Dorset Geologist’s Association Group (DGAG) and Dorset Building Stones will host a Field Trip on the Saturday 29th November 2025.
Title: Blandford Building Stone
Leader : Kelvin Huff/ Sheila Alderman
Time: to be advised
Location: to be advised
Entry Cost: to be advised
Booking: to be advised
Description: You may have seen the proposed Autumn fieldtrips in the December newsletter.
Full details will follow closer to these dates on the scope, how to express your interest in joining us, what to bring, and where to meet etc.
Feel free to keep an eye on both the DGAG website and facebook pages for all updates on these.
We will need willing volunteers to write each of the trips up and thank you in advance for this and of course to the trip leaders above.
I look forward to catching up with you during the year.
Jonathan Stiby
Fieldtrip Officer
Photo: Courtesy of Dorset Building Stones website – Blandford Chapel
Additional Links: As and when available
1. Dorset Building Stones website with good sections on geology and fossils
Tag: DGAG Field Trip
Field Trip: Lyme Regis
Dorset Geologist’s Association Group (DGAG) will host a Field Trip on the Saturday 11th October 2025.
Title: Lyme Regis
Leader : John Scott
Time: to be advised
Location: to be advised
Entry Cost: to be advised
Booking: to be advised
Description: You may have seen the proposed Autumn fieldtrips in the December newsletter.
Full details will follow closer to these dates on the scope, how to express your interest in joining us, what to bring, and where to meet etc.
Feel free to keep an eye on both the DGAG website and facebook pages for all updates on these.
We will need willing volunteers to write each of the trips up and thank you in advance for this and of course to the trip leaders above.
I look forward to catching up with you during the year.
Jonathan Stiby
Fieldtrip Officer
Photo: Courtesy of DGAG – Lyme Regis harbour and cliffs
Additional Refrences/Links: More as and when available
1. Gallois, R.W. Field excursion to examine the geology and landforms of the Charmouth-Lyme Regis area. 2001. Geoscience in south-west England , Vol 10, 243-246.
2. Must see website by Ian West:
West, Ian M. 2019. Lyme Regis, Westward. Part of Geology of the Wessex Coast. (including part Jurassic Coast, Dorset and East Devon UNESCO World Heritage Site) Internet geological field guide. Update: Enlarged and revised at various dates including, 1st Ocrtober 2019
https://wessexcoastgeology.soton.ac.uk/Lyme-Regis-Westward.htm
Field Trip: Portland
Dorset Geologist’s Association Group (DGAG) will host a Field Trip on the Saturday 20th September 2025.
Title: Portland
Leader : Alan Holiday
Time: to be advised
Meet Location: to be advised
Entry Cost: to be advised
Booking: to be advised
Description: You may have seen the proposed Autumn fieldtrips in the December newsletter.
Full details will follow closer to these dates on the scope, how to express your interest in joining us, what to bring, and where to meet etc.
Feel free to keep an eye on both the DGAG website and facebook pages for all updates on these.
We will need willing volunteers to write each of the trips up and thank you in advance for this and of course to the trip leaders above.
I look forward to catching up with you during the year.
Jonathan Stiby
Fieldtrip Officer
Photo: Courtesy of DGAG – “Portland screw” fossil (Gastropod) from the Portland Stone
Additional Links: As and when available
1. Must see website by Ian West:
West, Ian M. 2019. The Isle of Portland: General. Geology of the Wessex Coast (part of Jurassic Coast, Dorset and East Devon World Heritage Site). Internet field guide. Portland-Isle-Geological-Introduction.htm. Version: 16th June 2019.
https://wessexcoastgeology.soton.ac.uk/Portland-Isle-Geological-Introduction.htm
Field Trip: Geomorphology and Archaeology in a Chalk Downland Landscape
Dorset Geologist’s Association Group (DGAG) will host a field trip on the Saturday 23 March 2024
Title: Geomorphology and Archaeology in a Chalk Downland Landscape
Leader: Martin Green
Location/Time: Down Farm, Woodcuts, Dorset. The exact meeting time, location details and further important information will be confirmed upon registration via the email contact listed below. As a rough time guide a start at about 10am and finish approximately 4pm – exact times confirmed on registration.
Cost: No fee (There will be a chance to visit the museum for a donation of £5 per person)
Registration: Contact Jeremy Cranmer via email: jeremydorset1@hotmail.co.uk
Open to the public as well – but with a number limit so on a first registered basis
Event Description: The Down Farm Landscape (where Martin Green’s family has farmed for generations) is one of the most carefully studied areas in Western Europe. Much of this work has been carried out by Martin himself – who in 1992 won the Pitt Rivers award for independent archaeology. He and his work have involved five universities and one of the major field units was featured in a BBC 2 ‘Meet the Ancestors’ programme. Martin has been awarded an honorary doctorate of the University of Reading.
The farm is part of Cranborne Chase, just south of Salisbury. It not only contains the Neolithic Dorset Cursus, numerous long barrows and Hambledon Hill, but over the last 30 years henges, shafts, plastered houses, land divisions, enclosures and cemeteries have been identified and excavated. The farm has its own museum and Martin has published a book “A Landscape Revealed: 10, 000 Years on a Chalkland Farm”.
We shall walk around the farm to study the chalk landscape and its evidence of periglacial conditions during the last ice age. We shall see the big shaft and many of the archaeological and geomorphological features on the farm. Martin has agreed the give a demonstration of flint knapping. There will also be a chance to visit the museum for a donation of £5 per person to cover running costs.
Walking will be on footpaths, tracks and pasture. Gates and stiles will be encountered. There may be farm animals (mainly sheep). Beware of rabbit holes! There are no steep hills. Jeremy says “I have been many times and it is always a fascinating visit.”
Photo: From screen shot of a cover of Martin Green book : https://biblio.co.uk/book/landscape-revealed-10000-years-chalkland-farm/d/1404856938
Further Reading: See the websites:
http://www.historiclandscape.co.uk/pdf/Background/B2%20CCWWD%20AONB%20HEAP%20Feb%202011.pdf
Field Trip: Weymouth Bay: Nothe and Portland Harbour
Dorset Geologist’s Association Group (DGAG) will host a field trip on the Saturday 25 Nov 2023
Title: Weymouth Bay: Nothe and Portland Harbour
Leader: Alan Holiday
Time/Location: Exact meeting time, location and further important information will be forwarded upon registration via email but a start at about 10am and finish approximately 4pm.
Cost: No fee
Registration: Contact Jeremy Cranmer via email: jeremydorset1@hotmail.co.uk
Open to the public as well – but with a number limit so on a first registered basis
Event Description: Exploration of the geology of the Weymouth Bay area with experienced geologists
Photo: Bowleaze Cove in Weymouth Bay courtesy of presentation by Alan Holiday and DGAG website: https://dorsetgeologistsassociation.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Redcliff_geology_field_trip_section_min.ppt
Further Reading: See the websitehttps://dorsetgeologistsassociation.org/index.php/publications/