The History of Flaxby - meeting 22nd October 2013 at The Tiger Inn, Coneythorpe, 7.30pm
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GEOLOGY AND LANDSCAPE
The bedrock geology in the Vale if York consists of Triassic sandstones and mudstones bounded by Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks to the east with Permian and Carboniferous rocks to the west. Overlying the bedrock geology there is a varied cover of superficial deposits consisting of glacial till, outwash sands and gravels, glaciolacustrine clay, peat and alluvium. Their distribution is strongly influenced by the advance and retreat of ice during the Devensian glaciations, between about 115000 and 10000 years ago.
To put the period of glaciation into some sort of time perspective, imagine the time from the beginning of the ice age until now is just one year. The glaciation lasted until the beginning of December, the Neolithic period began around December 12th, the Bronze age began on 16th December, the Iron Age began about 22nd December. Romans came to Britain at 6pm on Christmas eve !
The Pennine valleys were glaciated as far south as Leeds and a tongue of ice occupied the Vale of York advancing as far south as the Escrick Moraine. At the same time, the North Sea ice advanced to Norfolk blocking the drainage out through the Humber gap. The pro-glacial lake(Lake Humber) that formed in front of the glacier drained southwards along what is now the River Trent. Drainage from the Pennines and from the Vale of Pickering was diverted around the margin of the ice sheet. As the ice advanced to the Devensian maximum, forming the Escrick Moraine, it overrode the pro-glacial lake and many of the pro-glacial deposits. The ice front then retreated progressively northwards with intervening still-stands depositing the Crockey Hill Esker, the York Moraine, and the Flaxby-Tollerton Moraine. The York and Flaxby-Tollerton moraines represent still-stands in the ice margin where the supply of sediment-laden ice was in equilibrium with the degree of melting or wasting.
At this time Britain was still connected to mainland Europe by Doggerland, and it is believed that around 8700 BC groups of hunter-gatherers first arrived from Europe. By around 6500 BC sea levels had risen and the low lying Doggerland had been flooded by the North Sea, and Britain became an island.
The landscape formed from these glacial deposits is undulating in character, with soils that vary from sand and gravel deposits to peat and alluvium. One of the characteristic features is the widespread deposit of glacial till boulders that vary in size up to half a ton. Where land has been cleared of these to provide for arable farming they have made a plentiful source of building materials. However, because of their irregular rounded shape they are less than ideal for house building, more often being seen in stone walls. See Lilliel Cottage and garden wall to Woodmans Cottages.
For those interested I have a number of illustrated sheets dealing with this subject, and further reading and information can be found with the British Geological Survey.
Buck White
Herons Keep
12.10.13