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A Building Stones Guide to Central Manchester
Third Edition (2014)
Four self-guided walks through the city centre
Now available to purchase

Outdoor Events

The provisional programme of events for 2024 is given below.

All events are held jointly with GeoLancashire.

DateSaturday 4 May 2024
LocationTodmorden Moor
LeaderBrian Jeffrey/Peter del Strother
NotesHeld to celebrate the 100th Anniversary (1922-2022) of GeoLancashire. Meet at Tower Causeway car-park at SD912250. We will visit an exposure of the six-inch coal and the Subcrenatum Marine Band, the base of the Westphalian, and also industrial archaeology associated with coal mining.
ContactField Excursions Secretary


DateSaturday 18 May 2024
LocationAlderley Edge and Copper Mine
LeaderAnton Petho, Derbyshire County Council
NotesMeet at National Trust car-park, next to The Wizard Tearoom at SJ859773. Booking for this trip is essential
ContactField Excursions Secretary


DateWednesday 12 June 2024
LocationCoastal Geology at Heysham
LeaderPeter del Strother/Brian Jeffrey
NotesThree locations, access to the first from Heysham village. Namurian sandstones and mudstones, sedimentary structures, non-marine and marine facies with trace fossils. A small exposure of Triassic sandstone. Access to and conditions on the foreshore are somewhat challenging with cobbles and boulders, some covered in seaweed.
ContactField Excursions Secretary


DateWednesday 17 July 2024
LocationGeology of Crummackdale
LeaderPeter del Strother
NotesMeet at Town Head Rd, Austwick at SD769687 or at Crag Hill Rd, Horton-in-Ribblesdale at SD805724. This will be a one-way trail, north to south, about 12 km long but with an option to reduce that by missing the Norber erratic locality. It will be necessary to leave a car at Austwick to take drivers back to Horton in Ribblesdale. This will be arranged prior to the excursion. We will see Carboniferous limestone and what is probably the most spectacular limestone pavement in northern England, a Silurian mudstone with Liesegang rings, a well exposed unconformity at Austwick Beck Head where a Carboniferous lime mudstone/siliciclastic conglomerate overlies bedded and cleaved Ordovician basement with enigmatic jointing, Silurian turbidites with rip-up clasts, cleavage and cleavage refraction, an unconformity at Nappa Scars with a difficult to interpret boulder bed and the Norber Erratics. All this is set in a glaciated landscape with a well exposed syncline in Silurian rocks seen in one side of the valley.

Jointly with Westmorland Geological Society and possibly with Yorkshire Geological Society
ContactField Excursions Secretary


DateSaturday 10 August 2024
LocationGeology and Industrial Archaeology of Healey Dell
LeaderBrian Jeffrey/Peter del Strother
Notes Meet on Station Rd, Broadley. Coal measures sandstones and industrial archaeology in a spectacular gorge with waterfalls, created by glacial meltwater.
ContactField Excursions Secretary


DateTuesday 3 September 2024
LocationBuilding Stones of Central Manchester
LeaderPeter del Strother
NotesMeet (probably at 13.30) at Visitor Reception Area on Library Walk, which is between Manchester Town Hall Extension and the Central Library. Building stones and their geological background, plus some aspects of the history of Manchester. If oversubscribed a repeat excursion will be run.
ContactField Excursions Secretary


IMPORTANT NOTICES: Please read

Each person attending a field meeting does so on the understanding that he/she attends at his/her own risk. The MGA has Public Liability Insurance cover (including member-to-member cover) for field and indoor meetings and an element of Personal Accident cover. However, members should always ensure that they have Personal Liability cover (normally part of the standard householder's insurance policy - please check your policy) and comprehensive Personal Accident cover. These elements of insurance cover are your responsibility.

Members are reminded that, when in the field, they should wear suitable clothing, take reasonable precautions for their own and others' safety, and follow the leader's instructions. Hard hats should always be taken. When walking through areas such as long grass or bracken, or areas where sheep or deer graze, skin should be covered and tick repellent used - see the Tick Awareness website

If you intend to come along to an event, or for more information about the event or the Risk Assessment for that event, please get in touch with the named contact for that event.

Visitors are always welcome