In our capacity as the Local Environmental Records Centre for North and East Yorkshire, and as administrative support to the Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union (YNU), NEYEDC is always keen to support and help out local recorders, although a recent request was slightly out of the ordinary! A YNU member who specialises in ammonites in geological samples and who can no longer easily access sites asked for our help to collect rock samples from a long disused quarry on the Castle Howard Estate – we couldn’t resist such an unusual request.

Gnarled beech tree growing out of the rock face

Kitted out with hard hats, safety goggles and a geological hammer Clare and Mark set off for Park Wood Quarry – a site which we believe has not been quarried for its sandstone since the mid-19th century. A fantastic site with gnarled and deformed trees (mainly beeches) growing out of the abandoned quarry face and an interesting section that had never been worked awaited us. The unworked section had a single clear face that allowed for the four possible strata, and a layer of loose sediment, to be easily sampled.

The unworked section, showing the different rock strata

Measurements of the depth of each stratum were carefully recorded and photographs of the interfaces taken before a single sample, often from already loose material, was taken. The samples have now been sent to Royal Holloway, University of London for analysis and we look forward to reading about the findings in in the YNU’s journal The Naturalist.

Thanks for Guy Thallon, Head of Natural Environment at Castle Howard Estate, for allowing access and showing us to the site.

Updates & Insights

A geological visit: Park Wood Quarry, Castle Howard