Cumbria GeoConservation (CGC) is the group formerly known as Cumbria RIGS Group. The group was set up in 1992 and operates as a special interest group of Cumbria Wildlife Trust (CWT). There are now around 280 Local Geological Sites in Cumbria reflecting all aspects of the county’s geology and geomorphology. Through the local planning system the designation is intended to protect important geological sites from inappropriate development, as well as to encourage everyone to appreciate and enjoy the geology of our county.
Since 2014 the CGC group has met informally in the field to visit and review geological sites, and has recently started negotiating more active conservation management with landowners and managers. Over time many sites have become overgrown, their access lost or quarries infilled. Recent discussions with LDNP Rangers will hopefully lead to clearance of obscuring vegetation from some LGS quarries, such as Brown How, Blawith, LGS 7/027 (SD 289901) and Scout Scar Quarries near Kendal LGS 7/128 (SD 487925).
We have recently been working with Marshalls Stone at Birkhams quarry, St Bees Head, LGS 4/030 (NX 956154), where St Bees Sandstone is extracted, outside the bird nesting season, for conservation building stone. Two interpretation panels, one for geology and one describing the quarrying process, will be mounted on blocks of quarried stone and placed just outside the quarry, at a strategic location on two long distance paths; Wainwright’s Coast to Coast and the England Coast Path.
Great progress has also been made at Eycott Hill, CWT’s latest reserve. Geological interpretation panels, designed by Elizabeth Pickett, are in preparation, for the car park and for a viewing platform on the first lava outcrop encountered on a waymarked trail around the reserve. A geological trail is also planned. A short video film featuring John Rodgers of the CGS explaining the geology for non-specialists has stimulated a wish list for similar videos for other LGS.
Recent survey visits have identified certain problem sites, for example Hodgson Howe Quarry, Keswick LGS 7/079, (NY 242236) where despite being by the roadside, access and visibility is made next to impossible by a locked gate, barbed wire, soft slurry in the quarry floor and abundant tree growth obscuring the steeply dipping Skiddaw Group exposure in the quarry walls. This quarry is the site where Edgar Shackleton found the graptolite Azyograptus lapworthii, which was formerly displayed in Keswick Museum. For this reason the site should be archived, but it cannot be recommended for a visit. At Park Wood, Isel LGS 7/125 (NY 167348), the contacts between the underlying Skiddaw Group, the Cockermouth Lavas and Carboniferous Limestone can no long be seen, while the adjacent site of Clints Crag and Thackray Wood LGS 7/067 (NY 160357) also needs a thorough review. A good LGS site for Cockermouth Lavas is required and Gill Beck, Blindcrake (NY149343) is currently being considered. We are looking to make use of the expertise of CGS members in surveying and reviewing sites and suggesting new ones. Please contact Sylvia Woodhead if you are interested in being involved in the work of Cumbria GeoConservation.
SW 16 March 2016
