Swardon Quarry is easily accessed from the north and south on the Mordiford/Dormington road. About halfway between the two villages you will need to turn off eastwards (uphill) to reach the hamlet of Prior's Frome and continue round a couple of sharp bends to head south to reach the car parking. You can also approach from the east on the small Checkley road.
Either way you will find yourself approaching from below Woolhope Dome and then heading uphill up the Dome itself.
Background
Woolhope is a small village about 7 miles south east of the centre of Hereford which lends it's name to the area of higher ground known as Woolhope Dome. The Dome is bordered (very roughly) to the west and south by the B4224 with the villages of Mordiford and Fownhope (and down to the River Wye), to the north west by Dormington, to the north east by Tarrington and down to Putley and to the east by Marcle Ridge.
Almost whichever way you approach the scenery is of an obvious change in elevation with open countryside or attractive, hilly wooded slopes.
The Geology
The underlying rock here was laid down in the Silurian period with the oldest rock at the bottom, but the Dome itself was probably created around 250 million years ago when the rock was forced upwards by earth movements at the time. Obviously the Dome has been subject to erosion and weathering ever since to leave what we see today.
The rock would have been created in the Silurian period when sediment was laid down in the Silurian sea. Silts and clays compress to form shale, sand to sandstone and a mix of warm-water dwelling creature's shells that consolidated into limestone (some parts of shell are visible if you look hard, but there has been evidence of trilobites, cephalopod, various coral, brachiopod and gastropod remains amongst others).
The probable stages of formation of this landscape were:
- The laying down of the sediment in the Silurian Period
- Land movement which resulted in an upward push to create the Dome about 250 million years ago.
- Erosion of the higher land which would leave the older rock exposed as you head towards the centre (like concentric rings if viewed from above). This would leave the harder rocks (the limestones) higher as they would erode less and would be seen as hills now - see diagram below).
The Ludlow rock is generally shaly, with the Upper Ludlow at the dome being generally very light in colour with a sandy/rough texture to touch often with a flaky nature and a rippled surface. Fossil presence is sporadic and can be difficult to see. The Lower Ludlow tend to be grey, greenish and brown mudstones with a large number of fossils present which are often easy to see, with a sandy texture similar to the Upper.
Aymestrey Limestone varies lithologically, generally it is dark grey in colour with quite a crystalline nature, but can also be quite shaly too. It was deposited in a warm, shallow sea when this whole area was much closer to the equator than it is now. It is harder than the Ludlow Shales above and below it, and therefore less prone to weathering and erosion, hence the higher ground at Cherry and Seagar Hills which are a direct result of this.
If you notice this characteristic of alternating 'hardness' of rock from soft to hard to soft again as you head towards the centre of the Dome on my diagram clearly shows the lower and higher areas of ground
Visiting
The quarry, as mentioned, is now a small car parking area adjacent to the road with room for at least a dozen cars. And the main spot to visit (the headline co-ordinates) for the earthcache is part of the wall of the car park so should be accessible for all (including wheelchairs, although the last few metres are not, but this should hopefully not affect your ability to answer the questions). Waypoint/stage 2 for tasks 4 and 5 is only a couple of metres away and you could answer the whole lot of tasks from either point really.
Directly accessible from the car parking is the viewpoint which is literally a few metres walk up a shallow slope (which starts with three steps so is not wheelchair accessible I'm afraid). The viewpoint is great with far reaching views of the surrounding countryside taking in much of the land to the west and including (but not limited to) views of Dinedor Hill, Hereford, Credenhill, Aconbury Hill, Orcop Hill, the Black Mountains, Sugar Loaf and Hay Bluff. A fabulous panorama on a clear day!!
The Tasks
So to the serious bit then! To claim this earthcache you will need to visit Swardon Quarry, locate the exposed side of the quarry (at the published co-ords - very easy to spot) and send me the answers to the questions below please. Photos are of course welcome (but not mandatory) but please do not publish photos of the exposed rock which would give away part of the answers.
1) I mentioned that the underlying rock was probably laid down in the Silurian Period, but when was this?
2) Look at any of the exposed rock in the quarry wall and describe it (thinking of texture, colour, fossil presence, surface shape/smoothness etc)
3) With your answer to task 2 in mind (and the information above) tell me what rock this is?
4) Go to waypoint/stage 2 (just a few metres away, under the trees and closer to the road) and look at the angle of the layers of rock. What angle is it from horizontal and which way is it dipping?
5) Bearing in mind your answer to task 4 how does this fit with the hill slope to the west?
6) Bearing in mind your above answers whereabouts on my diagram is the quarry located (it would not be on that particular cross-section of course but on the 'ring' if viewed from above). Point A, B, C or D?
You do not need to wait until I reply to log your find, but I will come back to you to either confirm or clarify your answers as soon as I can. Photos of you or the view are always appreciated of course but are not a condition of logging, but please do not publish close photos of the rock.
***Well done to The Coachman's Pair for getting the First to Find***