1. Mini Geo-Trail
2. Geo-Trail Map
3. Directions
4. Bibliography

Mini Geo-Trail

In the following route description, notes concerned with navigation are show in plum, descriptions of features able to be seen are in black and warnings are given in red.

Please Note: a more detailed description is available in CIAS newsletter No. 100, Feb., 2011 from which this geo-trail is abridged.

Looking west through Loftus Quarries. The quarry floor is Alum Shale, and with Cattersty Cliff in the background.

Geo-Trail Map

Please note that a downloadable annotated version of this map will be made available soon.

Click here to see the Loftus Quarries Geo-Trail Map.
NB: Numbers on map correspond with numbered items in text.

Directions

Please note that numbers shown in black refer to the numbers given on the map.

View east from the car park at Skinningrove showing Hummeresa Cliff which carries the Cleveland Way to Loftus Alum Quarries.

• Car Park: At NZ 713 201 by the mouth of Skinningrove Beck north of the village.
• Make your way across the beck and follow the Cleveland Way up the steep, stepped path and then eastwards where there is a view of the Old Gut dock (marked 1 on the plan). Pass the path down to the shore at NZ 725 198 and North Warren Cottage (Tile Sheds). (2 cisterns (2) are missed unless one deviates along the coastal path). At NZ 735 197 fork left off the Cleveland Way to go down the track in to the quarries.
• 3. Where the coastal path rejoins the track Loftus Quarries come in to view. There is a sandstone quarry (4) and below it a large alum shale quarry (5), its south-eastern face being the location of the murchisonae beds.
• Continue down the track.
• 6. (NZ 737 200) – Foot of ramp track. There are views of tiered quarries to the NW. There were two sets of steeping pits and the cliff edge (7) where there is now a crown hole, the result of jet working. To the east one can leave the path temporarily to examine the alum shale face close by.
• Cross the embankment and follow the path for about 200m to, just before a large fallen block of sandstone, descend down a faint path to the site of the smithy (8).
• 8. (NZ 739 201) – This is the site of the smithy and 2 steeping pits as shown on the 1st edition O.S. map. Little is seen but there are indications of other steeping pits on the cliff edge to the west.
• Go down the short ramp into the ‘kidney’ quarry immediately to the east.
• 9. (NZ 740 201) – ’Kidney quarry’. This quarry is sheltered from the north by an in-situ shale wall that has an opening for waste disposal over the cliff. The O.S. map shows that there was a set of 6 steeping pits here.
• Trek eastwards over the desolate landscape, crossing several cols and quarries (scoops) and passing archaeological locations (10), (11) and (12).


The desolate-looking quarry floor which occurs within Loftus Quarries.

• There is the opportunity to look for; (a) Zone ammonites such as species of Harpoceras and Dactylioceras and (b) the small bivalve Dacryomya ovum regarded by Hunton as characteristic of shale suited to alum making (but these are unlikely to be found; researchers believe that this was the time of slow recovery from an major sea floor extinction event (during formation of the Jet Rock).
• 13. (NZ 744 200) – There is a stone slab platform here, probably the base of a steeping pit, slightly bowed as a result of expansion of the shale beneath it. It is a good spot to view the archaeological remains (14, steeping pits, cistern and lengths of a stone trough) in the quarry further to the east and examine large limestone concretions with Dactylioceras that are close by. The extreme eastern end of Loftus Quarries is not far beyond. Here, the Horse Back (15) is the landslipped ground between Loftus and Boulby Quarries.
• Make your way on a thin path to (16) (NZ 744 199) where a path goes up a steep but safe slope to the Cleveland Way.


View of the back-wall from the east end of the quarries close to the Cleveland Way.

• 17. (NZ 743 199) – This is the site of a reservoir for the alum works, long and narrow in outline.
• Return westwards to Skinningrove along the Cleveland Way. There are at first fine views of the quarries to the north and the rolling dip slope to the south.

Disclaimer: Tees Valley RIGS Group cannot be responsible for the safety of anyone visiting the Loftus site whilst following this geo-trail. The accompanying map was accurate when this trail was devised in 2011, but these cliffs are prone to landslip through natural processes and paths may be lost.

Warning!
Due to the presence of unfenced cliffs we strongly suggest you take extreme care. The area is unsuitable for unsupervised children and all dogs should be kept on a lead. Please use suitable safety equipment when necessary. These cliffs are extremely dangerous and must not, under any circumstances, be climbed.

Taken from the eastern end of the quarries, this image shows the scale of the undertaking here.

Bibliography

See Loftus Quarry Site Description »»

©2011 Tees Valley RIGS Group.

1. Site Description
2. Geology
3. Access
4. General Assessment:
5. Associated Sites
6. Safety Information
7. Supplementary Information
8. Geology
9. Industrial History and Archaeology
10. Literature References
11. Mini Geo-trail
12. Surveyors

Site Description

Grid Reference: NZ 736 200 to 744 200
BGS Sheet: 34
OS Sheet: 94
Forwarded as RIGS: 30/09/2003

Site Status: SSSI (Not RIGS, other reference No. 53). Open access (National Trust).

Description of Geodiversity: Extensive former alum quarries of great historical and industrial archaeological interest. The Cleveland Way passes around the southern edge, along the top of the quarry back wall that is nearly 200m O.D. The coastal scenery is impressive.

Looking west through Loftus Quarries from near the Cleveland Way.

Geology

With shallow dips, the Jurassic strata that can be examined directly in situ are limited to beds near to the top of the Redcar Mudstone Formation. Higher beds in the cliff faces can be viewed and examined as fallen blocks.

• Saltwick Formation: This forms the southern back wall of the quarry, some 750m in length and over 30m in height. It is formed predominantly of river channel sandstones. It is difficult to reach and is best examined closely from fallen blocks.
• Dogger Formation: This is about 4m thick and is unique re. coastal exposures. It consists mainly of murchisonae shale and is one reason for the location being SSSI. The apparent transitional beds upwards to Saltwick Formation flood plain deposits are an important source of fossil plants.
• Whitby Mudstone Formation: There are extensive exposures of the lower beds that form the quarry floor (including some Mulgrave Shale).
• Reason for SSSI Status: (1) Occurrence of murchisonae shale, (2) Finding of various reptilian species. (Note: the SSSI status is named as Boulby but the site plan includes both Boulby and Loftus. The murchisonae shale only occurs at Loftus and the pterosaur is also from there. However, the other reptiles may have come from Boulby.)

View from within Loftus Quarries looking west toward Cattersty.

Geomorphology: Several past and potential landslips and rockfalls can be seen and, in contrast, examples of slow, gradual subaerial cliff erosion.

Historical geology: Lewis Hunton’s family were alum makers and estate agents here. Hunton’s study of the stratigraphy at Boulby Quarry, immediately to the east, was a major contribution to the development of geological science.

Industrial Archaeology:

• The quarry is a major alum site with several stages of development. However, industrial archaeological remains are somewhat sparse especially in comparison with Boulby.
• The quarries are underlain by the extensive underground workings of the Main Seam (Cleveland Ironstone Formation) of Loftus Mine that are exposed along the sea cliffs. Jet workings are also present along the sea cliffs not far below the lowest alum levels.

Access

The main access point is at NZ 735 198 where a track into the quarries branches off the Cleveland Way. This point can be reached on foot in various ways but particularly by following the Cleveland Way eastwards from Skinningrove where there is parking (see the mini-geotrail).

Access map for Loftus Quarries showing suggested parking in Skinningrove, extent of Boulby SSSI and North York Moors National Park.
(Click on map to enlage)

General Assessment:

The quarries are an excellent venue for demonstrating Lower and Middle Jurassic geology and industrial archaeology (alum workings).

Associated Sites

Boulby Alum Quarries (SSSI, other reference no. 54);
Hummersea sea cliffs and foreshore (Heritage Coast, other reference no. 51);
Boulby and Cowbar Nab Cliffs ((RC5, other reference no. 80);

Safety Information

PLEASE NOTE: Due to the presence of high unfenced cliff faces we suggest that this site is not suitable for visits by unsupervised children. Please remain well away from the cliff edge and ensure any dogs are kept on a lead. Because of their unstable nature these cliffs must not, under any circumstances, be climbed.

Disclaimer: Tees Valley RIGS Group cannot be responsible for the safety of anyone visiting this coastal site. The accompanying map was accurate when this trail was devised in 2011, but these cliffs are prone to landslip through natural processes and paths may be lost.

A NOTE ON FOSSILS

Please feel free to collect loose fossil specimens weathered from their places of original deposition. However, to enable future scientific study, and for the enjoyment of others who may follow in your footsteps, in situ fossils (i.e. those still embedded in their position of original deposition) should not be collected, but their positions noted and details passed on to TVRIGS, a local museum or other similar body.

Please follow the Countryside Code. Do not light fires. Take any litter home.

Supplementary Information

Geology

Structure: The succession is shown in the accompany section. The beds dip about 3° to the south.

Section through Loftus Quarries showing the general dip of the beds to the south.

Saltwick Formation (deltaic/alluvial): This forms the impressive back wall of the quarry and consists principally of massive lenses of river channel sandstone. It is generally difficult to reach owing to the fallen rock. Blocks, some extremely large, can be readily examined showing sedimentary structures such as cross-bedding and the imprints of plant remains.

Dogger Formation (marine incursion): The peculiar nature of this Formation at this locality was, perhaps, first noticed by Hunton (1836) who reported 10ft (3m) of shale at the top of the succession distinct from the Alum Shale. Later, Tate and Blake (1876, page 26) and Barrow (1888, page 43) described the section in some detail. Tate and Blake provide a lengthy fossil list of 20 species from bed 11, a 3 inch (7.5cm) thick bed described as ‘impure limestone dogger’ and reported Ludwigia murchisonae (an Aalenian zone ammonite) from bed 10 (‘shale’, 1 ft 6 ins (46 cm)) that is directly above.

The geology was subsequently investigated by Black (1929 and 1934) and has been summarised by Rastall and Hemingway (1940). Black’s section is also shown in the British Regional Geology, East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire (1948, page 38). Black records about 11ft (3.3m) of murchisonae beds with a basal ‘pebble bed’ (mainly of mudstone) overlain by ferruginous shale with bands of siderite mudstone nodules, some of which are fossiliferous with the basal bed carrying the zone fossil. The beds are overlain, apparently without any break, by flood plain deposits ascribed to the Saltwick Formation and including coaly shale and fossil plant beds. They are also cut out laterally by channel sandstone that passes laterally into a thin bed of sandstone above the plant-rich layers.

The locality is described by Tate and Blake as “…due north of Upton…”, i.e. at the extreme western end of the quarries at NZ 737 198, but is now rather difficult to reach and is in a poor state.

No comparable localities are known along the coast but similar beds are found inland especially at Cold Moor where they overlie the limestone-rich facies type that is also of murchisonae age. This implies that at Loftus Quarries there is a considerable gap in the stratigraphic succession with several missing time zones at the level of the pebble bed.

Alum Shale and Mulgrave Shale Members (marine, recovering from the anoxic event of the Jet rock): Some 30m of beds are exposed at various sub-quarry levels along the northern, seawards side. They probably belong to the Hard Shale sub-unit of the Member and beds below, the Bituminous Shale sub-unit of the Mulgrave Shale. They consist of weathered, friable, grey, iron-stained, poorly bedded, flaky shale with vertically disposed, small-scale jointing. Fossils, chiefly poorly preserved belemnites, are uncommon but, when seen, may be present in clusters. Small acicular crystals of iron-stained gypsum are common.

Occasional beds of lighter grey, calcareous, sometimes septarian, nodules are common and in places the bare shale surface is littered by loose pieces of these nodules. However, so far, Howarth’s (1962) detailed lithostratigraphic succession has not been elucidated. It is likely that the beds exposed belong to the lower part of the Member (the Hard Shale sub-unit) and to the upper part of the Mulgrave Shale Member.

The upper sequence of the Alum Shale Member is mostly obscured by waste dumps and rock falls but can be seen from a distance in some places. Black (ibid) and Rastall and Hemingway (ibid) report shale with cementstone nodules (and typical Alum Shale ammonites) overlain by about 2 feet (0.6m) mainly consisting of ‘chocolate mudstone’, of ‘doubtful age’, below the Dogger Formation pebble bed.

View Looking west from the eastern end of the quarries showing faces of Alum Shale.

Fossil reptiles: The SSSI description refers to type specimens of two plesiosaurs (Eretmosaurus maccroptera and Thaumatosaurus zetlandicus), one ichthyosaur (Ichthyosaurus crassimonus) and one pterosaur (Parapsicephalus (Schaphognathus) purdoni). The pterosaur was found at Lofthouse (Loftus) by the Rev. D. W. Purdon in 1881 and was described by Newton (Phil. Trans. Royal Soc. London, 1888). It is now at the British Geol. Survey, Keyworth (information from the Pterosaur data base where there are photos).

Geomorphology: The back wall of the quarry has been subject to rock falls and there is now much debris at its foot. At the top, on the Cleveland Way there are open fissures with the quarry wall being in a poor state.

At quarry level on the seawards edge there have been several landslips but also stretches of cliff where there has been little erosion since the publication of the first Ordnance Survey maps. The ground between the Boulby and Loftus Quarries illustrates how the original cliffs looked.

Historical geology: As noted above, Hunton (1836) published an important paper concerning the collection of fossils in-situ and their stratigraphic significance. Hunton’s home was at Hummersea House and he must also have been familiar with Loftus Quarries although his section refers to Rockcliff, Boulby where there was, at the time, an easy track down to the beach.

Industrial History and Archaeology

Alum: The alum works was started in the mid-17^th century and closed in about 1860. There was a major redevelopment about 1800 when a new alum house was constructed by Hummersea beach. The history and industrial archaeology of the alum works has received much attention in recent years and, in particular, there is the major survey by English Heritage (Hunt et al. 2004). The main sites are included in the mini-geotrail.

Ironstone: The Main Seam of the Cleveland Ironstone Formation has been worked extensively under the quarries as part of Loftus Ironstone Mine, the surface works of which are now the Cleveland Ironstone Mining Museum at Skinningrove (at NZ 712 193). The seams typically consisted of a Bottom Block (1.2m) and Top Block (1.5m) separated by a dogger or shale parting up to 0.2 m (but thicknesses varied across the reserve). Tuffs (1996) gives a brief and Chapman (1998) a detailed description.

Literature References

Maps

Geological Survey Yorkshire Sheet IX SW, scale 6 inches to 1 mile, 1878 (Ordnance Survey 1856).
his shows a large number of industrial features that have since disappeared such as several sets of steeping pits and an outline plan of the alum house.

Excursion Guides

Goldring, D. 2001. Along the Scar. Peter Tuffs, Guisborough, 145p. See pages 59-65.

Goldring, D. 2010. Guided Walk to Loftus Alum Quarries 24th July, 2010. CIAS Newsletter No. 100. See pages 5-11.
The mini-geotrail is based on this.

Geology

Barrow, G. 1888. The Geology of North Cleveland. Mem. Geol. Survey, H.M.S.O., London, 101p.
Pages. 9 and 12 show the Redcar Mudstone and Staithes Sandstone Formation sequences. The Main Seam ironstone section at the Old Gut is on page 19.

Black, M. 1929. Drifted plant beds of the Upper Estuarine Series of Yorkshire. Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. 85.

Black, M. 1934. Sedimentation of the Aalenian rocks of Yorkshire. Proc. Yorks. Geol. Soc., 22, 265-279.
Details of the Dogger Formation succession

Goldring, D. 2011. Geological background to the North Yorkshire alum industry.
Paper in preparation.

Fox-Strangways, C. 1892. The Jurassic Rocks of Britain, Volume I Yorkshire. Geol. Survey, H.M.S.O., London, 551p.
Similar to Barrow, 1888.

Howarth, M. K. 1962. The Jet Rock Series and the Alum Shale Series of the Yorkshire coast. Proc. Yorks. Geol. Soc., 33, 381-418.
The main bed by bed description of the strata, followed by subsequent researchers.

Rastall, R. H. & Hemingway, J. E. 1940. The Yorkshire Dogger, 1. The Coastal Region. Geol. Mag., 77, 177-197 & 257-275.
This is the main detailed description of the Dogger Formation for the Cleveland coast. Pages 192 and 193 refer to the Loftus section.

Tate, R. and Blake, J. F. 1876. The Yorkshire Lias. John Van Voorst, London, 475p.
he measured section and fossil list of the Dogger Formation is on page 26 (cliff due north of Upton hamlet). Pages 132 and 133 show the ironstone section as seen on the path to the shore at Boulby.

Wilson, V. 1948. British Regional Geology, East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. HMSO, 94p.
Black’s section is reproduced on page 38.

Historical Geology

Hunton, L. 1836. Remarks on a section of the Upper Lias and Marlstone of Yorkshire, etc. rans. Geol. Soc. London, 5, 215-220.
This is Hunton’s classic paper and includes his section at Boulby, undoubtedly the best by the early 19th Century geologists.

Torrens, H. S. and Getty, T. A. 1984. Louis Hunton (1814-1838). English pioneer in ammonite biostratigraphy. Earth Sciences History, 3, 58-68.
biography stressing the scientific importance of Louis Hunton.

Industrial History & Archaeology

Alum

Goldring, D. 2007. Louis Hunton and Loftus Alum Works. Cleveland Industrial Heritage, No. 21, 9-15.
Includes a copy of Hunton’s famous section emphasising points of industrial interest.

Hunt, A. et al. 2004. Loftus alum works, Redcar and Cleveland, Cleveland. An archaeological and historical survey. English Heritage, Survey Report A1/02/2004, 67p.
This is a major survey of Loftus Quarries with detailed plans covering the whole site. It is a pity that there is not more geology, that there are few survey levels and that information on the early 6 inches to 1 mile O. S. maps is missing.

Jecock, M. 2009. A Fading Memory: The North Yorkshire coastal alum industry in the light of recent analytical field survey by English Heritage. Industrial Archaeology Review, 31, 54-73.
General review of the alum industry.

Miller, I. 2002. The Manufacture of Alum: The Collated Evidence. Chapter 9 in ed. I. Miller, Steeped in History. The alum industry of North-East Yorkshire. NorthYorks Moors National Park Authority. 107-120.
A review that includes several references and photos of Hummersea going back to 1993.

Owen, J. S. 1986. Rutways before railways on the Yorkshire coast, with details of twelve sites between Saltburn and Scarborough. CIA No. 18, 23-32.
John Owen’s main record of rutways, etc.

Owen, J. S. (compiled by CIAS editorial board). 1998. Rutways and some other coastal features. (In Cleveland Ironstone (memorial volume)) 75-79. CIAS & NYMNP Authority, 103p
A compilation of John Owen’s finds.

Ironstone

Abandonment Plan (at Teesside Archives) Loftus (1 plan), abandoned 27/06/1959. Reference No. 15168.

Chapman, S. 1998. The Loftus mines, Skinningrove. Peter Tuffs Publications, 100pp.
Account of ironstone mining at Boulby and description of surface remains.

Tuffs, P. 1996. Catalogue of Cleveland Ironstone Mines. Peter Tuffs, Guisborough, 56p.
General details of Loftus mine.

Mini Geo-trail

Click here to view the Loftus Quarries Mini Geo-Trail »»

Surveyors

Denis Goldring 2011

©2011 Tees Valley RIGS Group.

PLEASE NOTE: Tees Valley RIGS Group cannot be held responsible for the content of external sites.

1. Site Description
2. Site Map
3. Site Assessment
4. Surveyors

Grid Reference NZ 749 162
BGS Sheet 34
OS Sheet 94
Forwarded as RIGS 30/09/2003

Site Description

Site Status SNCI
Description of Geodiversity Upland river cutting through deltaic sandstone revealing river-cliffs and waterfalls. Exposures include Saltwick sandstone, Dogger and Whitby mudstone formations
Literature References

Site Map

Site Assessment

Surveyors

Andrew Carter, Andrew Cooper, Carl Rees-Davies