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Review from Melody Watts
Field Trip to Mardyke Valley and North Stifford Church 21/10/2023
The field visits programme ended 2023 on a high note with a trip to the Mardyke Valley and St Mary’s church in Stifford, led by Ian Mercer.
I started the day with very little understanding of the geology of the area. Ian soon rectified this by providing clear, comprehensive and easily understood information and both my husband and myself left with a much better appreciation.
The valley runs along the northern side of the Purfleet Anticline, an east-west ridge of chalk between Purfleet and Grays and our walk followed the narrow, slow flowing Markdyke river. The Mardyke Valley is a fantastic example of a “wadi” like valley with steep walls created when the Anglian ice sheet produced spring snowmelt and torrents of icy glacial outwash sediment incised a wide, flat-bottomed valley.
As we exited the valley, passing the site of a disused quarry we arrived at St Mary’s. As with a lot of old churches the materials used in St Mary’s provided more clues to the local geology.
On arrival at St Mary’s church a large conglomerate boulder supports the north-west corner of the church. The bolder consists of black flint pebbles set in a sand and silica matrix.
The south wall is very significant. The South door has a lovely arch of worked flint above it. A sarson stone is found in the stone work to the left-hand side along with a conglomerate of Ferricrete (Conglomeratic Ironstone). There is an abundance of Ferricrete in the south wall and the right-hand corner edge is constructed of larger Ferricrete blocks. Good examples of Bull head flint with a green glauconite coating from the base of the chalk is also found in this south wall.
A big thank you to the St Mary’s team for providing tea and cake on arrival, which gave us some time to peruse the internal of the church. Set in the floor is an ornate black memorial made of Belgian Black Carboniferous Limestone.
A fantastic way to spend a Saturday with great people learning more about our local area.
Shenfield
60 Hutton Road, CM158LB
5th December 2023 7:30 for 8:00pm
Rocks from around the World
Fun night, of quizzes, raffle, lots of minced pies and chatting. There will be a map of the world, so if you have a rock or crystal that you know its origin, bring it along so it can be placed on the map.
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2nd January 2024 7;30 for 8:00pm
Wonders of Jade
By Ian Mercer
Stanway
Tollgate Hall, Villa Road, CO3 0RH
21st December 2023 7:30 for 8:00pm
Rocks from around the World
Fun night, of quizzes, raffle, lots of minced pies and chatting. There will be a map of the world, so if you have a rock or crystal that you know its origin, bring it along so it can be placed on the map.
18th January 2024 7:30 for 8pm
Wonders of Jade
by Ian Mercer
Zoom
link emailed to members
Wednesday 24th January 2024, 7:30 for 8:00pm
The Norber Erratics
By Clive Mation
The Norber Erratics; in the Yorkshire Dales are well known for their emplacement on carboniferous limestone pedestals. Clive studied them in the area of his Map and Thesis for his geology degree and he still has a keen interest in them, recently research the source and flow of the erratics.
