Martley has three geological trails, none to the South. Ian proposed that a walking route written in the 90s by Keith and Audrey Trumper (who started the Path-or-Nones footpath maintenance group, still going) would form the basis of a geology trail that crossed formations with excellent views useful for interpretation.
On Saturday 22nd March, four of us had a close look at the area; Natalie Watkins provided the professional input, the rest of us tagged along, making what we thought were useful comments.
If the trail IS to come to fruition then funding will be required for art and design, printing and so on; David is looking into this. The route veers from the original walking route (No 9 if you are interested, see it HERE on the PONS web site) and is not yet settled but will be around 6 miles and is hilly. The formations crossed, or nearby, are Bromsgrove Sandstone and Sidmouth Mudstone (Triassic), Haffield Breccia (Permian), Highley Fmn (Carboniferous), Wyche Fmn, Wenlock, Raglan Mudstone (Silurian) and good views through the Teme gap by Osebury Rock and of the Bromyard Plateau (Devonian). We spent time scrabbling about in some of the many quarries on Ankerdine, now deep in a mixed woodland, and from which several local buildings have been made. These include most of the old church, though there are other materials from whence we know not where. Incidentally the church is undergoing conversion to a dwelling and we were kindly allowed to look around by the builder. Capturing our attention too, the wheel of the apple press by the Talbot (see pic) is a coarse version of, we concluded, the local Wyche Fmn. In our travels we collected samples of Wyche and the variation was instructive in itself, from fine silty material to coarse, gravelly, proving the existence of different environments all those years ago (+-420Ma) in the early Silurian.
Finally we were kindly entertained to tea and sweet things by always welcoming Nigel and Sarah in their delightful cottage, uniquely placed on the East Malvern Fault, with Silurian, Permian and Triassic in their back garden.