Shaly Dingle is the place where you will find the confluence of streams from the surrounding areas of Winter Hill, which then flow on to feed the Springs Reservoir on the other side of the A675. Here, the streams have cut through the surface peat and boulder clay to reveal the sandstone bedrock and layers of shale on the sides of the ravine.
It is possible to find leaf and tree fossils which show evidence of Carboniferous times when the land was much nearer the Equator and the landscape would have resembled a tropical swamp.
You can also find evidence of coal seams dating back to these times, which have been revealed by extreme erosion. The associated fireclay typical of the Winter Hill area can be seen near the coal seams.
Particularly on the tributary from the North, you can see evidence of glacial erosion in the many rounded stones there and lumps of granite probably carried from elsewhere by a glacier.
There is an active spring in the eastern bank of one of the streams.
Unsurprisingly, this area has been exploited for its coal and sandstone in the past, and several engineering features can be found in the area: A sandstone quarry, a coal mine, an aqueduct, a retaining wall, weirs, wells, shafts and numerous underground culverts and conduits to carry and direct water.
Other interesting features to see while you are here:
- the old mine shaft (covered)
- the bridge (referred to as an aqueduct on old OS maps)
- the retaining wall on the east bank of the stream, just below the confluence
- Martha Tree Delph Sandstone quarry on the opposite bank to the aqueduct
- weirs downstream where the stream enters the wood
- date stone - above the West tributary
To log this Earth Cache, please send the answers, via email, to the following questions:
1. How many streams converge at Shaly Dingle?
2. What is the name given to the brook which is formed from these streams and flows out of the moorland area into the wooded clough slightly downstream?
3. Estimate the height of the top of the arch in the bridge.
4. Describe the appearance of the layers of shale exposed in the sides of the valley in comparison to the sandstone bedrock in the stream itself; including an estimate of the depth of the shale layer, the texture and colour of both rock types and any other features you notice.
5. Also, it would be great if you could upload a photograph to your log with yourself, your dog, your GPS or your rucksack in shot, showing at least one of these locations or geological features:
- a coal seam
- a fossil
- carboniferous shale layers in the sides or loose shales in the bed of the stream
- the spring in the eastern bank of the main stream
Please take care, when visiting, not to cause any damage to the area.
Do not attempt to enter the woodland downstream of the weirs as this is private property and there is no access to Belmont Road this way.
