and families assembled at the Denehurst Hotel, Church
Stretton on the Friday evening, and the first expedition was
made into Cardingmill Valley in the Long Mynd on the Saturday
morning. Much geology was seen, and rock specimens were
taken. The Onny Valley was explored in the afternnon, and
some even went out after dinner for a short trip. Sunday
was spent examining the Wenlock and Aymestry Limestones, and
Monday round the Ludlow district.
Many of the party stayed on to the Tuesday, and made a
second trip down the Cardingmill Valley and right over the
Lightspout on the Long Mynd, and were even collecting samples
of the Old Red Sandstone on the way home later in the day.
Reports on the Geology, Birds and Botany have heen
kindly made by Ron Coates, Mike Parker and Maureen Tollfree
respectively, and are here appended. Roy Masefield.
Notes on the Geology of the Church Stretton District
The Church Stretton area of Shropshire is basically one
of where there is a relationship between the Geography and
the Geology. The Long Mynd, which reaches to a height of
1700=ft., owes its composition to the thick groups of
resistant shales and sandstones. The broad and relatively
flat valley of Church Stretton tends to follow the line of
the Church Stretton Fault Complex. The valley floor is
occupied by rocks of Pre-Cambrian, Silurian and Carboniferous
ages, and these tend to be softer than those on the valley
sides. The topography of the hills east of the Stretton
Valley is in marked contrast to that of the smooth profile of
the Long Mynd to the west of it. This contrast in the hills
is due to the variety of the Pre-Cambrian (Uriconian and
Longmyndian) rocks of which they are composed.
To the east of these Pre-Cambrian rock hill masses, one
meets a succession of vales and edges. These form a pattern
of ridges separated by small vales. The principal rocks are
a series of shales, sandstones and limestones, which make up
the Ordovician, Silurian and Old Red Sandstone rocks of the
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