Geology Of Gloucestershire
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Geology Of Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is one of the most geologically and scenically diverse counties in England, with rocks from the Precambrian through to the Jurassic represented. These varying rock-types are responsible for the three major areas of the county, each with its own distinctive scenery and land-use - the Forest of Dean in the west, bordering Wales, the Cotswolds in the east, and in between, the Severn Vale. Forest of Dean The Forest of Dean, situated between the rivers Severn and Wye, is formed of a raised basin of Palaeozoic rocks folded in the Variscan Orogeny, similar to the South Wales Coalfield to the west. Underlain by great thicknesses of the Old Red Sandstone, the basin is filled with Carboniferous limestones, sandstones and coal measures - all of which have contributed to the industrial history of the region. Sometimes called ‘the prettiest coalfield in Britain’, the Forest's main coal output was in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries, although for hundreds of year ...
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Freeminer
''Freeminer'' is an ancient title given to coal or iron miners in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England, who have earned the right to mine personal plots, known as ''gales''. History of Freemining For hundreds of years, mining of the Forest of Dean Coalfield and iron reserves has been regulated through a system of Freemining, with the Free Miner's Mine Law Court sitting at the Speech House from 1682. The earliest known existing copy of ''Dean Miners’ Laws and Privileges'', known locally as the ''Book of Dennis'', dates from 1610 but the copy itself contains references to much earlier origins. It also claims that Freemining rights were granted to Foresters by Edward I who, in so doing, also confirmed that such 'customes and franchises' had existed since 'tyme out of mynde'. Freeminers had been instrumental in recapturing Berwick-upon-Tweed several times (1296, 1305 and 1315) and it is thought that these privileges were granted as a reward for their endeavours. A plaque be ...
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Symonds Yat
Symonds Yat is a village in the Wye Valley and a popular tourist destination, straddling the River Wye in the English county of Herefordshire, close to the Gloucestershire border. It is within a few miles of Monmouthshire and the Welsh border. The two settlements either side of the river are known as Symonds Yat (West) and Symonds Yat (East) and are linked by a footbridge and passenger ferries. Nearby is Symonds Yat Rock. The Seven Sisters Rocks are an outcrop of rocks forming cliffs above the Wye at Symonds Yat. Toponym The first recorded use of ''Symonds'' ''Yat'' in connection with the area is in a Patent Roll of 1256, where the place appears as ''Symundesyate'' and ''Symondesyate''. This may contain the Old English personal name ''Sigemund'' or a very early surname deriving from it. ''Yat'' represents the Old English word ''geat'' (pronounced "yat"), meaning 'gate' and describing the gorge. Although a popular local belief, it is not true that the addition of ''Symonds'' ...
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Carboniferous Limestone
Carboniferous Limestone is a collective term for the succession of limestones occurring widely throughout Great Britain and Ireland that were deposited during the Dinantian Epoch of the Carboniferous Period. These rocks formed between 363 and 325 million years ago. Within England and Wales, the entire limestone succession, which includes subordinate mudstones and some thin sandstones, is known as the Carboniferous Limestone Supergroup. Depositional basins Within Great Britain the suite of rocks known traditionally as the Carboniferous Limestone Series was deposited as marine sediments in three distinct ‘provinces’ separated by contemporary landmasses. One of these landmasses was the Wales-London-Brabant Massif, an east–west aligned belt of land stretching through central Wales and the English Midlands to East Anglia and on into Belgium. The limestones deposited to its south form a distinct South Wales-Mendip province which extends from Pembrokeshire in the west through ...
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Dolomite (rock)
Dolomite (also known as dolomite rock, dolostone or dolomitic rock) is a sedimentary carbonate rock that contains a high percentage of the mineral dolomite, CaMg(CO3)2. It occurs widely, often in association with limestone and evaporites, though it is less abundant than limestone and rare in Cenozoic rock beds (beds less than about 66 million years in age). The first geologist to distinguish dolomite rock from limestone was Belsazar Hacquet in 1778. Most dolomite was formed as a magnesium replacement of limestone or of lime mud before lithification. The geological process of conversion of calcite to dolomite is known as dolomitization and any intermediate product is known as dolomitic limestone. The "dolomite problem" refers to the vast worldwide depositions of dolomite in the past geologic record in contrast to the limited amounts of dolomite formed in modern times. Recent research has revealed sulfate-reducing bacteria living in anoxic conditions precipitate dolomite which ind ...
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Wye Valley
The Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; cy, Dyffryn Gwy) is an internationally important protected landscape straddling the border between England and Wales. The River Wye ( cy, Afon Gwy) is the fourth-longest river in the United Kingdom. The upper part passes through Rhayader, Builth Wells and Hay-on-Wye, but the area designated as an AONB covers surrounding a stretch lower down the river, from just south of Hereford to Chepstow. This area covers parts of the counties of Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Monmouthshire, and is recognised in particular for its limestone gorge scenery and dense native woodlands, as well as its wildlife, archaeological and industrial remains. It is also historically important as one of the birthplaces of the modern tourism industry. The area is predominantly rural, and many people make a living from tourism, agriculture or forestry. Ross-on-Wye is the only town within the AONB itself, but Hereford, Monmouth, Coleford an ...
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Bixslade Quarry
Bixslade, occasionally written Bix Slade, is a short, steep-sided, valley in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire. It begins on high ground at Bixhead, near Broadwell, and descends sharply to meet the Cannop Valley at Stonyhill Green. Bixslade has been quarried or mined continuously for over 500 years and has been described as ''"one of the country's finest areas of extractive industrial heritage"''. Many abandoned workings are still evident in the valley and are now home to a variety of wildlife, lichens, mosses and other plant life. Three quarries and a Freemine also continue to operate, largely hidden by the picturesque woodland. Geology The Forest of Dean sits on a basin plateau, formed of a fractured asymmetrical syncline composed of Upper Palaeozoic rocks from the Silurian, Devonian and Carboniferous periods. The rocks of the Bixslade valley consist of massive Pennant Sandstone, interbedded with shale and coal seams. Iron-ore is present in the sandstone along th ...
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Gloucester
Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east of the border with Wales. Including suburban areas, Gloucester has a population of around 132,000. It is a port, linked via the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal to the Severn Estuary. Gloucester was founded by the Romans and became an important city and '' colony'' in AD 97 under Emperor Nerva as '' Colonia Glevum Nervensis''. It was granted its first charter in 1155 by Henry II. In 1216, Henry III, aged only nine years, was crowned with a gilded iron ring in the Chapter House of Gloucester Cathedral. Gloucester's significance in the Middle Ages is underlined by the fact that it had a number of monastic establishments, including: St Peter's Abbey founded in 679 (later Gloucester Cathedral), the nearby St Oswald's Priory, Glo ...
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River Severn
, name_etymology = , image = SevernFromCastleCB.JPG , image_size = 288 , image_caption = The river seen from Shrewsbury Castle , map = RiverSevernMap.jpg , map_size = 288 , map_caption = Tributaries (light blue) and major settlements on and near the Severn (bold blue) , pushpin_map = , pushpin_map_size = 288 , pushpin_map_caption= , subdivision_type1 = Country , subdivision_name1 = England and Wales , subdivision_type2 = , subdivision_name2 = , subdivision_type3 = Region , subdivision_name3 = Mid Wales, West Midlands, South West , subdivision_type4 = Counties , subdivision_name4 = Powys, Shropshire, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire , subdivision_type5 = Cities , subdivision_name5 = Shrewsbury, Worcester, Gloucester, Bristol , length = , width_min = , width_avg = , width_max = , depth_min = , depth_avg = ...
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Over Bridge
Over may refer to: Places *Over, Cambridgeshire, England *Over, Cheshire, England *Over, South Gloucestershire, England *Over, Tewkesbury, near Gloucester, England **Over Bridge *Over, Seevetal, Germany Music Albums * ''Over'' (album), by Peter Hammill, 1977 * ''Over'' (EP), by Jarboe and Telecognac, 2000 Songs * "Over" (Blake Shelton song) * "Over" (Drake song) * "Over" (Evans Blue song) * "Over" (Fayray song) * "OVER" (Hey! Say! JUMP song) * "Over" (High and Mighty Color song) * "Over" (Lindsay Lohan song) * "Over" (Portishead song) *"Over", by A Perfect Circle from ''Mer de Noms'' *"Over", by Embrace from ''If You've Never Been'' *"Over", by Jimmy Eat World from '' Stay on My Side Tonight'' *"Over", by Zarif from '' Box of Secrets'' *"Over", a commonly used unofficial title for a studio outtake by Cardiacs included on ''Toy World'' Other uses *Over, a term in radio radiotelephony procedure *Over, a professional wrestling term *Over (cricket), a division of play in the spor ...
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Thomas Telford
Thomas Telford FRS, FRSE, (9 August 1757 – 2 September 1834) was a Scottish civil engineer. After establishing himself as an engineer of road and canal projects in Shropshire, he designed numerous infrastructure projects in his native Scotland, as well as harbours and tunnels. Such was his reputation as a prolific designer of highways and related bridges, he was dubbed ''The Colossus of Roads'' (a pun on the Colossus of Rhodes), and, reflecting his command of all types of civil engineering in the early 19th century, he was elected as the first President of the Institution of Civil Engineers, a post he held for 14 years until his death. The town of Telford in Shropshire was named after him. Early career Telford was born on 9 August 1757, at Glendinning, a hill farm east of Eskdalemuir Kirk, in the rural parish of Westerkirk, in Eskdale, Dumfriesshire. His father John Telford, a shepherd, died soon after Thomas was born. Thomas was raised in poverty by his mother Janet Jac ...
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Sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) because they are the most resistant minerals to weathering processes at the Earth's surface. Like uncemented sand, sandstone may be any color due to impurities within the minerals, but the most common colors are tan, brown, yellow, red, grey, pink, white, and black. Since sandstone beds often form highly visible cliffs and other topographic features, certain colors of sandstone have been strongly identified with certain regions. Rock formations that are primarily composed of sandstone usually allow the percolation of water and other fluids and are porous enough to store large quantities, making them valuable aquifers and petroleum reservoirs. Quartz-bearing sandstone can be changed into quartzite through metamorphism, usually related to ...
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