Millennium Wall Sections
TYPE/AREA: Cumbrian Slate Fence/Wall |
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Cumbria DSWA BranchClick on above image to enlarge |
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STONE/GEOLOGY Type/Age - Brathay Blue Slate. Brathay Flags, Wenlock Series, Silurian (430 million years). This is true slate in geological terms; i.e. a metamorphosed mudstone. The original bedding can be seen in the occasional light green diagonal lines. However the rock is much more easily split (cleaved) along lines of weakness formed by immense pressures deep in the earth. Source - Brathay Quarry, Ambleside, Cumbria. |
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This style is now relatively rare and largely confined to small areas where slate is produced such as Gwynedd (Snowdonia) and Cumbria. In this case, the edges of the slate are cut so as to 'interweave' with each other, to provide greater strength to the wall as a whole. Only very fine grained, extremely hard, fissile rocks including slabs and very occasionally, hard siltstones have all the qualities required for this style. In some areas narrower slates are held together, like wooden fence posts, with wire or special clips. |
WALLERS - John Stoddart, Andrew Loudon, Brian Jones. SPONSORS - Burlington Slate Ltd. (Slate), Kirkstone Quarries Ltd (Transport). |
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TYPE/AREA: Clawd - Arfon/Mon (Anglesey) Llyn (also similar to other coastal areas - see map) |
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North Wales DSWA BranchClick on above image to enlarge |
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STONE/GEOLOGY Type and Age - Glacial boulder clay/moraine material, Pleistocene (1 million years). Along many of the coasts of Western Britain are 'raised beaches', left behind when ice sheets melted and sea levels rose well above those today. These beach pebbles and elsewhere, glacial boulders, were often the only useable hard material when the geology below is made up of friable mudstones. Source - Cefn Graianog Quarry, Pen y groes, Caernarfon. |
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Clawdd (pronounced clow-th; plural cloddiau) is Welsh for a hedge, dyke or embankment (Offa's Dyke is 'Clawdd Offa' in Welsh). This type of field boundary - a stone faced earth bank, can be found in many western coastal areas in the Lake District called kes's/kessies. Stone 'hedges' in Cornwall and Devon are similar, but usually higher. Clawdd describes those types where the stone is set on edge in more or less even layers. They are used as low cattle walls. Here the stone used is of rounded glacial material. The bottom half is in-filled with stone and soil, the top half with soil. |
WALLERS - Sean Adcock, Brenda Lewis, Ivan Hewitt, Kathryn Hewitt, Bryn Lewis, Don Eland, Gareth Pritchard SPONSOR - Tarmac Quarry Products. |
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The text describing each section of wall is also set out on information panels at each point of the Millennium Wall at the National Stone Centre.
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West Yorkshire, Cotswolds, South Yorkshire, South East Scotland
Derbyshire, South Wales, Caithness, West of Scotland
S.W. Scotland, Central Scotland, Isle of Sky, Cumbria
Northumbria, Cheshire, Lancashire, Sutherland






