THE COTSWOLDS
The limestone rocks of the Cotswolds formed about 170 million years ago in the Jurassic Period from deep layers of sediment settling in a shallow tropical sea.
Many sea creatures died and were preserved as fossils in these rocks - and fossils are what you are looking for in this EarthCache! -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Below is local interest information about the area and The Cirencester Obelisk. It is not necessary to read it for logging requirements - it's just interesting!
Cirencester Park is best known as a fine example of landscaping on the grand scale, and not the least interesting aspect of the first Lord Bathurst’s plans is the fascinating group of architectural ‘follies’ sited at strategic points throughout the Park. The Hexagon, Pope’s Seat, The Horse Guards and the cluster around the present-day Polo Ground (Ivy Lodge, Square House and Round Tower) probably all date from the same period during the 1730’s and 1740’s when the development of the Park was at its most intensive. One major exception, Alfred’s Hall, is earlier (1721) and has a history and significance all of its own. There is another architectural feature which does not fit easily into the history of Cirencester Park: the stone obelisk standing in a small plantation off Cotswold Avenue. Long the source of queries in the local press (never satisfactorily answered incidentally) the obelisk has always been assumed to be one of the Park’s ‘follies’ despite its position well outside the walled area of house and grounds. Very little is actually recorded of its history and the structure itself gives little clue, being uninscribed, apart that is from the attentions of the graffiti artists of modern Cirencester.
The concept of an obelisk is, of course, Egyptian in origin, the name originally describing a tapered monolithic pillar erected at the entrance to ancient temples, and usually carved from a single block of stone from the Aswan quarries of red granite. As items of architectural interest they were transported to Italy during the Roman Empire and at least a dozen were set up in Rome. Much the same idea prompted the Egyptian government in the late 19th century to divide a pair of obelisks as gifts to the British and American governments. Thus Cleopatra’s Needle stands on the Thames Embankment and its twin in Central Park, New York, although neither has any historic connection with the famous lady. The obelisks were dedicated at Heliopolis by Thutmose III about 1500 B.C. and bear inscriptions both to him and to Rameses II. Nevertheless, Cleopatra’s Needle remains the best-known example in Britain of the obelisk as an architectural ‘folly’ and may perhaps have influenced in some way the erection of the Cirencester example. The Cirencester obelisk is not in fact monolithic but rather constructed from blocks of local ashlar; it is approximately 50 feet high (not measured) and the pillar has a shallow taper to a head. The base is plain but not unimpressive, and stands some 7 ft square.
Although the stone is obviously from a local source, the actual quarry is unknown. Probably the greatest clue to its history is the siting of the obelisk. It stands on what is now a narrow strip of rough ground between Cotswold Avenue and the decaying but still obvious scarp overlooking the Roman Amphitheatre. The changes in the landscape in this area have been considerable especially in recent years and the obliterations caused during the cutting of the railway in 1840 - 1 have in turn been obscured by the town’s ring road which now effectively cuts off this area from the town centre.
Archaeological excavations all over this area prior to the ring road construction in the early 1970’s have built up a picture of Romano - British development, from which it seems clear that the enormous earth - shifting operations required to construct the amphitheatre together with the consistent demand for good quality building stone in the Roman town brought great changes to the landscape. The whole of this south western side of Cirencester must have resembled one large stone quarry and especially so in what is now the ‘hollow’ immediately below the scarp on which the obelisk stands. Its subsequent use as a cemetery later in the Roman period was the major feature of the excavations, although a consistent picture of earlier quarrying activity has been fairly well attested. The modern observer must therefore mentally strip away the ring road together with all the current developments in and around Phoenix Way, and also the small surviving evidence of the railway. This done and standing on the scarp looking towards Cirencester Park, he/she will only then begin to appreciate that the obelisk is in fact quite well sited from the mansion on what must have been the skyline on the south side.
Other Victorian additions, particularly the former museum (1856) and the maturity of the tree cover immediately around the house tend to obscure the view today, but both almost certainly are later features too. Although there appears to be no written record at all of the date of the obelisk, or indeed its function (if any), the position of the structure suggests either an isolated feature of the original landscaping programme for the Park, or more likely a rather idiosyncratic later addition to it. It should be remembered that all of the land between mansion and obelisk was in Bathurst ownership and one wonders whether some evidence of the stone-working activities of the Roman and probably also the medieval period remained visible? Did the stone perhaps come from the immediate area? As to date, there is again almost a blank in the record although the correspondence columns of the Wilts & Gloucestershire Standard include a number of interesting suggestions.
Firstly, there is a reference, oft repeated, to what is almost certainly an incorrect date for the obelisk. This is coupled with a confusion of reference to the Queen Anne Monument, which is a major and graceful feature of the Park. This monument is a Doric column of some size built on an artificial plateau and viewed axially from the mansion and diagonally from the Seven Rides, the latter a nodal point in the landscaping design. Much work was involved not only in the monument itself, with its full-size statue of Queen Anne, but also in the associated landscaping which included ground-levelling operations between house and monument. Its dating is fixed from a letter from Lord Orrery to Dean Swift in July 1741 mentioning that ‘Lord Bathurst is at Cirencester, erecting pillars and statues to Queen Anne’. Subsequent correspondents make the assumption that the reference to pillars equates with the obelisk, which is frankly doubtful, and this is coupled with a confusion between the actual obelisk we now have and Alexander Pope’s recommendation to Lord Bathurst that his monument to Queen Anne should take the form of an obelisk or preferably a solid pyramid 100 feet square. Neither suggestion was taken up and there is little evidence to link the obelisk with Pope’s suggestions at this time.
Local recollections that the waste ground on which the obelisk stands served earlier this century as a rubbish tip might be useful in explaining how old the present scarp face is and whether it conceals evidence of stone mining from an earlier period. But that, of course, is another story altogether.
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The information below will help you answer the EarthCache questions.
LIMESTONE OF THE COTSWOLDS
Cotswold stone is used as a building stone because it easily splits into blocks and is quite weather-resistant. Its pale golden colour helps to make Cotswold villages very attractive to tourists. The Cotswold hills are made of Oolitic limestone, a type of limestone made up of small round grains (Oolites). These formed in shallow, warm waters like those found today around Florida and parts of the Caribbean Sea, where calcium carbonate is deposited from sea water due to evaporation. The round grains grow in size as they are gently rolled to and fro by waves, in water only a few metres deep. As the limestone came to be formed originally from shallow seas, there are many fossils of sea creatures evident in the stone - and there are a few examples of different fossils that can be seen around the base of this column.
INFORMATION ON THE FORMATION OF FOSSILS Fossils can be divided into two categories, fossilized body parts (bones, claws, teeth, skin, embryos, etc.) and fossilized traces, called ichnofossils (which are footprints, nests, dung, toothmarks, etc.), that record the movements and behaviors of the dinosaurs.
The four types of fossils are: mold fossils (a fossilized impression made in the substrate - a negative image of the organism) cast fossils (formed when a mold is filled in) trace fossils = ichnofossils (fossilized nests, burrows, footprints, etc.) true form fossils (fossils of the actual animal or animal part).
There are six ways that organisms can turn into fossils, including:
unaltered preservation (like insects or plant parts trapped in amber, a hardened form of tree sap)
permineralization=petrification (in which rock-like minerals seep in slowly and replace the original organic tissues with silica, calcite or pyrite, forming a rock-like fossil - can preserve hard and soft parts - most bone and wood fossils are permineralized)
replacement (An organism's hard parts dissolve and are replaced by other minerals, like calcite, silica, pyrite, or iron)
carbonization=coalification (in which only the carbon remains in the specimen - other elements, like hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen are removed)
recrystalization (hard parts either revert to more stable minerals or small crystals turn into larger crystals)
authigenic preservation (molds and casts of organisms that have been destroyed or dissolved).
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In order to log this EarthCache, please contact me with answers to the following questions, and please feel free to log your find while you wait for my reply.
1. The Cotswolds is famous for it's honey coloured stone. What type of stone is this, and from which geological period was it likely to have been formed? A quick bit of research (or reading above!) will help you pin down which period is the likely candidate.
2. There are numerous fossils evident around the column. When you find one in the stone, any fossil will do, please describe it to me and using the information above, can you you say what type of fossil it is and how it may have been formed?
3. Also please tell me who prepared the info board. (There is a name on the bottom right corner)
And finally, it would be lovely to see some happy, smiley cacher photos at the obelisk - though obviously this isn't a prerequisite for logging the cache...