Herefordshire’s Rocks & Scenery: A Geology of the County

The aim of this book is to explain how, where and when the various rocks that underlie Herefordshire were formed and the forces which subsequently worked upon them to result in the scenery we now enjoy. Why is the landscape, the layout of the hills, valleys and rivers, as we see it today? Why, for example, does the Old Red Sandstone, the main rock of the county, have different qualities in different places? How have the various rocks been brought into juxtaposition through plate tectonics and fault lines? How, in more recent times, did Ice Age glaciers scour and shape the landscape, forcing rivers to change course and creating hummocky scenery through moraines deposited by ice moving from Wales and the north? Why it is that the Malverns are so prominent and different in outline to anywhere else around? How have the different rocks affected building practices?

With 200 colour photographs, drawings and tables, the book explores the various geological periods and the processes at work, showing the effect on the landscape through a number of aerial photographs and explaining what you can see in the faces of quarries across the county, the places where we can all get to see the underlying geology.

The book has been written by members of the Geology section of the Woolhope Naturalists’ Field Club, which is based in Hereford and is the principal naturalist and local history society in Herefordshire. Each of the several authors has many years of experience in exploring the geology of the county and in explaining it to the public. They are active in local geological work through lecturing, leading visiting groups, geological conservation and research.