MARTLEY AUDIT
Coal

There be coal on that there Berrow! A longish afternoon and evening trip with Julie (in charge of Martley Geological audit) to check up on a few things (she said) led us into primeval swamps and exposed hillsides in quest of several holy grails. Quarries on Ankerdine, very close to the road edge, some type of conformity. I am not sure if it was ‘non’, ‘dis’ or ‘un’. Noduley Silurian underneath, not Triassic as documented, but very clearly Permian Breccia as on the Berrow, with its redness leaving classical staining in the underlying limestone. With a bit (lot) of cleaning this would be an excellent site but access is not available.

From there, downhill, a bit of tramping about then bingo, the little petrifying stream, trickling away in its woodland glade, turning to stone twigs, moss and snailshells, no competition for Southstone Rock up the valley but a gem all the same.

Moving just a little way north on to the southern slopes of the Berrow, first we checked out the Permian pit–Haffield Breccia–where you can see tumbled, rounded boulders loosely cemented with angular gravels and fines. This pit, on a south reaching spur of the hill commands simply wonderful views down the Teme valley to the Malverns and Forest of Dean, with Cotswolds eastward. Spade on shoulder and with some anticipation we then headed up the steep hill and into the rough woodland.

Immediately we came upon a volcano like crater, 2m deep, 15m across, reputed to be an old coal pit. We dug small test holes to find grey carboniferous deposits. Moving west, around the hill fifty or so metres we again dug and this time struck gold, black gold! Small glistening lumps of coal, in support of the ancient records that state that there were coal pits years ago. Julie took samples for EHT to check out and I was thrilled because it had been an aim of mine for some years to find Martley coal.
After a break, the indefatigable Julie decided on a high speed tour of limestones on Rodge Hill

and also on the track north of the farm of the same name. Loaded down with samples we called it a day as dusk settled. Thanks for the tour, Julie! All of the evidence she collected will go towards greater accuracy in the audit of the geology of Martley.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Water
It has rained a great deal lately, hasn’t it?

Do you think we should change the name, as some wag suggested, from Martley Rock to Martley Rock Pool(s)? OK so we’ve bought a pump and with Mike’s generator successfully drained the area on May 6th. It rained again this week, didn’t it? Can you see a pattern developing?

Interpretation Boards–one is up, the others should be very shortly, but the weather has delayed site work; the intention now is to wait for fine weather then go fix not only the two remaining interpretation displays but also the boundary signs that have been received from Graham Signs in Malvern. These will be fixed so it is clear to our visitors where one geological period ends and the next commences.