Smithy Brook Quarry

Smithy Brook Quarry
Roadside quarry, Thornhill Lane, Smithy Brook, near Dewsbury

Sandstone for drystone walls and local buildings was available in blocks and small flagstones from the same small quarry near the small hamlet of Smithy Brook between Middlestown and Thornhill.

field sketch

At first sight this chevron pattern in the rockface looks as if it might be the result of the layers being folded sharply over, like a half-closed book. The Smithy Brook valley follows a fault-line but the earth movements associated with that wouldn’t have folded the rocks over like that.

What I think happened is something like this:

Sandstone Story

sandstone formation

Caphouse Nature Trail

  • Canker.

Photographed this morning on the nature trail at the National Coal Mining Museum for England, Caphouse Colliery, Overton, West Yorkshire.