Please note the following amendments and additions to the winter lecture series.
November 12th 2025 will now be “Glacial readvances of western Cumbria; their relevance to hydrogeological modelling.” by Jon Merritt (BGS) at Crosthwaite Parish Rooms.
December 10th 2025 will now be “The Windermere Supergroup: what does it tell us about the evolution of Avalonia?” by Emeritus Professor Ben Kneller (Aberdeen University) at Crosthwaite Parish Rooms.
An additional talk is now scheduled for April 22nd 2026 : “Supergene mineralisation in the Lake District – are the Caldbeck Fells a special case?” by Brian Young (Hon. Res. Fellow, Durham University). Crosthwaite Parish Rooms (tbc).
Full details of the winter lecture series are on the Events page.
Leader: David Cronshaw, who led the very successful 2025 trip to Snowdonia (Geology and Scenery). Provisional itinerary.
Cost: £600 per attendee which includes:
In-course minibus transport for all trips.
Full board including picnic lunches.
Single and twin rooms most with en suite
Travel: rail travel is possible, subject to Sunday schedules. There is a bus from Shrewsbury bus station to Montford Bridge, which is then a 15-minute walk from Preston Montford. Shrewsbury Railway Station has a taxi rank outside and Preston Montford is a 10-minute journey.
Numbers are limited, booking priority will be given to members who wrote to Phil to express interest by 30 September 2025 and have paid the initial deposit by 31 October and then on a first booked basis.
Members wishing to attend should do two things to confirm their booking:
transfer £150 initial non-refundable deposit to the Society’s field trip account by 31 October 2025 (not the usual account used for paying membership subscriptions).
email Helen James to confirm their transfer of initial deposit and to indicate whether a single or twin room is required . If a twin, please add name of person sharing with. There is a £25 pp reduction for sharing.
Cumberland Geological Society Field trip account
Account name: Cumberland Geological Society
Sort code: 20-18-47
Account number: 90207128
Payment reference should include ‘attendee name’
The balance of £450 will need to be paid by 29 May 2026
Dr Nigel Woodcock, Cambridge University, will give a talk on “The Acadian Orogeny – British & Irish slate belts and their relationship to Devonian granite emplacement.”
Led by David Cronshaw, who led the very successful 2025 trip to Snowdonia (Geology and Scenery).
David’s technique in Wales was to do the trip during the day then meet for a review after dinner. Presumably similar approach in Shropshire.
‘Official’ start will be 1300h on Monday 24 August. People staying the night before have a free morning on Monday (Shrewsbury is nearby).
OK to arrive on the Monday morning instead.
Full board including picnic lunches.
Single and twin rooms ‘most with en suite’.
Cost – expected to be under £600 per head including in-course transport.
Travel by rail is possible: there is a bus from Shrewsbury bus station to Montford Bridge, which is then a 15-minute walk from Preston Montford. Shrewsbury Railway Station has a taxi rank outside and Preston Montford is a 10-minute journey.
For Snowdonia we planned on 16 attendees but got 20!Â
Assuming there’s sufficient interest the trip will be confirmed and more detailed information, including expected plan for the week and booking information, will follow.
Assuming similar to 2025 arrangements, attendee booking will be direct with Field Studies Council and entails payment of 50%.
Please let Phil Davies know as soon as possible if you think you will be interested in this one.
Eycott Hill Car Park Cumbria Wildlife Trust Car Park Berrier CA11 0SQ
DETAILS
* PLEASE NOTE AMENDED START TIME OF 1 PM *
Leader: Ian Francis
An afternoon excursion to Eycott Hill nature reserve to examine rocks and geomorphology at the site location of the Eycott Volcanic Group, a mid-Ordovician (Caradoc) sequence of basaltic andesite and andesite lava flows and sills, including an unusual porphyritic andesite lithology exposed near the base of the sequence. If time permits we will also visit Fairy Knott, north of Naddle Crag, where faulting reveals an exposure of the underlying Skiddaw Group.
The excursion will be held jointly with the Cumbria Wildlife Trust
Francis, I. , Holmes, S. & Yardley, B. 2022 The Lake District: Landscape and Geology Crowood Press pp 149-151
Gate, S. H. 1971 Excursion to the Eycott Lavas Proc Cumb Geol. Soc. Vol 3 Part 2 pp105-108
Rogers, J. 2017Â Proc. Cumb. Geol. Soc. Vol 8 (2016-2017) Part 4 pp 542-543
Smith, A. 2019 Lakeland Rocks Crowood Press pp 28-30
Technical:
Eastwood, T. et al 1968 Geology of the Country around Cockermouth and Caldbeck HMSO pp pp46-7
Millward, D, and Molyneaux, S G. 1992. Field and Biostratigraphic Evidence for an unconformity at the base of Eycott Volcanic Group in the Lake District. Geological Magazine, Vol.129/1, p.77-92.
Millward, D et al., 2000. The Eycott Volcanic Group, an Ordovician continental margin andesite suite in the English Lake District. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, Vol.53, 81-96.
