Promoting interest in the geology of Cambridgeshire, the UK and worldwide
Field trips
The CGS arrange Field trips open to both members and non-members. Upcoming trips are shown on our EVENTS page.
NEXT TRIP
Wednesday 8th June 2 pm
for Cambridge Nature Festival
Fen Edge Trail landscape heritage walk in Cambridge
from Castle Hill to the Sedgwick Museum
Free, everyone welcome, but numbers limited so you need to book by contacting us.
This guided walk (3 miles easy walking, taking about 1.5 – 2 hours) celebrates the publication of the Walk Guide (available in June) for this part of the Trail that passes through the ‘fen edge’ city of Cambridge. Starting high up on Castle Hill, you walk down through the heart of old Cambridge and traditional riverside grazing ‘fenland’, past historic buildings to finish at the world-famous Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences. The hill is part of a ridge formed of c.100 million year old Marly Chalk topped by gravel from an old terrace of the Cam, whilst the rest of the walk takes you across younger river terraces, dating from the last few hundreds of thousands of years and over much younger (probably only hundreds of years old) river alluvium alongside the river. Your guide, Martin Evans, is a committee member of CGS, an alumnus of Cambridge University and a long-term resident of Cambridge. He will be pointing out man-made features of historical interest on the way (which Cambridge has in abundance!) as well as commenting on the geology beneath at relevant points. As well as learning about the landscape of the Cam Valley, past and present, you will discover how it related to development of the ancient town and finally the city. You will also see a variety of local and exotic building stones. The walk goes past several colleges and takes in the famous ‘backs’, including the iconic view across the river to King’s College Chapel, as well as the nationally-renowned Fitzwilliam Museum. Famous pubs and tea shops are not forgotten, either!
Monthly Talks
The CGS are currently preparing a programme of 10 talks running from September 2021 to June 2022. These talks are held on the second Monday of every month and are at 7.30 pm unless specified otherwise. Due to the current COVID restrictions these talks are being held on ZOOM and are free – although donations are welcome! Talks are recorded but the recorded version is only available to members as part of their membership benefits.
The full programme is available on our EVENTS page.
NEXT TALK
Monday 13th June 2022 7.30pm
Brimham Rocks – Yorkshire’s answer to Cappadocia
Dr Reg Nichols, CGS Chair
(by ZOOM – please register by contacting us)
Yorkshire folk are often quoted as saying that in Yorkshire everything is bigger and better – perhaps Brimham Rocks near Harrogate fall into that category! This National Trust park has amazing natural stone pillars that rival anything seen in Cappadocia Gorem National Park. They are of Carboniferous age, Millstone stacks that tower on top of a plateau rising up from the Nidd valley. Their 3 dimensional aspects display the fluvio-deltaic sedimentary structures beautifully. Deposition was in a braided river system fed from the Calidonides to the North East infilling the Variscan Craven Basin systems. Far from being constructed by Druids or the result of the biblical deluge, these rock formations are thought to be the product of glacial assisted sand and ice blasting.
Two New Walk Guides published on the Fen Edge Trail
Earith to Needingworth and Sutton to Haddenham
Earith to Needingworth: Partly following the River Great Ouse, the walk takes you through a gentle landscape that does not resemble the large, ’Ice Age’, braided river that formed the lower part of the valley as it reached the fenland basin. Extensive research by Cambridge Archaeological Unit has revealed many significant cultural sites showing that people adapted to changing water levels over the last few thousand years, in a dynamic delta-like landscape. The furthest extent of the sea incursion c.3,400 years ago, during the Bronze Age, saw marine conditions extend to just south of Earith and waterways were possibly tidal much further inland.
Sutton to Haddenham: This walk passes over North Hill, the highest hill in the Cambridgeshire Fens, in the south west of the Isle of Ely. Prior to the major draining of the Fens in the 17th century, the Isle was surrounded by freshwater marshes and meres. This walk follows ancient droves and ways, alongside the Catchwater Drain, around the edge of the Isle linking these historic villages that sit on key promontories where, once, our ancestors sat and looked out across marshes or, sometimes, even sea.
Previous Events
Field Trip Report – Burwell Local Geological Sites
The society organises occasional field trips to view important geological sites within the county and hopefully further afield in post pandemic times. These trips are primarily for our members.
In early summer 2021 we had a popular visit to the Burwell Local Geological Sites and are scheduling some others to East Pit, Cherry Hinton, a walk along the Fen Edge from Swaffham Bulbeck to Reach, a visit to Nine Wells chalk spring and a tour of the building stones of Cambridge city center. These are primarily for the benefit of members: any member wishing to participate should contact us.
A write up for this trip may be found here.
Newsletters
Our December 2021 newsletter is now available to members.
Our previous newsletters are available to everyone (download below). They have plenty of ideas for some virtual geology!
Email updates
Sign up for our email updates to hear about future talks, events and news of our projects.
Contact us
Cambridgeshire Landscapes
Cambridgeshire has a fascinating landscape and an interesting geology. See our Landscapes page for more details and download the excellent leaflet ‘The Mapping of Landscapes, Geology and Soils of Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire’ by Timothy Farewell, Peter Friend, Martin Whiteley and Joanna Zawadzk.
© Cambridgeshire Geological Society