Ludlow | Archive | 2001 | June | 13
From the archive, first published Wednesday 13th Jun 2001.
A GEOLOGICAL walk through a hundred million years of Ludlow's Silurian history is set to become a favourite forage ground for fossil hunters.
Viscount Windsor has opened a Whitcliffe geological trail, which runs along the banks of the River Teme between Dinham and Ludford Bridges.
The short walk also known as the Teme Bank Trail provides an introduction to the famous geology of the Ludlow area, including Ludford Corner and Whitcliffe quarries.
Viscount Windsor, addressing trustees and friends of Whitcliffe Common, said: "The geological aspect of the trail is well known internationally and deserves to be explained on site for the benefit of locals and visitors alike."
An interpretation board is sited at the Dinham bridge end of the common giving a simple explanation of the way the strata were formed and exposed, and indicates numbered points of interest along the trail. It is intended to provide numbered marker posts at each location later this year.
Old quarry faces and rock exposures have already been cleared of vegetation to make the features more visible. The oldest rocks on the walk are the lower Leintwardine Beds, laid down 420 million years ago. During this period the area around Ludlow was a shallow tropical sea along the edge of a large continent.
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