Dorset Geologist’s Association Group (DGAG) and Dorset Building Stones will host a Field Trip on the Saturday 15th November 2025 in Blandford Forum.
Title: Blandford Forum Building Stone
Leader : Kelvin Huff, Sheila Alderman, John Scott
Time: 10:45am start, finish about 13:45pm
Location: St Peter’s and St Paul’s Church at 10:45 am.
ST 885 062. What 3 Words ///recent.typical.relegate.
Parking: Stour Meadows car park is free (behind Brewery), short walk to meet location above. Closest Car Park, Marsh and Ham Car Park £2:40 or £3:70 for 3 or 4 hours respectively. Toilets are located here.
Entry Cost: Fieldtrip free to DGAG members. Parking fee options as above.
Booking: email Jonathan Stiby at fieldtrips@dorsetgeologistsassociation.org
Description: This trip will introduce the local geology setting and guide you round the variety of stone used in Blandford’s buildings. There are many fossils visible, and we recommend you bring a hand lens. The trip will be a guided walk round the building stone trail (guide booklet available to buy if you wish).
Full details will be issued to those wishing to join this great trip.
I will be seeking a willing volunteer to write up the trip for the DGAG newsletter and thank you very much if you can do this for the benefit of all.
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
https://www.dorsetbuildingstone.org/
Dorset Geologist’s Association Group (DGAG) will host a Field Trip on the Saturday 11th October 2025.
Title: Lyme Regis Geology – Engineering Perspectives
Leader : John Scott
Time: 11:00 am
Location: Charborough Road Car Park, Lyme Regis (SY 344 925) ///demotion.occupy.pumpkin. Toilets are located here.
Entry Cost: Field trip free to DGAG members. Parking fee at Lyme Regis. Cheaper private car park available up the hill (£5 per day)
Booking: email Jonathan Stiby at fieldtrips@dorsetgeologistsassociation.org
Description: This trip will give you a good grasp of Lyme Regis geology, the engineering approach to landslide mitigation and sea defences. We also review the historical significance of Lyme in world geology including visiting Mary Anning’s grave. If tides allow, we may also visit the Ammonite Graveyard on the beach.
Full details will be issued to those wishing to join this great trip.
I will be seeking a willing volunteer to write up the trip for the DGAG newsletter, and thank you very much if you are able to do this for the benefit of all.
Best wishes
Jonathan Stiby
Field-trip 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
- Dorset Geologist’s Association Group (DGAG) will host a Field Trip on the Saturday 20th September 2025.
Title: What happened on the (Isle of) Portland in the last 145 million years?
Leaders :Jeremy Cranmer and Kelvin Huff
Time: 10:30 am
Meet Location: New Ground Car Parks, Portland Heights (SY690731) for location 1, ///sofas.binders.barman
Entry Cost: Fieldtrip free to DGAG members. Parking fee at Portland Bill (location 3) 1 hour should be sufficient. Optional afternoon trip to Portland Museum (£4:50)
Booking: email Jonathan Stiby at fieldtrips@dorsetgeologistsassociation.org
Description: This trip will give you a good grasp of Portland’s geology, starting with views from the Heights across the Weymouth Anticline and Chesil Beach (location 1). We also explore Kings Barrow quarry and Heights environs. Then drive to location 2 for Freshwater Bay, followed by Portland Bill (location 3), and Chiswell (location 4).
Optional visit to Portland Museum (£4:50 admission) after Portland Bill. Full details will be issued to those wishing to join this great trip.
I will be seeking a willing volunteer to write up the trip for the DGAG newsletter, and thank you very much if you are able to do this for the benefit of all – 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
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:
- https://www.theblackmorevale.co.uk/2022/09/10/the-most-professional-of-amateur-archaeologists/
http://www.historiclandscape.co.uk/pdf/Background/B2%20CCWWD%20AONB%20HEAP%20Feb%202011.pdf
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/
