Apedale Geotrail - Route Card

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Leave the car park by the steps in the corner and turn right, passing the heritage centre on your right.

TASK - Apedale Country Park has grown out of old opencast land which was once heavily mined for coal. It was not until the early 1990s that opencast workings in the valley finally ceased. However, coal was not the only mineral that was mined in Apedale. In the Heritage centre you will find information about two other materials which were mined at Apedale. What were they?

Go through the green & yellow gate and head NNW along the public footpath straight ahead. Immediately to the right after the green & yellow gate you can see the exposed cannel row coal seam, so called because this coal is very soft and was carved into candles because it burnt so brightly. You will also see a topograph in this enclosure which contains plastercasts of the various fossils found during excavations in the area.

When you come out of the heritage centre you will see a small reserve to your right at the base of a small cliff, showing the weathered exposure of a coal seam. If you look to the top of the cliff you should be able to identify the black layer of the Cannel Row Coal seam. This coal seam lies in the upper coal measures lying closest to the surface of the ground. its name is derived from "Candle" meaning this coal has a ver high hydrogen content & burns very brightly. In times gone by candles were carved from this coal because it burns so brightly.

TASK - Can you identify the latin name for the fossil of this giant club-moss?

Ignoring the paths to the left continue straight on and at the T junction turn right following the gravel path down to the next car park.

Immediately to the left of the green & yellow barrier you will see a huge piece of iron ore. This is a great example of why iron was mined in this area. To get an idea of how heavy it might be you can drop into the museum in the Heritage centre. Here you can see a much smaller piece of iron ore which you can lift it to compare with the weight of other rocks.

Go through the gate and carry straight on taking the Newcastle Way waymarked footpath, through the next metal gate and passing the cement works on your right.

Continue straight on until the path forks again. Leave the waymarked path and take the path forking to the left behind the green yellow barrier.

TASK - At N53°02.505' W002°16.327' you will find a piece of rock containing Iron nodules which looks like the picture below. The Ironstone nodules in this picture would have been too insignificant to mine. Roughly how wide (in cm) is the largest of these Ironstone nodules?

Continue along this path, ignoring all other paths to the right or left, until you reach a rocky outcrop on your left.

This is the Apedale Outcrop. From this exposure you can see clearly the sandstone surrounding what was once the Banbury coal seam. This sandstone is a mature sediment carried from France and deposited by a meandering river, resulting in very even grains in the rock.

Continuing past the outcrop, ignore all the paths to the right and the left until the path enters tree cover. Shortly after entering this tunnel of trees you will reach a fork in the path. To the right you will see a style. Do not cross the style. However, there is a good view from here. You are now stood in the mouth of the Apedale Volcano, which was live in the pre-carboniferous period over 300 million years ago!

Much more recently (only 20000 years ago) the current landscape would have been formed by the rolling glaciers. Look out over the style and see if you can imagine the ice cliff of a huge glacier to the West behind a pool of glacial meltwater. It might have looked something like this! You are also now stood on a central drainage channel. Any rainwater falling to the left of this ridge will drain off across the cheshire plains and eventually out into the Irish Sea. Any rain water falling to the right of this ridge will drain off into the river Trent and eventually out into the North Sea.

TASK - Much more recently (only 20000 years ago!) the current landscape was formed by the rolling glaciers of the last ice age. Look out over the style & see if you can imagine the ice cliff of a huge glacier to the West, behind a pool of glacial meltwater. It might have looked something like this!

Retrace your steps to the fork in the path. Now take the other path instead (now on your right). The path will take you over a board walk (which can be seen from the fork). There is a small wildlife pond at the end of the board walk. Continue along the path to the opposite end of the grassy meadow (ignoring the path to the right about halfway along the meadow's edge).

When you reach the corner diagonally opposite where you entered the meadow you will pass through a few metres of tree cover and a stagnant pond to the right sunk behind a hill. (There is also a pond to the left, although this is largely obscured by trees and overgrowth). Before emerging from the tree cover take the next right onto a narrow path into the woodland, following the path to the right.

At the junction just after the waymarker turn right and continue along this path following the perimeter of the woods, crossing straight over a wide track after ca 0.4 of a mile and continuing into the woodland on the other side.

After crossing the track continue through the woodland taking the path to the left at every junction. There is a short steep climb of about 40 metres towards the end of the woodland path. Having mapped this path in the summer it wasn't too bad underfoot however I anticipate it will be quite muddy after rain and in the winter.

At the top of the hill the path flattens out again. Cross the style and continue straight ahead. After crossing a 2nd style emerging from the woods into a field turn immediately left and cross a 3rd waymarked style emerging onto The Drive.

This is a road and although it has very little traffic the occasional vehicle may warrant you putting dogs back on leads at this point.Turn left down The Drive and carry straight on for about 0.4 of a mile until you reach the next junction.

Turn right at the junction into Apedale Road.

After ca. 500 feet take the next right over the style to the right of a metal gate.

Follow the path down to the left until you reach the Chimney.

Only the base of the chimney remains. It is built of red brick with some vitrified brick recessed panels with mottoes on each side. The chimney was originally 186 feet high.

TASK - What do the four inscriptions on each side of the Chimney say? At the time of writing the chimney was covered in Scaffold. Let's hope it's being restored! Until the scaffold is removed it may be necessary to do some internet research to answer this question.) Continue along the path to the left of the chimney, through the bottom of watermills woods.

Take the next right through the open wooden style and turn right onto the chalky path. Carry straight on along this path past the first turning on the left.

Take the next turning on the left heading uphill towards the mining memorial. Please do not stray off the path. The areas to the right and left of the path are fenced off partly for the preservation of wildlife and partly to protect the public from falling down the old mine workings.

Arriving at the top of the hill you will see the recently erected 7 tonne pit wheel dedicated to all the miners who worked in the Staffordshire coalfields. Also a circle of railway sleepers each marking a viewpoint to a local monument, building or geological feature.

TASK - On top of the hill by the mining memorial you will see a circle of railway sleepers each offering a different viewpoint. Using the names on the railway sleeper markers can you identify the names of the features which also lie on the central drainage channel just a few miles to the north & south of this memorial?

Bearing left past the monument carry straight over the next crossroads. All the footpaths in this part of the park are old mineral railway lines. This particular line was used to take coal from Alsagers Bank to the Canal and Ironworks.

Oops! How did that get in there? Keep following the path down the hill to the junction.

Then right at the next T junction continuing down hill.

After just over a 100 yards take the next narrow path to the left leading into the woods for the final stretch of woodland walk. At the bottom of the steps by the bench take the path to the left. Then follow the path to the right until you emerge back at the car park.