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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.
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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
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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. 
Richard Bell, richard@willowisland.co.uk |
