The cache is laid just off the road in the Rossendale Valley, there is ample parking at the cache site and a footpath to the site.
There is an information board on the way to the cache which will help you answer the required questions.
The rocks which underlie most of the area were formed in ancient tropical seas, river deltas and rainforests. The dramatic Whin Sill was once molten, and the area's mineral deposits crystallized from hot fluids deep underground. The rocks along the Pennine escarpment tell of a long-vanished ocean, volcanoes and deserts. In the more recent geological past, vast ice sheets smoothed and sculpted the landscape. The arrival of people after the ice age heralded a new stage in the evolution of the Pennines – a landscape that is continually evolving through natural processes and human activity.
The North Pennines is mainly made up of rocks which formed during the Carboniferous Period of Earth history, around 350 to 300 million years ago. These layers of limestone, sandstone and shale form the area's distinctive terraced hillsides and flat-topped hills.Large rivers drained into the sea from hills to the north. They washed mud and sand into the sea, forming vast deltas. In time, the deltas built far out into the sea. Layers of mud and sand settled on the sea floor, burying the marine life and eventually hardening into shale and sandstone.The deltas built up above sea level into vast swampy areas, similar to the Mississippi delta today. The North Pennines would have been covered in a lush swamp of giant horsetails and clubmosses. We can see relics of this great forest today – in the area's coal seams and the plant fossils in many local sandstones.Sea levels in the Carboniferous were constantly changing. When sea level was low, the deltas built up and became covered with vegetation. When sea level rose, the forests were drowned and sea life returned. This cycle happened many times, building up repeating layers of limestone, shale, sandstone and coal, known as 'cyclothems'. Sandstone and limestone are hard, resistant rocks, whereas the softer shale layers wear away easily. This contrast produces the terraced hillsides of the Pennines.
Quarrymen gave the rock layers names based on their thickness, character, location or uses. Examples include the Sandstone layers known as the Firestone Sill and the Grindstone Sill were named after their use for hearth stones and grindstones. The initial period of quarrying, dating to the pre late – 18th century consisted of relatively small-scale, ad hoc, extraction in order to obtain stone for local requirements. With improvements in transport between 1770 and 1840, coupled with the increased demand for local building stone, the scale of quarrying in the region increased, and saw the rise of a number of substantial workings. The mid to late 19th century was characterised by a significant expansion in quarrying brought about by increased urban growth, mechanisation and improved stone-working techniques. This period also saw the construction of a railway through Rossendale, in 1846 – 52, the construction of the mineral tramways and the establishment of a number of large stone processing sites, such as Cloughfold Scrubbing Mills. The early-20th century witnessed a major decline in quarrying, however, due to rising extraction costs and a decrease in the demand for stone. In consequence, after 1919 the majority of Rossendale quarries were closed. A number of aggregate working quarries are still operating at Jamestone in Haslingden, Britannia in Whitworth and Scout Moor in Edenfield. Dust was a major health hazard for the quarrymen, and often resulted in silicosis. The corduroyed men laboured until early evening, stopping only to eat the food, which they brought with them after warming it on the stove provided to boil water for their brew. Some men would use their ingenuity to cook bacon and eggs on a shovel. Bad weather often stopped work in the winter months, and if a man didn’t produce he wouldn’t get paid. Rubble clearers only got 7/6 per week in the 1880’s. By the 1870’s quarrying in Rossendale was a much organised affair with the two entrepreneurs, the Brooks of Crawshawbooth and the Heys of Stacksteads, becoming the leading figures. The Brooks family was responsible for the building of the entire mineral tramway network linking their quarries at Great Height, Cragg, and Ding: the largest such development in this part of the country. The turn of the century, however was marked by a decline in the industry, there was a growth in the use of cheaper lighter bricks and the introduction of concrete technology after 1914. This decline was aggravated by major strikes by quarrymen in 1919, who refused to work in such poor conditions and for such little pay.
To log the cache you must email me with the answers to the following questions.
1) Name the most sought after rock seams
2) What was the rock for
3) What was the nickname given to the quarrymen
4) You must also upload a photo of yourself or GPS at the rock pillar at the given Co-ordinates.
Any logs with no photo will be deleted.