Report and Photos by Ray Pratt
The final WGCG activity of Earth Science week 2024 was the now popular Urban Geology of Warwick walk. Commencing at the Museum in the market place, Jon expertly guided the participants around this historic town introducing them to the rocks that have been used to build this historic town interspersed with snippets of history.
Before beginning the walk Jon described how the town occupied a prominent hill position thanks to the underlying geology. The town centre is built on an up faulted block consisting of Warwick sandstone, To the west, the current location of the racecourse, the underlying geology is the younger Mercia Mudstone. This fault has slipped on two occasions in the last 30 years which several participants could testify to.
Prior to the great fire of Warwick in 1694, the majority of the buildings were constructed of timber, wattle and brick. Following the fire greater use of the local stone was employed in rebuilding the town. More exotic building materials such as Bath stone, and Portland stone began to appear with the coming of the canals and railways. However, these imported stones were expensive and were commonly only used on the frontage, the rear of the properties being constructed of local brick.
time and discolour as a result of industrial pollution. Warwick Sandstone at the Eastgate.
The engineering quality of some stones were compared. The lower section of St. Mary’s Church tower in the town centre is built from Arden sandstone, which is regarded as stronger than the Warwick Sandstone used for the upper section. Similarly, paving stones used widely around the town centre are the Carboniferous York Stone a highly sought after paving stone known for its durability. Local Jurassic Hornton stone was used for the paving around the library. A popular building stone for walls it is less suitable for paving. This was seen to be in a poor state and is probably less than 20 years since it was laid.
The walk along the castle approach was closed preventing examination of the insitu Warwick sandstone. However, a smaller section of this insitu rock was seen at the West Gate towards the end of the tour. The enabled examination of channels and crossbedding features, smaller examples of which had been seen in the building blocks of some of walls viewed.
Thankfully the weather was dry and even became sunny towards the end of this very pleasant two hour stroll around this lovely town.