Welcome to Castle Square, Caernarfon
Standing at the listed coordinates you will see infront of you the statue of David Lloyd George.
Castle Square is a haven of different stones and rocks, first there is the castle, a war memorial, the statues, different buildings and the paving, they are all different and great to examine.
The Geology
Did you know, there are 3 groups of rock, here is a brief overview of the 3 and some of the rocks that fall into each category:
Igneous rock - All igneous rocks start out as melted rock, (magma) this is then crystallised/cools to create the rock.
There are 2 types of these rocks, extrusive and intrusive.
Volcanic processes form extrusive igneous rocks by pushing them through the Earths crust.
Extrusive rocks cool quickly on the surface of the Earth, this fast cooling makes crystals too small to see without some kind of magnifier.
One of the most common extrusive igneous rocks is basalt, this rock is formed from the rapid cooling of lava and is the most common volcanic rock on Earth.
Basalt is usually black or dark grey, but this can rapidly change to a brown or rusty red colour due to oxidisation caused by the rocks iron rich mineral content.
Common uses in the modern day for basalt include, it being crushed for ground works in construction, building blocks, cobblestones and fire protection.
Intrusive igneous rocks cool deep below the surface of the Earth and the crystals in intrusive rocks are visible without magnification due to their larger size.
Granite is one of the best-known igneous rocks.
Many people recognise granite because it is the most common igneous rock found today and because granite is used to make many objects that we encounter in daily life.
Granite mainly consists of feldspar, quartz, mica and amphibole minerals.
This mineral composition usually gives granite a red, pink, grey or white colour with dark mineral crystals visible throughout the rock.
Common uses for granite include counter tops, floor tiles, paving stones, roadside kerb stones, stair treads, building veneer and cemetery monuments.
Metamorphic rock - Metamorphic rocks form when sedimentary, igneous or other metamorphic rocks are subjected to heat and pressure from burial or contact with intrusive or extrusive igneous rocks.
Slate is a fine-grained metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism.
Slate is sometimes grey in colour, especially when seen, en masse, such as with covering roofs, although this does depend on the location found and the geology.
However, slate can be seen in a variety of colours even from a single locality; for example, slate from North Wales can be found in many shades of grey, from pale to dark and may also be purple, green or cyan.
Slate is mainly composed of the minerals quartz and muscovite or illite, often along with biotite, chlorite, hematite and pyrite.
Occasionally, as in the purple slates of North Wales, ferrous reduction spheres form leaving a light green spotted texture on the stone surface.
Another common metamorphic rock is marble.
Marble is formed when limestone is subjected to high pressure or heat and metamorphism then causes the original mineral grains to recrystalise.
White marble is formed from pure white limestone, although commonly swirls or viens appear due to the mineral impurities of clay, silt, sand, chert or iron oxide being present in the limestone.
Common uses today for marble include, building construction, sculptures, road building, flooring, counter tops and its even used in the pharmaceutical industry after being crushed into powder!
Sedimentary rock - Sedimentary rocks are those rocks made up of pieces of other rocks. We call these pieces of rock "clasts"
Sedimentary rocks form in layers called beds or strata, these layers can easily be seen in some sedimentary rock formations such as sandstone cliffs.
Clasts of rock are eroded or broken off from larger rocks, then transported by wind or water and deposited in a basin, after a period of time and compression, the clasts are then transformed into stone.
The sedimentary rocks that we see around today were once gravel, sand, silt, mud, or living things.
Sandstone is a common sedimentary rock and can be found all over the world, with red sandstone being found in large areas of England and Wales.
Sandstone may be any colour due to impurities within the minerals, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow, red, grey, pink, white, and black.
Although resistance to weathering may vary in sandstone, it is an easy rock to work with and this makes it a common building and paving material.
Besides construction, sandstone can be used for decorative use, such as stautes, monuments and other ornate features.
Limestone is a hard sedimentary rock consisting of calcium carbonate, formed by the deposition of animal remains or coral on the sea floor and is thus known as a calcareous rock.
Limestone is formed in layers or ‘beds’ separated by ‘bedding planes’ these are formed during changes to the rates of the material that are deposited in them.
Limestone can offen be an ideal rock to see fossils.
Portland Limestone is one such rock that has fossils visable inside it, it is formed in a marine environment and can be seen to have shell fragments and other small organisms present on the surface of the rock.
Considered to be a high quality buliding stone, Portland Limestone is also expensive and has some very famous buildings to its name, such as the Bank of England, St Paul's Cathedral, the British Museum and the Tower of London.
Other common limestones present in the UK are Ketton stone, Cotswold stone, Bath stone and Purbeck stone.
This rock can be used in all different forms in the modern day, such as, paving, walls, building construction, farming and industry for steel making.
The History
At the listed coordinates you will see the statue of David Lloyd George, he was a British statesman who served as Prime Minister. He was the final Liberal to hold the post of Prime Minister, but his support increasingly came from the Conservatives who finally dropped him.
Lloyd George was a first language Welsh speaker, born on 17 January 1863 in Chorton in Medlock, Manchester, to Welsh parents. He was raised in Wales from around 3 months old, first briefly in Pembrokeshire and then in Caernarfonshire.
He is so far the only British Prime Minister to have been Welsh and to have spoken English as a second language. His father, a schoolmaster, died in 1864 and he was raised in Wales by his mother and her shoemaker brother, whose liberal politics and baptist faith strongly influenced Lloyd George.
The same uncle helped the boy embark on a career as a solicitor after leaving school. Lloyd George became active in local politics, gaining a reputation as an orator and a proponent of a Welsh blend of radical Liberalism which championed nonconformisim and the disestablishment of the Anglican church in Wales, equality for labourers and tenant farmers, and reform of land ownership.
The EarthCache:
In order to log a find you are required to complete the following questions and tasks and send your answers to us via the email address on our profile or via the message centre.
Any finds logged without completing the tasks and sending us their answers will have their log deleted.
1. At the listed coordinates examine the rock plinth that the statue of David Lloyd George is situated, describe its colour, texture, the size of the crystals you can see, do you see any fossils wthin the rock? Now explain what rock you think this is.
2. Now you have examined this rock do you think it is intrusive or extrusive, explain the reason for your answer.
3. In front of the statue you will now see some big paving slabs, describe their colour, texture and any markings you can see, also explain what rock this is and the reason for your answer.
4. Now move on to stage 2 (by the cycle racks), describe the rocks colour, texture and any visible markings? Now explain what rock you think this is.
5. Also at stage 2, is the rock sedimentary, metamorphic or igneous, explain how it was formed?
6. Now move on to stage 3 (the war memorial) and examine the rock here, describe its colour, texture, the size of the grains you can see. Now explain what rock you think this is.
7. Explain how you believe this rock was formed.
8. Go to the left of the of the war memorial and to stage 4, here you will see 2 stone pillars in front of the building used by a major high street bank, now you have examined the rock, describe the texture, the colour and what markings you see.
9. Explain what rock you believe this is, also explain how you believe this rock was formed?
10. In order to evidence that you have visited the location a photo of you/GPS/other personal object at the listed coordinates with David Lloyd George must be posted on the find log.
A photo on your found log is now a logging requirement (EarthCache guidelines) anyone logging a find without a photo will have the log deleted.
Please do not add any answers to your find log.
Enjoy the location and happy EarthCaching.
Congratulations to escapefromwork on their FTF!