Geological walks in North Buckinghamshire

ISBN 978-1-904898-03-0   40 pages; 20 figures and 4 colour plates.

A geology field guide covering some of the hidden delights of geology in North Buckinghamshire. Dr J. Eyers (2002).

                                    CONTENTS: 

Introduction to Bucks geology; A brief history: from tropical seas to icy wastes; Local Building materials; The sites: Soulbury, The Brickhills and Stockgrove Country Park, The Thornborough area: Medieval Bridge and Coombs Quarry, Buckingham: general geology and the town centre, Buckingham Sand Pit, The Milton Keynes area: general geology, Milton Keynes Shopping Centre: the building stones, The North Bucks Way: East Claydon to Wolverton, New Bradwell Railway Cutting, Great Linford Stone Pit and stone circle, Haversham Mill river bank, North Crawley, The Ouse Valley Park and Great Ouse River Walk, Olney.

To order: please send a cheque for £4.50 made out to 'Dr J. Eyers' at 13 Pusey Way, Lane End, Bucks, HP14 3LG. Your book will be sent out immediately, post and packing is included.

Query? Then write to the above address or e-mail: jee8@tutor.open.ac.uk

Soulbury church

A very distinctive style which reflects the local building stones. Churches and other old buildings are often a good way to get to know what rocks are to be found locally.

A close-up view of some of the building stones of Soulbury church.

The text describes what these are and where they occur locally.

Coombs Quarry.

This is an open access site to the public, maintained by the RIGS group (a conservation group dedicated to preserving our geological as well as wildlife habitats).

The erratic at Soulbury

This is Carboniferous Limestone from Yorkshire, brought down by a massive ice sheet half a million years ago.

Legend has it that if this stone is moved it will bring bad luck to the village. Hence, it has never been moved from this position in the middle of the road!

This messy sediment is called 'till'.

It is the deposit left at the bottom of an ice sheet (old name 'boulder clay') and is absolute proof of the movement of ice into Buckinghamshire during the Ice Age.