The Old Red Sandstone is an assemblage of rocks in the North Atlantic region largely of Devonian age. It extends in the east across Great Britain, Ireland and Norway, and in the west along the northeastern seaboard of North America. It also extends northwards into Greenland and Svalbard. These areas were a part of the ancient continent of Euramerica/Laurussia. In Britain it is a lithostratigraphic unit to which stratigraphers accord supergroup status and which is of considerable importance to early paleontology. For convenience the short version of the term, ORS is often used in literature on the subject. The term was coined to distinguish the sequence from the younger New Red Sandstone which also occurs widely throughout Britain.
The Blackdown Hills are a range of hills along the Somerset-Devon border in south-western England, which were designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) in 1991.
Somerset is a rural county in the southwest of England, covering 4,171 square kilometres (1,610 sq mi). It is bounded on the north-west by the Bristol Channel, on the north by Bristol and Gloucestershire, on the north-east by Wiltshire, on the south-east by Dorset, and on the south west and west by Devon. It has broad central plains with several ranges of low hills. The landscape divides into four main geological sections from the Silurian through the Devonian and Carboniferous to the Permian which influence the landscape, together with water-related features.
The New Red Sandstone, chiefly in British geology, is composed of beds of red sandstone and associated rocks laid down throughout the Permian to the end of the Triassic, that underlie the Jurassic-Triassic age Penarth Group. The name distinguishes it from the Old Red Sandstone which is largely Devonian in age, and with which it was originally confused due to their similar composition.
The geology of Wales is complex and varied; its study has been of considerable historical significance in the development of geology as a science. All geological periods from the Cryogenian to the Jurassic are represented at outcrop, whilst younger sedimentary rocks occur beneath the seas immediately off the Welsh coast. The effects of two mountain-building episodes have left their mark in the faulting and folding of much of the Palaeozoic rock sequence. Superficial deposits and landforms created during the present Quaternary period by water and ice are also plentiful and contribute to a remarkably diverse landscape of mountains, hills and coastal plains.
High Peak is a hill which is partially eroded, resulting in a cliff face, on the English Channel coast to the southwest of Sidmouth, Devon, southern England. Its highest point is about 157 metres (515 ft) above sea-level. It is a partially eroded Iron Age hill fort, with pre-Roman and post Roman pottery found there.
Prestonbury Castle is an Iron Age Hill fort on the north east edge of Dartmoor in Devon, England. Situated on a massive hilltop some 240 metres above sea level overlooking the Teign Valley, it is located near two other hill forts both of which lie about 2 km (1 mi) away.
The Haldon Hills, usually known simply as Haldon, is a ridge of high ground in Devon, England. It is situated between the River Exe and the River Teign and runs northwards from Teignmouth, on the coast, for about 24 km (15 mi) until it dwindles away north west of Exeter at the River Yeo, just south of Crediton. The highest points of just over 250 metres (820 ft) lie to the south west of Exeter. The southernmost part is known as Little Haldon; it is partially separated from the main bulk of the hills by a col formed by the valleys of the Dawlish Water to the east and the valley at Rixdale to the west.
Yarrowbury is an Iron Age hill fort situated close to Bigbury in Devon, England. The fort is situated on Hilltop to the north east of the village at approximately 80 metres above sea level, overlooking the Avon Estuary.
Roborough Castle is an Iron Age enclosure or hill fort situated close to Lynton in Devon, England. The fort is situated on the North East edge of a Hillside forming a promontory above a tributary to the East Lyn River known as Hoaroak Water at approx 320 Metres above Sea Level.
Lee Wood is the location of an Iron Age enclosure or hill fort situated near to Braunton and Barnstaple in Devon, England. The enclosure is situated on a sloping Hillside forming a promontory above the Knowle Water at approx 120 Metres above Sea Level to the north east of Braunton and north west of Barnstaple.
Bucks Mills is a small village within the parish of Woolfardisworthy on the north coast of Devon, England. It was anciently the mill of the manor of Bucks, anciently Bokish, Buckish, Bochewis, etc., listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Bochewis. The village is within the North Devon Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and on the South West Coast Path.
The geology of Monmouthshire in southeast Wales largely consists of a thick series of sedimentary rocks of different types originating in the Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, Triassic and Jurassic periods.
The Sherwood Sandstone Group is a Triassic lithostratigraphic group which is widespread in Britain, especially in the English Midlands. The name is derived from Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire which is underlain by rocks of this age. It has economic importance as the reservoir of the Morecambe Bay gas field, the second largest gas field in the UK.
The geology of Lancashire in northwest England consists in the main of Carboniferous age rocks but with Triassic sandstones and mudstones at or near the surface of the lowlands bordering the Irish Sea though these are largely obscured by Quaternary deposits.
The Exmoor Group is a late Devonian to early Carboniferous lithostratigraphic group in southwest England whose outcrop extends from Croyde in north Devon east across Exmoor to Minehead in west Somerset. The group comprises the following formations the:
The geology of Northumberland in northeast England includes a mix of sedimentary, intrusive and extrusive igneous rocks from the Palaeozoic and Cenozoic eras. Devonian age volcanic rocks and a granite pluton form the Cheviot massif. The geology of the rest of the county is characterised largely by a thick sequence of sedimentary rocks of Carboniferous age. These are intruded by both Permian and Palaeogene dykes and sills and the whole is overlain by unconsolidated sediments from the last ice age and the post-glacial period. The Whin Sill makes a significant impact on Northumberland's character and the former working of the Northumberland Coalfield significantly influenced the development of the county's economy. The county's geology contributes to a series of significant landscape features around which the Northumberland National Park was designated.
Mermaid's Pool to Rowden Gut is a geological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in north-western Devon in England. It comprises a 5.5km-long stretch of coast between Mermaid's Pool in the north-east and Rowden's Gut in the south-west. The sea cliffs expose the only available complete sequence through the Bideford Formation of the Culm Measures, which consists of alternating layers of mudstones, siltstones and sandstones that were deposited in a wide range of deltaic environments during the Carboniferous period. This site borders the Westward Ho! Cliffs SSSI to the north, while the coastline to the south-east continues to Peppercombe, and further into the Hobby to Peppercombe SSSI.
The geology of Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park in the southwestern part of the Scottish Highlands consists largely of Neoproterozoic and Palaeozoic bedrock faulted and folded and subjected to low grade metamorphism during the Caledonian orogeny. These older rocks, assigned to the Dalradian Supergroup, lie to the northwest of the northeast – southwest aligned Highland Boundary Fault which defines the southern edge of the Highlands. A part of this mountainous park extends south of this major geological divide into an area characterised by younger Devonian rocks which are assigned to the Old Red Sandstone.
The geology of Exmoor National Park in south-west England contributes significantly to the character of a landscape which was designated as a national park in 1954. The bedrock of the area consists almost wholly of a suite of sedimentary rocks deposited during the Devonian, a period named for the English county of Devon in which the western half of the park sits. The eastern part lies within Somerset and it is within this part of the park that limited outcrops of Triassic and Jurassic age rocks are to be found.
