Not all geological formations are formed over billions of years; some are formed in a matter of decades by human intervention! And this is one such example.
To look at this scenic park, you would not think that over 30 years ago this was a busy industrial area producing vast quantities of bricks. Bricks produced here have been used for many local buildings, as well as land marks such as Battersea Power station, the London sewers, and were even shipped to Australia, the Falklands and Antarctica! I have even found a couple mudlarking along the Thames!
The whole of the country park and a few other places nearby are old clay pits, and were formed by years of mining clay to make bricks.
Bricks have been produced all over the local area since Roman times. These days, only a few brick makers remain, in Warnham and Rudgwick.
The success of the industry in this area is due to the properties of the local clay that made the bricks particularly strong.
A relatively untouched area of mined clay can be seen at GZ, as well as another interesting bit of mining history in the footpath! On the way to this area you can see many of the old Southwater bricks along the way. The paths in this area are not so well maintained, so it is not wheelchair or pram accessible.
If you are approaching from the park, it may be a little tricky to find so I advise heading round the North of Lennoxwood Lake and taking the path at N51 01.299 W000 21.123. If you are just stopping by for this cache, there is plenty of street parking available in the nearby residential roads to the West, and there is a footpath through just North of the cache site.
So! To how to claim the cache! All but questions 4 and 5 require some online research.
- What is the name of the type of clay in this area?
- When was this clay formed?
- What very old item of interest was dug out of the clay pits here?
- At this location, look at the mined area. Describe what you think was the method used to mine the clay.
- What bit of mining history can be seen here in the footpath parallel to the lake HINT: Due to poor GPS reception here, I'll tell you that it is right in the footpath, and metallic. Walk up and down the path a bit and you should find it!
- Not mandatory, but a photo of you or your group would be great!
Please email me your answers to me through my Geocaching profile before logging your find.
References:
- "Winning The Clay" - An illustrated history of brickmaking in Southwater
- Horsham museum