DOLGOCH QUARRY

Dolgoch Quarry is one of the Trust's six reserves in the Oswestry area which are currently receiving special attention under the 'Living with Limestone' project. Only accessible by a walk along the old quarry trackway through dark and damp woodland, when you arrive there it has a feeling of light and airiness. Here Gordon Hillier, warden for the reserve, explains why it is a special place.

I consider myself privileged to be a volunteer warden for Dolgoch Quarry. It's a beautiful place, especially in late spring and summer, when one gets a lovely feeling of peace and solitude.

I retired to the Oswestry area 15 years ago after a career as a geological engineer, and became very interested in the local geology and industrial archaeology. As for Dolgoch in particular, not only does it have a wide variety of flora and fauna typical of the limestone uplands of the area, but also the actual quarry and its surrounds together provide a microcosm of both natural and human history in a very small area.

The quarry was probably abandoned in the early 1900s, and the Trust leased the quarry from Steetley and Co in 1983. The first management plan in 1988 recommended conserving the grassland by scrub clearance, removing sycamore and spruce and installing a stile to prevent misuse by motorcycles.

16 years later, the continued erosion on the quarry floor and the spoil slopes by motorcycles remains an ongoing problem. During my time as warden the stile has been replaced three times, and each time it has been vandalised. Many groups of bee and butterfly orchids and twayblades have disappeared in recent years through the erosion. On a more positive note, an event held by the Oswestry Branch was well-attended, with walks, talks, displays, and pond-dipping sessions. Reedmace has been cleared from the pond to maintain open water, and much welcome scrub clearance has been undertaken by the volunteer work parties.

In 1998 an archaeological management plan was prepared, which noted the existence of a tramway with sleepers and revetment walls still visible, a tunnel connecting two halves of the quarry, and just outside the reserve the remnants of a weighhouse, a magazine and a storehouse. Also outside the reserve to the south is a battery of seven kilns, a listed building of historic significance.

As a geologist, I am able to find and interpret the sometimes rather vague shapes and patterns seen in the rocks, but I still find it difficult to recognise the fast moving birds and insects I glimpse during my visits, or even to remember the names of the many plants! Animals once lived here 330 million years ago in a tropical shallow water environment, when Britain was part of a large continent near the equator, and their fossilised remains are evident today. One of these is always mentioned in connection with Dolgoch-'Productus Giganteus' - on account of its large size. Lumps of apparently uninteresting grey rock when viewed under a microscope reveal the fossilised remains of very small animals called Foraminifera, as well as small fragments of shelly material and bits of corals.

I take great delight in leading geological field trips to North-West Shropshire, and always include Dolgoch Quarry as one of the more interesting sites. Perhaps I should add here that safety is important and that a risk assessment is presented to all visitors on an arranged trip. Also, no hammering of the quarry faces is allowed, and I dissuade visitors from collecting specimens, which are becoming scarce, from the loose spoil.

Let us hope that present efforts to maintain or improve the natural beauty of the quarry are successful. I know that Simon, with his infectious enthusiasm, will contribute to the enhancement of all the Oswestry reserves, including my favourite, Dolgoch Quarry.

Editor's note: Simon is reviewing the access to the site.