The Earth Beneath our Feet

Sunday, 29th May 2005

trainer

Not much time for drawing today, and, when I did get the time, the most interesting subject I could see in my immediate vicinity was my feet (luckily, I take them with me wherever I go).

I led a walk this afternoon, the theme of which was looking at the Earth beneath our feet in the familiar surroundings of my home town, Horbury. Pat Place, the Horbury correspondent of the Wakefield Express wrote this account of the walk:

St Peter's Church

HORBURY WALK: Thirty-two people, from a young boy to those of us of 'more mature' years, gathered by St Peter's Church to join a geological walk organised by local author and naturalist Richard Bell on Sunday as part of Yorkshire Geology Month. Our meeting place perfectly illustrated the architect John Carr's knowledge of the stone used in the design of St Peter's Church. The renowned architect was a quarryman before he began his career in the design of buildings. I have seen the church many thousands of times but never noticed so closely the draped effect on the pillars nor the many other details, which were revealed to us by Richard's talk.

St Peter's Church
Addingford railway cutting

Addingford

The walk continued on to Shepstye where the difference in the stone used in the walls there and of the stone's original formation were pointed out. Proceeding down the steps to Addingford, rock was seen in its natural setting. Evidently there were, in the far distant past, dragonflies with an 18-inch wingspan flitting around the river valley, not something I'd want hovering over my picnic!

Horbury, 300 million years ago
Horbury, 300 million years ago


Horbury Quarry

Horbury Quarry

At the old quarry off Quarry Hill Richard told us many interesting facts about the creation of these rock faces and the difference in the layers which we could see there. There are so many buildings in Horbury made from the stone hewn from that quarry and the one on Storrs Hill, it was amazing to realise the natural processes needed to get to that point. It was a very pleasant , sociable afternoon, meeting and talking to new people. I never thought much about the geology of where we live, but it is in fact the history of Horbury - as Richard explained. Thank you, Richard for a very different and interesting afternoon.'

My thanks to Pat for writing the report. Next Page

Richard Bell, richard@willowisland.co.uk