Promoting interest in the geology of Cambridgeshire, the UK and worldwide
Monthly Meetings
A programme of 10 monthly meetings, each including a talk, is held every year, running from September to June. These are held on the second Monday of the month at St Andrew’s Centre, Histon. Doors open 7 pm and talks start (unless stated otherwise) at 7.30 pm. Please arrive in good time (displays available for viewing – bring your rock and fossil items along for help with identification). Refreshments (coffee/tea/biscuits £1) available on arrival. Everyone welcome, free to CGS members, £3 non members.
For information on future and past events see the Events page
Next Event
Monday, 9th November 2026
Professor Marian Holness:- The Trinity Cobbles – A Story of Plate Tectonics
The cobbled area outside the Great Gate of Trinity College may seem very ordinary to the casual observer, but it can tell a number of fascinating stories. Firstly, it is an excellent example of the oldest building materials in the Cambridge area, formed of stones that were dug out of the surrounding fields in order to facilitate ploughing. This “field stone” was used for building until the Black Death, so is now found only in the oldest churches in the region. It was also used for making roads and, due to its durability and cheapness, has commonly been recycled many times: the Great Gate cobbles, for example, were re-purposed in the sixteenth century from an ancient road. Even a cursory examination of the cobbles shows a huge variety of different rock types – this is because the stones in the Cambridgeshire fields were deposited from glaciers and brought by the ice from hundreds of miles away. Amongst these different rock types are lithologies that can only have been brought from Norway, so we can use their distribution to map out the flow-lines of the long-departed glaciers. In the talk, I will introduce the various rock types and explain how they formed and what we can deduce about Earth history
Another three Walk Guides published on the Fen Edge Trail
2026 has seen the publication of three more Walk Guides.
Waterbeach to Milton (via Clayhithe and Horningsea) – ‘River crossings and enticing village churches and pubs; exploring Roman pottery and 19th century coprolite workings while tracking the River Cam‘.
Wicken to Soham (crossing the site of Soham Mere) – ‘A fascinating walk – the old mere, the ‘coral reef’, windmills; from the village on the ridge, around an ancient fenland mere and along the lode carrying the waters of the River Snail’.
Soham to Fordham(with an optional extension to Snailwell) – ‘Plenty of flora and fauna to see by scenic Soham Lode, as well as the River Snail and two Grade 1 churches; from the mereside town, along the lode and up onto the Chalk and a village on the River Snail’.
Even if not planning to do the walks, you may find the Guides of interest if you want to learn about our local geology and landscape, or if you would like to know more about the history of many of Cambridgeshire’s villages.
All Walk Guides can be downloaded from the Fen Edge Trail website.
We hope to publish more Walk Guides by the end of the year.
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Our latest newsletter is now available to members.
Previous newsletters can be downloaded below.
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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.
