Corncockle Quarry was a large and historically important sandstone quarry near Templand in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. Stone from here was used in the late Victorian era to build tenements in Edinburgh and Glasgow, and also to construct New York 'brownstones'. [1] [2]
The sandstone in Corncockle Quarry is the Corncockle Sandstone Formation and dates from the Cisuralian, the Lower Permian between 298.9 - 272.3 Mya. [3] Fossil footprints were found there in the early 1800s, uncovered during quarrying. They are often wrongly referred to as dinosaur footprints, but dinosaurs did not exist at this time. They belong instead to other extinct reptiles such as therapsids - the group that would eventually lead to mammals, and includes animals like Dimetrodon .
The footprints from Corncockle were the first ever described scientifically, by Mr. J Grierson, [4] and the Reverend Henry Duncan [5] in 1828. Rev Duncan then published his paper on the footprints in 1831.
The name for the study of fossil footprints and other trace marks, ichnology, was coined by Sir William Jardine, whose book The Ichnology of Annadale was about the trackways found in Corncockle Quarry, part of his ancestral estate. [6] The prints were then described by William Buckland following correspondence with Rev Duncan. [7]
The fossils are displayed at Dumfries Museum and the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh.
The stone in Corncockle Quarry - now called Dunhouse Quarry - is currently extracted by Dunhouse. [8] At its peak the quarry was connected to the Caledonian Main Line by a mineral railway. [9] It was the subject of a lithograph by William Jardine. [10]
Timeline of paleontology
William Buckland DD, FRS was an English theologian who became Dean of Westminster. He was also a geologist and palaeontologist.
The year 1828 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.
Dumfriesshire or the County of Dumfries or Shire of Dumfries is a historic county and registration county in southern Scotland. The Dumfries lieutenancy area covers a similar area to the historic county.
Sir William Jardine, 7th Baronet of Applegarth FRS FRSE FLS FSA was a Scottish naturalist. He is known for his editing of a long series of natural history books, The Naturalist's Library.
Henry Duncan FRSE was a Scottish minister, geologist and social reformer. The minister of Ruthwell in Dumfriesshire, he founded the world's first mutual savings bank that would eventually form part of the Trustee Savings Bank. He served as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1839. At the Disruption has left the Church of Scotland and sided with the Free Church. He was also a publisher, a philanthropist and an author, writing novels as well as works of science and religion.
Anchisaurus is a genus of basal sauropodomorph dinosaur. It lived during the Early Jurassic Period, and its fossils have been found in the red sandstone of the Portland Formation, Northeastern United States, which was deposited from the Hettangian age into the Sinemurian age, between about 200 and 195 million years ago. Until recently it was classed as a member of Prosauropoda. The genus name Anchisaurus comes from the Greek αγχιanchi-; "near, close" + Greek σαυρος ; "lizard". Anchisaurus was coined as a replacement name for "Amphisaurus", which was itself a replacement name for Hitchcock's "Megadactylus", both of which had already been used for other animals.
A fossil track or ichnite is a fossilized footprint. This is a type of trace fossil. A fossil trackway is a sequence of fossil tracks left by a single organism. Over the years, many ichnites have been found, around the world, giving important clues about the behaviour of the animals that made them. For instance, multiple ichnites of a single species, close together, suggest 'herd' or 'pack' behaviour of that species.
The Hitchcock Ichnological Cabinet is a collection of fossil footmarks assembled between 1836 and 1865 by Edward Hitchcock (1793–1864), noted American geologist, state geologist of Massachusetts, United States, and President of Amherst College. He was one of the first experts in fossil tracks. A footmark impression in stone is a petrosomatoglyph.
Otozoum is an extinct ichnospecies of fossilized sauropodomorph dinosaur footprints and other markings in sandstones. They were made by heavy, bipedal animals with a short stride that walked on four toes directed forward.
Dumfries Academy is one of four secondary schools in Dumfries in south west Scotland. It is a state funded secondary school for both girls and boys. The schools moto is "doctrina promovet" which translates from Latin to "learning promotes" which the school emphases within their "vision, values and aims". There are two notable buildings; the Minerva Building 1895-7 by F J C Carruthers and a later building by County Architect John R Hill, 1936.
Dumfries Museum and Camera Obscura, located in Dumfries in Dumfries & Galloway, is the largest museum in the region. The museum has extensive collections relating to local and history from the pre-historic era. The museum also has the world's oldest working Camera Obscura. Admission is free, however a small fee applies for the Camera Obscura.
Nethercleugh railway station was a station which served the rural area around Nethercleugh and the estate of Jardine Hall, 3 miles north of Lockerbie in Applegarth parish, Scottish county of Dumfries and Galloway. It was served by local trains on what is now known as the West Coast Main Line. The nearest station for Nethercleugh is now at Lockerbie.
Paleontology in Massachusetts refers to paleontological research occurring within or conducted by people from the U.S. state of Massachusetts. The fossil record of Massachusetts is very similar to that of neighboring Connecticut. During the early part of the Paleozoic era, Massachusetts was covered by a warm shallow sea, where brachiopods and trilobites would come to live. No Carboniferous or Permian fossils are known from the state. During the Cretaceous period the area now occupied by the Elizabeth Islands and Martha's Vineyard were a coastal plain vegetated by flowers and pine trees at the edge of a shallow sea. No rocks are known of Paleogene or early Neogene age in the state, but during the Pleistocene evidence indicates that the state was subject to glacial activity and home to mastodons. The local fossil theropod footprints of Massachusetts may have been at least a partial inspiration for the Tuscarora legend of the Mosquito Monster or Great Mosquito in New York. Local fossils had already caught the attention of scientists by 1802 when dinosaur footprints were discovered in the state. Other notable discoveries include some of the first known fossil of primitive sauropodomorphs and Podokesaurus. Dinosaur tracks are the Massachusetts state fossil.
Events from the year 1828 in Scotland.
The 20th century in ichnology refers to advances made between the years 1900 and 1999 in the scientific study of trace fossils, the preserved record of the behavior and physiological processes of ancient life forms, especially fossil footprints. Significant fossil trackway discoveries began almost immediately after the start of the 20th century with the 1900 discovery at Ipolytarnoc, Hungary of a wide variety of bird and mammal footprints left behind during the early Miocene. Not long after, fossil Iguanodon footprints were discovered in Sussex, England, a discovery that probably served as the inspiration for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World.
The 19th century in ichnology refers to advances made between the years 1800 and 1899 in the scientific study of trace fossils, the preserved record of the behavior and physiological processes of ancient life forms, especially fossil footprints. The 19th century was notably the first century in which fossil footprints received scholarly attention. British paleontologist William Buckland performed the first true scientific research on the subject during the early 1830s.
Chelichnus is an ichnogenus of Permian tetrapod footprint. The name means tortoise traces, because the shape of the prints was originally mistakenly thought to be produced by a tortoise. This is now known to be incorrect, as tortoises did not evolve until much later. It was first found in Corncockle Quarry in Dumfries, Scotland, and described by Rev. Henry Duncan.
James Noble (1800–1848) was a 19th century Scottish minister, antiquarian, geologist and fossil collector.
Lockerbie Town Hall is a municipal building in the High Street in Lockerbie, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. The structure, which is used as a venue for the provision of local services, is a Category A listed building.
55°10′10″N3°26′07″W / 55.1695°N 3.4354°W