castle and Piercebridge, finishing at a quarry at High Coniscliffe (Locality 11). The excursion has been ordered for convenience of travel but could be rearranged in geological sequence to finish with Localities 1, 2, 10 and 11 ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_3.jpg|Figure 17.3]]). It would be best undertaken in early spring, when vegetation least masks outcrops and views.

Barnard Castle has pubs, public toilets, shops, restaurants and buildings of historical interest. Most of the other localities are near to villages with pubs and shops.

''Note: ''If the Rivers Tees and Greta are in flood, this excursion should not be attempted.

== Maps ==

O.S. 1:25 000 sheets NZ 02/12 Woodland & West Auckland, NZ 01/11 Barnard Castle & Gainford, NZ 21/31 Darlington; O.S. 1:50 000 sheets 92 Barnard Castle, 93 Middlesbrough & Darlington; B.G.S. 1:63 360 Sheet 32 Barnard Castle (solid and drift editions).

== Geological background ==

The area is dominated by the Carboniferous rocks on the northern flank of the broad, open Middleton Tyas Anticline, an east–west striking Variscan structure ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_2.jpg|Figure 17.2]]) within the Stainmore Trough. The major subdivisions of the Carboniferous form three distinct east–west belts across the excursion area, generally dipping and younging towards the north ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_1.jpg|Figure 17.1]]). Dinantian rocks occupy the core of the anticline south of the River Tees (Barnard Castle to Piercebridge), the Namurian a central area from the River Tees to the north side of Langleydale, and the coal-bearing Westphalian rocks in the north form the southern edge of the Durham coalfield.

The Carboniferous succession is dominated by numerous repetitions of lithological sequences, called cyclothems, which change in character from dominantly marine in the Dinantian to fluviolacustrine in the Westphalian. This cyclicity reflects eustatic rise and fall of sea level, probably driven by an extended period of glaciation in polar regions, locally modified by tectonic and sedimentological effects. Dinantian lithologies are characterized by thick marine limestones, shales and sandstones, so called Yoredale cyclothems. During the Namurian, fluvial systems prograded from the northeast and east, resulting in the increasing dominance of medium to coarse-grained, usually cross-bedded sandstones. By Westphalian times, a vast floodplain had developed, with deltaic complexes building out into lakes and frequent episodes of soil formation with the development of a rich, tropical vegetation. These Coal Measures cycles consist of inter-distributary sands, silts and muds with well developed seatearths and coals, cut by medium-grained channel sandstones. Marine influence is limited to occasional thin bands of shales with marine fossils.

Following the Variscan Orogeny and a prolonged period of late Carboniferous and early Permian erosion, the Permian sequence, now dipping gently eastwards, unconformably oversteps successively lower units of the Carboniferous to the south. The fine-grained dolostone of the late Permian Raisby Formation (formerly the Lower Magnesian Limestone) is succeeded by the oolitic dolostone of the Ford Formation (formerly the Middle Magnesian Limestone). Younger Permian and Mesozoic rocks lie beyond the eastern margin of the area. During the early Tertiary the tholeiitic Cleveland Dyke, the most southerly representative of the Mull dyke swarm, was intruded into the country rock.

Apart from the exposures in the banks of the Tees and Greta, the southern part of County Durham has few good continuous sections. This is due to a variably thick covering of glacial deposits left by the most recent, late Devensian, ice advance. Resistant rock types form features in the landscape that rarely project through this mantle of drift.

== Excursion details ==

=== Locality 1, Butterknowle [NZ 115 255] ===

Park on the B6282 at the south side of the bridge, then follow the track along the River Guanless downstream to where it bends sharply to the north. Continue straight on into the linear quarry which worked the Cleveland Dyke, here 1 o m wide, for roadstone. Note the method of quarrying whereby 0.5 m of the dyke rock was left as a retaining wall on each side to prevent the collapse of the Westphalian country rock into the workings. Where the retaining wall has fallen away, weak contact metamorphism can be seen, the effect most pronounced in fine-grained lithologies. The dyke is a porphyritic tholeiitic dolerite with a microcrystalline ground-mass and plagioclase feldspar phenocrysts; vesicles are also present. It is a typically massive, hard, dark grey to bluish-grey rock when fresh, but tends to darken when weathered and is easily distinguished from the country rock. The pattern of joints is rather irregular but appears to be sub-horizontal columnar jointing at the quarry face [NZ 118 253].

On Cockfield Fell [NZ 122 251] the dyke is 22 m wide, but entry to the workings is not possible there.

=== Locality 2 [NZ 131 251]–[NZ 118 255] ===

From the quarry by the River Guanless, cross rough ground to the south to the dismantled Bishop Auckland to Tebay railway, which crosses Cockfield Fell, and follow its course eastwards until it crosses the river. Upstream along the south bank, several exposures of Westphalian sediments, between the Brockwell and Busty coal seams, can be seen. There is evidence of past coal mining activity, with many spoil heaps, and on the opposite bank, a dismantled railway (West Auckland to Butterknowle) which served the mines of the area. These mines were worked by pillar and stall. The coal in the pillars is now being removed by opencast mining throughout the area. Siltstones overlying a ripple cross-bedded sandstone crop out at [NZ 126 253], a cross-bedded sandstone at [NZ 121 255], and shales dipping 5° to the northwest at [NZ 118 255].

Return to the vehicle, drive south through Cockfield and take the A688 via Staindrop to Barnard Castle.

=== Locality 3, Barnard Castle [NZ 053 159]–[NZ 048 165] ===

There is ample free car parking on the Demesnes [NZ 052 161], on the north bank of the River Tees. From the footpath on the south bank, reach the riverside near the mill where a traverse through Yoredale cycles of the early Namurian can be examined ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_17_3.jpg|Figure 17.3]]). The waterfall at the mill is formed by the dark-grey, thin-beddded, fine-grained Bottom Little Limestone (2.5 m) dipping to° north. The g m shale with limestone ribs between the Bottom and Top Little Limestones is exposed between Demesnes and Thorngate Mills. Cross the footbridge to where the Top Little Limestone (5 m) can be seen on the north bank upstream of Thorngate Wynd [NZ 048 161] forming a natural ledge across the River Tees. The overlying shale (6 m), which is poorly exposed, is capped by the Ten Fathom Grit (9 m) and can be seen under the County Bridge. This is succeeded by the Bottom (1 1 m) and Top (7 m) Crag Limestones with intervening shales; the castle stands on this sequence.

Return to the vehicle and from the market cross in Barnard Castle, take the minor road towards Whorlton, turning off to Egglestone Abbey.

=== Locality 4, Egglestone Abbey [NZ 066 149] ===

Park just before the Abbey Bridge under which the River Tees has cut a gorge in the grey, massively bedded, bioclastic Great Limestone which marks the base of the Namurian. Upstream, the soft overlying beds are covered until, on the northern side and set back from the river bank, the White Hazle Sandstone forms a cliff. The overlying Bottom Little Limestone is not seen. The siltstones, shales and thin Coal Sills sandstones between the Great Limestone and the White Hazle Sandstone are exposed further upstream in the northern bank of the river.

Drive onto the A66, turn left then first right to Greta Bridge.

=== Locality 5, Greta Bridge and Brignall [NZ 076 119]–[NZ 086 132] ===

There is parking between the bridge and the Morritt Arms. Follow the River Greta upstream on the west bank to an exposure of the Five Yard Limestone [NZ 076 119], the lowest limestone seen in the western half of the Middleton Tyas Anticline. It is a grey, fine-grained, bioclastic limestone with a fauna of crinoid stems, corals and brachiopods, gently dipping to the north. It forms a pavement at the river edge with the characteristic blocky pattern of the well-jointed Carboniferous limestones. Further downstream a brown, medium-grained, limonitic sandstone between the Five Yard and overlying Three Yard Limestones [NZ 078 124] is exposed in a river cliff. Return to the footpath and continue to the Scotchman's Stone (NZ o81125), where the blue-grey, fine-grained, crinoidal Three Yard Limestone is exposed (better seen on the eastern bank). The Scotchman's Stone is a joint block of a brown, thick bedded, coarse-grained sandstone that has broken away from the cliff section seen above the eastern bank. It is seen again on the opposite bank at NZ 085128. The top of this sandstone is approximately 8 m below the base of the Four Fathom Limestone which is not exposed. From the bridge looking north, the high ground is formed by the outcrop of the Great Limestone, which is seen in the next locality.

Return across the A66 to the 'Meeting of the Waters'.

=== Locality 6, 'Meeting of the Waters' [NZ 085 145] ===

The metalled road to this locality is private but may be used as a footpath. Approaching the confluence with the River Tees, the River Greta has cut through the top 20 m of the east–west striking Great Limestone, and is generally flowing down the gentle northerly dip slope into the River Tees.

Return to the A66, turn left and take the first left to Whorlton.

=== Locality 7, Whorlton Lido [NZ 108 145]–[NZ 113 145] ===

This is private property and a charge is made during the summer months for use of facilities and parking. However, there is a right of way through the property following the River Tees downstream to Wycliffe. Here the Tees flows over two small waterfalls formed by the resistant dark grey bioclastic Top Little Limestone. This 4 m thick unit dips 6° north, and is made up of three limestones, separated by grey shales that contain brachiopods. Overlying the Top Little Limestone are beds of fossiliferous shale and sandstone, which can be seen in the north bank and in Whorlton Beck.

=== Continue through Whorlton and take the A67 to Winston ===

''Locality 8, ''Winston Bridge [NZ 138 158]–[NZ 143 163]. There is ample car parking by the roadside, on each side of the bridge. Take the footpath upstream on the south side to the river bank, then continue upstream with care along the water's edge to a small waterfall, formed by the to m thick, grey, fine-grained, thin bedded Knucton Shell Bed Limestone. This unit is full of well preserved brachiopods, principally ''Spirifer. ''Turn back towards the bridge to work up the easterly dipping succession. Note 5 m of fossiliferous shales with fine-grained sandstone ribs overlying the shell bed, succeeded by 6 m of medium-grained ferruginous sandstone. This sandstone dips into the river under the bridge, and with care can be viewed on the north bank upstream of the bridge. Above the path between the road and the southern river bank just downstream of the bridge, it is possible with care to view the overlying grey, fine to medium-grained, Rookhope Shell Bed Limestone. There is a brachiopod-rich block of the limestone beside the footpath.

Continue east on the A67 to a lay-by on the right at Gainford Spa.

=== Locality 9, Gainford Spa [NZ 162 173] ===

From the lay-by, take the footpath to the river. Adjacent to the spa is an exposure of yellow to brown-weathered, medium-grained, laminated Namurian sandstone, with abundant carbonaceous laminae at the base. The upper unit truncates the underlying unit, approximately t m above the footpath. This sandstone lies between the Lower and Upper Felltop Limestone and directly above the Yoredale Coal.

Continue east on the A67 to Piercebridge.

=== Locality 10, Piercebridge [NZ 2100 1545] ===

Park in the village (can be difficult) and walk to a gap in the wall at the southwest end of the bridge. Through the gap, take the slippery steep 'path' to the riverside and walk c.70 m upstream to a vertical cliff. The gently dipping rock exposed here is near the base of the late Permian Raisby Formation and just above the unconformity on the Carboniferous. The unconformity crops out to the west but is unexposed. The Raisby Formation comprises buff slightly calcitic dolostone that is mainly vaguely thin-to medium-bedded but is divided into 1–1.5 m major units by notch-forming thin beds of brown leathery clay. The rock is very finely crystalline and microporous and much of it has been fragmented by internal mineralogical changes ('autobrecciation'). Poorly-preserved moulds of brachiopods, bivalves, ostracodes and foraminifera are present in some beds.

Continue east on the A67 to High Coniscliffe.

=== Locality 11, old quarry at High Coniscliffe [NZ 2251 1525] ===

There is limited parking at the entry gate [NZ 2253 1530] on the A67 near the church. The enigmatic section in the main face is in lagoonal beds of the Ford Formation and comprises two rock units that meet at a sharp sub-horizontal very uneven surface (relief C.2 m). The lower unit (up to 3.5 m thick) is of soft, porous, finely oolitic buff dolostone in regular beds mainly 0.1–0.3 m thick, of which some are planar cross-bedded; the upper unit (up to 5 m ) is generally massive finely crystalline pale grey hard limestone that bears faint hints of bedding (and ?cross-bedding) in a few patches. The massive unit has a reef-like appearance and it may be a lagoonal patch-reef, but samples of it have so far failed to reveal a diagnostic reef fauna. The limestone may be secondary ('dedolomite) and produced by the reaction between former dolostone and groundwater rich in dissolved calcium sulphate. Dome-shaped structures up to about 1.2 m across in a minor north face could be algal.

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Glossary|Glossary]] ==

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Bibliography|Bibliography]] ==

{{EWwalks}}

[[Category:7. Northern England]]

Geology and landscape of Upper Teesdale - an excursion

2020-04-08T16:40:21Z

YGSJET:

{{YGSNorthumbrianRocks}}

[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_1.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 16.1 (a) Geological map and localities in Hudeshope Beck, Middleton-in-Teesdale. (b) Geology of Bowlees Quarry and picnic area.]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 16.2 Geological map of upper Teesdale around High Force. Inset showing localities described in text.]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_3.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 16.3 High Force (Locality 11). WS = Whin Sill; S = metamorphosed sandstone; TBL = Tyne Bottom Limestone. Photo: J. Senior.]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_4.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 16.4 The Whin Sill forming Howick Scars, looking east (Locality 15). Photo: J. Senior.]]

By '''John Senior''' University of Durham.

== Purpose ==

To study the Carboniferous '''cyclothemic''' sediments on the edge of the Caledonian Alston Block; the '''Variscan tectonics''', Whin '''Sill''' and synchronous mineralisation; the Tertiary Cleveland '''Dyke'''; the effects of late Quaternary glaciation and the control of landscape by the underlying geology. Parts of the sequence are very fossiliferous, with '''corals, crinoids''' and '''brachiopods.'''

== Logistics ==

{{YGSLogistics}}

A one-day excursion which may profitably be divided into smaller, more intensive itineraries. Parking places are indicated throughout the text. Food may be obtained in Middleton-in-Teesdale, at High Force and at Holwick.

''Note: ''Although the paths are recognized rights of way they pass through two large estates (Raby and Strathmore). Please observe the countryside code. During the pheasant and grouse shooting seasons, sections of the proposed routes may be temporarily closed.

== Maps ==

O.S. 1:50 000 Sheet 92, Barnard Castle; O.S. 1:25 000 Sheet NY 82/92, Middleton-in-Teesdale; B.G.S. 1:50 000 Sheet 31, Brough-under-Stainmoor; B.G.S. 1:63 360 Sheet 32 Barnard Castle; B.G.S. 1:25 000 Sheet 17, Middleton-in-Teesdale.

== Geological background ==

Upper Teesdale is situated on the southern margin of the Alston Block, part of a structural block and trough system developed in Northern England following the '''Caledonian Orogeny'''. The foundation of the block in the Teesdale area comprises Ordovician '''meta-sediments''' (exposed in the Teesdale '''inlier''' at Cronkley Pasture; NY 846296) and '''volcaniclastic''' deposits (Borrowdale Volcanic Group) into which the Weardale '''Granite''' has been emplaced.

This buoyant structural unit is bounded on its southern margin by the Lunedale–Butterknowle '''Fault''' zone, separating it from the Stainmore Trough, a substantial depositional basin during the Carboniferous period. In the subsiding Stainmore Trough some 2850 m of cyclic Carboniferous sediments are still preserved; equivalent strata on the more stable Alston Block are appreciably thinner. In Teesdale and adjacent areas each Yoredale cyclothem commences with a marine '''transgression''' (usually a limestone which gives a generic name to the whole unit; e.g. Five Yard Limestone Cyclothem) followed by sediments of increasing deltaic influence (shales, silt-stones, flagstones, sandstones or grits, '''seatearths''' and perhaps thin coals). The terrestrially derived sediments represent the infilling of a shallow marine gulf by a southerly '''prograding''' deltaic complex. The number of such Yoredale cyclothems in the North Pennine area suggests that sedimentary basin infill was followed by regional subsidence and/or increase in sea-level, with many repetitions of the sedimentary cycle over many millions of years.

The end-Carboniferous Variscan Orogeny led to reactivation of basement faults and general uplift of the Northern Pennines area. A late orogenic extensional phase resulted in the injection of basic '''magma''' into deep-seated fault zones, some of which acted as feeder dykes for the extensive Whin Sill, a very important '''doleritic''' intrusion in North East England. Upper Teesdale, the southern limit of this '''igneous''' body, was where the intrusive nature of a sill was first recognized by Adam Sedgwick in 1827. The important Northern Pennines mineralization is chronologically associated with this reheating of the basement rocks of the block areas by these basic magmas (Dunham 1990). '''Mineral veins''' (base metals lead, zinc and iron with a little copper, silver and cobalt) are to be found in fault zones cutting the Carboniferous sediments and indeed replacing some of the limestones in particular. The legacy of intensive mining in the past litters the Teesdale landscape.

Post-Variscan faulting in the Teesdale area is complicated by subsequent tectonic episodes (Triassic, intra-Jurassic, early Tertiary and even late Quaternary '''eustatic''' movements) so many faults show different phases and directions of movement and there are some cases of fault inversion. Into one such fault zone were injected basic magmas believed to have originated from the early Tertiary (Palaeocene) Mull volcanic centre. This Cleveland-Armathwaite Dyke '''echelon''' is well represented in Upper Teesdale.

Only features associated with the latest Quaternary (Devensian) glaciation are represented in Upper Teesdale but these have had a profound effect. Much of the landscape is masked by deposits of '''till''' which is of local (Pennine) origin except in the Lunedale and Middleton-in-Teesdale area where distinctive glacial '''erratics''' of Shap Granite and green '''andesitic tuffs''' (Borrowdale Volcanic Group) witness the passage of Lake District ice through the Stainmore pass and Lunedale area onto the South Durham–North Yorkshire plains. Geomorphological features in Upper Teesdale suggest a late Quaternary valley glacier phase with marginal '''moraines''', linear ice moulded debris, glacial '''spillways''' and modified river patterns, as well as outwash sand and gravel deposits which choke the Tees valley.

== Excursion details ==

=== Locality 1, Eggleston Burn [NY 989 252] ===

Approach from Eggleston village via either the B6282 (Middleton-in-Teesdale road) or B6278 (Stanhope road) and the linking minor road ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]). Park on the roadside [NY 990 249], 150 m east of the spectacular gritstone viaduct across Eggleston Burn. Walk along the narrow path on the north side of the road (just to the east of the viaduct) for 100 m to a small ill-defined quarry. Here the Cleveland Dyke crosses the valley and burn in an east–west direction, emplaced into coarse '''feldspathic''' gritstones around the level of the Firestone Sill (Upper Carboniferous). The '''porphyritic tholeiitic''' dolerite of this minor intrusion has been modestly quarried on the east side of the burn for roadstone (trackways lead southwards from the lower section near the burn) and there are signs that the adjacent grits have also been quarried for local walling.

The full c.15 m thickness of the dyke is best seen in the river cliff on the west side of the valley, where it has chilled ('''tachylitic''') margins and the adjacent grits have been mildly contact '''metamorphosed'''. It is, however, difficult from a distance to distinguish the sedimentary bedding of the host rock from the horizontal '''joints''' of the dyke. In the quarry on the east side of the burn the marginal contacts are not well exposed, but the quarry face does exhibit good examples of spheroidal weathering in the dyke.

=== Locality 2, Whistle Crag [NY 978 247] ===

From the lay-by on the B6282 is a panoramic view southwards of the southern marginal area of the Alston Block. Crags of Whin Sill can be seen below the skyline to the right, whilst the Lunedale–Butterknowle Fault runs just below the skyline on the left and out through the Lune Valley to the south. The Tees valley in the foreground is filled by late Quaternary tills and outwash alluvial deposits.

=== Localities 3–5, Hudeshope Beck [NY 947 258]–[NY 948 275] ===

Park in Middleton-in-Teesdale. Walk north from the town on the Stanhope road past the parish chruch. Viewed from the wall on the west side of the road after the last house, the disturbed limestones at river level mark the position where a fault ('''downthrowing''' to the southwest) cuts the deep valley of Hudeshope Beck. Take the first pathway on the west side of the road through the woods on the east side of the beck to the first footbridge.

=== Locality 3 [NY 947 258] ===

The footbridge is sited on the thickest '''post''' of the Three Yard Limestone (Lower Carboniferous, Alston Group) where it also forms a small waterfall ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_1.jpg|Figure 16.1]]a). Downstream the base of the limestone is exposed where it overlies the sandstones, '''ganister''' and thin shale partings at the top of the Five Yard Limestone Cyclothem. In the low river cliffs on the east side of the valley upstream of the footbridge a sequence of thin limestones with intercalated calcareous shales (with scattered corals and crinoidal debris) is gradually replaced vertically by deltaic non-marine shales with ironstone nodules followed by flaggy sandstones, all part of the Three Yard Limestone Cyclothem.

Further upstream the sandstone of the Three Yard Limestone Cyclothem forms a low river cliff. This disappears where a fault (the continuation of the Holm Head Vein), downthrowing c. 10 m southeast, cuts the valley in a northeast–southwest direction and results in the repetition of the geological succession so that the second footbridge [NY 947 262] is also sited on the thickest post of the Three Yard Limestone. Around the second footbridge, a c.0.4 m bed of calcareous shale separates the two principal posts of the Three Yard Limestone. As the river bed gradient is the same as the local '''dip''' the stream bed follows the top of the limestone for 150 m upstream where a small fault causes flexure in the top of the upper post.

=== Locality 4 [NY 947 264] ===

A series of '''tufa'''-depositing springs are associated with this same fault on the western side of the valley. A large mound of tufa from a former lower spring source is known locally as the 'Growing Stone' (Figure 16.1a).

The calcareous shales upstream provide many well preserved examples of crinoid sections, brachiopods, '''bryozoan''' colonies and occasional fish teeth. Among boulder debris in the beck are examples of exotic clasts derived from the till cover in this valley, including green andesitic volcaniclastic rocks (Borrowdale Volcanic Group) and Shap Granite from the Lake District, as well as locally derived material including clasts of Frosterley Marble.

Further upstream [NY 948 269] the nature of the Three Yard Limestone Cyclothem changes with non-marine ferruginous shales with '''septarian sideritic''' nodules followed by siltstones, flagstones then a more substantial sandstone that forms the lip of a prominent waterfall.

Walking up the Hudeshope valley along the road, the limestones of the succeeding Four Fathom Limestone Cyclothem have been worked in a rather overgrown quarry [NY 949 269] and although somewhat disrupted by faulting these same limestones can be seen forming low cliffs on the west bank of the beck (Figure 16.1a).

=== Locality 5 [NY 948 272] ===

The Four Fathom Limestone is extensively exposed in the river bed upstream of Skears Bridge, where it is also markedly disrupted by '''calcite'''-filled tension gashes associated with mineralized faulting. Higher upstream, the sedimentary sequence between the Four Fathom Limestone and the Great Limestone (Namurian, Upper Carboniferous) is seen in a poorly accessible west-facing river cliff. At Skears Scars [NY 948 276] Hudeshope Beck has cut a spectacular gorge through the Great Limestone which commences on the north side at a well exposed partly mineralized fault with 18 m downthrow to the northeast (Hall's Vein; [[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_1.jpg|Figure 16.1]]a). Beds here and in nearby Skears Quarry [NY 949 272], rich in the solitary coral ''Dibunophyllum bipartitum, ''constitute the Frosterley Marble horizon.

Return to the vehicle and leave Middleton-in-Teesdale on the B6277 for Bowlees.

=== Locality 6, Bowlees Picnic site [NY 907 283] ===

Around the old limestone quarry [NY 908 284] there is a wealth of geological detail (summarized on [[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_1.jpg|Figure 16.1]]b) which requires careful observation.

Walk upstream on the well-made path from the quarry. Above the quarry fault waterfall, Bow Lee Beck runs over the '''cross-bedded''' and channel fill sandstones of the Scar Limestone Cyclothem the top of which is at Gibson's Cave [NY 910 287] where the limestones of the succeeding Five Yard Limestone Cyclothem form the lip of the waterfall.

Leave the picnic area and walk eastwards on the B6277 for 0.6 km before taking the footpath southwest to the River Tees ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]).

=== Locality 7, Scoberry Bridge [NY 910 273] ===

Here the Cockleshell Limestone is exposed with the brachiopod ''Gigantoproductus ''and compound corals (do not hammer this locality). Cross the bridge and walk upstream on the Pennine Way. The gentle downstream dip brings in successively lower strata of the Single Post Limestone Cyclothem and into the top of the Tyne Bottom Limestone Cyclothem. Note the waste heaps from Wynch Mine trials into the Single Post Limestone (iron and zinc replacement ores) to the southwest side of the path some 300–550 m upstream from the bridge (Dunham 1990).

The River Tees changes its character some 200 m upstream from the bridge, caused by the exposure of the top margin of the Whin Sill. The sill has been injected into the sandstones of the Tyne Bottom Limestone Cyclothem and now forms the bed of the River Tees for 1.7 km upstream to Holwick Head Bridge [NY 889 283]. The indurate nature of the upper margin of the Whin Sill causes the river to flow over a series of rapids, small waterfalls and through small sharply defined valleys.

=== Locality 8 [NY 904 278] ===

Here there is a large 2–2.5 m thick raft of metamorphosed sandstone in the upper part of the Whin Sill. This 74 m long section of detached roof rock has tilted to an angle of c.20° as it slowly foundered into the crystallising basic magmatic intrusion, producing glassy tachylitic chilled margins to the edge of the sill and in turn being metamorphosed.

=== Locality 9, Wynch Bridge [NY 903 280] ===

Cross over the nineteenth century bridge to view Low Force, a well loved river feature effected by the hard nature and crude columnar jointing of the Whin Sill. Pause on the bridge to note the full extent of the sandstone raft at Locality 8. (The walk can be terminated here. Return to the Bowlees Picnic area, noting in passing the long low, partly wooded hill to the east of the path at the start of the fields: a northwest–southeast oriented, extended, ice moulded heap of glacial debris.)

Walking upriver on the west bank from Wynch Bridge, many features associated with the erosion of the upper contact of the Whin Sill can be noted in the river course. Also the wet nature of the associated valley alluvial deposits makes this section of Teesdale an ideal area for the study of summer wetland plants.

=== Locality 10, Holwick Head Bridge [NY 889 283] ===

Here the nature of the Tees valley changes where the river enters a deeply incised gorge which terminates with the waterfall of High Force [NY 880 284]. Near this bridge the river crosses a major north-northwest–south-southeast fault complex which has the combined effect of some c.75 m downthrow to the east ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]). Indeed the continuation of the Teesdale Fault controls the northwest–southeast direction of the first section of the High Force Gorge.

This locality may also be approached from the public car park and picnic site at High Force [NY 886 287].

=== Locality 11, High Force [NY 881 284] ===

Park as above and take the woodland walks and paths maintained by the Raby Estate to the waterfall. This approach will allow you to see at close hand the bottom section of the Whin Sill where the quartz dolerite magma has been injected into the sandstones of the Tyne Bottom Limestone Cyclothem (again the bottom contact of the sill has a chilled tachylitic margin). The disposition of the rock types viewed at this classic locality can be seen in [[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_3.jpg|Figure 16.3]].

Continuing upstream on the west bank from Holwick Head Bridge, the path ascends a steep slope to a position about halfway up the Whin Sill intrusion, some 73 m thick in this area. The well defined path passes through preserved areas of juniper scrub, remnant areas of woody plant colonisation left after the last, Devensian, glaciation. There are several places where '''''with extreme caution''' ''High Force can be viewed from the rim of the gorge.

=== Locality 12, Top of High Force [NY 880 284] ===

Views of the waterfall and the gorge beyond are spectacular and '''''dangerous'''. ''Flash floods generated by summer storms in the Pennines often surprise the unwary at this locality.

Following the Pennine Way upstream, Bleabeck Force is seen to cascade over the Whin Sill on the south side of the valley [NY 875 278] and on the north side of the Tees there is the active Force Garth Quarry. Here almost the whole thickness of the Whin Sill (often showing working faces with excellent columnar jointing) is worked for roadstone.

The low and ill-drained ground around Pasture Foot ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]) is part of a pre-glacial buried channel now partly choked by till.

=== Locality 13, Bracken Rigg [NY 863 281] ===

The Pennine Way ascends this small but steep hill, an erosional '''outlier''' of dolerite, that with Low Crag to the north [NY 863 287] has become detached from the main outcrop of the Whin Sill by post-glacial erosion of the River Tees. The south-facing columnar dolerite cliffs of Dene Holm Scar and the adjacent Tees valley are a splendid sight from the top of Bracken Rigg. Leave the Pennine Way at the western end of Bracken Rigg and walk southwards across the marshy ground of Fell Dike Sike (a continuation of the Pasture Foot buried channel) to join the well defined drove road 'Green Trod'. This possibly Iron Age trans-Pennine routeway can now be followed eastwards across the grouse moors to Holwick. Green Trod follows the Scar Limestone Cyclothem sediments above the Whin Sill and many swallow holes may be seen developed in the Scar Limestone.

=== Locality 14, Low Currick Rigg [NY 895 275] ===

Below lies the dour gritstone Royal hunting lodge, Holwick House, prominently situated on top of a northwest–southeast elongated ice-moulded mound of glacial debris (one of many such glacial features in this part of Teesdale). On the skyline to the northeast is Coldberry Gutter, a man-made 30 m deep valley which cuts the watershed. This prominent feature is a ''''hush'''', produced by mining and repeated flushing which removed some 2.5 million tonnes of waste in the 17th–19th centuries to produce lead ore concentrate.

=== Locality 15, Holwick [NY 901 271] ===

Fine cliffs of columnar dolerite form Holwick Scars and Crossthwaite Scars. These and the side valleys are probably fault controlled ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]), but accentuated by the Devensian glaciation of the valley margin, which also accounts for the modified drainage, glacial deposits and periglacial scree slopes at the foot of these north-facing cliffs ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_4.jpg|Figure 16.4]]).

Walking northwards from Holwick Scars to Low Force (Locality 9) the route passes over two and possibly three faults of the Teesdale Fault complex, with a composite downthrow to the north of c. 100 m.

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Glossary|Glossary]] ==

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Bibliography|Bibliography]] ==

{{EWwalks}}

[[Category:7. Northern England]]

Geology and landscape of Upper Teesdale - an excursion

2020-04-08T16:36:10Z

YGSJET:

{{YGSNorthumbrianRocks}}

[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_1.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 16.1 (a) Geological map and localities in Hudeshope Beck, Middleton-in-Teesdale. (b) Geology of Bowlees Quarry and picnic area.]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 16.2 Geological map of upper Teesdale around High Force. Inset showing localities described in text.]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_3.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 16.3 High Force (Locality 11). WS = Whin Sill; S = metamorphosed sandstone; TBL = Tyne Bottom Limestone. Photo: J. Senior.]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_4.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 16.4 The Whin Sill forming Howick Scars, looking east (Locality 15). Photo: J. Senior.]]

By '''John Senior''' University of Durham.

== Purpose ==

To study the Carboniferous '''cyclothemic''' sediments on the edge of the Caledonian Alston Block; the '''Variscan tectonics''', Whin '''Sill''' and synchronous mineralisation; the Tertiary Cleveland '''Dyke'''; the effects of late Quaternary glaciation and the control of landscape by the underlying geology. Parts of the sequence are very fossiliferous, with '''corals, crinoids''' and '''brachiopods.'''

== Logistics ==

{{YGSLogistics}}

A one-day excursion which may profitably be divided into smaller, more intensive itineraries. Parking places are indicated throughout the text. Food may be obtained in Middleton-in-Teesdale, at High Force and at Holwick.

''Note: ''Although the paths are recognized rights of way they pass through two large estates (Raby and Strathmore). Please observe the countryside code. During the pheasant and grouse shooting seasons, sections of the proposed routes may be temporarily closed.

== Maps ==

O.S. 1:50 000 Sheet 92, Barnard Castle; O.S. 1:25 000 Sheet NY 82/92, Middleton-in-Teesdale; B.G.S. 1:50 000 Sheet 31, Brough-under-Stainmoor; B.G.S. 1:63 360 Sheet 32 Barnard Castle; B.G.S. 1:25 000 Sheet 17, Middleton-in-Teesdale.

== Geological background ==

Upper Teesdale is situated on the southern margin of the Alston Block, part of a structural block and trough system developed in Northern England following the '''Caledonian Orogeny'''. The foundation of the block in the Teesdale area comprises Ordovician '''meta-sediments''' (exposed in the Teesdale '''inlier''' at Cronkley Pasture; NY 846296) and '''volcaniclastic''' deposits (Borrowdale Volcanic Group) into which the Weardale '''Granite''' has been emplaced.

This buoyant structural unit is bounded on its southern margin by the Lunedale–Butterknowle '''Fault''' zone, separating it from the Stainmore Trough, a substantial depositional basin during the Carboniferous period. In the subsiding Stainmore Trough some 2850 m of cyclic Carboniferous sediments are still preserved; equivalent strata on the more stable Alston Block are appreciably thinner. In Teesdale and adjacent areas each Yoredale cyclothem commences with a marine '''transgression''' (usually a limestone which gives a generic name to the whole unit; e.g. Five Yard Limestone Cyclothem) followed by sediments of increasing deltaic influence (shales, silt-stones, flagstones, sandstones or grits, '''seatearths''' and perhaps thin coals). The terrestrially derived sediments represent the infilling of a shallow marine gulf by a southerly '''prograding''' deltaic complex. The number of such Yoredale cyclothems in the North Pennine area suggests that sedimentary basin infill was followed by regional subsidence and/or increase in sea-level, with many repetitions of the sedimentary cycle over many millions of years.

The end-Carboniferous Variscan Orogeny led to reactivation of basement faults and general uplift of the Northern Pennines area. A late orogenic extensional phase resulted in the injection of basic '''magma''' into deep-seated fault zones, some of which acted as feeder dykes for the extensive Whin Sill, a very important '''doleritic''' intrusion in North East England. Upper Teesdale, the southern limit of this '''igneous''' body, was where the intrusive nature of a sill was first recognized by Adam Sedgwick in 1827. The important Northern Pennines mineralization is chronologically associated with this reheating of the basement rocks of the block areas by these basic magmas (Dunham 1990). '''Mineral veins''' (base metals lead, zinc and iron with a little copper, silver and cobalt) are to be found in fault zones cutting the Carboniferous sediments and indeed replacing some of the limestones in particular. The legacy of intensive mining in the past litters the Teesdale landscape.

Post-Variscan faulting in the Teesdale area is complicated by subsequent tectonic episodes (Triassic, intra-Jurassic, early Tertiary and even late Quaternary '''eustatic''' movements) so many faults show different phases and directions of movement and there are some cases of fault inversion. Into one such fault zone were injected basic magmas believed to have originated from the early Tertiary (Palaeocene) Mull volcanic centre. This Cleveland-Armathwaite Dyke '''echelon''' is well represented in Upper Teesdale.

Only features associated with the latest Quaternary (Devensian) glaciation are represented in Upper Teesdale but these have had a profound effect. Much of the landscape is masked by deposits of '''till''' which is of local (Pennine) origin except in the Lunedale and Middleton-in-Teesdale area where distinctive glacial '''erratics''' of Shap Granite and green '''andesitic tuffs''' (Borrowdale Volcanic Group) witness the passage of Lake District ice through the Stainmore pass and Lunedale area onto the South Durham–North Yorkshire plains. Geomorphological features in Upper Teesdale suggest a late Quaternary valley glacier phase with marginal '''moraines''', linear ice moulded debris, glacial '''spillways''' and modified river patterns, as well as outwash sand and gravel deposits which choke the Tees valley.

== Excursion details ==

=== Locality 1, Eggleston Burn [NY 989 252] ===

Approach from Eggleston village via either the B6282 (Middleton-in-Teesdale road) or B6278 (Stanhope road) and the linking minor road ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]). Park on the roadside [NY 990 249], 150 m east of the spectacular gritstone viaduct across Eggleston Burn. Walk along the narrow path on the north side of the road (just to the east of the viaduct) for 100 m to a small ill-defined quarry. Here the Cleveland Dyke crosses the valley and burn in an east–west direction, emplaced into coarse '''feldspathic''' gritstones around the level of the Firestone Sill (Upper Carboniferous). The '''porphyritic tholeiitic''' dolerite of this minor intrusion has been modestly quarried on the east side of the burn for roadstone (trackways lead southwards from the lower section near the burn) and there are signs that the adjacent grits have also been quarried for local walling.

The full c.15 m thickness of the dyke is best seen in the river cliff on the west side of the valley, where it has chilled ('''tachylitic''') margins and the adjacent grits have been mildly contact '''metamorphosed'''. It is, however, difficult from a distance to distinguish the sedimentary bedding of the host rock from the horizontal '''joints''' of the dyke. In the quarry on the east side of the burn the marginal contacts are not well exposed, but the quarry face does exhibit good examples of spheroidal weathering in the dyke.

=== Locality 2, Whistle Crag [NY 978 247] ===

From the lay-by on the B6282 is a panoramic view southwards of the southern marginal area of the Alston Block. Crags of Whin Sill can be seen below the skyline to the right, whilst the Lunedale–Butterknowle Fault runs just below the skyline on the left and out through the Lune Valley to the south. The Tees valley in the foreground is filled by late Quaternary tills and outwash alluvial deposits.

=== Localities 3–5, Hudeshope Beck [NY 947 258]–[NY 948 275] ===

Park in Middleton-in-Teesdale. Walk north from the town on the Stanhope road past the parish chruch. Viewed from the wall on the west side of the road after the last house, the disturbed limestones at river level mark the position where a fault ('''downthrowing''' to the southwest) cuts the deep valley of Hudeshope Beck. Take the first pathway on the west side of the road through the woods on the east side of the beck to the first footbridge.

=== Locality 3 [NY 947 258] ===

The footbridge is sited on the thickest '''post''' of the Three Yard Limestone (Lower Carboniferous, Alston Group) where it also forms a small waterfall ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_1.jpg|Figure 16.1]]a). Downstream the base of the limestone is exposed where it overlies the sandstones, '''ganister''' and thin shale partings at the top of the Five Yard Limestone Cyclothem. In the low river cliffs on the east side of the valley upstream of the footbridge a sequence of thin limestones with intercalated calcareous shales (with scattered corals and crinoidal debris) is gradually replaced vertically by deltaic non-marine shales with ironstone nodules followed by flaggy sandstones, all part of the Three Yard Limestone Cyclothem.

Further upstream the sandstone of the Three Yard Limestone Cyclothem forms a low river cliff. This disappears where a fault (the continuation of the Holm Head Vein), downthrowing c. 10 m southeast, cuts the valley in a northeast–southwest direction and results in the repetition of the geological succession so that the second footbridge [NY 947 262] is also sited on the thickest post of the Three Yard Limestone. Around the second footbridge, a c.0.4 m bed of calcareous shale separates the two principal posts of the Three Yard Limestone. As the river bed gradient is the same as the local '''dip''' the stream bed follows the top of the limestone for 150 m upstream where a small fault causes flexure in the top of the upper post.

=== Locality 4 [NY 947 264] ===

A series of '''tufa'''-depositing springs are associated with this same fault on the western side of the valley. A large mound of tufa from a former lower spring source is known locally as the 'Growing Stone' (Figure 16.1a).

The calcareous shales upstream provide many well preserved examples of crinoid sections, brachiopods, '''bryozoan''' colonies and occasional fish teeth. Among boulder debris in the beck are examples of exotic clasts derived from the till cover in this valley, including green andesitic volcaniclastic rocks (Borrowdale Volcanic Group) and Shap Granite from the Lake District, as well as locally derived material including clasts of Frosterley Marble.

Further upstream [NY 948 269] the nature of the Three Yard Limestone Cyclothem changes with non-marine ferruginous shales with '''septarian sideritic''' nodules followed by siltstones, flagstones then a more substantial sandstone that forms the lip of a prominent waterfall.

Walking up the Hudeshope valley along the road, the limestones of the succeeding Four Fathom Limestone Cyclothem have been worked in a rather overgrown quarry [NY 949 269] and although somewhat disrupted by faulting these same limestones can be seen forming low cliffs on the west bank of the beck (Figure 16.1a).

=== Locality 5 [NY 948 272] ===

The Four Fathom Limestone is extensively exposed in the river bed upstream of Skears Bridge, where it is also markedly disrupted by '''calcite'''-filled tension gashes associated with mineralized faulting. Higher upstream, the sedimentary sequence between the Four Fathom Limestone and the Great Limestone (Namurian, Upper Carboniferous) is seen in a poorly accessible west-facing river cliff. At Skears Scars [NY 948 276] Hudeshope Beck has cut a spectacular gorge through the Great Limestone which commences on the north side at a well exposed partly mineralized fault with 18 m downthrow to the northeast (Hall's Vein; [[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_1.jpg|Figure 16.1]]a). Beds here and in nearby Skears Quarry [NY 949 272], rich in the solitary coral ''Dibunophyllum bipartitum, ''constitute the Frosterley Marble horizon.

Return to the vehicle and leave Middleton-in-Teesdale on the B6277 for Bowlees.

=== Locality 6, Bowlees Picnic site [NY 907 283] ===

Around the old limestone quarry [NY 908 284] there is a wealth of geological detail (summarized on [[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_1.jpg|Figure 16.1]]b) which requires careful observation.

Walk upstream on the well-made path from the quarry. Above the quarry fault waterfall, Bow Lee Beck runs over the '''cross-bedded''' and channel fill sandstones of the Scar Limestone Cyclothem the top of which is at Gibson's Cave [NY 910 287] where the limestones of the succeeding Five Yard Limestone Cyclothem form the lip of the waterfall.

Leave the picnic area and walk eastwards on the B6277 for 0.6 km before taking the footpath southwest to the River Tees ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]).

=== Locality 7, Scoberry Bridge [NY 910 273] ===

Here the Cockleshell Limestone is exposed with the brachiopod ''Gigantoproductus ''and compound corals (do not hammer this locality). Cross the bridge and walk upstream on the Pennine Way. The gentle downstream dip brings in successively lower strata of the Single Post Limestone Cyclothem and into the top of the Tyne Bottom Limestone Cyclothem. Note the waste heaps from Wynch Mine trials into the Single Post Limestone (iron and zinc replacement ores) to the southwest side of the path some 300–550 m upstream from the bridge (Dunham 1990).

The River Tees changes its character some 200 m upstream from the bridge, caused by the exposure of the top margin of the Whin Sill. The sill has been injected into the sandstones of the Tyne Bottom Limestone Cyclothem and now forms the bed of the River Tees for 1.7 km upstream to Holwick Head Bridge [NY 889 283]. The indurate nature of the upper margin of the Whin Sill causes the river to flow over a series of rapids, small waterfalls and through small sharply defined valleys.

=== Locality 8 [NY 904 278] ===

Here there is a large 2–2.5 m thick raft of metamorphosed sandstone in the upper part of the Whin Sill. This 74 m long section of detached roof rock has tilted to an angle of c.20° as it slowly foundered into the crystallising basic magmatic intrusion, producing glassy tachylitic chilled margins to the edge of the sill and in turn being metamorphosed.

=== Locality 9, Wynch Bridge [NY 903 280] ===

Cross over the nineteenth century bridge to view Low Force, a well loved river feature effected by the hard nature and crude columnar jointing of the Whin Sill. Pause on the bridge to note the full extent of the sandstone raft at Locality 8. (The walk can be terminated here. Return to the Bowlees Picnic area, noting in passing the long low, partly wooded hill to the east of the path at the start of the fields: a northwest–southeast oriented, extended, ice moulded heap of glacial debris.)

Walking upriver on the west bank from Wynch Bridge, many features associated with the erosion of the upper contact of the Whin Sill can be noted in the river course. Also the wet nature of the associated valley alluvial deposits makes this section of Teesdale an ideal area for the study of summer wetland plants.

=== Locality 10, Holwick Head Bridge [NY 889 283] ===

Here the nature of the Tees valley changes where the river enters a deeply incised gorge which terminates with the waterfall of High Force [NY 880 284]. Near this bridge the river crosses a major north-northwest–south-southeast fault complex which has the combined effect of some c.75 m downthrow to the east ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]). Indeed the continuation of the Teesdale Fault controls the northwest–southeast direction of the first section of the High Force Gorge.

This locality may also be approached from the public car park and picnic site at High Force [NY 886 287].

=== Locality 11, High Force [NY 881 284] ===

Park as above and take the woodland walks and paths maintained by the Raby Estate to the waterfall. This approach will allow you to see at close hand the bottom section of the Whin Sill where the quartz dolerite magma has been injected into the sandstones of the Tyne Bottom Limestone Cyclothem (again the bottom contact of the sill has a chilled tachylitic margin). The disposition of the rock types viewed at this classic locality can be seen in [[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_3.jpg|Figure 16.3]].

Continuing upstream on the west bank from Holwick Head Bridge, the path ascends a steep slope to a position about halfway up the Whin Sill intrusion, some 73 m thick in this area. The well defined path passes through preserved areas of juniper scrub, remnant areas of woody plant colonisation left after the last, Devensian, glaciation. There are several places where '''''with extreme caution''' ''High Force can be viewed from the rim of the gorge.

=== Locality 12, Top of High Force [NY 880 284] ===

Views of the waterfall and the gorge beyond are spectacular and '''''dangerous'''. ''Flash floods generated by summer storms in the Pennines often surprise the unwary at this locality.

Following the Pennine Way upstream, Bleabeck Force is seen to cascade over the Whin Sill on the south side of the valley [NY 875 278] and on the north side of the Tees there is the active Force Garth Quarry. Here almost the whole thickness of the Whin Sill (often showing working faces with excellent columnar jointing) is worked for roadstone.

The low and ill-drained ground around Pasture Foot ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]) is part of a pre-glacial buried channel now partly choked by till.

=== Locality 13, Bracken Rigg [NY 863 281] ===

The Pennine Way ascends this small but steep hill, an erosional '''outlier''' of dolerite, that with Low Crag to the north [NY 863 287] has become detached from the main outcrop of the Whin Sill by post-glacial erosion of the River Tees. The south-facing columnar dolerite cliffs of Dene Holm Scar and the adjacent Tees valley are a splendid sight from the top of Bracken Rigg. Leave the Pennine Way at the western end of Bracken Rigg and walk southwards across the marshy ground of Fell Dike Sike (a continuation of the Pasture Foot buried channel) to join the well defined drove road 'Green Trod'. This possibly Iron Age trans-Pennine routeway can now be followed eastwards across the grouse moors to Holwick. Green Trod follows the Scar Limestone Cyclothem sediments above the Whin Sill and many swallow holes may be seen developed in the Scar Limestone.

=== Locality 14, Low Currick Rigg [NY 895 275] ===

Below lies the dour gritstone Royal hunting lodge, Holwick House, prominently situated on top of a northwest–southeast elongated ice-moulded mound of glacial debris (one of many such glacial features in this part of Teesdale). On the skyline to the northeast is Coldberry Gutter, a man-made 30 m deep valley which cuts the watershed. This prominent feature is a ''''hush'''', produced by mining and repeated flushing which removed some 2.5 million tonnes of waste in the 17th–19th centuries to produce lead ore concentrate.

=== Locality 15, Holwick [NY 901 271] ===

Fine cliffs of columnar dolerite form Holwick Scars and Crossthwaite Scars. These and the side valleys are probably fault controlled ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]), but accentuated by the Devensian glaciation of the valley margin, which also accounts for the modified drainage, glacial deposits and periglacial scree slopes at the foot of these north-facing cliffs ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_4.jpg|Figure 16.4]]).

Walking northwards from Holwick Scars to Low Force (Locality 9) the route passes over two and possibly three faults of the Teesdale Fault complex, with a composite downthrow to the north of c. 100 m.

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Glossary|Glossary]] ==

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Bibliography|Bibliography]] ==

{{EWwalks}}

[[Category:7. Northern England]]

Geology and landscape of Upper Teesdale - an excursion

2020-04-08T16:34:10Z

YGSJET:

{{YGSNorthumbrianRocks}}

[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_1.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 16.1 (a) Geological map and localities in Hudeshope Beck, Middleton-in-Teesdale. (b) Geology of Bowlees Quarry and picnic area.]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 16.2 Geological map of upper Teesdale around High Force. Inset showing localities described in text.]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_3.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 16.3 High Force (Locality 11). WS = Whin Sill; S = metamorphosed sandstone; TBL = Tyne Bottom Limestone. Photo: J. Senior.]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_4.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 16.4 The Whin Sill forming Howick Scars, looking east (Locality 15). Photo: J. Senior.]]

By '''John Senior''' University of Durham.

== Purpose ==

To study the Carboniferous '''cyclothemic''' sediments on the edge of the Caledonian Alston Block; the '''Variscan tectonics''', Whin '''Sill''' and synchronous mineralisation; the Tertiary Cleveland '''Dyke'''; the effects of late Quaternary glaciation and the control of landscape by the underlying geology. Parts of the sequence are very fossiliferous, with '''corals, crinoids''' and '''brachiopods.'''

== Logistics ==

{{YGSLogistics}}

A one-day excursion which may profitably be divided into smaller, more intensive itineraries. Parking places are indicated throughout the text. Food may be obtained in Middleton-in-Teesdale, at High Force and at Holwick.

''Note: ''Although the paths are recognized rights of way they pass through two large estates (Raby and Strathmore). Please observe the countryside code. During the pheasant and grouse shooting seasons, sections of the proposed routes may be temporarily closed.

== Maps ==

O.S. 1:50 000 Sheet 92, Barnard Castle; O.S. 1:25 000 Sheet NY 82/92, Middleton-in-Teesdale; B.G.S. 1:50 000 Sheet 31, Brough-under-Stainmoor; B.G.S. 1:63 360 Sheet 32 Barnard Castle; B.G.S. 1:25 000 Sheet 17, Middleton-in-Teesdale.

== Geological background ==

Upper Teesdale is situated on the southern margin of the Alston Block, part of a structural block and trough system developed in Northern England following the '''Caledonian Orogeny'''. The foundation of the block in the Teesdale area comprises Ordovician '''meta-sediments''' (exposed in the Teesdale '''inlier''' at Cronkley Pasture; NY 846296) and '''volcaniclastic''' deposits (Borrowdale Volcanic Group) into which the Weardale '''Granite''' has been emplaced.

This buoyant structural unit is bounded on its southern margin by the Lunedale–Butterknowle '''Fault''' zone, separating it from the Stainmore Trough, a substantial depositional basin during the Carboniferous period. In the subsiding Stainmore Trough some 2850 m of cyclic Carboniferous sediments are still preserved; equivalent strata on the more stable Alston Block are appreciably thinner. In Teesdale and adjacent areas each Yoredale cyclothem commences with a marine '''transgression''' (usually a limestone which gives a generic name to the whole unit; e.g. Five Yard Limestone Cyclothem) followed by sediments of increasing deltaic influence (shales, silt-stones, flagstones, sandstones or grits, '''seatearths''' and perhaps thin coals). The terrestrially derived sediments represent the infilling of a shallow marine gulf by a southerly '''prograding''' deltaic complex. The number of such Yoredale cyclothems in the North Pennine area suggests that sedimentary basin infill was followed by regional subsidence and/or increase in sea-level, with many repetitions of the sedimentary cycle over many millions of years.

The end-Carboniferous Variscan Orogeny led to reactivation of basement faults and general uplift of the Northern Pennines area. A late orogenic extensional phase resulted in the injection of basic '''magma''' into deep-seated fault zones, some of which acted as feeder dykes for the extensive Whin Sill, a very important '''doleritic''' intrusion in North East England. Upper Teesdale, the southern limit of this '''igneous''' body, was where the intrusive nature of a sill was first recognized by Adam Sedgwick in 1827. The important Northern Pennines mineralization is chronologically associated with this reheating of the basement rocks of the block areas by these basic magmas (Dunham 1990). '''Mineral veins''' (base metals lead, zinc and iron with a little copper, silver and cobalt) are to be found in fault zones cutting the Carboniferous sediments and indeed replacing some of the limestones in particular. The legacy of intensive mining in the past litters the Teesdale landscape.

Post-Variscan faulting in the Teesdale area is complicated by subsequent tectonic episodes (Triassic, intra-Jurassic, early Tertiary and even late Quaternary '''eustatic''' movements) so many faults show different phases and directions of movement and there are some cases of fault inversion. Into one such fault zone were injected basic magmas believed to have originated from the early Tertiary (Palaeocene) Mull volcanic centre. This Cleveland-Armathwaite Dyke '''echelon''' is well represented in Upper Teesdale.

Only features associated with the latest Quaternary (Devensian) glaciation are represented in Upper Teesdale but these have had a profound effect. Much of the landscape is masked by deposits of '''till''' which is of local (Pennine) origin except in the Lunedale and Middleton-in-Teesdale area where distinctive glacial '''erratics''' of Shap Granite and green '''andesitic tuffs''' (Borrowdale Volcanic Group) witness the passage of Lake District ice through the Stainmore pass and Lunedale area onto the South Durham–North Yorkshire plains. Geomorphological features in Upper Teesdale suggest a late Quaternary valley glacier phase with marginal '''moraines''', linear ice moulded debris, glacial '''spillways''' and modified river patterns, as well as outwash sand and gravel deposits which choke the Tees valley.

== Excursion details ==

=== Locality 1, Eggleston Burn [NY 989 252] ===

Approach from Eggleston village via either the B6282 (Middleton-in-Teesdale road) or B6278 (Stanhope road) and the linking minor road ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]). Park on the roadside [NY 990 249], 150 m east of the spectacular gritstone viaduct across Eggleston Burn. Walk along the narrow path on the north side of the road (just to the east of the viaduct) for 100 m to a small ill-defined quarry. Here the Cleveland Dyke crosses the valley and burn in an east–west direction, emplaced into coarse '''feldspathic''' gritstones around the level of the Firestone Sill (Upper Carboniferous). The '''porphyritic tholeiitic''' dolerite of this minor intrusion has been modestly quarried on the east side of the burn for roadstone (trackways lead southwards from the lower section near the burn) and there are signs that the adjacent grits have also been quarried for local walling.

The full c.15 m thickness of the dyke is best seen in the river cliff on the west side of the valley, where it has chilled ('''tachylitic''') margins and the adjacent grits have been mildly contact '''metamorphosed'''. It is, however, difficult from a distance to distinguish the sedimentary bedding of the host rock from the horizontal '''joints''' of the dyke. In the quarry on the east side of the burn the marginal contacts are not well exposed, but the quarry face does exhibit good examples of spheroidal weathering in the dyke.

=== Locality 2, Whistle Crag [NY 978 247] ===

From the lay-by on the B6282 is a panoramic view southwards of the southern marginal area of the Alston Block. Crags of Whin Sill can be seen below the skyline to the right, whilst the Lunedale–Butterknowle Fault runs just below the skyline on the left and out through the Lune Valley to the south. The Tees valley in the foreground is filled by late Quaternary tills and outwash alluvial deposits.

=== Localities 3–5, Hudeshope Beck [NY 947 258]–[NY 948 275] ===

Park in Middleton-in-Teesdale. Walk north from the town on the Stanhope road past the parish chruch. Viewed from the wall on the west side of the road after the last house, the disturbed limestones at river level mark the position where a fault ('''downthrowing''' to the southwest) cuts the deep valley of Hudeshope Beck. Take the first pathway on the west side of the road through the woods on the east side of the beck to the first footbridge.

=== Locality 3 [NY 947 258] ===

The footbridge is sited on the thickest '''post''' of the Three Yard Limestone (Lower Carboniferous, Alston Group) where it also forms a small waterfall ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_1.jpg|Figure 16.1]]a). Downstream the base of the limestone is exposed where it overlies the sandstones, '''ganister''' and thin shale partings at the top of the Five Yard Limestone Cyclothem. In the low river cliffs on the east side of the valley upstream of the footbridge a sequence of thin limestones with intercalated calcareous shales (with scattered corals and crinoidal debris) is gradually replaced vertically by deltaic non-marine shales with ironstone nodules followed by flaggy sandstones, all part of the Three Yard Limestone Cyclothem.

Further upstream the sandstone of the Three Yard Limestone Cyclothem forms a low river cliff. This disappears where a fault (the continuation of the Holm Head Vein), downthrowing c. 10 m southeast, cuts the valley in a northeast–southwest direction and results in the repetition of the geological succession so that the second footbridge [NY 947 262] is also sited on the thickest post of the Three Yard Limestone. Around the second footbridge, a c.0.4 m bed of calcareous shale separates the two principal posts of the Three Yard Limestone. As the river bed gradient is the same as the local '''dip''' the stream bed follows the top of the limestone for 150 m upstream where a small fault causes flexure in the top of the upper post.

=== Locality 4 [NY 947 264] ===

A series of '''tufa'''-depositing springs are associated with this same fault on the western side of the valley. A large mound of tufa from a former lower spring source is known locally as the 'Growing Stone' (Figure 16.1a).

The calcareous shales upstream provide many well preserved examples of crinoid sections, brachiopods, '''bryozoan''' colonies and occasional fish teeth. Among boulder debris in the beck are examples of exotic clasts derived from the till cover in this valley, including green andesitic volcaniclastic rocks (Borrowdale Volcanic Group) and Shap Granite from the Lake District, as well as locally derived material including clasts of Frosterley Marble.

Further upstream [NY 948 269] the nature of the Three Yard Limestone Cyclothem changes with non-marine ferruginous shales with '''septarian sideritic''' nodules followed by siltstones, flagstones then a more substantial sandstone that forms the lip of a prominent waterfall.

Walking up the Hudeshope valley along the road, the limestones of the succeeding Four Fathom Limestone Cyclothem have been worked in a rather overgrown quarry [NY 949 269] and although somewhat disrupted by faulting these same limestones can be seen forming low cliffs on the west bank of the beck (Figure 16.1a).

=== Locality 5 [NY 948 272] ===

The Four Fathom Limestone is extensively exposed in the river bed upstream of Skears Bridge, where it is also markedly disrupted by '''calcite'''-filled tension gashes associated with mineralized faulting. Higher upstream, the sedimentary sequence between the Four Fathom Limestone and the Great Limestone (Namurian, Upper Carboniferous) is seen in a poorly accessible west-facing river cliff. At Skears Scars [NY 948 276] Hudeshope Beck has cut a spectacular gorge through the Great Limestone which commences on the north side at a well exposed partly mineralized fault with 18 m downthrow to the northeast (Hall's Vein; [[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_1.jpg|Figure 16.1]]a). Beds here and in nearby Skears Quarry [NY 949 272], rich in the solitary coral ''Dibunophyllum bipartitum, ''constitute the Frosterley Marble horizon.

Return to the vehicle and leave Middleton-in-Teesdale on the B6277 for Bowlees.

=== Locality 6, Bowlees Picnic site [NY 907 283] ===

Around the old limestone quarry [NY 908 284] there is a wealth of geological detail (summarized on [[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_1.jpg|Figure 16.1]]b) which requires careful observation.

Walk upstream on the well-made path from the quarry. Above the quarry fault waterfall, Bow Lee Beck runs over the '''cross-bedded''' and channel fill sandstones of the Scar Limestone Cyclothem the top of which is at Gibson's Cave [NY 910 287] where the limestones of the succeeding Five Yard Limestone Cyclothem form the lip of the waterfall.

Leave the picnic area and walk eastwards on the B6277 for 0.6 km before taking the footpath southwest to the River Tees ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]).

=== Locality 7, Scoberry Bridge [NY 910 273] ===

Here the Cockleshell Limestone is exposed with the brachiopod ''Gigantoproductus ''and compound corals (do not hammer this locality). Cross the bridge and walk upstream on the Pennine Way. The gentle downstream dip brings in successively lower strata of the Single Post Limestone Cyclothem and into the top of the Tyne Bottom Limestone Cyclothem. Note the waste heaps from Wynch Mine trials into the Single Post Limestone (iron and zinc replacement ores) to the southwest side of the path some 300–550 m upstream from the bridge (Dunham 1990).

The River Tees changes its character some 200 m upstream from the bridge, caused by the exposure of the top margin of the Whin Sill. The sill has been injected into the sandstones of the Tyne Bottom Limestone Cyclothem and now forms the bed of the River Tees for 1.7 km upstream to Holwick Head Bridge [NY 889 283]. The indurate nature of the upper margin of the Whin Sill causes the river to flow over a series of rapids, small waterfalls and through small sharply defined valleys.

=== Locality 8 [NY 904 278] ===

Here there is a large 2–2.5 m thick raft of metamorphosed sandstone in the upper part of the Whin Sill. This 74 m long section of detached roof rock has tilted to an angle of c.20° as it slowly foundered into the crystallising basic magmatic intrusion, producing glassy tachylitic chilled margins to the edge of the sill and in turn being metamorphosed.

=== Locality 9, Wynch Bridge [NY 903 280] ===

Cross over the nineteenth century bridge to view Low Force, a well loved river feature effected by the hard nature and crude columnar jointing of the Whin Sill. Pause on the bridge to note the full extent of the sandstone raft at Locality 8. (The walk can be terminated here. Return to the Bowlees Picnic area, noting in passing the long low, partly wooded hill to the east of the path at the start of the fields: a northwest–southeast oriented, extended, ice moulded heap of glacial debris.)

Walking upriver on the west bank from Wynch Bridge, many features associated with the erosion of the upper contact of the Whin Sill can be noted in the river course. Also the wet nature of the associated valley alluvial deposits makes this section of Teesdale an ideal area for the study of summer wetland plants.

=== Locality 10, Holwick Head Bridge [NY 889 283] ===

Here the nature of the Tees valley changes where the river enters a deeply incised gorge which terminates with the waterfall of High Force [NY 880 284]. Near this bridge the river crosses a major north-northwest–south-southeast fault complex which has the combined effect of some c.75 m downthrow to the east ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]). Indeed the continuation of the Teesdale Fault controls the northwest–southeast direction of the first section of the High Force Gorge.

This locality may also be approached from the public car park and picnic site at High Force [NY 886 287].

=== Locality 11, High Force [NY 881 284] ===

Park as above and take the woodland walks and paths maintained by the Raby Estate to the waterfall. This approach will allow you to see at close hand the bottom section of the Whin Sill where the quartz dolerite magma has been injected into the sandstones of the Tyne Bottom Limestone Cyclothem (again the bottom contact of the sill has a chilled tachylitic margin). The disposition of the rock types viewed at this classic locality can be seen in [[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_3.jpg|Figure 16.3]].

Continuing upstream on the west bank from Holwick Head Bridge, the path ascends a steep slope to a position about halfway up the Whin Sill intrusion, some 73 m thick in this area. The well defined path passes through preserved areas of juniper scrub, remnant areas of woody plant colonisation left after the last, Devensian, glaciation. There are several places where '''''with extreme caution''' ''High Force can be viewed from the rim of the gorge.

=== Locality 12, Top of High Force [NY 880 284] ===

Views of the waterfall and the gorge beyond are spectacular and '''''dangerous'''. ''Flash floods generated by summer storms in the Pennines often surprise the unwary at this locality.

Following the Pennine Way upstream, Bleabeck Force is seen to cascade over the Whin Sill on the south side of the valley [NY 875 278] and on the north side of the Tees there is the active Force Garth Quarry. Here almost the whole thickness of the Whin Sill (often showing working faces with excellent columnar jointing) is worked for roadstone.

The low and ill-drained ground around Pasture Foot ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]) is part of a pre-glacial buried channel now partly choked by till.

=== Locality 13, Bracken Rigg [NY 863 281] ===

The Pennine Way ascends this small but steep hill, an erosional outlier of dolerite, that with Low Crag to the north [NY 863 287] has become detached from the main outcrop of the Whin Sill by post-glacial erosion of the River Tees. The south-facing columnar dolerite cliffs of Dene Holm Scar and the adjacent Tees valley are a splendid sight from the top of Bracken Rigg. Leave the Pennine Way at the western end of Bracken Rigg and walk southwards across the marshy ground of Fell Dike Sike (a continuation of the Pasture Foot buried channel) to join the well defined drove road 'Green Trod'. This possibly Iron Age trans-Pennine routeway can now be followed eastwards across the grouse moors to Holwick. Green Trod follows the Scar Limestone Cyclothem sediments above the Whin Sill and many swallow holes may be seen developed in the Scar Limestone.

=== Locality 14, Low Currick Rigg [NY 895 275] ===

Below lies the dour gritstone Royal hunting lodge, Holwick House, prominently situated on top of a northwest–southeast elongated ice-moulded mound of glacial debris (one of many such glacial features in this part of Teesdale). On the skyline to the northeast is Coldberry Gutter, a man-made 30 m deep valley which cuts the watershed. This prominent feature is a 'hush', produced by mining and repeated flushing which removed some 2.5 million tonnes of waste in the 17th–19th centuries to produce lead ore concentrate.

=== Locality 15, Holwick [NY 901 271] ===

Fine cliffs of columnar dolerite form Holwick Scars and Crossthwaite Scars. These and the side valleys are probably fault controlled ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]), but accentuated by the Devensian glaciation of the valley margin, which also accounts for the modified drainage, glacial deposits and periglacial scree slopes at the foot of these north-facing cliffs ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_4.jpg|Figure 16.4]]).

Walking northwards from Holwick Scars to Low Force (Locality 9) the route passes over two and possibly three faults of the Teesdale Fault complex, with a composite downthrow to the north of c. 100 m.

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Glossary|Glossary]] ==

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Bibliography|Bibliography]] ==

{{EWwalks}}

[[Category:7. Northern England]]

Geology and landscape of Upper Teesdale - an excursion

2020-04-08T16:30:47Z

YGSJET:

{{YGSNorthumbrianRocks}}

[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_1.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 16.1 (a) Geological map and localities in Hudeshope Beck, Middleton-in-Teesdale. (b) Geology of Bowlees Quarry and picnic area.]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 16.2 Geological map of upper Teesdale around High Force. Inset showing localities described in text.]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_3.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 16.3 High Force (Locality 11). WS = Whin Sill; S = metamorphosed sandstone; TBL = Tyne Bottom Limestone. Photo: J. Senior.]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_4.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 16.4 The Whin Sill forming Howick Scars, looking east (Locality 15). Photo: J. Senior.]]

By '''John Senior''' University of Durham.

== Purpose ==

To study the Carboniferous '''cyclothemic''' sediments on the edge of the Caledonian Alston Block; the '''Variscan tectonics''', Whin '''Sill''' and synchronous mineralisation; the Tertiary Cleveland '''Dyke'''; the effects of late Quaternary glaciation and the control of landscape by the underlying geology. Parts of the sequence are very fossiliferous, with '''corals, crinoids''' and '''brachiopods.'''

== Logistics ==

{{YGSLogistics}}

A one-day excursion which may profitably be divided into smaller, more intensive itineraries. Parking places are indicated throughout the text. Food may be obtained in Middleton-in-Teesdale, at High Force and at Holwick.

''Note: ''Although the paths are recognized rights of way they pass through two large estates (Raby and Strathmore). Please observe the countryside code. During the pheasant and grouse shooting seasons, sections of the proposed routes may be temporarily closed.

== Maps ==

O.S. 1:50 000 Sheet 92, Barnard Castle; O.S. 1:25 000 Sheet NY 82/92, Middleton-in-Teesdale; B.G.S. 1:50 000 Sheet 31, Brough-under-Stainmoor; B.G.S. 1:63 360 Sheet 32 Barnard Castle; B.G.S. 1:25 000 Sheet 17, Middleton-in-Teesdale.

== Geological background ==

Upper Teesdale is situated on the southern margin of the Alston Block, part of a structural block and trough system developed in Northern England following the '''Caledonian Orogeny'''. The foundation of the block in the Teesdale area comprises Ordovician '''meta-sediments''' (exposed in the Teesdale '''inlier''' at Cronkley Pasture; NY 846296) and '''volcaniclastic''' deposits (Borrowdale Volcanic Group) into which the Weardale '''Granite''' has been emplaced.

This buoyant structural unit is bounded on its southern margin by the Lunedale–Butterknowle '''Fault''' zone, separating it from the Stainmore Trough, a substantial depositional basin during the Carboniferous period. In the subsiding Stainmore Trough some 2850 m of cyclic Carboniferous sediments are still preserved; equivalent strata on the more stable Alston Block are appreciably thinner. In Teesdale and adjacent areas each Yoredale cyclothem commences with a marine '''transgression''' (usually a limestone which gives a generic name to the whole unit; e.g. Five Yard Limestone Cyclothem) followed by sediments of increasing deltaic influence (shales, silt-stones, flagstones, sandstones or grits, '''seatearths''' and perhaps thin coals). The terrestrially derived sediments represent the infilling of a shallow marine gulf by a southerly '''prograding''' deltaic complex. The number of such Yoredale cyclothems in the North Pennine area suggests that sedimentary basin infill was followed by regional subsidence and/or increase in sea-level, with many repetitions of the sedimentary cycle over many millions of years.

The end-Carboniferous Variscan Orogeny led to reactivation of basement faults and general uplift of the Northern Pennines area. A late orogenic extensional phase resulted in the injection of basic '''magma''' into deep-seated fault zones, some of which acted as feeder dykes for the extensive Whin Sill, a very important '''doleritic''' intrusion in North East England. Upper Teesdale, the southern limit of this '''igneous''' body, was where the intrusive nature of a sill was first recognized by Adam Sedgwick in 1827. The important Northern Pennines mineralization is chronologically associated with this reheating of the basement rocks of the block areas by these basic magmas (Dunham 1990). '''Mineral veins''' (base metals lead, zinc and iron with a little copper, silver and cobalt) are to be found in fault zones cutting the Carboniferous sediments and indeed replacing some of the limestones in particular. The legacy of intensive mining in the past litters the Teesdale landscape.

Post-Variscan faulting in the Teesdale area is complicated by subsequent tectonic episodes (Triassic, intra-Jurassic, early Tertiary and even late Quaternary '''eustatic''' movements) so many faults show different phases and directions of movement and there are some cases of fault inversion. Into one such fault zone were injected basic magmas believed to have originated from the early Tertiary (Palaeocene) Mull volcanic centre. This Cleveland-Armathwaite Dyke '''echelon''' is well represented in Upper Teesdale.

Only features associated with the latest Quaternary (Devensian) glaciation are represented in Upper Teesdale but these have had a profound effect. Much of the landscape is masked by deposits of '''till''' which is of local (Pennine) origin except in the Lunedale and Middleton-in-Teesdale area where distinctive glacial '''erratics''' of Shap Granite and green '''andesitic tuffs''' (Borrowdale Volcanic Group) witness the passage of Lake District ice through the Stainmore pass and Lunedale area onto the South Durham–North Yorkshire plains. Geomorphological features in Upper Teesdale suggest a late Quaternary valley glacier phase with marginal '''moraines''', linear ice moulded debris, glacial '''spillways''' and modified river patterns, as well as outwash sand and gravel deposits which choke the Tees valley.

== Excursion details ==

=== Locality 1, Eggleston Burn [NY 989 252] ===

Approach from Eggleston village via either the B6282 (Middleton-in-Teesdale road) or B6278 (Stanhope road) and the linking minor road ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]). Park on the roadside [NY 990 249], 150 m east of the spectacular gritstone viaduct across Eggleston Burn. Walk along the narrow path on the north side of the road (just to the east of the viaduct) for 100 m to a small ill-defined quarry. Here the Cleveland Dyke crosses the valley and burn in an east–west direction, emplaced into coarse '''feldspathic''' gritstones around the level of the Firestone Sill (Upper Carboniferous). The '''porphyritic tholeiitic''' dolerite of this minor intrusion has been modestly quarried on the east side of the burn for roadstone (trackways lead southwards from the lower section near the burn) and there are signs that the adjacent grits have also been quarried for local walling.

The full c.15 m thickness of the dyke is best seen in the river cliff on the west side of the valley, where it has chilled ('''tachylitic''') margins and the adjacent grits have been mildly contact '''metamorphosed'''. It is, however, difficult from a distance to distinguish the sedimentary bedding of the host rock from the horizontal '''joints''' of the dyke. In the quarry on the east side of the burn the marginal contacts are not well exposed, but the quarry face does exhibit good examples of spheroidal weathering in the dyke.

=== Locality 2, Whistle Crag [NY 978 247] ===

From the lay-by on the B6282 is a panoramic view southwards of the southern marginal area of the Alston Block. Crags of Whin Sill can be seen below the skyline to the right, whilst the Lunedale–Butterknowle Fault runs just below the skyline on the left and out through the Lune Valley to the south. The Tees valley in the foreground is filled by late Quaternary tills and outwash alluvial deposits.

=== Localities 3–5, Hudeshope Beck [NY 947 258]–[NY 948 275] ===

Park in Middleton-in-Teesdale. Walk north from the town on the Stanhope road past the parish chruch. Viewed from the wall on the west side of the road after the last house, the disturbed limestones at river level mark the position where a fault ('''downthrowing''' to the southwest) cuts the deep valley of Hudeshope Beck. Take the first pathway on the west side of the road through the woods on the east side of the beck to the first footbridge.

=== Locality 3 [NY 947 258] ===

The footbridge is sited on the thickest '''post''' of the Three Yard Limestone (Lower Carboniferous, Alston Group) where it also forms a small waterfall ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_1.jpg|Figure 16.1]]a). Downstream the base of the limestone is exposed where it overlies the sandstones, '''ganister''' and thin shale partings at the top of the Five Yard Limestone Cyclothem. In the low river cliffs on the east side of the valley upstream of the footbridge a sequence of thin limestones with intercalated calcareous shales (with scattered corals and crinoidal debris) is gradually replaced vertically by deltaic non-marine shales with ironstone nodules followed by flaggy sandstones, all part of the Three Yard Limestone Cyclothem.

Further upstream the sandstone of the Three Yard Limestone Cyclothem forms a low river cliff. This disappears where a fault (the continuation of the Holm Head Vein), downthrowing c. 10 m southeast, cuts the valley in a northeast–southwest direction and results in the repetition of the geological succession so that the second footbridge [NY 947 262] is also sited on the thickest post of the Three Yard Limestone. Around the second footbridge, a c.0.4 m bed of calcareous shale separates the two principal posts of the Three Yard Limestone. As the river bed gradient is the same as the local '''dip''' the stream bed follows the top of the limestone for 150 m upstream where a small fault causes flexure in the top of the upper post.

=== Locality 4 [NY 947 264] ===

A series of '''tufa'''-depositing springs are associated with this same fault on the western side of the valley. A large mound of tufa from a former lower spring source is known locally as the 'Growing Stone' (Figure 16.1a).

The calcareous shales upstream provide many well preserved examples of crinoid sections, brachiopods, '''bryozoan''' colonies and occasional fish teeth. Among boulder debris in the beck are examples of exotic clasts derived from the till cover in this valley, including green andesitic volcaniclastic rocks (Borrowdale Volcanic Group) and Shap Granite from the Lake District, as well as locally derived material including clasts of Frosterley Marble.

Further upstream [NY 948 269] the nature of the Three Yard Limestone Cyclothem changes with non-marine ferruginous shales with '''septarian sideritic''' nodules followed by siltstones, flagstones then a more substantial sandstone that forms the lip of a prominent waterfall.

Walking up the Hudeshope valley along the road, the limestones of the succeeding Four Fathom Limestone Cyclothem have been worked in a rather overgrown quarry [NY 949 269] and although somewhat disrupted by faulting these same limestones can be seen forming low cliffs on the west bank of the beck (Figure 16.1a).

=== Locality 5 [NY 948 272] ===

The Four Fathom Limestone is extensively exposed in the river bed upstream of Skears Bridge, where it is also markedly disrupted by '''calcite'''-filled tension gashes associated with mineralized faulting. Higher upstream, the sedimentary sequence between the Four Fathom Limestone and the Great Limestone (Namurian, Upper Carboniferous) is seen in a poorly accessible west-facing river cliff. At Skears Scars [NY 948 276] Hudeshope Beck has cut a spectacular gorge through the Great Limestone which commences on the north side at a well exposed partly mineralized fault with 18 m downthrow to the northeast (Hall's Vein; [[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_1.jpg|Figure 16.1]]a). Beds here and in nearby Skears Quarry [NY 949 272], rich in the solitary coral ''Dibunophyllum bipartitum, ''constitute the Frosterley Marble horizon.

Return to the vehicle and leave Middleton-in-Teesdale on the B6277 for Bowlees.

=== Locality 6, Bowlees Picnic site [NY 907 283] ===

Around the old limestone quarry [NY 908 284] there is a wealth of geological detail (summarized on [[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_1.jpg|Figure 16.1]]b) which requires careful observation.

Walk upstream on the well-made path from the quarry. Above the quarry fault waterfall, Bow Lee Beck runs over the '''cross-bedded''' and channel fill sandstones of the Scar Limestone Cyclothem the top of which is at Gibson's Cave [NY 910 287] where the limestones of the succeeding Five Yard Limestone Cyclothem form the lip of the waterfall.

Leave the picnic area and walk eastwards on the B6277 for 0.6 km before taking the footpath southwest to the River Tees ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]).

=== Locality 7, Scoberry Bridge [NY 910 273] ===

Here the Cockleshell Limestone is exposed with the brachiopod ''Gigantoproductus ''and compound corals (do not hammer this locality). Cross the bridge and walk upstream on the Pennine Way. The gentle downstream dip brings in successively lower strata of the Single Post Limestone Cyclothem and into the top of the Tyne Bottom Limestone Cyclothem. Note the waste heaps from Wynch Mine trials into the Single Post Limestone (iron and zinc replacement ores) to the southwest side of the path some 300–550 m upstream from the bridge (Dunham 1990).

The River Tees changes its character some 200 m upstream from the bridge, caused by the exposure of the top margin of the Whin Sill. The sill has been injected into the sandstones of the Tyne Bottom Limestone Cyclothem and now forms the bed of the River Tees for 1.7 km upstream to Holwick Head Bridge [NY 889 283]. The indurate nature of the upper margin of the Whin Sill causes the river to flow over a series of rapids, small waterfalls and through small sharply defined valleys.

=== Locality 8 [NY 904 278] ===

Here there is a large 2–2.5 m thick raft of metamorphosed sandstone in the upper part of the Whin Sill. This 74 m long section of detached roof rock has tilted to an angle of c.20° as it slowly foundered into the crystallising basic magmatic intrusion, producing glassy tachylitic chilled margins to the edge of the sill and in turn being metamorphosed.

=== Locality 9, Wynch Bridge [NY 903 280] ===

Cross over the nineteenth century bridge to view Low Force, a well loved river feature effected by the hard nature and crude columnar jointing of the Whin Sill. Pause on the bridge to note the full extent of the sandstone raft at Locality 8. (The walk can be terminated here. Return to the Bowlees Picnic area, noting in passing the long low, partly wooded hill to the east of the path at the start of the fields: a northwest–southeast oriented, extended, ice moulded heap of glacial debris.)

Walking upriver on the west bank from Wynch Bridge, many features associated with the erosion of the upper contact of the Whin Sill can be noted in the river course. Also the wet nature of the associated valley alluvial deposits makes this section of Teesdale an ideal area for the study of summer wetland plants.

=== Locality 10, Holwick Head Bridge [NY 889 283] ===

Here the nature of the Tees valley changes where the river enters a deeply incised gorge which terminates with the waterfall of High Force [NY 880 284]. Near this bridge the river crosses a major north-northwest–south-southeast fault complex which has the combined effect of some c.75 m downthrow to the east ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]). Indeed the continuation of the Teesdale Fault controls the northwest–southeast direction of the first section of the High Force Gorge.

This locality may also be approached from the public car park and picnic site at High Force [NY 886 287].

=== Locality 11, High Force [NY 881 284] ===

Park as above and take the woodland walks and paths maintained by the Raby Estate to the waterfall. This approach will allow you to see at close hand the bottom section of the Whin Sill where the quartz dolerite magma has been injected into the sandstones of the Tyne Bottom Limestone Cyclothem (again the bottom contact of the sill has a chilled tachylitic margin). The disposition of the rock types viewed at this classic locality can be seen in [[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_3.jpg|Figure 16.3]].

Continuing upstream on the west bank from Holwick Head Bridge, the path ascends a steep slope to a position about halfway up the Whin Sill intrusion, some 73 m thick in this area. The well defined path passes through preserved areas of juniper scrub, remnant areas of woody plant colonisation left after the last, Devensian, glaciation. There are several places where '''''with extreme caution''' ''High Force can be viewed from the rim of the gorge.

=== Locality 12, Top of High Force [NY 880 284] ===

Views of the waterfall and the gorge beyond are spectacular and '''''dangerous'''. ''Flash floods generated by summer storms in the Pennines often surprise the unwary at this locality.

Following the Pennine Way upstream, Bleabeck Force is seen to cascade over the Whin Sill on the south side of the valley [NY 875 278] and on the north side of the Tees there is the active Force Garth Quarry. Here almost the whole thickness of the Whin Sill (often showing working faces with excellent columnar jointing) is worked for roads tone.

The low and ill-drained ground around Pasture Foot ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]) is part of a pre-glacial buried channel now partly choked by till.

=== Locality 13, Bracken Rigg [NY 863 281] ===

The Pennine Way ascends this small but steep hill, an erosional outlier of dolerite, that with Low Crag to the north [NY 863 287] has become detached from the main outcrop of the Whin Sill by post-glacial erosion of the River Tees. The south-facing columnar dolerite cliffs of Dene Holm Scar and the adjacent Tees valley are a splendid sight from the top of Bracken Rigg. Leave the Pennine Way at the western end of Bracken Rigg and walk southwards across the marshy ground of Fell Dike Sike (a continuation of the Pasture Foot buried channel) to join the well defined drove road 'Green Trod'. This possibly Iron Age trans-Pennine routeway can now be followed eastwards across the grouse moors to Holwick. Green Trod follows the Scar Limestone Cyclothem sediments above the Whin Sill and many swallow holes may be seen developed in the Scar Limestone.

=== Locality 14, Low Currick Rigg [NY 895 275] ===

Below lies the dour gritstone Royal hunting lodge, Holwick House, prominently situated on top of a northwest–southeast elongated ice-moulded mound of glacial debris (one of many such glacial features in this part of Teesdale). On the skyline to the northeast is Coldberry Gutter, a man-made 30 m deep valley which cuts the watershed. This prominent feature is a 'hush', produced by mining and repeated flushing which removed some 2.5 million tonnes of waste in the 17th–19th centuries to produce lead ore concentrate.

=== Locality 15, Holwick [NY 901 271] ===

Fine cliffs of columnar dolerite form Holwick Scars and Crossthwaite Scars. These and the side valleys are probably fault controlled ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]), but accentuated by the Devensian glaciation of the valley margin, which also accounts for the modified drainage, glacial deposits and periglacial scree slopes at the foot of these north-facing cliffs ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_4.jpg|Figure 16.4]]).

Walking northwards from Holwick Scars to Low Force (Locality 9) the route passes over two and possibly three faults of the Teesdale Fault complex, with a composite downthrow to the north of c. 100 m.

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Glossary|Glossary]] ==

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Bibliography|Bibliography]] ==

{{EWwalks}}

[[Category:7. Northern England]]

Geology and landscape of Upper Teesdale - an excursion

2020-04-08T16:28:54Z

YGSJET:

{{YGSNorthumbrianRocks}}

[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_1.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 16.1 (a) Geological map and localities in Hudeshope Beck, Middleton-in-Teesdale. (b) Geology of Bowlees Quarry and picnic area.]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 16.2 Geological map of upper Teesdale around High Force. Inset showing localities described in text.]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_3.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 16.3 High Force (Locality 11). WS = Whin Sill; S = metamorphosed sandstone; TBL = Tyne Bottom Limestone. Photo: J. Senior.]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_4.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 16.4 The Whin Sill forming Howick Scars, looking east (Locality 15). Photo: J. Senior.]]

By '''John Senior''' University of Durham.

== Purpose ==

To study the Carboniferous '''cyclothemic''' sediments on the edge of the Caledonian Alston Block; the '''Variscan tectonics''', Whin '''Sill''' and synchronous mineralisation; the Tertiary Cleveland '''Dyke'''; the effects of late Quaternary glaciation and the control of landscape by the underlying geology. Parts of the sequence are very fossiliferous, with '''corals, crinoids''' and '''brachiopods.'''

== Logistics ==

{{YGSLogistics}}

A one-day excursion which may profitably be divided into smaller, more intensive itineraries. Parking places are indicated throughout the text. Food may be obtained in Middleton-in-Teesdale, at High Force and at Holwick.

''Note: ''Although the paths are recognized rights of way they pass through two large estates (Raby and Strathmore). Please observe the countryside code. During the pheasant and grouse shooting seasons, sections of the proposed routes may be temporarily closed.

== Maps ==

O.S. 1:50 000 Sheet 92, Barnard Castle; O.S. 1:25 000 Sheet NY 82/92, Middleton-in-Teesdale; B.G.S. 1:50 000 Sheet 31, Brough-under-Stainmoor; B.G.S. 1:63 360 Sheet 32 Barnard Castle; B.G.S. 1:25 000 Sheet 17, Middleton-in-Teesdale.

== Geological background ==

Upper Teesdale is situated on the southern margin of the Alston Block, part of a structural block and trough system developed in Northern England following the '''Caledonian Orogeny'''. The foundation of the block in the Teesdale area comprises Ordovician '''meta-sediments''' (exposed in the Teesdale '''inlier''' at Cronkley Pasture; NY 846296) and '''volcaniclastic''' deposits (Borrowdale Volcanic Group) into which the Weardale '''Granite''' has been emplaced.

This buoyant structural unit is bounded on its southern margin by the Lunedale–Butterknowle '''Fault''' zone, separating it from the Stainmore Trough, a substantial depositional basin during the Carboniferous period. In the subsiding Stainmore Trough some 2850 m of cyclic Carboniferous sediments are still preserved; equivalent strata on the more stable Alston Block are appreciably thinner. In Teesdale and adjacent areas each Yoredale cyclothem commences with a marine '''transgression''' (usually a limestone which gives a generic name to the whole unit; e.g. Five Yard Limestone Cyclothem) followed by sediments of increasing deltaic influence (shales, silt-stones, flagstones, sandstones or grits, '''seatearths''' and perhaps thin coals). The terrestrially derived sediments represent the infilling of a shallow marine gulf by a southerly '''prograding''' deltaic complex. The number of such Yoredale cyclothems in the North Pennine area suggests that sedimentary basin infill was followed by regional subsidence and/or increase in sea-level, with many repetitions of the sedimentary cycle over many millions of years.

The end-Carboniferous Variscan Orogeny led to reactivation of basement faults and general uplift of the Northern Pennines area. A late orogenic extensional phase resulted in the injection of basic '''magma''' into deep-seated fault zones, some of which acted as feeder dykes for the extensive Whin Sill, a very important '''doleritic''' intrusion in North East England. Upper Teesdale, the southern limit of this '''igneous''' body, was where the intrusive nature of a sill was first recognized by Adam Sedgwick in 1827. The important Northern Pennines mineralization is chronologically associated with this reheating of the basement rocks of the block areas by these basic magmas (Dunham 1990). '''Mineral veins''' (base metals lead, zinc and iron with a little copper, silver and cobalt) are to be found in fault zones cutting the Carboniferous sediments and indeed replacing some of the limestones in particular. The legacy of intensive mining in the past litters the Teesdale landscape.

Post-Variscan faulting in the Teesdale area is complicated by subsequent tectonic episodes (Triassic, intra-Jurassic, early Tertiary and even late Quaternary '''eustatic''' movements) so many faults show different phases and directions of movement and there are some cases of fault inversion. Into one such fault zone were injected basic magmas believed to have originated from the early Tertiary (Palaeocene) Mull volcanic centre. This Cleveland-Armathwaite Dyke '''echelon''' is well represented in Upper Teesdale.

Only features associated with the latest Quaternary (Devensian) glaciation are represented in Upper Teesdale but these have had a profound effect. Much of the landscape is masked by deposits of '''till''' which is of local (Pennine) origin except in the Lunedale and Middleton-in-Teesdale area where distinctive glacial '''erratics''' of Shap Granite and green '''andesitic tuffs''' (Borrowdale Volcanic Group) witness the passage of Lake District ice through the Stainmore pass and Lunedale area onto the South Durham–North Yorkshire plains. Geomorphological features in Upper Teesdale suggest a late Quaternary valley glacier phase with marginal '''moraines''', linear ice moulded debris, glacial '''spillways''' and modified river patterns, as well as outwash sand and gravel deposits which choke the Tees valley.

== Excursion details ==

=== Locality 1, Eggleston Burn [NY 989 252] ===

Approach from Eggleston village via either the B6282 (Middleton-in-Teesdale road) or B6278 (Stanhope road) and the linking minor road ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]). Park on the roadside [NY 990 249], 150 m east of the spectacular gritstone viaduct across Eggleston Burn. Walk along the narrow path on the north side of the road (just to the east of the viaduct) for 100 m to a small ill-defined quarry. Here the Cleveland Dyke crosses the valley and burn in an east–west direction, emplaced into coarse '''feldspathic''' gritstones around the level of the Firestone Sill (Upper Carboniferous). The '''porphyritic tholeiitic''' dolerite of this minor intrusion has been modestly quarried on the east side of the burn for roadstone (trackways lead southwards from the lower section near the burn) and there are signs that the adjacent grits have also been quarried for local walling.

The full c.15 m thickness of the dyke is best seen in the river cliff on the west side of the valley, where it has chilled ('''tachylitic''') margins and the adjacent grits have been mildly contact '''metamorphosed'''. It is, however, difficult from a distance to distinguish the sedimentary bedding of the host rock from the horizontal '''joints''' of the dyke. In the quarry on the east side of the burn the marginal contacts are not well exposed, but the quarry face does exhibit good examples of spheroidal weathering in the dyke.

=== Locality 2, Whistle Crag [NY 978 247] ===

From the lay-by on the B6282 is a panoramic view southwards of the southern marginal area of the Alston Block. Crags of Whin Sill can be seen below the skyline to the right, whilst the Lunedale–Butterknowle Fault runs just below the skyline on the left and out through the Lune Valley to the south. The Tees valley in the foreground is filled by late Quaternary tills and outwash alluvial deposits.

=== Localities 3–5, Hudeshope Beck [NY 947 258]–[NY 948 275] ===

Park in Middleton-in-Teesdale. Walk north from the town on the Stanhope road past the parish chruch. Viewed from the wall on the west side of the road after the last house, the disturbed limestones at river level mark the position where a fault ('''downthrowing''' to the southwest) cuts the deep valley of Hudeshope Beck. Take the first pathway on the west side of the road through the woods on the east side of the beck to the first footbridge.

=== Locality 3 [NY 947 258] ===

The footbridge is sited on the thickest '''post''' of the Three Yard Limestone (Lower Carboniferous, Alston Group) where it also forms a small waterfall ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_1.jpg|Figure 16.1]]a). Downstream the base of the limestone is exposed where it overlies the sandstones, '''ganister''' and thin shale partings at the top of the Five Yard Limestone Cyclothem. In the low river cliffs on the east side of the valley upstream of the footbridge a sequence of thin limestones with intercalated calcareous shales (with scattered corals and crinoidal debris) is gradually replaced vertically by deltaic non-marine shales with ironstone nodules followed by flaggy sandstones, all part of the Three Yard Limestone Cyclothem.

Further upstream the sandstone of the Three Yard Limestone Cyclothem forms a low river cliff. This disappears where a fault (the continuation of the Holm Head Vein), downthrowing c. 10 m southeast, cuts the valley in a northeast–southwest direction and results in the repetition of the geological succession so that the second footbridge [NY 947 262] is also sited on the thickest post of the Three Yard Limestone. Around the second footbridge, a c.0.4 m bed of calcareous shale separates the two principal posts of the Three Yard Limestone. As the river bed gradient is the same as the local '''dip''' the stream bed follows the top of the limestone for 150 m upstream where a small fault causes flexure in the top of the upper post.

=== Locality 4 [NY 947 264] ===

A series of '''tufa'''-depositing springs are associated with this same fault on the western side of the valley. A large mound of tufa from a former lower spring source is known locally as the 'Growing Stone' (Figure 16.1a).

The calcareous shales upstream provide many well preserved examples of crinoid sections, brachiopods, '''bryozoan''' colonies and occasional fish teeth. Among boulder debris in the beck are examples of exotic clasts derived from the till cover in this valley, including green andesitic volcaniclastic rocks (Borrowdale Volcanic Group) and Shap Granite from the Lake District, as well as locally derived material including clasts of Frosterley Marble.

Further upstream [NY 948 269] the nature of the Three Yard Limestone Cyclothem changes with non-marine ferruginous shales with '''septarian sideritic''' nodules followed by siltstones, flagstones then a more substantial sandstone that forms the lip of a prominent waterfall.

Walking up the Hudeshope valley along the road, the limestones of the succeeding Four Fathom Limestone Cyclothem have been worked in a rather overgrown quarry [NY 949 269] and although somewhat disrupted by faulting these same limestones can be seen forming low cliffs on the west bank of the beck (Figure 16.1a).

=== Locality 5 [NY 948 272] ===

The Four Fathom Limestone is extensively exposed in the river bed upstream of Skears Bridge, where it is also markedly disrupted by '''calcite'''-filled tension gashes associated with mineralized faulting. Higher upstream, the sedimentary sequence between the Four Fathom Limestone and the Great Limestone (Namurian, Upper Carboniferous) is seen in a poorly accessible west-facing river cliff. At Skears Scars [NY 948 276] Hudeshope Beck has cut a spectacular gorge through the Great Limestone which commences on the north side at a well exposed partly mineralized fault with 18 m downthrow to the northeast (Hall's Vein; [[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_1.jpg|Figure 16.1]]a). Beds here and in nearby Skears Quarry [NY 949 272], rich in the solitary coral ''Dibunophyllum bipartitum, ''constitute the Frosterley Marble horizon.

Return to the vehicle and leave Middleton-in-Teesdale on the B6277 for Bowlees.

=== Locality 6, Bowlees Picnic site [NY 907 283] ===

Around the old limestone quarry [NY 908 284] there is a wealth of geological detail (summarized on [[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_1.jpg|Figure 16.1]]b) which requires careful observation.

Walk upstream on the well-made path from the quarry. Above the quarry fault waterfall, Bow Lee Beck runs over the '''cross-bedded''' and channel fill sandstones of the Scar Limestone Cyclothem the top of which is at Gibson's Cave [NY 910 287] where the limestones of the succeeding Five Yard Limestone Cyclothem form the lip of the waterfall.

Leave the picnic area and walk eastwards on the B6277 for 0.6 km before taking the footpath southwest to the River Tees ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]).

=== Locality 7, Scoberry Bridge [NY 910 273] ===

Here the Cockleshell Limestone is exposed with the brachiopod ''Gigantoproductus ''and compound corals (do not hammer this locality). Cross the bridge and walk upstream on the Pennine Way. The gentle downstream dip brings in successively lower strata of the Single Post Limestone Cyclothem and into the top of the Tyne Bottom Limestone Cyclothem. Note the waste heaps from Wynch Mine trials into the Single Post Limestone (iron and zinc replacement ores) to the southwest side of the path some 300–550 m upstream from the bridge (Dunham 1990).

The River Tees changes its character some 200 m upstream from the bridge, caused by the exposure of the top margin of the Whin Sill. The sill has been injected into the sandstones of the Tyne Bottom Limestone Cyclothem and now forms the bed of the River Tees for 1.7 km upstream to Holwick Head Bridge [NY 889 283]. The indurate nature of the upper margin of the Whin Sill causes the river to flow over a series of rapids, small waterfalls and through small sharply defined valleys.

=== Locality 8 [NY 904 278] ===

Here there is a large 2–2.5 m thick raft of metamorphosed sandstone in the upper part of the Whin Sill. This 74 m long section of detached roof rock has tilted to an angle of c.20° as it slowly foundered into the crystallising basic magmatic intrusion, producing glassy tachylitic chilled margins to the edge of the sill and in turn being metamorphosed.

=== Locality 9, Wynch Bridge [NY 903 280] ===

Cross over the nineteenth century bridge to view Low Force, a well loved river feature effected by the hard nature and crude columnar jointing of the Whin Sill. Pause on the bridge to note the full extent of the sandstone raft at Locality 8. (The walk can be terminated here. Return to the Bowlees Picnic area, noting in passing the long low, partly wooded hill to the east of the path at the start of the fields: a northwest–southeast oriented, extended, ice moulded heap of glacial debris.)

Walking upriver on the west bank from Wynch Bridge, many features associated with the erosion of the upper contact of the Whin Sill can be noted in the river course. Also the wet nature of the associated valley alluvial deposits makes this section of Teesdale an ideal area for the study of summer wetland plants.

=== Locality 10, Holwick Head Bridge [NY 889 283] ===

Here the nature of the Tees valley changes where the river enters a deeply incised gorge which terminates with the waterfall of High Force [NY 880 284]. Near this bridge the river crosses a major north-northwest–south-southeast fault complex which has the combined effect of some c.75 m downthrow to the east ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]). Indeed the continuation of the Teesdale Fault controls the northwest–southeast direction of the first section of the High Force Gorge.

This locality may also be approached from the public car park and picnic site at High Force [NY 886 287].

=== Locality 11, High Force [NY 881 284] ===

Park as above and take the woodland walks and paths maintained by the Raby Estate to the waterfall. This approach will allow you to see at close hand the bottom section of the Whin Sill where the quartz dolerite magma has been injected into the sandstones of the Tyne Bottom Limestone Cyclothem (again the bottom contact of the sill has a chilled tachylitic margin). The disposition of the rock types viewed at this classic locality can be seen in [[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_3.jpg|Figure 16.3]].

Continuing upstream on the west bank from Holwick Head Bridge, the path ascends a steep slope to a position about halfway up the Whin Sill intrusion, some 73 m thick in this area. The well defined path passes through preserved areas of juniper scrub, remnant areas of woody plant colonisation left after the last, Devensian, glaciation. There are several places where '''''with extreme caution''' ''High Force can be viewed from the rim of the gorge.

=== Locality 12, Top of High Force [NY 880 284] ===

Views of the waterfall and the gorge beyond are spectacular and ''dangerous. ''Flash floods generated by summer storms in the Pennines often surprise the unwary at this locality.

Following the Pennine Way upstream, Bleabeck Force is seen to cascade over the Whin Sill on the south side of the valley [NY 875 278] and on the north side of the Tees there is the active Force Garth Quarry. Here almost the whole thickness of the Whin Sill (often showing working faces with excellent columnar jointing) is worked for roads tone.

The low and ill-drained ground around Pasture Foot ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]) is part of a pre-glacial buried channel now partly choked by till.

=== Locality 13, Bracken Rigg [NY 863 281] ===

The Pennine Way ascends this small but steep hill, an erosional outlier of dolerite, that with Low Crag to the north [NY 863 287] has become detached from the main outcrop of the Whin Sill by post-glacial erosion of the River Tees. The south-facing columnar dolerite cliffs of Dene Holm Scar and the adjacent Tees valley are a splendid sight from the top of Bracken Rigg. Leave the Pennine Way at the western end of Bracken Rigg and walk southwards across the marshy ground of Fell Dike Sike (a continuation of the Pasture Foot buried channel) to join the well defined drove road 'Green Trod'. This possibly Iron Age trans-Pennine routeway can now be followed eastwards across the grouse moors to Holwick. Green Trod follows the Scar Limestone Cyclothem sediments above the Whin Sill and many swallow holes may be seen developed in the Scar Limestone.

=== Locality 14, Low Currick Rigg [NY 895 275] ===

Below lies the dour gritstone Royal hunting lodge, Holwick House, prominently situated on top of a northwest–southeast elongated ice-moulded mound of glacial debris (one of many such glacial features in this part of Teesdale). On the skyline to the northeast is Coldberry Gutter, a man-made 30 m deep valley which cuts the watershed. This prominent feature is a 'hush', produced by mining and repeated flushing which removed some 2.5 million tonnes of waste in the 17th–19th centuries to produce lead ore concentrate.

=== Locality 15, Holwick [NY 901 271] ===

Fine cliffs of columnar dolerite form Holwick Scars and Crossthwaite Scars. These and the side valleys are probably fault controlled ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]), but accentuated by the Devensian glaciation of the valley margin, which also accounts for the modified drainage, glacial deposits and periglacial scree slopes at the foot of these north-facing cliffs ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_4.jpg|Figure 16.4]]).

Walking northwards from Holwick Scars to Low Force (Locality 9) the route passes over two and possibly three faults of the Teesdale Fault complex, with a composite downthrow to the north of c. 100 m.

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Glossary|Glossary]] ==

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Bibliography|Bibliography]] ==

{{EWwalks}}

[[Category:7. Northern England]]

Geology and landscape of Upper Teesdale - an excursion

2020-04-08T16:23:42Z

YGSJET:

{{YGSNorthumbrianRocks}}

[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_1.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 16.1 (a) Geological map and localities in Hudeshope Beck, Middleton-in-Teesdale. (b) Geology of Bowlees Quarry and picnic area.]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 16.2 Geological map of upper Teesdale around High Force. Inset showing localities described in text.]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_3.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 16.3 High Force (Locality 11). WS = Whin Sill; S = metamorphosed sandstone; TBL = Tyne Bottom Limestone. Photo: J. Senior.]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_4.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 16.4 The Whin Sill forming Howick Scars, looking east (Locality 15). Photo: J. Senior.]]

By '''John Senior''' University of Durham.

== Purpose ==

To study the Carboniferous '''cyclothemic''' sediments on the edge of the Caledonian Alston Block; the '''Variscan tectonics''', Whin '''Sill''' and synchronous mineralisation; the Tertiary Cleveland '''Dyke'''; the effects of late Quaternary glaciation and the control of landscape by the underlying geology. Parts of the sequence are very fossiliferous, with '''corals, crinoids''' and '''brachiopods.'''

== Logistics ==

{{YGSLogistics}}

A one-day excursion which may profitably be divided into smaller, more intensive itineraries. Parking places are indicated throughout the text. Food may be obtained in Middleton-in-Teesdale, at High Force and at Holwick.

''Note: ''Although the paths are recognized rights of way they pass through two large estates (Raby and Strathmore). Please observe the countryside code. During the pheasant and grouse shooting seasons, sections of the proposed routes may be temporarily closed.

== Maps ==

O.S. 1:50 000 Sheet 92, Barnard Castle; O.S. 1:25 000 Sheet NY 82/92, Middleton-in-Teesdale; B.G.S. 1:50 000 Sheet 31, Brough-under-Stainmoor; B.G.S. 1:63 360 Sheet 32 Barnard Castle; B.G.S. 1:25 000 Sheet 17, Middleton-in-Teesdale.

== Geological background ==

Upper Teesdale is situated on the southern margin of the Alston Block, part of a structural block and trough system developed in Northern England following the '''Caledonian Orogeny'''. The foundation of the block in the Teesdale area comprises Ordovician '''meta-sediments''' (exposed in the Teesdale '''inlier''' at Cronkley Pasture; NY 846296) and '''volcaniclastic''' deposits (Borrowdale Volcanic Group) into which the Weardale '''Granite''' has been emplaced.

This buoyant structural unit is bounded on its southern margin by the Lunedale–Butterknowle '''Fault''' zone, separating it from the Stainmore Trough, a substantial depositional basin during the Carboniferous period. In the subsiding Stainmore Trough some 2850 m of cyclic Carboniferous sediments are still preserved; equivalent strata on the more stable Alston Block are appreciably thinner. In Teesdale and adjacent areas each Yoredale cyclothem commences with a marine '''transgression''' (usually a limestone which gives a generic name to the whole unit; e.g. Five Yard Limestone Cyclothem) followed by sediments of increasing deltaic influence (shales, silt-stones, flagstones, sandstones or grits, '''seatearths''' and perhaps thin coals). The terrestrially derived sediments represent the infilling of a shallow marine gulf by a southerly '''prograding''' deltaic complex. The number of such Yoredale cyclothems in the North Pennine area suggests that sedimentary basin infill was followed by regional subsidence and/or increase in sea-level, with many repetitions of the sedimentary cycle over many millions of years.

The end-Carboniferous Variscan Orogeny led to reactivation of basement faults and general uplift of the Northern Pennines area. A late orogenic extensional phase resulted in the injection of basic '''magma''' into deep-seated fault zones, some of which acted as feeder dykes for the extensive Whin Sill, a very important '''doleritic''' intrusion in North East England. Upper Teesdale, the southern limit of this '''igneous''' body, was where the intrusive nature of a sill was first recognized by Adam Sedgwick in 1827. The important Northern Pennines mineralization is chronologically associated with this reheating of the basement rocks of the block areas by these basic magmas (Dunham 1990). '''Mineral veins''' (base metals lead, zinc and iron with a little copper, silver and cobalt) are to be found in fault zones cutting the Carboniferous sediments and indeed replacing some of the limestones in particular. The legacy of intensive mining in the past litters the Teesdale landscape.

Post-Variscan faulting in the Teesdale area is complicated by subsequent tectonic episodes (Triassic, intra-Jurassic, early Tertiary and even late Quaternary '''eustatic''' movements) so many faults show different phases and directions of movement and there are some cases of fault inversion. Into one such fault zone were injected basic magmas believed to have originated from the early Tertiary (Palaeocene) Mull volcanic centre. This Cleveland-Armathwaite Dyke '''echelon''' is well represented in Upper Teesdale.

Only features associated with the latest Quaternary (Devensian) glaciation are represented in Upper Teesdale but these have had a profound effect. Much of the landscape is masked by deposits of '''till''' which is of local (Pennine) origin except in the Lunedale and Middleton-in-Teesdale area where distinctive glacial '''erratics''' of Shap Granite and green '''andesitic tuffs''' (Borrowdale Volcanic Group) witness the passage of Lake District ice through the Stainmore pass and Lunedale area onto the South Durham–North Yorkshire plains. Geomorphological features in Upper Teesdale suggest a late Quaternary valley glacier phase with marginal '''moraines''', linear ice moulded debris, glacial '''spillways''' and modified river patterns, as well as outwash sand and gravel deposits which choke the Tees valley.

== Excursion details ==

=== Locality 1, Eggleston Burn [NY 989 252] ===

Approach from Eggleston village via either the B6282 (Middleton-in-Teesdale road) or B6278 (Stanhope road) and the linking minor road ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]). Park on the roadside [NY 990 249], 150 m east of the spectacular gritstone viaduct across Eggleston Burn. Walk along the narrow path on the north side of the road (just to the east of the viaduct) for 100 m to a small ill-defined quarry. Here the Cleveland Dyke crosses the valley and burn in an east–west direction, emplaced into coarse '''feldspathic''' gritstones around the level of the Firestone Sill (Upper Carboniferous). The '''porphyritic tholeiitic''' dolerite of this minor intrusion has been modestly quarried on the east side of the burn for roadstone (trackways lead southwards from the lower section near the burn) and there are signs that the adjacent grits have also been quarried for local walling.

The full c.15 m thickness of the dyke is best seen in the river cliff on the west side of the valley, where it has chilled ('''tachylitic''') margins and the adjacent grits have been mildly contact '''metamorphosed'''. It is, however, difficult from a distance to distinguish the sedimentary bedding of the host rock from the horizontal '''joints''' of the dyke. In the quarry on the east side of the burn the marginal contacts are not well exposed, but the quarry face does exhibit good examples of spheroidal weathering in the dyke.

=== Locality 2, Whistle Crag [NY 978 247] ===

From the lay-by on the B6282 is a panoramic view southwards of the southern marginal area of the Alston Block. Crags of Whin Sill can be seen below the skyline to the right, whilst the Lunedale–Butterknowle Fault runs just below the skyline on the left and out through the Lune Valley to the south. The Tees valley in the foreground is filled by late Quaternary tills and outwash alluvial deposits.

=== Localities 3–5, Hudeshope Beck [NY 947 258]–[NY 948 275] ===

Park in Middleton-in-Teesdale. Walk north from the town on the Stanhope road past the parish chruch. Viewed from the wall on the west side of the road after the last house, the disturbed limestones at river level mark the position where a fault ('''downthrowing''' to the southwest) cuts the deep valley of Hudeshope Beck. Take the first pathway on the west side of the road through the woods on the east side of the beck to the first footbridge.

=== Locality 3 [NY 947 258] ===

The footbridge is sited on the thickest '''post''' of the Three Yard Limestone (Lower Carboniferous, Alston Group) where it also forms a small waterfall ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_1.jpg|Figure 16.1]]a). Downstream the base of the limestone is exposed where it overlies the sandstones, '''ganister''' and thin shale partings at the top of the Five Yard Limestone Cyclothem. In the low river cliffs on the east side of the valley upstream of the footbridge a sequence of thin limestones with intercalated calcareous shales (with scattered corals and crinoidal debris) is gradually replaced vertically by deltaic non-marine shales with ironstone nodules followed by flaggy sandstones, all part of the Three Yard Limestone Cyclothem.

Further upstream the sandstone of the Three Yard Limestone Cyclothem forms a low river cliff. This disappears where a fault (the continuation of the Holm Head Vein), downthrowing c. 10 m southeast, cuts the valley in a northeast–southwest direction and results in the repetition of the geological succession so that the second footbridge [NY 947 262] is also sited on the thickest post of the Three Yard Limestone. Around the second footbridge, a c.0.4 m bed of calcareous shale separates the two principal posts of the Three Yard Limestone. As the river bed gradient is the same as the local '''dip''' the stream bed follows the top of the limestone for 150 m upstream where a small fault causes flexure in the top of the upper post.

=== Locality 4 [NY 947 264] ===

A series of '''tufa'''-depositing springs are associated with this same fault on the western side of the valley. A large mound of tufa from a former lower spring source is known locally as the 'Growing Stone' (Figure 16.1a).

The calcareous shales upstream provide many well preserved examples of crinoid sections, brachiopods, '''bryozoan''' colonies and occasional fish teeth. Among boulder debris in the beck are examples of exotic clasts derived from the till cover in this valley, including green andesitic volcaniclastic rocks (Borrowdale Volcanic Group) and Shap Granite from the Lake District, as well as locally derived material including clasts of Frosterley Marble.

Further upstream [NY 948 269] the nature of the Three Yard Limestone Cyclothem changes with non-marine ferruginous shales with '''septarian sideritic''' nodules followed by siltstones, flagstones then a more substantial sandstone that forms the lip of a prominent waterfall.

Walking up the Hudeshope valley along the road, the limestones of the succeeding Four Fathom Limestone Cyclothem have been worked in a rather overgrown quarry [NY 949 269] and although somewhat disrupted by faulting these same limestones can be seen forming low cliffs on the west bank of the beck (Figure 16.1a).

=== Locality 5 [NY 948 272] ===

The Four Fathom Limestone is extensively exposed in the river bed upstream of Skears Bridge, where it is also markedly disrupted by '''calcite'''-filled tension gashes associated with mineralized faulting. Higher upstream, the sedimentary sequence between the Four Fathom Limestone and the Great Limestone (Namurian, Upper Carboniferous) is seen in a poorly accessible west-facing river cliff. At Skears Scars [NY 948 276] Hudeshope Beck has cut a spectacular gorge through the Great Limestone which commences on the north side at a well exposed partly mineralized fault with 18 m downthrow to the northeast (Hall's Vein; [[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_1.jpg|Figure 16.1]]a). Beds here and in nearby Skears Quarry [NY 949 272], rich in the solitary coral ''Dibunophyllum bipartitum, ''constitute the Frosterley Marble horizon.

Return to the vehicle and leave Middleton-in-Teesdale on the B6277 for Bowlees.

=== Locality 6, Bowlees Picnic site [NY 907 283] ===

Around the old limestone quarry [NY 908 284] there is a wealth of geological detail (summarized on [[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_1.jpg|Figure 16.1]]b) which requires careful observation.

Walk upstream on the well-made path from the quarry. Above the quarry fault waterfall, Bow Lee Beck runs over the '''cross-bedded''' and channel fill sandstones of the Scar Limestone Cyclothem the top of which is at Gibson's Cave [NY 910 287] where the limestones of the succeeding Five Yard Limestone Cyclothem form the lip of the waterfall.

Leave the picnic area and walk eastwards on the B6277 for 0.6 km before taking the footpath southwest to the River Tees ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]).

=== Locality 7, Scoberry Bridge [NY 910 273] ===

Here the Cockleshell Limestone is exposed with the brachiopod ''Gigantoproductus ''and compound corals (do not hammer this locality). Cross the bridge and walk upstream on the Pennine Way. The gentle downstream dip brings in successively lower strata of the Single Post Limestone Cyclothem and into the top of the Tyne Bottom Limestone Cyclothem. Note the waste heaps from Wynch Mine trials into the Single Post Limestone (iron and zinc replacement ores) to the southwest side of the path some 300–550 m upstream from the bridge (Dunham 1990).

The River Tees changes its character some 200 m upstream from the bridge, caused by the exposure of the top margin of the Whin Sill. The sill has been injected into the sandstones of the Tyne Bottom Limestone Cyclothem and now forms the bed of the River Tees for 1.7 km upstream to Holwick Head Bridge [NY 889 283]. The indurate nature of the upper margin of the Whin Sill causes the river to flow over a series of rapids, small waterfalls and through small sharply defined valleys.

=== Locality 8 [NY 904 278] ===

Here there is a large 2–2.5 m thick raft of metamorphosed sandstone in the upper part of the Whin Sill. This 74 m long section of detached roof rock has tilted to an angle of c.20° as it slowly foundered into the crystallising basic magmatic intrusion, producing glassy tachylitic chilled margins to the edge of the sill and in turn being metamorphosed.

=== Locality 9, Wynch Bridge [NY 903 280] ===

Cross over the nineteenth century bridge to view Low Force, a well loved river feature effected by the hard nature and crude columnar jointing of the Whin Sill. Pause on the bridge to note the full extent of the sandstone raft at Locality 8. (The walk can be terminated here. Return to the Bowlees Picnic area, noting in passing the long low, partly wooded hill to the east of the path at the start of the fields: a northwest–southeast oriented, extended, ice moulded heap of glacial debris.)

Walking upriver on the west bank from Wynch Bridge, many features associated with the erosion of the upper contact of the Whin Sill can be noted in the river course. Also the wet nature of the associated valley alluvial deposits makes this section of Teesdale an ideal area for the study of summer wetland plants.

=== Locality 10, Holwick Head Bridge [NY 889 283] ===

Here the nature of the Tees valley changes where the river enters a deeply incised gorge which terminates with the waterfall of High Force [NY 880 284]. Near this bridge the river crosses a major north-northwest–south-southeast fault complex which has the combined effect of some c.75 m downthrow to the east ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]). Indeed the continuation of the Teesdale Fault controls the northwest–southeast direction of the first section of the High Force Gorge.

This locality may also be approached from the public car park and picnic site at High Force [NY 886 287].

=== Locality 11, High Force [NY 881 284] ===

Park as above and take the woodland walks and paths maintained by the Raby Estate to the waterfall. This approach will allow you to see at close hand the bottom section of the Whin Sill where the quartz dolerite magma has been injected into the sandstones of the Tyne Bottom Limestone Cyclothem (again the bottom contact of the sill has a chilled tachylitic margin). The disposition of the rock types viewed at this classic locality can be seen in [[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_3.jpg|Figure 16.3]].

Continuing upstream on the west bank from Holwick Head Bridge, the path ascends a steep slope to a position about halfway up the Whin Sill intrusion, some 73 m thick in this area. The well defined path passes through preserved areas of juniper scrub, remnant areas of woody plant colonisation left after the last, Devensian, glaciation. There are several places where '''''with extreme caution''' ''High Force can be viewed from the rim of the gorge.

=== Locality 12, Top of High Force [NY 880 284] ===

Views of the waterfall and the gorge beyond are spectacular and ''dangerous. ''Flash floods generated by summer storms in the Pennines often surprise the unwary at this locality.

Following the Pennine Way upstream, Bleabeck Force is seen to cascade over the Whin Sill on the south side of the valley [NY 875 278] and on the north side of the Tees there is the active Force Garth Quarry. Here almost the whole thickness of the Whin Sill (often showing working faces with excellent columnar jointing) is worked for roads tone.

The low and ill-drained ground around Pasture Foot ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]) is part of a pre-glacial buried channel now partly choked by till.

=== Locality 13, Bracken Rigg [NY 863 281] ===

The Pennine Way ascends this small but steep hill, an erosional outlier of dolerite, that with Low Crag to the north [NY 863 287] has become detached from the main outcrop of the Whin Sill by post-glacial erosion of the River Tees. The south-facing columnar dolerite cliffs of Dene Holm Scar and the adjacent Tees valley are a splendid sight from the top of Bracken Rigg. Leave the Pennine Way at the western end of Bracken Rigg and walk southwards across the marshy ground of Fell Dike Sike (a continuation of the Pasture Foot buried channel) to join the well defined drove road 'Green Trod'. This possibly Iron Age trans-Pennine routeway can now be followed eastwards across the grouse moors to Holwick. Green Trod follows the Scar Limestone Cyclothem sediments above the Whin Sill and many swallow holes may be seen developed in the Scar Limestone.

=== Locality 14, Low Currick Rigg [NY 895 275] ===

Below lies the dour gritstone Royal hunting lodge, Holwick House, prominently situated on top of a northwest–southeast elongated ice-moulded mound of glacial debris (one of many such glacial features in this part of Teesdale). On the skyline to the northeast is Coldberry Gutter, a man-made 30 m deep valley which cuts the watershed. This prominent feature is a 'hush', produced by mining and repeated flushing which removed some 2.5 million tonnes of waste in the 17th–19th centuries to produce lead ore concentrate.

=== Locality 15, Holwick [NY 901 271] ===

Fine cliffs of columnar dolerite form Holwick Scars and Crossthwaite Scars. These and the side valleys are probably fault controlled ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]), but accentuated by the Devensian glaciation of the valley margin, which also accounts for the modified drainage, glacial deposits and periglacial scree slopes at the foot of these north-facing cliffs ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_4.jpg|Figure 16.4]]).

Walking northwards from Holwick Scars to Low Force (Locality 9) the route passes over two and possibly three faults of the Teesdale Fault complex, with a composite downthrow to the north of c. 100 m.

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Glossary|Glossary]] ==

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Bibliography|Bibliography]] ==

{{EWwalks}}

[[Category:7. Northern England]]

Geology and landscape of Upper Teesdale - an excursion

2020-04-08T16:20:06Z

YGSJET:

{{YGSNorthumbrianRocks}}

[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_1.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 16.1 (a) Geological map and localities in Hudeshope Beck, Middleton-in-Teesdale. (b) Geology of Bowlees Quarry and picnic area.]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 16.2 Geological map of upper Teesdale around High Force. Inset showing localities described in text.]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_3.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 16.3 High Force (Locality 11). WS = Whin Sill; S = metamorphosed sandstone; TBL = Tyne Bottom Limestone. Photo: J. Senior.]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_4.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 16.4 The Whin Sill forming Howick Scars, looking east (Locality 15). Photo: J. Senior.]]

By '''John Senior''' University of Durham.

== Purpose ==

To study the Carboniferous '''cyclothemic''' sediments on the edge of the Caledonian Alston Block; the '''Variscan tectonics''', Whin '''Sill''' and synchronous mineralisation; the Tertiary Cleveland '''Dyke'''; the effects of late Quaternary glaciation and the control of landscape by the underlying geology. Parts of the sequence are very fossiliferous, with '''corals, crinoids''' and '''brachiopods.'''

== Logistics ==

{{YGSLogistics}}

A one-day excursion which may profitably be divided into smaller, more intensive itineraries. Parking places are indicated throughout the text. Food may be obtained in Middleton-in-Teesdale, at High Force and at Holwick.

''Note: ''Although the paths are recognized rights of way they pass through two large estates (Raby and Strathmore). Please observe the countryside code. During the pheasant and grouse shooting seasons, sections of the proposed routes may be temporarily closed.

== Maps ==

O.S. 1:50 000 Sheet 92, Barnard Castle; O.S. 1:25 000 Sheet NY 82/92, Middleton-in-Teesdale; B.G.S. 1:50 000 Sheet 31, Brough-under-Stainmoor; B.G.S. 1:63 360 Sheet 32 Barnard Castle; B.G.S. 1:25 000 Sheet 17, Middleton-in-Teesdale.

== Geological background ==

Upper Teesdale is situated on the southern margin of the Alston Block, part of a structural block and trough system developed in Northern England following the '''Caledonian Orogeny'''. The foundation of the block in the Teesdale area comprises Ordovician '''meta-sediments''' (exposed in the Teesdale '''inlier''' at Cronkley Pasture; NY 846296) and '''volcaniclastic''' deposits (Borrowdale Volcanic Group) into which the Weardale '''Granite''' has been emplaced.

This buoyant structural unit is bounded on its southern margin by the Lunedale–Butterknowle '''Fault''' zone, separating it from the Stainmore Trough, a substantial depositional basin during the Carboniferous period. In the subsiding Stainmore Trough some 2850 m of cyclic Carboniferous sediments are still preserved; equivalent strata on the more stable Alston Block are appreciably thinner. In Teesdale and adjacent areas each Yoredale cyclothem commences with a marine '''transgression''' (usually a limestone which gives a generic name to the whole unit; e.g. Five Yard Limestone Cyclothem) followed by sediments of increasing deltaic influence (shales, silt-stones, flagstones, sandstones or grits, '''seatearths''' and perhaps thin coals). The terrestrially derived sediments represent the infilling of a shallow marine gulf by a southerly '''prograding''' deltaic complex. The number of such Yoredale cyclothems in the North Pennine area suggests that sedimentary basin infill was followed by regional subsidence and/or increase in sea-level, with many repetitions of the sedimentary cycle over many millions of years.

The end-Carboniferous Variscan Orogeny led to reactivation of basement faults and general uplift of the Northern Pennines area. A late orogenic extensional phase resulted in the injection of basic '''magma''' into deep-seated fault zones, some of which acted as feeder dykes for the extensive Whin Sill, a very important '''doleritic''' intrusion in North East England. Upper Teesdale, the southern limit of this '''igneous''' body, was where the intrusive nature of a sill was first recognized by Adam Sedgwick in 1827. The important Northern Pennines mineralization is chronologically associated with this reheating of the basement rocks of the block areas by these basic magmas (Dunham 1990). '''Mineral veins''' (base metals lead, zinc and iron with a little copper, silver and cobalt) are to be found in fault zones cutting the Carboniferous sediments and indeed replacing some of the limestones in particular. The legacy of intensive mining in the past litters the Teesdale landscape.

Post-Variscan faulting in the Teesdale area is complicated by subsequent tectonic episodes (Triassic, intra-Jurassic, early Tertiary and even late Quaternary '''eustatic''' movements) so many faults show different phases and directions of movement and there are some cases of fault inversion. Into one such fault zone were injected basic magmas believed to have originated from the early Tertiary (Palaeocene) Mull volcanic centre. This Cleveland-Armathwaite Dyke '''echelon''' is well represented in Upper Teesdale.

Only features associated with the latest Quaternary (Devensian) glaciation are represented in Upper Teesdale but these have had a profound effect. Much of the landscape is masked by deposits of '''till''' which is of local (Pennine) origin except in the Lunedale and Middleton-in-Teesdale area where distinctive glacial '''erratics''' of Shap Granite and green '''andesitic tuffs''' (Borrowdale Volcanic Group) witness the passage of Lake District ice through the Stainmore pass and Lunedale area onto the South Durham–North Yorkshire plains. Geomorphological features in Upper Teesdale suggest a late Quaternary valley glacier phase with marginal '''moraines''', linear ice moulded debris, glacial '''spillways''' and modified river patterns, as well as outwash sand and gravel deposits which choke the Tees valley.

== Excursion details ==

=== Locality 1, Eggleston Burn [NY 989 252] ===

Approach from Eggleston village via either the B6282 (Middleton-in-Teesdale road) or B6278 (Stanhope road) and the linking minor road ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]). Park on the roadside [NY 990 249], 150 m east of the spectacular gritstone viaduct across Eggleston Burn. Walk along the narrow path on the north side of the road (just to the east of the viaduct) for 100 m to a small ill-defined quarry. Here the Cleveland Dyke crosses the valley and burn in an east–west direction, emplaced into coarse '''feldspathic''' gritstones around the level of the Firestone Sill (Upper Carboniferous). The '''porphyritic tholeiitic''' dolerite of this minor intrusion has been modestly quarried on the east side of the burn for roadstone (trackways lead southwards from the lower section near the burn) and there are signs that the adjacent grits have also been quarried for local walling.

The full c.15 m thickness of the dyke is best seen in the river cliff on the west side of the valley, where it has chilled ('''tachylitic''') margins and the adjacent grits have been mildly contact '''metamorphosed'''. It is, however, difficult from a distance to distinguish the sedimentary bedding of the host rock from the horizontal '''joints''' of the dyke. In the quarry on the east side of the burn the marginal contacts are not well exposed, but the quarry face does exhibit good examples of spheroidal weathering in the dyke.

=== Locality 2, Whistle Crag [NY 978 247] ===

From the lay-by on the B6282 is a panoramic view southwards of the southern marginal area of the Alston Block. Crags of Whin Sill can be seen below the skyline to the right, whilst the Lunedale–Butterknowle Fault runs just below the skyline on the left and out through the Lune Valley to the south. The Tees valley in the foreground is filled by late Quaternary tills and outwash alluvial deposits.

=== Localities 3–5, Hudeshope Beck [NY 947 258]–[NY 948 275] ===

Park in Middleton-in-Teesdale. Walk north from the town on the Stanhope road past the parish chruch. Viewed from the wall on the west side of the road after the last house, the disturbed limestones at river level mark the position where a fault ('''downthrowing''' to the southwest) cuts the deep valley of Hudeshope Beck. Take the first pathway on the west side of the road through the woods on the east side of the beck to the first footbridge.

=== Locality 3 [NY 947 258] ===

The footbridge is sited on the thickest '''post''' of the Three Yard Limestone (Lower Carboniferous, Alston Group) where it also forms a small waterfall ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_1.jpg|Figure 16.1]]a). Downstream the base of the limestone is exposed where it overlies the sandstones, '''ganister''' and thin shale partings at the top of the Five Yard Limestone Cyclothem. In the low river cliffs on the east side of the valley upstream of the footbridge a sequence of thin limestones with intercalated calcareous shales (with scattered corals and crinoidal debris) is gradually replaced vertically by deltaic non-marine shales with ironstone nodules followed by flaggy sandstones, all part of the Three Yard Limestone Cyclothem.

Further upstream the sandstone of the Three Yard Limestone Cyclothem forms a low river cliff. This disappears where a fault (the continuation of the Holm Head Vein), downthrowing c. 10 m southeast, cuts the valley in a northeast–southwest direction and results in the repetition of the geological succession so that the second footbridge [NY 947 262] is also sited on the thickest post of the Three Yard Limestone. Around the second footbridge, a c.0.4 m bed of calcareous shale separates the two principal posts of the Three Yard Limestone. As the river bed gradient is the same as the local '''dip''' the stream bed follows the top of the limestone for 150 m upstream where a small fault causes flexure in the top of the upper post.

=== Locality 4 [NY 947 264] ===

A series of '''tufa'''-depositing springs are associated with this same fault on the western side of the valley. A large mound of tufa from a former lower spring source is known locally as the 'Growing Stone' (Figure 16.1a).

The calcareous shales upstream provide many well preserved examples of crinoid sections, brachiopods, '''bryozoan''' colonies and occasional fish teeth. Among boulder debris in the beck are examples of exotic clasts derived from the till cover in this valley, including green andesitic volcaniclastic rocks (Borrowdale Volcanic Group) and Shap Granite from the Lake District, as well as locally derived material including clasts of Frosterley Marble.

Further upstream [NY 948 269] the nature of the Three Yard Limestone Cyclothem changes with non-marine ferruginous shales with '''septarian sideritic''' nodules followed by siltstones, flagstones then a more substantial sandstone that forms the lip of a prominent waterfall.

Walking up the Hudeshope valley along the road, the limestones of the succeeding Four Fathom Limestone Cyclothem have been worked in a rather overgrown quarry [NY 949 269] and although somewhat disrupted by faulting these same limestones can be seen forming low cliffs on the west bank of the beck (Figure 16.1a).

=== Locality 5 [NY 948 272] ===

The Four Fathom Limestone is extensively exposed in the river bed upstream of Skears Bridge, where it is also markedly disrupted by '''calcite'''-filled tension gashes associated with mineralized faulting. Higher upstream, the sedimentary sequence between the Four Fathom Limestone and the Great Limestone (Namurian, Upper Carboniferous) is seen in a poorly accessible west-facing river cliff. At Skears Scars [NY 948 276] Hudeshope Beck has cut a spectacular gorge through the Great Limestone which commences on the north side at a well exposed partly mineralized fault with 18 m downthrow to the northeast (Hall's Vein; [[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_1.jpg|Figure 16.1]]a). Beds here and in nearby Skears Quarry [NY 949 272], rich in the solitary coral ''Dibunophyllum bipartitum, ''constitute the Frosterley Marble horizon.

Return to the vehicle and leave Middleton-in-Teesdale on the B6277 for Bowlees.

=== Locality 6, Bowlees Picnic site [NY 907 283] ===

Around the old limestone quarry [NY 908 284] there is a wealth of geological detail (summarized on [[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_1.jpg|Figure 16.1]]b) which requires careful observation.

Walk upstream on the well-made path from the quarry. Above the quarry fault waterfall, Bow Lee Beck runs over the '''cross-bedded''' and channel fill sandstones of the Scar Limestone Cyclothem the top of which is at Gibson's Cave [NY 910 287] where the limestones of the succeeding Five Yard Limestone Cyclothem form the lip of the waterfall.

Leave the picnic area and walk eastwards on the B6277 for 0.6 km before taking the footpath southwest to the River Tees ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]).

=== Locality 7, Scoberry Bridge [NY 910 273] ===

Here the Cockleshell Limestone is exposed with the brachiopod ''Gigantoproductus ''and compound corals (do not hammer this locality). Cross the bridge and walk upstream on the Pennine Way. The gentle downstream dip brings in successively lower strata of the Single Post Limestone Cyclothem and into the top of the Tyne Bottom Limestone Cyclothem. Note the waste heaps from Wynch Mine trials into the Single Post Limestone (iron and zinc replacement ores) to the southwest side of the path some 300–550 m upstream from the bridge (Dunham 1990).

The River Tees changes its character some 200 m upstream from the bridge, caused by the exposure of the top margin of the Whin Sill. The sill has been injected into the sandstones of the Tyne Bottom Limestone Cyclothem and now forms the bed of the River Tees for 1.7 km upstream to Holwick Head Bridge [NY 889 283]. The indurate nature of the upper margin of the Whin Sill causes the river to flow over a series of rapids, small waterfalls and through small sharply defined valleys.

=== Locality 8 [NY 904 278] ===

Here there is a large 2–2.5 m thick raft of metamorphosed sandstone in the upper part of the Whin Sill. This 74 m long section of detached roof rock has tilted to an angle of c.20° as it slowly foundered into the crystallising basic magmatic intrusion, producing glassy tachylitic chilled margins to the edge of the sill and in turn being metamorphosed.

=== Locality 9, Wynch Bridge [NY 903 280] ===

Cross over the nineteenth century bridge to view Low Force, a well loved river feature effected by the hard nature and crude columnar jointing of the Whin Sill. Pause on the bridge to note the full extent of the sandstone raft at Locality 8. (The walk can be terminated here. Return to the Bowlees Picnic area, noting in passing the long low, partly wooded hill to the east of the path at the start of the fields: a northwest–southeast oriented, extended, ice moulded heap of glacial debris.)

Walking upriver on the west bank from Wynch Bridge, many features associated with the erosion of the upper contact of the Whin Sill can be noted in the river course. Also the wet nature of the associated valley alluvial deposits makes this section of Teesdale an ideal area for the study of summer wetland plants.

=== Locality 10, Holwick Head Bridge [NY 889 283] ===

Here the nature of the Tees valley changes where the river enters a deeply incised gorge which terminates with the waterfall of High Force [NY 880 284]. Near this bridge the river crosses a major north-northwest–south-southeast fault complex which has the combined effect of some c.75 m downthrow to the east ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]). Indeed the continuation of the Teesdale Fault controls the northwest–southeast direction of the first section of the High Force Gorge.

This locality may also be approached from the public car park and picnic site at High Force [NY 886 287].

=== Locality 11, High Force [NY 881 284] ===

Park as above and take the woodland walks and paths maintained by the Raby Estate to the waterfall. This approach will allow you to see at close hand the bottom section of the Whin Sill where the quartz dolerite magma has been injected into the sandstones of the Tyne Bottom Limestone Cyclothem (again the bottom contact of the sill has a chilled tachylitic margin). The disposition of the rock types viewed at this classic locality can be seen in [[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_3.jpg|Figure 16.3]].

Continuing upstream on the west bank from Holwick Head Bridge, the path ascends a steep slope to a position about halfway up the Whin Sill intrusion, some 73 m thick in this area. The well defined path passes through preserved areas of juniper scrub, remnant areas of woody plant colonisation left after the last, Devensian, glaciation. There are several places where '''''with extreme caution''' ''High Force can be viewed from the rim of the gorge.

=== Locality 12, Top of High Force [NY 880 284] ===

Views of the waterfall and the gorge beyond are spectacular and ''dangerous. ''Flash floods generated by summer storms in the Pennines often surprise the unwary at this locality.

Following the Pennine Way upstream, Bleabeck Force is seen to cascade over the Whin Sill on the south side of the valley [NY 875 278] and on the north side of the Tees there is the active Force Garth Quarry. Here almost the whole thickness of the Whin Sill (often showing working faces with excellent columnar jointing) is worked for roads tone.

The low and ill-drained ground around Pasture Foot ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]) is part of a pre-glacial buried channel now partly choked by till.

=== Locality 13, Bracken Rigg [NY 863 281] ===

The Pennine Way ascends this small but steep hill, an erosional outlier of dolerite, that with Low Crag to the north [NY 863 287] has become detached from the main outcrop of the Whin Sill by post-glacial erosion of the River Tees. The south-facing columnar dolerite cliffs of Dene Holm Scar and the adjacent Tees valley are a splendid sight from the top of Bracken Rigg. Leave the Pennine Way at the western end of Bracken Rigg and walk southwards across the marshy ground of Fell Dike Sike (a continuation of the Pasture Foot buried channel) to join the well defined drove road 'Green Trod'. This possibly Iron Age trans-Pennine routeway can now be followed eastwards across the grouse moors to Holwick. Green Trod follows the Scar Limestone Cyclothem sediments above the Whin Sill and many swallow holes may be seen developed in the Scar Limestone.

=== Locality 14, Low Currick Rigg [NY 895 275] ===

Below lies the dour gritstone Royal hunting lodge, Holwick House, prominently situated on top of a northwest–southeast elongated ice-moulded mound of glacial debris (one of many such glacial features in this part of Teesdale). On the skyline to the northeast is Coldberry Gutter, a man-made 30 m deep valley which cuts the watershed. This prominent feature is a 'hush', produced by mining and repeated flushing which removed some 2.5 million tonnes of waste in the 17th–19th centuries to produce lead ore concentrate.

=== Locality 15, Holwick [NY 901 271] ===

Fine cliffs of columnar dolerite form Holwick Scars and Crossthwaite Scars. These and the side valleys are probably fault controlled ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]), but accentuated by the Devensian glaciation of the valley margin, which also accounts for the modified drainage, glacial deposits and periglacial scree slopes at the foot of these north-facing cliffs ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_4.jpg|Figure 16.4]]).

Walking northwards from Holwick Scars to Low Force (Locality 9) the route passes over two and possibly three faults of the Teesdale Fault complex, with a composite downthrow to the north of c. 100 m.

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Glossary|Glossary]] ==

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Bibliography|Bibliography]] ==

{{EWwalks}}

[[Category:7. Northern England]]

Geology and landscape of Upper Teesdale - an excursion

2020-04-08T16:18:08Z

YGSJET:

{{YGSNorthumbrianRocks}}

[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_1.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 16.1 (a) Geological map and localities in Hudeshope Beck, Middleton-in-Teesdale. (b) Geology of Bowlees Quarry and picnic area.]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 16.2 Geological map of upper Teesdale around High Force. Inset showing localities described in text.]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_3.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 16.3 High Force (Locality 11). WS = Whin Sill; S = metamorphosed sandstone; TBL = Tyne Bottom Limestone. Photo: J. Senior.]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_4.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 16.4 The Whin Sill forming Howick Scars, looking east (Locality 15). Photo: J. Senior.]]

By '''John Senior''' University of Durham.

== Purpose ==

To study the Carboniferous '''cyclothemic''' sediments on the edge of the Caledonian Alston Block; the '''Variscan tectonics''', Whin '''Sill''' and synchronous mineralisation; the Tertiary Cleveland '''Dyke'''; the effects of late Quaternary glaciation and the control of landscape by the underlying geology. Parts of the sequence are very fossiliferous, with '''corals, crinoids''' and '''brachiopods.'''

== Logistics ==

{{YGSLogistics}}

A one-day excursion which may profitably be divided into smaller, more intensive itineraries. Parking places are indicated throughout the text. Food may be obtained in Middleton-in-Teesdale, at High Force and at Holwick.

''Note: ''Although the paths are recognized rights of way they pass through two large estates (Raby and Strathmore). Please observe the countryside code. During the pheasant and grouse shooting seasons, sections of the proposed routes may be temporarily closed.

== Maps ==

O.S. 1:50 000 Sheet 92, Barnard Castle; O.S. 1:25 000 Sheet NY 82/92, Middleton-in-Teesdale; B.G.S. 1:50 000 Sheet 31, Brough-under-Stainmoor; B.G.S. 1:63 360 Sheet 32 Barnard Castle; B.G.S. 1:25 000 Sheet 17, Middleton-in-Teesdale.

== Geological background ==

Upper Teesdale is situated on the southern margin of the Alston Block, part of a structural block and trough system developed in Northern England following the '''Caledonian Orogeny'''. The foundation of the block in the Teesdale area comprises Ordovician '''meta-sediments''' (exposed in the Teesdale '''inlier''' at Cronkley Pasture; NY 846296) and '''volcaniclastic''' deposits (Borrowdale Volcanic Group) into which the Weardale '''Granite''' has been emplaced.

This buoyant structural unit is bounded on its southern margin by the Lunedale–Butterknowle '''Fault''' zone, separating it from the Stainmore Trough, a substantial depositional basin during the Carboniferous period. In the subsiding Stainmore Trough some 2850 m of cyclic Carboniferous sediments are still preserved; equivalent strata on the more stable Alston Block are appreciably thinner. In Teesdale and adjacent areas each Yoredale cyclothem commences with a marine '''transgression''' (usually a limestone which gives a generic name to the whole unit; e.g. Five Yard Limestone Cyclothem) followed by sediments of increasing deltaic influence (shales, silt-stones, flagstones, sandstones or grits, '''seatearths''' and perhaps thin coals). The terrestrially derived sediments represent the infilling of a shallow marine gulf by a southerly '''prograding''' deltaic complex. The number of such Yoredale cyclothems in the North Pennine area suggests that sedimentary basin infill was followed by regional subsidence and/or increase in sea-level, with many repetitions of the sedimentary cycle over many millions of years.

The end-Carboniferous Variscan Orogeny led to reactivation of basement faults and general uplift of the Northern Pennines area. A late orogenic extensional phase resulted in the injection of basic '''magma''' into deep-seated fault zones, some of which acted as feeder dykes for the extensive Whin Sill, a very important '''doleritic''' intrusion in North East England. Upper Teesdale, the southern limit of this '''igneous''' body, was where the intrusive nature of a sill was first recognized by Adam Sedgwick in 1827. The important Northern Pennines mineralization is chronologically associated with this reheating of the basement rocks of the block areas by these basic magmas (Dunham 1990). '''Mineral veins''' (base metals lead, zinc and iron with a little copper, silver and cobalt) are to be found in fault zones cutting the Carboniferous sediments and indeed replacing some of the limestones in particular. The legacy of intensive mining in the past litters the Teesdale landscape.

Post-Variscan faulting in the Teesdale area is complicated by subsequent tectonic episodes (Triassic, intra-Jurassic, early Tertiary and even late Quaternary '''eustatic''' movements) so many faults show different phases and directions of movement and there are some cases of fault inversion. Into one such fault zone were injected basic magmas believed to have originated from the early Tertiary (Palaeocene) Mull volcanic centre. This Cleveland-Armathwaite Dyke '''echelon''' is well represented in Upper Teesdale.

Only features associated with the latest Quaternary (Devensian) glaciation are represented in Upper Teesdale but these have had a profound effect. Much of the landscape is masked by deposits of '''till''' which is of local (Pennine) origin except in the Lunedale and Middleton-in-Teesdale area where distinctive glacial '''erratics''' of Shap Granite and green '''andesitic tuffs''' (Borrowdale Volcanic Group) witness the passage of Lake District ice through the Stainmore pass and Lunedale area onto the South Durham–North Yorkshire plains. Geomorphological features in Upper Teesdale suggest a late Quaternary valley glacier phase with marginal '''moraines''', linear ice moulded debris, glacial '''spillways''' and modified river patterns, as well as outwash sand and gravel deposits which choke the Tees valley.

== Excursion details ==

=== Locality 1, Eggleston Burn [NY 989 252] ===

Approach from Eggleston village via either the B6282 (Middleton-in-Teesdale road) or B6278 (Stanhope road) and the linking minor road ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]). Park on the roadside [NY 990 249], 150 m east of the spectacular gritstone viaduct across Eggleston Burn. Walk along the narrow path on the north side of the road (just to the east of the viaduct) for 100 m to a small ill-defined quarry. Here the Cleveland Dyke crosses the valley and burn in an east–west direction, emplaced into coarse '''feldspathic''' gritstones around the level of the Firestone Sill (Upper Carboniferous). The '''porphyritic tholeiitic''' dolerite of this minor intrusion has been modestly quarried on the east side of the burn for roadstone (trackways lead southwards from the lower section near the burn) and there are signs that the adjacent grits have also been quarried for local walling.

The full c.15 m thickness of the dyke is best seen in the river cliff on the west side of the valley, where it has chilled ('''tachylitic''') margins and the adjacent grits have been mildly contact '''metamorphosed'''. It is, however, difficult from a distance to distinguish the sedimentary bedding of the host rock from the horizontal '''joints''' of the dyke. In the quarry on the east side of the burn the marginal contacts are not well exposed, but the quarry face does exhibit good examples of spheroidal weathering in the dyke.

=== Locality 2, Whistle Crag [NY 978 247] ===

From the lay-by on the B6282 is a panoramic view southwards of the southern marginal area of the Alston Block. Crags of Whin Sill can be seen below the skyline to the right, whilst the Lunedale–Butterknowle Fault runs just below the skyline on the left and out through the Lune Valley to the south. The Tees valley in the foreground is filled by late Quaternary tills and outwash alluvial deposits.

=== Localities 3–5, Hudeshope Beck [NY 947 258]–[NY 948 275] ===

Park in Middleton-in-Teesdale. Walk north from the town on the Stanhope road past the parish chruch. Viewed from the wall on the west side of the road after the last house, the disturbed limestones at river level mark the position where a fault ('''downthrowing''' to the southwest) cuts the deep valley of Hudeshope Beck. Take the first pathway on the west side of the road through the woods on the east side of the beck to the first footbridge.

=== Locality 3 [NY 947 258] ===

The footbridge is sited on the thickest '''post''' of the Three Yard Limestone (Lower Carboniferous, Alston Group) where it also forms a small waterfall ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_1.jpg|Figure 16.1]]a). Downstream the base of the limestone is exposed where it overlies the sandstones, '''ganister''' and thin shale partings at the top of the Five Yard Limestone Cyclothem. In the low river cliffs on the east side of the valley upstream of the footbridge a sequence of thin limestones with intercalated calcareous shales (with scattered corals and crinoidal debris) is gradually replaced vertically by deltaic non-marine shales with ironstone nodules followed by flaggy sandstones, all part of the Three Yard Limestone Cyclothem.

Further upstream the sandstone of the Three Yard Limestone Cyclothem forms a low river cliff. This disappears where a fault (the continuation of the Holm Head Vein), downthrowing c. 10 m southeast, cuts the valley in a northeast–southwest direction and results in the repetition of the geological succession so that the second footbridge [NY 947 262] is also sited on the thickest post of the Three Yard Limestone. Around the second footbridge, a c.0.4 m bed of calcareous shale separates the two principal posts of the Three Yard Limestone. As the river bed gradient is the same as the local '''dip''' the stream bed follows the top of the limestone for 150 m upstream where a small fault causes flexure in the top of the upper post.

=== Locality 4 [NY 947 264] ===

A series of '''tufa'''-depositing springs are associated with this same fault on the western side of the valley. A large mound of tufa from a former lower spring source is known locally as the 'Growing Stone' (Figure 16.1a).

The calcareous shales upstream provide many well preserved examples of crinoid sections, brachiopods, '''bryozoan''' colonies and occasional fish teeth. Among boulder debris in the beck are examples of exotic clasts derived from the till cover in this valley, including green andesitic volcaniclastic rocks (Borrowdale Volcanic Group) and Shap Granite from the Lake District, as well as locally derived material including clasts of Frosterley Marble.

Further upstream [NY 948 269] the nature of the Three Yard Limestone Cyclothem changes with non-marine ferruginous shales with '''septarian sideritic''' nodules followed by siltstones, flagstones then a more substantial sandstone that forms the lip of a prominent waterfall.

Walking up the Hudeshope valley along the road, the limestones of the succeeding Four Fathom Limestone Cyclothem have been worked in a rather overgrown quarry [NY 949 269] and although somewhat disrupted by faulting these same limestones can be seen forming low cliffs on the west bank of the beck (Figure 16.1a).

=== Locality 5 [NY 948 272] ===

The Four Fathom Limestone is extensively exposed in the river bed upstream of Skears Bridge, where it is also markedly disrupted by '''calcite'''-filled tension gashes associated with mineralized faulting. Higher upstream, the sedimentary sequence between the Four Fathom Limestone and the Great Limestone (Namurian, Upper Carboniferous) is seen in a poorly accessible west-facing river cliff. At Skears Scars [NY 948 276] Hudeshope Beck has cut a spectacular gorge through the Great Limestone which commences on the north side at a well exposed partly mineralized fault with 18 m downthrow to the northeast (Hall's Vein; [[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_1.jpg|Figure 16.1]]a). Beds here and in nearby Skears Quarry [NY 949 272], rich in the solitary coral ''Dibunophyllum bipartitum, ''constitute the Frosterley Marble horizon.

Return to the vehicle and leave Middleton-in-Teesdale on the B6277 for Bowlees.

=== Locality 6, Bowlees Picnic site [NY 907 283] ===

Around the old limestone quarry [NY 908 284] there is a wealth ofgeological detail (summarized on [[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_1.jpg|Figure 16.1]]b) which requires careful observation.

Walk upstream on the well-made path from the quarry. Above the quarry fault waterfall, Bow Lee Beck runs over the cross-bedded and channel fill sandstones of the Scar Limestone Cyclothem the top of which is at Gibson's Cave [NY 910 287] where the limestones of the succeeding Five Yard Limestone Cyclothem form the lip of the waterfall.

Leave the picnic area and walk eastwards on the B6277 for 0.6 km before taking the footpath southwest to the River Tees ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]).

=== Locality 7, Scoberry Bridge [NY 910 273] ===

Here the Cockleshell Limestone is exposed with the brachiopod ''Gigantoproductus ''and compound corals (do not hammer this locality). Cross the bridge and walk upstream on the Pennine Way. The gentle downstream dip brings in successively lower strata of the Single Post Limestone Cyclothem and into the top of the Tyne Bottom Limestone Cyclothem. Note the waste heaps from Wynch Mine trials into the Single Post Limestone (iron and zinc replacement ores) to the southwest side of the path some 300–550 m upstream from the bridge (Dunham 1990).

The River Tees changes its character some 200 m upstream from the bridge, caused by the exposure of the top margin of the Whin Sill. The sill has been injected into the sandstones of the Tyne Bottom Limestone Cyclothem and now forms the bed of the River Tees for 1.7 km upstream to Holwick Head Bridge [NY 889 283]. The indurate nature of the upper margin of the Whin Sill causes the river to flow over a series of rapids, small waterfalls and through small sharply defined valleys.

=== Locality 8 [NY 904 278] ===

Here there is a large 2–2.5 m thick raft of metamorphosed sandstone in the upper part of the Whin Sill. This 74 m long section of detached roof rock has tilted to an angle of c.20° as it slowly foundered into the crystallising basic magmatic intrusion, producing glassy tachylitic chilled margins to the edge of the sill and in turn being metamorphosed.

=== Locality 9, Wynch Bridge [NY 903 280] ===

Cross over the nineteenth century bridge to view Low Force, a well loved river feature effected by the hard nature and crude columnar jointing of the Whin Sill. Pause on the bridge to note the full extent of the sandstone raft at Locality 8. (The walk can be terminated here. Return to the Bowlees Picnic area, noting in passing the long low, partly wooded hill to the east of the path at the start of the fields: a northwest–southeast oriented, extended, ice moulded heap of glacial debris.)

Walking upriver on the west bank from Wynch Bridge, many features associated with the erosion of the upper contact of the Whin Sill can be noted in the river course. Also the wet nature of the associated valley alluvial deposits makes this section of Teesdale an ideal area for the study of summer wetland plants.

=== Locality 10, Holwick Head Bridge [NY 889 283] ===

Here the nature of the Tees valley changes where the river enters a deeply incised gorge which terminates with the waterfall of High Force [NY 880 284]. Near this bridge the river crosses a major north-northwest–south-southeast fault complex which has the combined effect of some c.75 m downthrow to the east ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]). Indeed the continuation of the Teesdale Fault controls the northwest–southeast direction of the first section of the High Force Gorge.

This locality may also be approached from the public car park and picnic site at High Force [NY 886 287].

=== Locality 11, High Force [NY 881 284] ===

Park as above and take the woodland walks and paths maintained by the Raby Estate to the waterfall. This approach will allow you to see at close hand the bottom section of the Whin Sill where the quartz dolerite magma has been injected into the sandstones of the Tyne Bottom Limestone Cyclothem (again the bottom contact of the sill has a chilled tachylitic margin). The disposition of the rock types viewed at this classic locality can be seen in [[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_3.jpg|Figure 16.3]].

Continuing upstream on the west bank from Holwick Head Bridge, the path ascends a steep slope to a position about halfway up the Whin Sill intrusion, some 73 m thick in this area. The well defined path passes through preserved areas of juniper scrub, remnant areas of woody plant colonisation left after the last, Devensian, glaciation. There are several places where '''''with extreme caution''' ''High Force can be viewed from the rim of the gorge.

=== Locality 12, Top of High Force [NY 880 284] ===

Views of the waterfall and the gorge beyond are spectacular and ''dangerous. ''Flash floods generated by summer storms in the Pennines often surprise the unwary at this locality.

Following the Pennine Way upstream, Bleabeck Force is seen to cascade over the Whin Sill on the south side of the valley [NY 875 278] and on the north side of the Tees there is the active Force Garth Quarry. Here almost the whole thickness of the Whin Sill (often showing working faces with excellent columnar jointing) is worked for roads tone.

The low and ill-drained ground around Pasture Foot ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]) is part of a pre-glacial buried channel now partly choked by till.

=== Locality 13, Bracken Rigg [NY 863 281] ===

The Pennine Way ascends this small but steep hill, an erosional outlier of dolerite, that with Low Crag to the north [NY 863 287] has become detached from the main outcrop of the Whin Sill by post-glacial erosion of the River Tees. The south-facing columnar dolerite cliffs of Dene Holm Scar and the adjacent Tees valley are a splendid sight from the top of Bracken Rigg. Leave the Pennine Way at the western end of Bracken Rigg and walk southwards across the marshy ground of Fell Dike Sike (a continuation of the Pasture Foot buried channel) to join the well defined drove road 'Green Trod'. This possibly Iron Age trans-Pennine routeway can now be followed eastwards across the grouse moors to Holwick. Green Trod follows the Scar Limestone Cyclothem sediments above the Whin Sill and many swallow holes may be seen developed in the Scar Limestone.

=== Locality 14, Low Currick Rigg [NY 895 275] ===

Below lies the dour gritstone Royal hunting lodge, Holwick House, prominently situated on top of a northwest–southeast elongated ice-moulded mound of glacial debris (one of many such glacial features in this part of Teesdale). On the skyline to the northeast is Coldberry Gutter, a man-made 30 m deep valley which cuts the watershed. This prominent feature is a 'hush', produced by mining and repeated flushing which removed some 2.5 million tonnes of waste in the 17th–19th centuries to produce lead ore concentrate.

=== Locality 15, Holwick [NY 901 271] ===

Fine cliffs of columnar dolerite form Holwick Scars and Crossthwaite Scars. These and the side valleys are probably fault controlled ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]), but accentuated by the Devensian glaciation of the valley margin, which also accounts for the modified drainage, glacial deposits and periglacial scree slopes at the foot of these north-facing cliffs ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_4.jpg|Figure 16.4]]).

Walking northwards from Holwick Scars to Low Force (Locality 9) the route passes over two and possibly three faults of the Teesdale Fault complex, with a composite downthrow to the north of c. 100 m.

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Glossary|Glossary]] ==

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Bibliography|Bibliography]] ==

{{EWwalks}}

[[Category:7. Northern England]]

Geology and landscape of Upper Teesdale - an excursion

2020-04-08T16:13:08Z

YGSJET:

{{YGSNorthumbrianRocks}}

[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_1.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 16.1 (a) Geological map and localities in Hudeshope Beck, Middleton-in-Teesdale. (b) Geology of Bowlees Quarry and picnic area.]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 16.2 Geological map of upper Teesdale around High Force. Inset showing localities described in text.]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_3.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 16.3 High Force (Locality 11). WS = Whin Sill; S = metamorphosed sandstone; TBL = Tyne Bottom Limestone. Photo: J. Senior.]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_4.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 16.4 The Whin Sill forming Howick Scars, looking east (Locality 15). Photo: J. Senior.]]

By '''John Senior''' University of Durham.

== Purpose ==

To study the Carboniferous '''cyclothemic''' sediments on the edge of the Caledonian Alston Block; the '''Variscan tectonics''', Whin '''Sill''' and synchronous mineralisation; the Tertiary Cleveland '''Dyke'''; the effects of late Quaternary glaciation and the control of landscape by the underlying geology. Parts of the sequence are very fossiliferous, with '''corals, crinoids''' and '''brachiopods.'''

== Logistics ==

{{YGSLogistics}}

A one-day excursion which may profitably be divided into smaller, more intensive itineraries. Parking places are indicated throughout the text. Food may be obtained in Middleton-in-Teesdale, at High Force and at Holwick.

''Note: ''Although the paths are recognized rights of way they pass through two large estates (Raby and Strathmore). Please observe the countryside code. During the pheasant and grouse shooting seasons, sections of the proposed routes may be temporarily closed.

== Maps ==

O.S. 1:50 000 Sheet 92, Barnard Castle; O.S. 1:25 000 Sheet NY 82/92, Middleton-in-Teesdale; B.G.S. 1:50 000 Sheet 31, Brough-under-Stainmoor; B.G.S. 1:63 360 Sheet 32 Barnard Castle; B.G.S. 1:25 000 Sheet 17, Middleton-in-Teesdale.

== Geological background ==

Upper Teesdale is situated on the southern margin of the Alston Block, part of a structural block and trough system developed in Northern England following the '''Caledonian Orogeny'''. The foundation of the block in the Teesdale area comprises Ordovician '''meta-sediments''' (exposed in the Teesdale '''inlier''' at Cronkley Pasture; NY 846296) and '''volcaniclastic''' deposits (Borrowdale Volcanic Group) into which the Weardale '''Granite''' has been emplaced.

This buoyant structural unit is bounded on its southern margin by the Lunedale–Butterknowle '''Fault''' zone, separating it from the Stainmore Trough, a substantial depositional basin during the Carboniferous period. In the subsiding Stainmore Trough some 2850 m of cyclic Carboniferous sediments are still preserved; equivalent strata on the more stable Alston Block are appreciably thinner. In Teesdale and adjacent areas each Yoredale cyclothem commences with a marine '''transgression''' (usually a limestone which gives a generic name to the whole unit; e.g. Five Yard Limestone Cyclothem) followed by sediments of increasing deltaic influence (shales, silt-stones, flagstones, sandstones or grits, '''seatearths''' and perhaps thin coals). The terrestrially derived sediments represent the infilling of a shallow marine gulf by a southerly '''prograding''' deltaic complex. The number of such Yoredale cyclothems in the North Pennine area suggests that sedimentary basin infill was followed by regional subsidence and/or increase in sea-level, with many repetitions of the sedimentary cycle over many millions of years.

The end-Carboniferous Variscan Orogeny led to reactivation of basement faults and general uplift of the Northern Pennines area. A late orogenic extensional phase resulted in the injection of basic '''magma''' into deep-seated fault zones, some of which acted as feeder dykes for the extensive Whin Sill, a very important '''doleritic''' intrusion in North East England. Upper Teesdale, the southern limit of this '''igneous''' body, was where the intrusive nature of a sill was first recognized by Adam Sedgwick in 1827. The important Northern Pennines mineralization is chronologically associated with this reheating of the basement rocks of the block areas by these basic magmas (Dunham 1990). '''Mineral veins''' (base metals lead, zinc and iron with a little copper, silver and cobalt) are to be found in fault zones cutting the Carboniferous sediments and indeed replacing some of the limestones in particular. The legacy of intensive mining in the past litters the Teesdale landscape.

Post-Variscan faulting in the Teesdale area is complicated by subsequent tectonic episodes (Triassic, intra-Jurassic, early Tertiary and even late Quaternary '''eustatic''' movements) so many faults show different phases and directions of movement and there are some cases of fault inversion. Into one such fault zone were injected basic magmas believed to have originated from the early Tertiary (Palaeocene) Mull volcanic centre. This Cleveland-Armathwaite Dyke '''echelon''' is well represented in Upper Teesdale.

Only features associated with the latest Quaternary (Devensian) glaciation are represented in Upper Teesdale but these have had a profound effect. Much of the landscape is masked by deposits of '''till''' which is of local (Pennine) origin except in the Lunedale and Middleton-in-Teesdale area where distinctive glacial '''erratics''' of Shap Granite and green '''andesitic tuffs''' (Borrowdale Volcanic Group) witness the passage of Lake District ice through the Stainmore pass and Lunedale area onto the South Durham–North Yorkshire plains. Geomorphological features in Upper Teesdale suggest a late Quaternary valley glacier phase with marginal '''moraines''', linear ice moulded debris, glacial '''spillways''' and modified river patterns, as well as outwash sand and gravel deposits which choke the Tees valley.

== Excursion details ==

=== Locality 1, Eggleston Burn [NY 989 252] ===

Approach from Eggleston village via either the B6282 (Middleton-in-Teesdale road) or B6278 (Stanhope road) and the linking minor road ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]). Park on the roadside [NY 990 249], 150 m east of the spectacular gritstone viaduct across Eggleston Burn. Walk along the narrow path on the north side of the road (just to the east of the viaduct) for 100 m to a small ill-defined quarry. Here the Cleveland Dyke crosses the valley and burn in an east–west direction, emplaced into coarse '''feldspathic''' gritstones around the level of the Firestone Sill (Upper Carboniferous). The '''porphyritic tholeiitic''' dolerite of this minor intrusion has been modestly quarried on the east side of the burn for roadstone (trackways lead southwards from the lower section near the burn) and there are signs that the adjacent grits have also been quarried for local walling.

The full c.15 m thickness of the dyke is best seen in the river cliff on the west side of the valley, where it has chilled ('''tachylitic''') margins and the adjacent grits have been mildly contact '''metamorphosed'''. It is, however, difficult from a distance to distinguish the sedimentary bedding of the host rock from the horizontal '''joints''' of the dyke. In the quarry on the east side of the burn the marginal contacts are not well exposed, but the quarry face does exhibit good examples of spheroidal weathering in the dyke.

=== Locality 2, Whistle Crag [NY 978 247] ===

From the lay-by on the B6282 is a panoramic view southwards of the southern marginal area of the Alston Block. Crags of Whin Sill can be seen below the skyline to the right, whilst the Lunedale–Butterknowle Fault runs just below the skyline on the left and out through the Lune Valley to the south. The Tees valley in the foreground is filled by late Quaternary tills and outwash alluvial deposits.

=== Localities 3–5, Hudeshope Beck [NY 947 258]–[NY 948 275] ===

Park in Middleton-in-Teesdale. Walk north from the town on the Stanhope road past the parish chruch. Viewed from the wall on the west side of the road after the last house, the disturbed limestones at river level mark the position where a fault ('''downthrowing''' to the southwest) cuts the deep valley of Hudeshope Beck. Take the first pathway on the west side of the road through the woods on the east side of the beck to the first footbridge.

=== Locality 3 [NY 947 258] ===

The footbridge is sited on the thickest '''post''' of the Three Yard Limestone (Lower Carboniferous, Alston Group) where it also forms a small waterfall ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_1.jpg|Figure 16.1]]a). Downstream the base of the limestone is exposed where it overlies the sandstones, '''ganister''' and thin shale partings at the top of the Five Yard Limestone Cyclothem. In the low river cliffs on the east side of the valley upstream of the footbridge a sequence of thin limestones with intercalated calcareous shales (with scattered corals and crinoidal debris) is gradually replaced vertically by deltaic non-marine shales with ironstone nodules followed by flaggy sandstones, all part of the Three Yard Limestone Cyclothem.

Further upstream the sandstone of the Three Yard Limestone Cyclothem forms a low river cliff. This disappears where a fault (the continuation of the Holm Head Vein), downthrowing c. 10 m southeast, cuts the valley in a northeast–southwest direction and results in the repetition of the geological succession so that the second footbridge [NY 947 262] is also sited on the thickest post of the Three Yard Limestone. Around the second footbridge, a c.0.4 m bed of calcareous shale separates the two principal posts of the Three Yard Limestone. As the river bed gradient is the same as the local '''dip''' the stream bed follows the top of the limestone for 150 m upstream where a small fault causes flexure in the top of the upper post.

=== Locality 4 [NY 947 264] ===

A series of '''tufa'''-depositing springs are associated with this same fault on the western side of the valley. A large mound of tufa from a former lower spring source is known locally as the 'Growing Stone' (Figure 6. a).

The calcareous shales upstream provide many well preserved examples of crinoid sections, brachiopods, '''bryozoan''' colonies and occasional fish teeth. Among boulder debris in the beck are examples of exotic clasts derived from the till cover in this valley, including green andesitic volcaniclastic rocks (Borrowdale Volcanic Group) and Shap Granite from the Lake District, as well as locally derived material including clasts of Frosterley Marble.

Further upstream [NY 948 269] the nature of the Three Yard Limestone Cyclothem changes with non-marine ferruginous shales with '''septarian sideritic''' nodules followed by siltstones, flagstones then a more substantial sandstone that forms the lip of a prominent waterfall.

Walking up the Hudeshope valley along the road, the limestones of the succeeding Four Fathom Limestone Cyclothem have been worked in a rather overgrown quarry [NY 949 269] and although somewhat disrupted by faulting these same limestones can be seen forming low cliffs on the west bank of the beck (Figure 16.1a).

=== Locality 5 [NY 948 272] ===

The Four Fathom Limestone is extensively exposed in the river bed upstream of Skears Bridge, where it is also markedly disrupted by '''calcite'''-filled tension gashes associated with mineralized faulting. Higher upstream, the sedimentary sequence between the Four Fathom Limestone and the Great Limestone (Namurian, Upper Carboniferous) is seen in a poorly accessible west-facing river cliff. At Skears Scars [NY 948 276] Hudeshope Beck has cut a spectacular gorge through the Great Limestone which commences on the north side at a well exposed partly mineralized fault with 18 m downthrow to the northeast (Hall's Vein; [[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_1.jpg|Figure 16.1]]a). Beds here and in nearby Skears Quarry [NY 949 272], rich in the solitary coral ''Dibunophyllum bipartitum, ''constitute the Frosterley Marble horizon.

Return to the vehicle and leave Middleton-in-Teesdale on the B6277 for Bowlees.

=== Locality 6, Bowlees Picnic site [NY 907 283] ===

Around the old limestone quarry [NY 908 284] there is a wealth ofgeological detail (summarized on [[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_1.jpg|Figure 16.1]]b) which requires careful observation.

Walk upstream on the well-made path from the quarry. Above the quarry fault waterfall, Bow Lee Beck runs over the cross-bedded and channel fill sandstones of the Scar Limestone Cyclothem the top of which is at Gibson's Cave [NY 910 287] where the limestones of the succeeding Five Yard Limestone Cyclothem form the lip of the waterfall.

Leave the picnic area and walk eastwards on the B6277 for 0.6 km before taking the footpath southwest to the River Tees ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]).

=== Locality 7, Scoberry Bridge [NY 910 273] ===

Here the Cockleshell Limestone is exposed with the brachiopod ''Gigantoproductus ''and compound corals (do not hammer this locality). Cross the bridge and walk upstream on the Pennine Way. The gentle downstream dip brings in successively lower strata of the Single Post Limestone Cyclothem and into the top of the Tyne Bottom Limestone Cyclothem. Note the waste heaps from Wynch Mine trials into the Single Post Limestone (iron and zinc replacement ores) to the southwest side of the path some 300–550 m upstream from the bridge (Dunham 1990).

The River Tees changes its character some 200 m upstream from the bridge, caused by the exposure of the top margin of the Whin Sill. The sill has been injected into the sandstones of the Tyne Bottom Limestone Cyclothem and now forms the bed of the River Tees for 1.7 km upstream to Holwick Head Bridge [NY 889 283]. The indurate nature of the upper margin of the Whin Sill causes the river to flow over a series of rapids, small waterfalls and through small sharply defined valleys.

=== Locality 8 [NY 904 278] ===

Here there is a large 2–2.5 m thick raft of metamorphosed sandstone in the upper part of the Whin Sill. This 74 m long section of detached roof rock has tilted to an angle of c.20° as it slowly foundered into the crystallising basic magmatic intrusion, producing glassy tachylitic chilled margins to the edge of the sill and in turn being metamorphosed.

=== Locality 9, Wynch Bridge [NY 903 280] ===

Cross over the nineteenth century bridge to view Low Force, a well loved river feature effected by the hard nature and crude columnar jointing of the Whin Sill. Pause on the bridge to note the full extent of the sandstone raft at Locality 8. (The walk can be terminated here. Return to the Bowlees Picnic area, noting in passing the long low, partly wooded hill to the east of the path at the start of the fields: a northwest–southeast oriented, extended, ice moulded heap of glacial debris.)

Walking upriver on the west bank from Wynch Bridge, many features associated with the erosion of the upper contact of the Whin Sill can be noted in the river course. Also the wet nature of the associated valley alluvial deposits makes this section of Teesdale an ideal area for the study of summer wetland plants.

=== Locality 10, Holwick Head Bridge [NY 889 283] ===

Here the nature of the Tees valley changes where the river enters a deeply incised gorge which terminates with the waterfall of High Force [NY 880 284]. Near this bridge the river crosses a major north-northwest–south-southeast fault complex which has the combined effect of some c.75 m downthrow to the east ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]). Indeed the continuation of the Teesdale Fault controls the northwest–southeast direction of the first section of the High Force Gorge.

This locality may also be approached from the public car park and picnic site at High Force [NY 886 287].

=== Locality 11, High Force [NY 881 284] ===

Park as above and take the woodland walks and paths maintained by the Raby Estate to the waterfall. This approach will allow you to see at close hand the bottom section of the Whin Sill where the quartz dolerite magma has been injected into the sandstones of the Tyne Bottom Limestone Cyclothem (again the bottom contact of the sill has a chilled tachylitic margin). The disposition of the rock types viewed at this classic locality can be seen in [[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_3.jpg|Figure 16.3]].

Continuing upstream on the west bank from Holwick Head Bridge, the path ascends a steep slope to a position about halfway up the Whin Sill intrusion, some 73 m thick in this area. The well defined path passes through preserved areas of juniper scrub, remnant areas of woody plant colonisation left after the last, Devensian, glaciation. There are several places where '''''with extreme caution''' ''High Force can be viewed from the rim of the gorge.

=== Locality 12, Top of High Force [NY 880 284] ===

Views of the waterfall and the gorge beyond are spectacular and ''dangerous. ''Flash floods generated by summer storms in the Pennines often surprise the unwary at this locality.

Following the Pennine Way upstream, Bleabeck Force is seen to cascade over the Whin Sill on the south side of the valley [NY 875 278] and on the north side of the Tees there is the active Force Garth Quarry. Here almost the whole thickness of the Whin Sill (often showing working faces with excellent columnar jointing) is worked for roads tone.

The low and ill-drained ground around Pasture Foot ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]) is part of a pre-glacial buried channel now partly choked by till.

=== Locality 13, Bracken Rigg [NY 863 281] ===

The Pennine Way ascends this small but steep hill, an erosional outlier of dolerite, that with Low Crag to the north [NY 863 287] has become detached from the main outcrop of the Whin Sill by post-glacial erosion of the River Tees. The south-facing columnar dolerite cliffs of Dene Holm Scar and the adjacent Tees valley are a splendid sight from the top of Bracken Rigg. Leave the Pennine Way at the western end of Bracken Rigg and walk southwards across the marshy ground of Fell Dike Sike (a continuation of the Pasture Foot buried channel) to join the well defined drove road 'Green Trod'. This possibly Iron Age trans-Pennine routeway can now be followed eastwards across the grouse moors to Holwick. Green Trod follows the Scar Limestone Cyclothem sediments above the Whin Sill and many swallow holes may be seen developed in the Scar Limestone.

=== Locality 14, Low Currick Rigg [NY 895 275] ===

Below lies the dour gritstone Royal hunting lodge, Holwick House, prominently situated on top of a northwest–southeast elongated ice-moulded mound of glacial debris (one of many such glacial features in this part of Teesdale). On the skyline to the northeast is Coldberry Gutter, a man-made 30 m deep valley which cuts the watershed. This prominent feature is a 'hush', produced by mining and repeated flushing which removed some 2.5 million tonnes of waste in the 17th–19th centuries to produce lead ore concentrate.

=== Locality 15, Holwick [NY 901 271] ===

Fine cliffs of columnar dolerite form Holwick Scars and Crossthwaite Scars. These and the side valleys are probably fault controlled ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]), but accentuated by the Devensian glaciation of the valley margin, which also accounts for the modified drainage, glacial deposits and periglacial scree slopes at the foot of these north-facing cliffs ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_4.jpg|Figure 16.4]]).

Walking northwards from Holwick Scars to Low Force (Locality 9) the route passes over two and possibly three faults of the Teesdale Fault complex, with a composite downthrow to the north of c. 100 m.

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Glossary|Glossary]] ==

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Bibliography|Bibliography]] ==

{{EWwalks}}

[[Category:7. Northern England]]

Geology and landscape of Upper Teesdale - an excursion

2020-04-08T16:10:38Z

YGSJET:

{{YGSNorthumbrianRocks}}

[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_1.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 16.1 (a) Geological map and localities in Hudeshope Beck, Middleton-in-Teesdale. (b) Geology of Bowlees Quarry and picnic area.]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 16.2 Geological map of upper Teesdale around High Force. Inset showing localities described in text.]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_3.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 16.3 High Force (Locality 11). WS = Whin Sill; S = metamorphosed sandstone; TBL = Tyne Bottom Limestone. Photo: J. Senior.]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_4.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 16.4 The Whin Sill forming Howick Scars, looking east (Locality 15). Photo: J. Senior.]]

By '''John Senior''' University of Durham.

== Purpose ==

To study the Carboniferous '''cyclothemic''' sediments on the edge of the Caledonian Alston Block; the '''Variscan tectonics''', Whin '''Sill''' and synchronous mineralisation; the Tertiary Cleveland '''Dyke'''; the effects of late Quaternary glaciation and the control of landscape by the underlying geology. Parts of the sequence are very fossiliferous, with '''corals, crinoids''' and '''brachiopods.'''

== Logistics ==

{{YGSLogistics}}

A one-day excursion which may profitably be divided into smaller, more intensive itineraries. Parking places are indicated throughout the text. Food may be obtained in Middleton-in-Teesdale, at High Force and at Holwick.

''Note: ''Although the paths are recognized rights of way they pass through two large estates (Raby and Strathmore). Please observe the countryside code. During the pheasant and grouse shooting seasons, sections of the proposed routes may be temporarily closed.

== Maps ==

O.S. 1:50 000 Sheet 92, Barnard Castle; O.S. 1:25 000 Sheet NY 82/92, Middleton-in-Teesdale; B.G.S. 1:50 000 Sheet 31, Brough-under-Stainmoor; B.G.S. 1:63 360 Sheet 32 Barnard Castle; B.G.S. 1:25 000 Sheet 17, Middleton-in-Teesdale.

== Geological background ==

Upper Teesdale is situated on the southern margin of the Alston Block, part of a structural block and trough system developed in Northern England following the '''Caledonian Orogeny'''. The foundation of the block in the Teesdale area comprises Ordovician '''meta-sediments''' (exposed in the Teesdale '''inlier''' at Cronkley Pasture; NY 846296) and '''volcaniclastic''' deposits (Borrowdale Volcanic Group) into which the Weardale '''Granite''' has been emplaced.

This buoyant structural unit is bounded on its southern margin by the Lunedale–Butterknowle '''Fault''' zone, separating it from the Stainmore Trough, a substantial depositional basin during the Carboniferous period. In the subsiding Stainmore Trough some 2850 m of cyclic Carboniferous sediments are still preserved; equivalent strata on the more stable Alston Block are appreciably thinner. In Teesdale and adjacent areas each Yoredale cyclothem commences with a marine '''transgression''' (usually a limestone which gives a generic name to the whole unit; e.g. Five Yard Limestone Cyclothem) followed by sediments of increasing deltaic influence (shales, silt-stones, flagstones, sandstones or grits, '''seatearths''' and perhaps thin coals). The terrestrially derived sediments represent the infilling of a shallow marine gulf by a southerly '''prograding''' deltaic complex. The number of such Yoredale cyclothems in the North Pennine area suggests that sedimentary basin infill was followed by regional subsidence and/or increase in sea-level, with many repetitions of the sedimentary cycle over many millions of years.

The end-Carboniferous Variscan Orogeny led to reactivation of basement faults and general uplift of the Northern Pennines area. A late orogenic extensional phase resulted in the injection of basic '''magma''' into deep-seated fault zones, some of which acted as feeder dykes for the extensive Whin Sill, a very important '''doleritic''' intrusion in North East England. Upper Teesdale, the southern limit of this '''igneous''' body, was where the intrusive nature of a sill was first recognized by Adam Sedgwick in 1827. The important Northern Pennines mineralization is chronologically associated with this reheating of the basement rocks of the block areas by these basic magmas (Dunham 1990). '''Mineral veins''' (base metals lead, zinc and iron with a little copper, silver and cobalt) are to be found in fault zones cutting the Carboniferous sediments and indeed replacing some of the limestones in particular. The legacy of intensive mining in the past litters the Teesdale landscape.

Post-Variscan faulting in the Teesdale area is complicated by subsequent tectonic episodes (Triassic, intra-Jurassic, early Tertiary and even late Quaternary '''eustatic''' movements) so many faults show different phases and directions of movement and there are some cases of fault inversion. Into one such fault zone were injected basic magmas believed to have originated from the early Tertiary (Palaeocene) Mull volcanic centre. This Cleveland-Armathwaite Dyke '''echelon''' is well represented in Upper Teesdale.

Only features associated with the latest Quaternary (Devensian) glaciation are represented in Upper Teesdale but these have had a profound effect. Much of the landscape is masked by deposits of '''till''' which is of local (Pennine) origin except in the Lunedale and Middleton-in-Teesdale area where distinctive glacial '''erratics''' of Shap Granite and green '''andesitic tuffs''' (Borrowdale Volcanic Group) witness the passage of Lake District ice through the Stainmore pass and Lunedale area onto the South Durham–North Yorkshire plains. Geomorphological features in Upper Teesdale suggest a late Quaternary valley glacier phase with marginal '''moraines''', linear ice moulded debris, glacial '''spillways''' and modified river patterns, as well as outwash sand and gravel deposits which choke the Tees valley.

== Excursion details ==

=== Locality 1, Eggleston Burn [NY 989 252] ===

Approach from Eggleston village via either the B6282 (Middleton-in-Teesdale road) or B6278 (Stanhope road) and the linking minor road ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]). Park on the roadside [NY 990 249], 150 m east of the spectacular gritstone viaduct across Eggleston Burn. Walk along the narrow path on the north side of the road (just to the east of the viaduct) for 100 m to a small ill-defined quarry. Here the Cleveland Dyke crosses the valley and burn in an east–west direction, emplaced into coarse '''feldspathic''' gritstones around the level of the Firestone Sill (Upper Carboniferous). The '''porphyritic tholeiitic''' dolerite of this minor intrusion has been modestly quarried on the east side of the burn for roadstone (trackways lead southwards from the lower section near the burn) and there are signs that the adjacent grits have also been quarried for local walling.

The full c.15 m thickness of the dyke is best seen in the river cliff on the west side of the valley, where it has chilled ('''tachylitic''') margins and the adjacent grits have been mildly contact '''metamorphosed'''. It is, however, difficult from a distance to distinguish the sedimentary bedding of the host rock from the horizontal '''joints''' of the dyke. In the quarry on the east side of the burn the marginal contacts are not well exposed, but the quarry face does exhibit good examples of spheroidal weathering in the dyke.

=== Locality 2, Whistle Crag [NY 978 247] ===

From the lay-by on the B6282 is a panoramic view southwards of the southern marginal area of the Alston Block. Crags of Whin Sill can be seen below the skyline to the right, whilst the Lunedale–Butterknowle Fault runs just below the skyline on the left and out through the Lune Valley to the south. The Tees valley in the foreground is filled by late Quaternary tills and outwash alluvial deposits.

=== Localities 3–5, Hudeshope Beck [NY 947 258]–[NY 948 275] ===

Park in Middleton-in-Teesdale. Walk north from the town on the Stanhope road past the parish chruch. Viewed from the wall on the west side of the road after the last house, the disturbed limestones at river level mark the position where a fault ('''downthrowing''' to the southwest) cuts the deep valley of Hudeshope Beck. Take the first pathway on the west side of the road through the woods on the east side of the beck to the first footbridge.

=== Locality 3 [NY 947 258] ===

The footbridge is sited on the thickest '''post''' of the Three Yard Limestone (Lower Carboniferous, Alston Group) where it also forms a small waterfall ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_1.jpg|Figure 16.1]]a). Downstream the base of the limestone is exposed where it overlies the sandstones, '''ganister''' and thin shale partings at the top of the Five Yard Limestone Cyclothem. In the low river cliffs on the east side of the valley upstream of the footbridge a sequence of thin limestones with intercalated calcareous shales (with scattered corals and crinoidal debris) is gradually replaced vertically by deltaic non-marine shales with ironstone nodules followed by flaggy sandstones, all part of the Three Yard Limestone Cyclothem.

Further upstream the sandstone of the Three Yard Limestone Cyclothem forms a low river cliff. This disappears where a fault (the continuation of the Holm Head Vein), downthrowing c. 10 m southeast, cuts the valley in a northeast–southwest direction and results in the repetition of the geological succession so that the second footbridge [NY 947 262] is also sited on the thickest post of the Three Yard Limestone. Around the second footbridge, a c.0.4 m bed of calcareous shale separates the two principal posts of the Three Yard Limestone. As the river bed gradient is the same as the local '''dip''' the stream bed follows the top of the limestone for 150 m upstream where a small fault causes flexure in the top of the upper post.

=== Locality 4 [NY 947 264] ===

A series of tufa-depositing springs are associated with this same fault on the western side of the valley. A large mound of tufa from a former lower spring source is known locally as the 'Growing Stone' (Figure 6. a).

The calcareous shales upstream provide many well preserved examples of crinoid sections, brachiopods, bryozoan colonies and occasional fish teeth. Among boulder debris in the beck are examples of exotic clasts derived from the till cover in this valley, including green andesitic volcaniclastic rocks (Borrowdale Volcanic Group) and Shap Granite from the Lake District, as well as locally derived material including clasts of Frosterley Marble.

Further upstream [NY 948 269] the nature of the Three Yard Limestone Cyclothem changes with non-marine ferruginous shales with septarian sideritic nodules followed by siltstones, flagstones then a more substantial sandstone that forms the lip of a prominent waterfall.

Walking up the Hudeshope valley along the road, the limestones of the succeeding Four Fathom Limestone Cyclothem have been worked in a rather overgrown quarry [NY 949 269] and although somewhat disrupted by faulting these same limestones can be seen forming low cliffs on the west bank of the beck (Figure 16.1a).

=== Locality 5 [NY 948 272] ===

The Four Fathom Limestone is extensively exposed in the river bed upstream of Skears Bridge, where it is also markedly disrupted by calcite-filled tension gashes associated with mineralized faulting. Higher upstream, the sedimentary sequence between the Four Fathom Limestone and the Great Limestone (Namurian, Upper Carboniferous) is seen in a poorly accessible west-facing river cliff. At Skears Scars [NY 948 276] Hudeshope Beck has cut a spectacular gorge through the Great Limestone which commences on the north side at a well exposed partly mineralized fault with 18 m downthrow to the northeast (Hall's Vein; [[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_1.jpg|Figure 16.1]]a). Beds here and in nearby Skears Quarry [NY 949 272], rich in the solitary coral ''Dibunophyllum bipartitum, ''constitute the Frosterley Marble horizon.

Return to the vehicle and leave Middleton-in-Teesdale on the B6277 for Bowlees.

=== Locality 6, Bowlees Picnic site [NY 907 283] ===

Around the old limestone quarry [NY 908 284] there is a wealth ofgeological detail (summarized on [[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_1.jpg|Figure 16.1]]b) which requires careful observation.

Walk upstream on the well-made path from the quarry. Above the quarry fault waterfall, Bow Lee Beck runs over the cross-bedded and channel fill sandstones of the Scar Limestone Cyclothem the top of which is at Gibson's Cave [NY 910 287] where the limestones of the succeeding Five Yard Limestone Cyclothem form the lip of the waterfall.

Leave the picnic area and walk eastwards on the B6277 for 0.6 km before taking the footpath southwest to the River Tees ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]).

=== Locality 7, Scoberry Bridge [NY 910 273] ===

Here the Cockleshell Limestone is exposed with the brachiopod ''Gigantoproductus ''and compound corals (do not hammer this locality). Cross the bridge and walk upstream on the Pennine Way. The gentle downstream dip brings in successively lower strata of the Single Post Limestone Cyclothem and into the top of the Tyne Bottom Limestone Cyclothem. Note the waste heaps from Wynch Mine trials into the Single Post Limestone (iron and zinc replacement ores) to the southwest side of the path some 300–550 m upstream from the bridge (Dunham 1990).

The River Tees changes its character some 200 m upstream from the bridge, caused by the exposure of the top margin of the Whin Sill. The sill has been injected into the sandstones of the Tyne Bottom Limestone Cyclothem and now forms the bed of the River Tees for 1.7 km upstream to Holwick Head Bridge [NY 889 283]. The indurate nature of the upper margin of the Whin Sill causes the river to flow over a series of rapids, small waterfalls and through small sharply defined valleys.

=== Locality 8 [NY 904 278] ===

Here there is a large 2–2.5 m thick raft of metamorphosed sandstone in the upper part of the Whin Sill. This 74 m long section of detached roof rock has tilted to an angle of c.20° as it slowly foundered into the crystallising basic magmatic intrusion, producing glassy tachylitic chilled margins to the edge of the sill and in turn being metamorphosed.

=== Locality 9, Wynch Bridge [NY 903 280] ===

Cross over the nineteenth century bridge to view Low Force, a well loved river feature effected by the hard nature and crude columnar jointing of the Whin Sill. Pause on the bridge to note the full extent of the sandstone raft at Locality 8. (The walk can be terminated here. Return to the Bowlees Picnic area, noting in passing the long low, partly wooded hill to the east of the path at the start of the fields: a northwest–southeast oriented, extended, ice moulded heap of glacial debris.)

Walking upriver on the west bank from Wynch Bridge, many features associated with the erosion of the upper contact of the Whin Sill can be noted in the river course. Also the wet nature of the associated valley alluvial deposits makes this section of Teesdale an ideal area for the study of summer wetland plants.

=== Locality 10, Holwick Head Bridge [NY 889 283] ===

Here the nature of the Tees valley changes where the river enters a deeply incised gorge which terminates with the waterfall of High Force [NY 880 284]. Near this bridge the river crosses a major north-northwest–south-southeast fault complex which has the combined effect of some c.75 m downthrow to the east ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]). Indeed the continuation of the Teesdale Fault controls the northwest–southeast direction of the first section of the High Force Gorge.

This locality may also be approached from the public car park and picnic site at High Force [NY 886 287].

=== Locality 11, High Force [NY 881 284] ===

Park as above and take the woodland walks and paths maintained by the Raby Estate to the waterfall. This approach will allow you to see at close hand the bottom section of the Whin Sill where the quartz dolerite magma has been injected into the sandstones of the Tyne Bottom Limestone Cyclothem (again the bottom contact of the sill has a chilled tachylitic margin). The disposition of the rock types viewed at this classic locality can be seen in [[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_3.jpg|Figure 16.3]].

Continuing upstream on the west bank from Holwick Head Bridge, the path ascends a steep slope to a position about halfway up the Whin Sill intrusion, some 73 m thick in this area. The well defined path passes through preserved areas of juniper scrub, remnant areas of woody plant colonisation left after the last, Devensian, glaciation. There are several places where '''''with extreme caution''' ''High Force can be viewed from the rim of the gorge.

=== Locality 12, Top of High Force [NY 880 284] ===

Views of the waterfall and the gorge beyond are spectacular and ''dangerous. ''Flash floods generated by summer storms in the Pennines often surprise the unwary at this locality.

Following the Pennine Way upstream, Bleabeck Force is seen to cascade over the Whin Sill on the south side of the valley [NY 875 278] and on the north side of the Tees there is the active Force Garth Quarry. Here almost the whole thickness of the Whin Sill (often showing working faces with excellent columnar jointing) is worked for roads tone.

The low and ill-drained ground around Pasture Foot ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]) is part of a pre-glacial buried channel now partly choked by till.

=== Locality 13, Bracken Rigg [NY 863 281] ===

The Pennine Way ascends this small but steep hill, an erosional outlier of dolerite, that with Low Crag to the north [NY 863 287] has become detached from the main outcrop of the Whin Sill by post-glacial erosion of the River Tees. The south-facing columnar dolerite cliffs of Dene Holm Scar and the adjacent Tees valley are a splendid sight from the top of Bracken Rigg. Leave the Pennine Way at the western end of Bracken Rigg and walk southwards across the marshy ground of Fell Dike Sike (a continuation of the Pasture Foot buried channel) to join the well defined drove road 'Green Trod'. This possibly Iron Age trans-Pennine routeway can now be followed eastwards across the grouse moors to Holwick. Green Trod follows the Scar Limestone Cyclothem sediments above the Whin Sill and many swallow holes may be seen developed in the Scar Limestone.

=== Locality 14, Low Currick Rigg [NY 895 275] ===

Below lies the dour gritstone Royal hunting lodge, Holwick House, prominently situated on top of a northwest–southeast elongated ice-moulded mound of glacial debris (one of many such glacial features in this part of Teesdale). On the skyline to the northeast is Coldberry Gutter, a man-made 30 m deep valley which cuts the watershed. This prominent feature is a 'hush', produced by mining and repeated flushing which removed some 2.5 million tonnes of waste in the 17th–19th centuries to produce lead ore concentrate.

=== Locality 15, Holwick [NY 901 271] ===

Fine cliffs of columnar dolerite form Holwick Scars and Crossthwaite Scars. These and the side valleys are probably fault controlled ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]), but accentuated by the Devensian glaciation of the valley margin, which also accounts for the modified drainage, glacial deposits and periglacial scree slopes at the foot of these north-facing cliffs ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_4.jpg|Figure 16.4]]).

Walking northwards from Holwick Scars to Low Force (Locality 9) the route passes over two and possibly three faults of the Teesdale Fault complex, with a composite downthrow to the north of c. 100 m.

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Glossary|Glossary]] ==

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Bibliography|Bibliography]] ==

{{EWwalks}}

[[Category:7. Northern England]]

Geology and landscape of Upper Teesdale - an excursion

2020-04-08T16:06:35Z

YGSJET:

{{YGSNorthumbrianRocks}}

[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_1.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 16.1 (a) Geological map and localities in Hudeshope Beck, Middleton-in-Teesdale. (b) Geology of Bowlees Quarry and picnic area.]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 16.2 Geological map of upper Teesdale around High Force. Inset showing localities described in text.]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_3.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 16.3 High Force (Locality 11). WS = Whin Sill; S = metamorphosed sandstone; TBL = Tyne Bottom Limestone. Photo: J. Senior.]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_4.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 16.4 The Whin Sill forming Howick Scars, looking east (Locality 15). Photo: J. Senior.]]

By '''John Senior''' University of Durham.

== Purpose ==

To study the Carboniferous '''cyclothemic''' sediments on the edge of the Caledonian Alston Block; the '''Variscan tectonics''', Whin '''Sill''' and synchronous mineralisation; the Tertiary Cleveland '''Dyke'''; the effects of late Quaternary glaciation and the control of landscape by the underlying geology. Parts of the sequence are very fossiliferous, with '''corals, crinoids''' and '''brachiopods.'''

== Logistics ==

{{YGSLogistics}}

A one-day excursion which may profitably be divided into smaller, more intensive itineraries. Parking places are indicated throughout the text. Food may be obtained in Middleton-in-Teesdale, at High Force and at Holwick.

''Note: ''Although the paths are recognized rights of way they pass through two large estates (Raby and Strathmore). Please observe the countryside code. During the pheasant and grouse shooting seasons, sections of the proposed routes may be temporarily closed.

== Maps ==

O.S. 1:50 000 Sheet 92, Barnard Castle; O.S. 1:25 000 Sheet NY 82/92, Middleton-in-Teesdale; B.G.S. 1:50 000 Sheet 31, Brough-under-Stainmoor; B.G.S. 1:63 360 Sheet 32 Barnard Castle; B.G.S. 1:25 000 Sheet 17, Middleton-in-Teesdale.

== Geological background ==

Upper Teesdale is situated on the southern margin of the Alston Block, part of a structural block and trough system developed in Northern England following the '''Caledonian Orogeny'''. The foundation of the block in the Teesdale area comprises Ordovician '''meta-sediments''' (exposed in the Teesdale '''inlier''' at Cronkley Pasture; NY 846296) and '''volcaniclastic''' deposits (Borrowdale Volcanic Group) into which the Weardale '''Granite''' has been emplaced.

This buoyant structural unit is bounded on its southern margin by the Lunedale–Butterknowle '''Fault''' zone, separating it from the Stainmore Trough, a substantial depositional basin during the Carboniferous period. In the subsiding Stainmore Trough some 2850 m of cyclic Carboniferous sediments are still preserved; equivalent strata on the more stable Alston Block are appreciably thinner. In Teesdale and adjacent areas each Yoredale cyclothem commences with a marine '''transgression''' (usually a limestone which gives a generic name to the whole unit; e.g. Five Yard Limestone Cyclothem) followed by sediments of increasing deltaic influence (shales, silt-stones, flagstones, sandstones or grits, '''seatearths''' and perhaps thin coals). The terrestrially derived sediments represent the infilling of a shallow marine gulf by a southerly '''prograding''' deltaic complex. The number of such Yoredale cyclothems in the North Pennine area suggests that sedimentary basin infill was followed by regional subsidence and/or increase in sea-level, with many repetitions of the sedimentary cycle over many millions of years.

The end-Carboniferous Variscan Orogeny led to reactivation of basement faults and general uplift of the Northern Pennines area. A late orogenic extensional phase resulted in the injection of basic '''magma''' into deep-seated fault zones, some of which acted as feeder dykes for the extensive Whin Sill, a very important '''doleritic''' intrusion in North East England. Upper Teesdale, the southern limit of this '''igneous''' body, was where the intrusive nature of a sill was first recognized by Adam Sedgwick in 1827. The important Northern Pennines mineralization is chronologically associated with this reheating of the basement rocks of the block areas by these basic magmas (Dunham 1990). '''Mineral veins''' (base metals lead, zinc and iron with a little copper, silver and cobalt) are to be found in fault zones cutting the Carboniferous sediments and indeed replacing some of the limestones in particular. The legacy of intensive mining in the past litters the Teesdale landscape.

Post-Variscan faulting in the Teesdale area is complicated by subsequent tectonic episodes (Triassic, intra-Jurassic, early Tertiary and even late Quaternary '''eustatic''' movements) so many faults show different phases and directions of movement and there are some cases of fault inversion. Into one such fault zone were injected basic magmas believed to have originated from the early Tertiary (Palaeocene) Mull volcanic centre. This Cleveland-Armathwaite Dyke '''echelon''' is well represented in Upper Teesdale.

Only features associated with the latest Quaternary (Devensian) glaciation are represented in Upper Teesdale but these have had a profound effect. Much of the landscape is masked by deposits of '''till''' which is of local (Pennine) origin except in the Lunedale and Middleton-in-Teesdale area where distinctive glacial '''erratics''' of Shap Granite and green '''andesitic tuffs''' (Borrowdale Volcanic Group) witness the passage of Lake District ice through the Stainmore pass and Lunedale area onto the South Durham–North Yorkshire plains. Geomorphological features in Upper Teesdale suggest a late Quaternary valley glacier phase with marginal '''moraines''', linear ice moulded debris, glacial '''spillways''' and modified river patterns, as well as outwash sand and gravel deposits which choke the Tees valley.

== Excursion details ==

=== Locality 1, Eggleston Burn [NY 989 252] ===

Approach from Eggleston village via either the B6282 (Middleton-in-Teesdale road) or B6278 (Stanhope road) and the linking minor road ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]). Park on the roadside [NY 990 249], 150 m east of the spectacular gritstone viaduct across Eggleston Burn. Walk along the narrow path on the north side of the road (just to the east of the viaduct) for 100 m to a small ill-defined quarry. Here the Cleveland Dyke crosses the valley and burn in an east–west direction, emplaced into coarse '''feldspathic''' gritstones around the level of the Firestone Sill (Upper Carboniferous). The '''porphyritic tholeiitic''' dolerite of this minor intrusion has been modestly quarried on the east side of the burn for roadstone (trackways lead southwards from the lower section near the burn) and there are signs that the adjacent grits have also been quarried for local walling.

The full c.15 m thickness of the dyke is best seen in the river cliff on the west side of the valley, where it has chilled ('''tachylitic''') margins and the adjacent grits have been mildly contact '''metamorphosed'''. It is, however, difficult from a distance to distinguish the sedimentary bedding of the host rock from the horizontal '''joints''' of the dyke. In the quarry on the east side of the burn the marginal contacts are not well exposed, but the quarry face does exhibit good examples of spheroidal weathering in the dyke.

=== Locality 2, Whistle Crag [NY 978 247] ===

From the lay-by on the B6282 is a panoramic view southwards of the southern marginal area of the Alston Block. Crags of Whin Sill can be seen below the skyline to the right, whilst the Lunedale–Butterknowle Fault runs just below the skyline on the left and out through the Lune Valley to the south. The Tees valley in the foreground is filled by late Quaternary tills and outwash alluvial deposits.

=== Localities 3–5, Hudeshope Beck [NY 947 258]–[NY 948 275] ===

Park in Middleton-in-Teesdale. Walk north from the town on the Stanhope road past the parish chruch. Viewed from the wall on the west side of the road after the last house, the disturbed limestones at river level mark the position where a fault ('''downthrowing''' to the southwest) cuts the deep valley of Hudeshope Beck. Take the first pathway on the west side of the road through the woods on the east side of the beck to the first footbridge.

=== Locality 3 [NY 947 258] ===

The footbridge is sited on the thickest '''post''' of the Three Yard Limestone (Lower Carboniferous, Alston Group) where it also forms a small waterfall ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_1.jpg|Figure 16.1]]a). Downstream the base of the limestone is exposed where it overlies the sandstones, '''ganister''' and thin shale partings at the top of the Five Yard Limestone Cyclothem. In the low river cliffs on the east side of the valley upstream of the footbridge a sequence of thin limestones with intercalated calcareous shales (with scattered corals and crinoidal debris) is gradually replaced vertically by deltaic non-marine shales with ironstone nodules followed by flaggy sandstones, all part of the Three Yard Limestone Cyclothem.

Further upstream the sandstone of the Three Yard Limestone Cyclothem forms a low river cliff. This disappears where a fault (the continuation of the Holm Head Vein), downthrowing c. [o m southeast, cuts the valley in a northeast–southwest direction and results in the repetition of the geological succession so that the second footbridge [NY 947 262] is also sited on the thickest post of the Three Yard Limestone. Around the second footbridge, a c.0.4 m bed of calcareous shale separates the two principal posts of the Three Yard Limestone. As the river bed gradient is the same as the local '''dip''' the stream bed follows the top of the limestone for 150 m upstream where a small fault causes flexure in the top of the upper post.

=== Locality 4 [NY 947 264] ===

A series of tufa-depositing springs are associated with this same fault on the western side of the valley. A large mound of tufa from a former lower spring source is known locally as the 'Growing Stone' (Figure 6. a).

The calcareous shales upstream provide many well preserved examples of crinoid sections, brachiopods, bryozoan colonies and occasional fish teeth. Among boulder debris in the beck are examples of exotic clasts derived from the till cover in this valley, including green andesitic volcaniclastic rocks (Borrowdale Volcanic Group) and Shap Granite from the Lake District, as well as locally derived material including clasts of Frosterley Marble.

Further upstream [NY 948 269] the nature of the Three Yard Limestone Cyclothem changes with non-marine ferruginous shales with septarian sideritic nodules followed by siltstones, flagstones then a more substantial sandstone that forms the lip of a prominent waterfall.

Walking up the Hudeshope valley along the road, the limestones of the succeeding Four Fathom Limestone Cyclothem have been worked in a rather overgrown quarry [NY 949 269] and although somewhat disrupted by faulting these same limestones can be seen forming low cliffs on the west bank of the beck (Figure 16.1a).

=== Locality 5 [NY 948 272] ===

The Four Fathom Limestone is extensively exposed in the river bed upstream of Skears Bridge, where it is also markedly disrupted by calcite-filled tension gashes associated with mineralized faulting. Higher upstream, the sedimentary sequence between the Four Fathom Limestone and the Great Limestone (Namurian, Upper Carboniferous) is seen in a poorly accessible west-facing river cliff. At Skears Scars [NY 948 276] Hudeshope Beck has cut a spectacular gorge through the Great Limestone which commences on the north side at a well exposed partly mineralized fault with 18 m downthrow to the northeast (Hall's Vein; [[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_1.jpg|Figure 16.1]]a). Beds here and in nearby Skears Quarry [NY 949 272], rich in the solitary coral ''Dibunophyllum bipartitum, ''constitute the Frosterley Marble horizon.

Return to the vehicle and leave Middleton-in-Teesdale on the B6277 for Bowlees.

=== Locality 6, Bowlees Picnic site [NY 907 283] ===

Around the old limestone quarry [NY 908 284] there is a wealth ofgeological detail (summarized on [[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_1.jpg|Figure 16.1]]b) which requires careful observation.

Walk upstream on the well-made path from the quarry. Above the quarry fault waterfall, Bow Lee Beck runs over the cross-bedded and channel fill sandstones of the Scar Limestone Cyclothem the top of which is at Gibson's Cave [NY 910 287] where the limestones of the succeeding Five Yard Limestone Cyclothem form the lip of the waterfall.

Leave the picnic area and walk eastwards on the B6277 for 0.6 km before taking the footpath southwest to the River Tees ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]).

=== Locality 7, Scoberry Bridge [NY 910 273] ===

Here the Cockleshell Limestone is exposed with the brachiopod ''Gigantoproductus ''and compound corals (do not hammer this locality). Cross the bridge and walk upstream on the Pennine Way. The gentle downstream dip brings in successively lower strata of the Single Post Limestone Cyclothem and into the top of the Tyne Bottom Limestone Cyclothem. Note the waste heaps from Wynch Mine trials into the Single Post Limestone (iron and zinc replacement ores) to the southwest side of the path some 300–550 m upstream from the bridge (Dunham 1990).

The River Tees changes its character some 200 m upstream from the bridge, caused by the exposure of the top margin of the Whin Sill. The sill has been injected into the sandstones of the Tyne Bottom Limestone Cyclothem and now forms the bed of the River Tees for 1.7 km upstream to Holwick Head Bridge [NY 889 283]. The indurate nature of the upper margin of the Whin Sill causes the river to flow over a series of rapids, small waterfalls and through small sharply defined valleys.

=== Locality 8 [NY 904 278] ===

Here there is a large 2–2.5 m thick raft of metamorphosed sandstone in the upper part of the Whin Sill. This 74 m long section of detached roof rock has tilted to an angle of c.20° as it slowly foundered into the crystallising basic magmatic intrusion, producing glassy tachylitic chilled margins to the edge of the sill and in turn being metamorphosed.

=== Locality 9, Wynch Bridge [NY 903 280] ===

Cross over the nineteenth century bridge to view Low Force, a well loved river feature effected by the hard nature and crude columnar jointing of the Whin Sill. Pause on the bridge to note the full extent of the sandstone raft at Locality 8. (The walk can be terminated here. Return to the Bowlees Picnic area, noting in passing the long low, partly wooded hill to the east of the path at the start of the fields: a northwest–southeast oriented, extended, ice moulded heap of glacial debris.)

Walking upriver on the west bank from Wynch Bridge, many features associated with the erosion of the upper contact of the Whin Sill can be noted in the river course. Also the wet nature of the associated valley alluvial deposits makes this section of Teesdale an ideal area for the study of summer wetland plants.

=== Locality 10, Holwick Head Bridge [NY 889 283] ===

Here the nature of the Tees valley changes where the river enters a deeply incised gorge which terminates with the waterfall of High Force [NY 880 284]. Near this bridge the river crosses a major north-northwest–south-southeast fault complex which has the combined effect of some c.75 m downthrow to the east ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]). Indeed the continuation of the Teesdale Fault controls the northwest–southeast direction of the first section of the High Force Gorge.

This locality may also be approached from the public car park and picnic site at High Force [NY 886 287].

=== Locality 11, High Force [NY 881 284] ===

Park as above and take the woodland walks and paths maintained by the Raby Estate to the waterfall. This approach will allow you to see at close hand the bottom section of the Whin Sill where the quartz dolerite magma has been injected into the sandstones of the Tyne Bottom Limestone Cyclothem (again the bottom contact of the sill has a chilled tachylitic margin). The disposition of the rock types viewed at this classic locality can be seen in [[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_3.jpg|Figure 16.3]].

Continuing upstream on the west bank from Holwick Head Bridge, the path ascends a steep slope to a position about halfway up the Whin Sill intrusion, some 73 m thick in this area. The well defined path passes through preserved areas of juniper scrub, remnant areas of woody plant colonisation left after the last, Devensian, glaciation. There are several places where '''''with extreme caution''' ''High Force can be viewed from the rim of the gorge.

=== Locality 12, Top of High Force [NY 880 284] ===

Views of the waterfall and the gorge beyond are spectacular and ''dangerous. ''Flash floods generated by summer storms in the Pennines often surprise the unwary at this locality.

Following the Pennine Way upstream, Bleabeck Force is seen to cascade over the Whin Sill on the south side of the valley [NY 875 278] and on the north side of the Tees there is the active Force Garth Quarry. Here almost the whole thickness of the Whin Sill (often showing working faces with excellent columnar jointing) is worked for roads tone.

The low and ill-drained ground around Pasture Foot ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]) is part of a pre-glacial buried channel now partly choked by till.

=== Locality 13, Bracken Rigg [NY 863 281] ===

The Pennine Way ascends this small but steep hill, an erosional outlier of dolerite, that with Low Crag to the north [NY 863 287] has become detached from the main outcrop of the Whin Sill by post-glacial erosion of the River Tees. The south-facing columnar dolerite cliffs of Dene Holm Scar and the adjacent Tees valley are a splendid sight from the top of Bracken Rigg. Leave the Pennine Way at the western end of Bracken Rigg and walk southwards across the marshy ground of Fell Dike Sike (a continuation of the Pasture Foot buried channel) to join the well defined drove road 'Green Trod'. This possibly Iron Age trans-Pennine routeway can now be followed eastwards across the grouse moors to Holwick. Green Trod follows the Scar Limestone Cyclothem sediments above the Whin Sill and many swallow holes may be seen developed in the Scar Limestone.

=== Locality 14, Low Currick Rigg [NY 895 275] ===

Below lies the dour gritstone Royal hunting lodge, Holwick House, prominently situated on top of a northwest–southeast elongated ice-moulded mound of glacial debris (one of many such glacial features in this part of Teesdale). On the skyline to the northeast is Coldberry Gutter, a man-made 30 m deep valley which cuts the watershed. This prominent feature is a 'hush', produced by mining and repeated flushing which removed some 2.5 million tonnes of waste in the 17th–19th centuries to produce lead ore concentrate.

=== Locality 15, Holwick [NY 901 271] ===

Fine cliffs of columnar dolerite form Holwick Scars and Crossthwaite Scars. These and the side valleys are probably fault controlled ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]), but accentuated by the Devensian glaciation of the valley margin, which also accounts for the modified drainage, glacial deposits and periglacial scree slopes at the foot of these north-facing cliffs ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_4.jpg|Figure 16.4]]).

Walking northwards from Holwick Scars to Low Force (Locality 9) the route passes over two and possibly three faults of the Teesdale Fault complex, with a composite downthrow to the north of c. 100 m.

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Glossary|Glossary]] ==

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Bibliography|Bibliography]] ==

{{EWwalks}}

[[Category:7. Northern England]]

Geology and landscape of Upper Teesdale - an excursion

2020-04-08T16:04:21Z

YGSJET:

{{YGSNorthumbrianRocks}}

[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_1.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 16.1 (a) Geological map and localities in Hudeshope Beck, Middleton-in-Teesdale. (b) Geology of Bowlees Quarry and picnic area.]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 16.2 Geological map of upper Teesdale around High Force. Inset showing localities described in text.]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_3.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 16.3 High Force (Locality 11). WS = Whin Sill; S = metamorphosed sandstone; TBL = Tyne Bottom Limestone. Photo: J. Senior.]]
[[File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_4.jpg|thumbnail|Figure 16.4 The Whin Sill forming Howick Scars, looking east (Locality 15). Photo: J. Senior.]]

By '''John Senior''' University of Durham.

== Purpose ==

To study the Carboniferous '''cyclothemic''' sediments on the edge of the Caledonian Alston Block; the '''Variscan tectonics''', Whin '''Sill''' and synchronous mineralisation; the Tertiary Cleveland '''Dyke'''; the effects of late Quaternary glaciation and the control of landscape by the underlying geology. Parts of the sequence are very fossiliferous, with '''corals, crinoids''' and '''brachiopods.'''

== Logistics ==

{{YGSLogistics}}

A one-day excursion which may profitably be divided into smaller, more intensive itineraries. Parking places are indicated throughout the text. Food may be obtained in Middleton-in-Teesdale, at High Force and at Holwick.

''Note: ''Although the paths are recognized rights of way they pass through two large estates (Raby and Strathmore). Please observe the countryside code. During the pheasant and grouse shooting seasons, sections of the proposed routes may be temporarily closed.

== Maps ==

O.S. 1:50 000 Sheet 92, Barnard Castle; O.S. 1:25 000 Sheet NY 82/92, Middleton-in-Teesdale; B.G.S. 1:50 000 Sheet 31, Brough-under-Stainmoor; B.G.S. 1:63 360 Sheet 32 Barnard Castle; B.G.S. 1:25 000 Sheet 17, Middleton-in-Teesdale.

== Geological background ==

Upper Teesdale is situated on the southern margin of the Alston Block, part of a structural block and trough system developed in Northern England following the '''Caledonian Orogeny'''. The foundation of the block in the Teesdale area comprises Ordovician '''meta-sediments''' (exposed in the Teesdale '''inlier''' at Cronkley Pasture; NY 846296) and '''volcaniclastic''' deposits (Borrowdale Volcanic Group) into which the Weardale '''Granite''' has been emplaced.

This buoyant structural unit is bounded on its southern margin by the Lunedale–Butterknowle '''Fault''' zone, separating it from the Stainmore Trough, a substantial depositional basin during the Carboniferous period. In the subsiding Stainmore Trough some 2850 m of cyclic Carboniferous sediments are still preserved; equivalent strata on the more stable Alston Block are appreciably thinner. In Teesdale and adjacent areas each Yoredale cyclothem commences with a marine '''transgression''' (usually a limestone which gives a generic name to the whole unit; e.g. Five Yard Limestone Cyclothem) followed by sediments of increasing deltaic influence (shales, silt-stones, flagstones, sandstones or grits, '''seatearths''' and perhaps thin coals). The terrestrially derived sediments represent the infilling of a shallow marine gulf by a southerly '''prograding''' deltaic complex. The number of such Yoredale cyclothems in the North Pennine area suggests that sedimentary basin infill was followed by regional subsidence and/or increase in sea-level, with many repetitions of the sedimentary cycle over many millions of years.

The end-Carboniferous Variscan Orogeny led to reactivation of basement faults and general uplift of the Northern Pennines area. A late orogenic extensional phase resulted in the injection of basic '''magma''' into deep-seated fault zones, some of which acted as feeder dykes for the extensive Whin Sill, a very important '''doleritic''' intrusion in North East England. Upper Teesdale, the southern limit of this '''igneous''' body, was where the intrusive nature of a sill was first recognized by Adam Sedgwick in 1827. The important Northern Pennines mineralization is chronologically associated with this reheating of the basement rocks of the block areas by these basic magmas (Dunham 1990). '''Mineral veins''' (base metals lead, zinc and iron with a little copper, silver and cobalt) are to be found in fault zones cutting the Carboniferous sediments and indeed replacing some of the limestones in particular. The legacy of intensive mining in the past litters the Teesdale landscape.

Post-Variscan faulting in the Teesdale area is complicated by subsequent tectonic episodes (Triassic, intra-Jurassic, early Tertiary and even late Quaternary '''eustatic''' movements) so many faults show different phases and directions of movement and there are some cases of fault inversion. Into one such fault zone were injected basic magmas believed to have originated from the early Tertiary (Palaeocene) Mull volcanic centre. This Cleveland-Armathwaite Dyke '''echelon''' is well represented in Upper Teesdale.

Only features associated with the latest Quaternary (Devensian) glaciation are represented in Upper Teesdale but these have had a profound effect. Much of the landscape is masked by deposits of '''till''' which is of local (Pennine) origin except in the Lunedale and Middleton-in-Teesdale area where distinctive glacial '''erratics''' of Shap Granite and green '''andesitic tuffs''' (Borrowdale Volcanic Group) witness the passage of Lake District ice through the Stainmore pass and Lunedale area onto the South Durham–North Yorkshire plains. Geomorphological features in Upper Teesdale suggest a late Quaternary valley glacier phase with marginal '''moraines''', linear ice moulded debris, glacial '''spillways''' and modified river patterns, as well as outwash sand and gravel deposits which choke the Tees valley.

== Excursion details ==

=== Locality 1, Eggleston Burn [NY 989 252] ===

Approach from Eggleston village via either the B6282 (Middleton-in-Teesdale road) or B6278 (Stanhope road) and the linking minor road ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]). Park on the roadside [NY 990 249], 150 m east of the spectacular gritstone viaduct across Eggleston Burn. Walk along the narrow path on the north side of the road (just to the east of the viaduct) for 100 m to a small ill-defined quarry. Here the Cleveland Dyke crosses the valley and burn in an east–west direction, emplaced into coarse '''feldspathic''' gritstones around the level of the Firestone Sill (Upper Carboniferous). The '''porphyritic tholeiitic''' dolerite of this minor intrusion has been modestly quarried on the east side of the burn for roadstone (trackways lead southwards from the lower section near the burn) and there are signs that the adjacent grits have also been quarried for local walling.

The full c.15 m thickness of the dyke is best seen in the river cliff on the west side of the valley, where it has chilled ('''tachylitic''') margins and the adjacent grits have been mildly contact '''metamorphosed'''. It is, however, difficult from a distance to distinguish the sedimentary bedding of the host rock from the horizontal '''joints''' of the dyke. In the quarry on the east side of the burn the marginal contacts are not well exposed, but the quarry face does exhibit good examples of spheroidal weathering in the dyke.

=== Locality 2, Whistle Crag [NY 978 247] ===

From the lay-by on the B6282 is a panoramic view southwards of the southern marginal area of the Alston Block. Crags of Whin Sill can be seen below the skyline to the right, whilst the Lunedale–Butterknowle Fault runs just below the skyline on the left and out through the Lune Valley to the south. The Tees valley in the foreground is filled by late Quaternary tills and outwash alluvial deposits.

=== Localities 3–5, Hudeshope Beck [NY 947 258]–[NY 948 275] ===

Park in Middleton-in-Teesdale. Walk north from the town on the Stanhope road past the parish chruch. Viewed from the wall on the west side of the road after the last house, the disturbed limestones at river level mark the position where a fault (downthrowing to the southwest) cuts the deep valley of Hudeshope Beck. Take the first pathway on the west side of the road through the woods on the east side of the beck to the first footbridge.

=== Locality 3 [NY 947 258] ===

The footbridge is sited on the thickest post of the Three Yard Limestone (Lower Carboniferous, Alston Group) where it also forms a small waterfall ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_1.jpg|Figure 16.1]]a). Downstream the base of the limestone is exposed where it overlies the sandstones, ganister and thin shale partings at the top of the Five Yard Limestone Cyclothem. In the low river cliffs on the east side of the valley upstream of the footbridge a sequence of thin limestones with intercalated calcareous shales (with scattered corals and crinoidal debris) is gradually replaced vertically by deltaic non-marine shales with ironstone nodules followed by flaggy sandstones, all part of the Three Yard Limestone Cyclothem.

Further upstream the sandstone of the Three Yard Limestone Cyclothem forms a low river cliff. This disappears where a fault (the continuation of the Holm Head Vein), downthrowing c. [o m southeast, cuts the valley in a northeast–southwest direction and results in the repetition of the geological succession so that the second footbridge [NY 947 262] is also sited on the thickest post of the Three Yard Limestone. Around the second footbridge, a c.0.4 m bed of calcareous shale separates the two principal posts of the Three Yard Limestone. As the river bed gradient is the same as the local dip the stream bed follows the top of the limestone for 150 m upstream where a small fault causes flexure in the top of the upper post.

=== Locality 4 [NY 947 264] ===

A series of tufa-depositing springs are associated with this same fault on the western side of the valley. A large mound of tufa from a former lower spring source is known locally as the 'Growing Stone' (Figure 6. a).

The calcareous shales upstream provide many well preserved examples of crinoid sections, brachiopods, bryozoan colonies and occasional fish teeth. Among boulder debris in the beck are examples of exotic clasts derived from the till cover in this valley, including green andesitic volcaniclastic rocks (Borrowdale Volcanic Group) and Shap Granite from the Lake District, as well as locally derived material including clasts of Frosterley Marble.

Further upstream [NY 948 269] the nature of the Three Yard Limestone Cyclothem changes with non-marine ferruginous shales with septarian sideritic nodules followed by siltstones, flagstones then a more substantial sandstone that forms the lip of a prominent waterfall.

Walking up the Hudeshope valley along the road, the limestones of the succeeding Four Fathom Limestone Cyclothem have been worked in a rather overgrown quarry [NY 949 269] and although somewhat disrupted by faulting these same limestones can be seen forming low cliffs on the west bank of the beck (Figure 16.1a).

=== Locality 5 [NY 948 272] ===

The Four Fathom Limestone is extensively exposed in the river bed upstream of Skears Bridge, where it is also markedly disrupted by calcite-filled tension gashes associated with mineralized faulting. Higher upstream, the sedimentary sequence between the Four Fathom Limestone and the Great Limestone (Namurian, Upper Carboniferous) is seen in a poorly accessible west-facing river cliff. At Skears Scars [NY 948 276] Hudeshope Beck has cut a spectacular gorge through the Great Limestone which commences on the north side at a well exposed partly mineralized fault with 18 m downthrow to the northeast (Hall's Vein; [[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_1.jpg|Figure 16.1]]a). Beds here and in nearby Skears Quarry [NY 949 272], rich in the solitary coral ''Dibunophyllum bipartitum, ''constitute the Frosterley Marble horizon.

Return to the vehicle and leave Middleton-in-Teesdale on the B6277 for Bowlees.

=== Locality 6, Bowlees Picnic site [NY 907 283] ===

Around the old limestone quarry [NY 908 284] there is a wealth ofgeological detail (summarized on [[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_1.jpg|Figure 16.1]]b) which requires careful observation.

Walk upstream on the well-made path from the quarry. Above the quarry fault waterfall, Bow Lee Beck runs over the cross-bedded and channel fill sandstones of the Scar Limestone Cyclothem the top of which is at Gibson's Cave [NY 910 287] where the limestones of the succeeding Five Yard Limestone Cyclothem form the lip of the waterfall.

Leave the picnic area and walk eastwards on the B6277 for 0.6 km before taking the footpath southwest to the River Tees ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]).

=== Locality 7, Scoberry Bridge [NY 910 273] ===

Here the Cockleshell Limestone is exposed with the brachiopod ''Gigantoproductus ''and compound corals (do not hammer this locality). Cross the bridge and walk upstream on the Pennine Way. The gentle downstream dip brings in successively lower strata of the Single Post Limestone Cyclothem and into the top of the Tyne Bottom Limestone Cyclothem. Note the waste heaps from Wynch Mine trials into the Single Post Limestone (iron and zinc replacement ores) to the southwest side of the path some 300–550 m upstream from the bridge (Dunham 1990).

The River Tees changes its character some 200 m upstream from the bridge, caused by the exposure of the top margin of the Whin Sill. The sill has been injected into the sandstones of the Tyne Bottom Limestone Cyclothem and now forms the bed of the River Tees for 1.7 km upstream to Holwick Head Bridge [NY 889 283]. The indurate nature of the upper margin of the Whin Sill causes the river to flow over a series of rapids, small waterfalls and through small sharply defined valleys.

=== Locality 8 [NY 904 278] ===

Here there is a large 2–2.5 m thick raft of metamorphosed sandstone in the upper part of the Whin Sill. This 74 m long section of detached roof rock has tilted to an angle of c.20° as it slowly foundered into the crystallising basic magmatic intrusion, producing glassy tachylitic chilled margins to the edge of the sill and in turn being metamorphosed.

=== Locality 9, Wynch Bridge [NY 903 280] ===

Cross over the nineteenth century bridge to view Low Force, a well loved river feature effected by the hard nature and crude columnar jointing of the Whin Sill. Pause on the bridge to note the full extent of the sandstone raft at Locality 8. (The walk can be terminated here. Return to the Bowlees Picnic area, noting in passing the long low, partly wooded hill to the east of the path at the start of the fields: a northwest–southeast oriented, extended, ice moulded heap of glacial debris.)

Walking upriver on the west bank from Wynch Bridge, many features associated with the erosion of the upper contact of the Whin Sill can be noted in the river course. Also the wet nature of the associated valley alluvial deposits makes this section of Teesdale an ideal area for the study of summer wetland plants.

=== Locality 10, Holwick Head Bridge [NY 889 283] ===

Here the nature of the Tees valley changes where the river enters a deeply incised gorge which terminates with the waterfall of High Force [NY 880 284]. Near this bridge the river crosses a major north-northwest–south-southeast fault complex which has the combined effect of some c.75 m downthrow to the east ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]). Indeed the continuation of the Teesdale Fault controls the northwest–southeast direction of the first section of the High Force Gorge.

This locality may also be approached from the public car park and picnic site at High Force [NY 886 287].

=== Locality 11, High Force [NY 881 284] ===

Park as above and take the woodland walks and paths maintained by the Raby Estate to the waterfall. This approach will allow you to see at close hand the bottom section of the Whin Sill where the quartz dolerite magma has been injected into the sandstones of the Tyne Bottom Limestone Cyclothem (again the bottom contact of the sill has a chilled tachylitic margin). The disposition of the rock types viewed at this classic locality can be seen in [[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_3.jpg|Figure 16.3]].

Continuing upstream on the west bank from Holwick Head Bridge, the path ascends a steep slope to a position about halfway up the Whin Sill intrusion, some 73 m thick in this area. The well defined path passes through preserved areas of juniper scrub, remnant areas of woody plant colonisation left after the last, Devensian, glaciation. There are several places where '''''with extreme caution''' ''High Force can be viewed from the rim of the gorge.

=== Locality 12, Top of High Force [NY 880 284] ===

Views of the waterfall and the gorge beyond are spectacular and ''dangerous. ''Flash floods generated by summer storms in the Pennines often surprise the unwary at this locality.

Following the Pennine Way upstream, Bleabeck Force is seen to cascade over the Whin Sill on the south side of the valley [NY 875 278] and on the north side of the Tees there is the active Force Garth Quarry. Here almost the whole thickness of the Whin Sill (often showing working faces with excellent columnar jointing) is worked for roads tone.

The low and ill-drained ground around Pasture Foot ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]) is part of a pre-glacial buried channel now partly choked by till.

=== Locality 13, Bracken Rigg [NY 863 281] ===

The Pennine Way ascends this small but steep hill, an erosional outlier of dolerite, that with Low Crag to the north [NY 863 287] has become detached from the main outcrop of the Whin Sill by post-glacial erosion of the River Tees. The south-facing columnar dolerite cliffs of Dene Holm Scar and the adjacent Tees valley are a splendid sight from the top of Bracken Rigg. Leave the Pennine Way at the western end of Bracken Rigg and walk southwards across the marshy ground of Fell Dike Sike (a continuation of the Pasture Foot buried channel) to join the well defined drove road 'Green Trod'. This possibly Iron Age trans-Pennine routeway can now be followed eastwards across the grouse moors to Holwick. Green Trod follows the Scar Limestone Cyclothem sediments above the Whin Sill and many swallow holes may be seen developed in the Scar Limestone.

=== Locality 14, Low Currick Rigg [NY 895 275] ===

Below lies the dour gritstone Royal hunting lodge, Holwick House, prominently situated on top of a northwest–southeast elongated ice-moulded mound of glacial debris (one of many such glacial features in this part of Teesdale). On the skyline to the northeast is Coldberry Gutter, a man-made 30 m deep valley which cuts the watershed. This prominent feature is a 'hush', produced by mining and repeated flushing which removed some 2.5 million tonnes of waste in the 17th–19th centuries to produce lead ore concentrate.

=== Locality 15, Holwick [NY 901 271] ===

Fine cliffs of columnar dolerite form Holwick Scars and Crossthwaite Scars. These and the side valleys are probably fault controlled ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_2.jpg|Figure 16.2]]), but accentuated by the Devensian glaciation of the valley margin, which also accounts for the modified drainage, glacial deposits and periglacial scree slopes at the foot of these north-facing cliffs ([[:File:YGS_NORTROCK_FIG_16_4.jpg|Figure 16.4]]).

Walking northwards from Holwick Scars to Low Force (Locality 9) the route passes over two and possibly three faults of the Teesdale Fault complex, with a composite downthrow to the north of c. 100 m.

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Glossary|Glossary]] ==

== [[Northumbrian rocks and landscape: a field guide#Bibliography|Bibliography]] ==

{{EWwalks}}

[[Category:7. Northern England]]