Quarry Wood: a Victorian mystery 100-million-years in the making
Sun, 15 June 2025 @ 13:00 - 17:00
Join local geologist Dave Longstaff on a 2-3 hour walk in Quarry Wood to look at the geology and to discuss a controversy that confounded early Victorian scientists.
Join Dave Longstaff, a member of Elgin Museum Geology Group, on a 2-3 hour walk in Quarry Wood to look at the geology and to discuss a controversy that confounded Victorian geologists.
The walk will take in several disused sandstone quarries, including Cutties Hillock Quarry where, 150 years ago, the fossil remains of reptiles were found only a few feet above fossil fish scales. Are these layers of sedimentary rock the same age? This question interested many Victorian geologists and drew scientists from all over Britain to Quarry Wood. A clue is found in Rosebrae Quarry where a break in the geological record can be examined: a 100-million-year geological time gap represented by a cranny allowing your finger to span 100 million years!
Near Cutties Hillock Quarry, we can also see evidence from the last ice-age where grooves in small exposures of rocks were created by ice sheets that once covered Moray (glacial striae to those who remember their school geography lessons!).
From the meeting point at Leggat Quarry car park, we’ll walk to Rosebrae and Cutties Hillock Quarries. This is a circular walk of about 3km which includes a gentle 0.5km uphill stretch to almost the top of Quarry Wood on good paths.