"Cache placed with the kind permission of the National Trust"
There is no need to enter the quarry; it is fenced off and dangerous because of the risk of falling stones.
DO NOT ENTER THE QUARRY.
Do not remove any stone from the area
This is a National Trust sight and there is a charge for parking at the car park, however you can walk down from the road where there is limited free roadside parking. For a longer walk you could walk from cache GC5TGK0 which has loads of free parking.
Please read the description below and use this information and your observations to answer the questions
To find the quarry follow the blue walking route from the parking, the GPS position is difficult to be sure of, because of the heavy tree cover, but you can’t miss it since it’s right on the path.
This quarry is one of many in the area which were probably used to source stone for the mansion. If you visit the house you will see it is made from the beautiful yellow sandstone. This stone is from the Great Oolite Group, from the Jurassic period, also called Chipping Norton Limestone. It is an extremely variable stone, ranging from fawn-coloured to white, often a shelly limestone (some 2 to 5 metres thick), it can be buff, hard, sandy and splintery limestone, however it can also be sometimes flaggy.
Decalcification has in some cases reduced it to sand. It outcrops around the north-east of the Gloucestershire Cotswolds, it has been worked at sites such as Hornesleasow Quarry and New Park Quarry, but is limited to a small number of known quarry sites in total, some are still working but many sites, like this one, are dormant. Records of its use as a building stone in Gloucestershire seem limited but evidence can be found in many towns simply by looking at the colour of the stones used in the buildings.
At this site there is evidence of how the stone can compact during formation to a usable stone material, or form into many thin layers which easy crumble and could only be used as a ‘fill in’ material . The reasons for this are that during its formation it may have been laid down in a constant way, with no breaks in the way it was formed, or its formation might have been disturbed by other layers such as plant material or other particles washed across its formation bed.
Delta beds of large rivers are the place where this type of stone could be formed. Think about the way water flow might have varied in this type of environment to help in answering question 2 below.
Questions
- Please do not enter the quarry (It’s not safe), but tell me how the stone formations differ in the middle of the quarry as compared with the sides.
- Why do you think these different formations of rock can be accounted for, so close to each other?
- How tall would you say it was from the quarry floor to the top?
If you feel willing or able please upload a photo of something interesting close to the quarry with your log. DO NOT INCLUDED PHOTOS OF THE QUARRY
DO NOT REMOVE ANY STONE FROM THE AREA OR CAUSE ANY DAMAGE DURING YOUR VISIT.
Thank you for visiting the sight