Day Field Meeting: Burton Dasset – Ray Pratt
July 5, 2026 @ 10:30 am – 2:00 pm
WGCG & BCGC Field Trip to Burton Dassett.
Field trip Leader: Ray Pratt
The Burton Dassett Country Park, part of the Cotswolds, is located in Southern Warwickshire just off the M40. This is a popular upland leisure area for walkers and picknickers with good parking and toilet facilities. The park has been created in 1972 from what was a complex of quarries and intervening disturbed ground, mostly overgrown but with some good exposures of Liassic Marlstone Rock Formation chiefly about 200m south west of Windmill Hill. This large site incorporates several stratigraphic units and lithologies ranging from the Lower Jurassic Dyrham Formation to the Middle Jurassic Northampton Sand. Take a look at the 6-minute WGCG video on the geology of Burton Dassett https://youtu.be/p6oUfmzB3yQ
The geological map of England and Wales (opposite) shows that the rocks of Southern Warwickshire and North Oxfordshire are in a zone (shaded blue) which stretches from Dorset through the Cotswolds to North Yorkshire. These rocks were formed during the Jurassic Period of time, roughly between 135 and 195 Ma (million years) ago. The rock layers are tilted very gently towards the south east and disappear below younger Cretaceous rocks (green).
The view WNW from the Beacon tower location is believed to be a consequence of Quaternary glaciation and the former site of a glacial lake.
WGCG and BCGS member, Ray Pratt, will lead this 2–3-hour trip. Following the trip participants may wish to walk around the area taking in the 12th Century Church, (made of local stone), the site of a Saxon graveyard, ancient springs, ridges and furrows and the Beacon, a circular tower built on one of the hill tops. A packed lunch is recommended. Alternatively, the Yew Tree pub in nearby Avon Dassett offers a relaxing spot for those wishing to socialise and refresh before setting off back home. For NT members Upton House and Gardens at Edge Hill is a short drive to the west.
To register for this trip, send an email to: [email protected]