Appleby, Langwathby and Lazonby

Murton Pike – Anthony Glossop

From Appleby Station, the conical hill of Murton Pike can be seen to the east. This lies on the far side of the Pennine Fault Zone. The rocks of the Pike are part of the Ordovician Skiddaw Group (Arenig Series). They are grey slates with thin sandstones that were deposited from underwater landslides. Fossils include graptolites, rare trilobites and the microscopic remains of phytoplankton. Beyond this is High Cup Nick, the edge of the Nick is formed by the Whin Sill.

Long Meg is carved from Penrith Sandstone - Alan Smith

Overlying the Ordovician and Silurian rocks of the Fells are the Carboniferous Limestones and Millstone Grit Series seen earlier in the journey. The Pennine Fault has been active on and off since its formation at the end of the Silurian. Movement on it has folded the Carboniferous and Permo-Triassic sediments of the Vale of Eden into a broad syncline or trough. The fault is still active; the last (small) earthquake on it was in August 1970, with a depth of about 15km.

From Appleby to Long Marton the railway runs over Lower Permian Penrith Sandstone. This is a red-brown desert dune sandstone, at least 300m thick. The red colour comes from a fine coating of haematite (an iron mineral) around each grain. In places, the bedding is in fine, concave layers known as cross bedding. This forms as the sand is blown up and over the dunes and deposited on the leeside of the dune. As today, the Fells and the Lake District formed higher ground – a dry, rocky desert with the Vale of Eden a sea of sand dunes in between. No fossils have been found in the sandstone – deserts are not good places for animal or plant remains to be preserved. However, there are reptile footprints in the sandstone near Penrith and in rocks of the same age in the Midlands remains of early reptiles and reptile-like amphibians have been found. The Penrith Sandstone is now the main aquifer (water bearing rocks) in the area.

Long Meg's daughters are glacial erratics – Alan Smith

North of Long Marton, on the west side of the line is the covered conveyor belt which connects the Birkshead Mine to the British Gypsum plaster mill at Kirkby Thore. The gypsum mined at Birkshead is from the Eden Shales. The Eden Shales vary in colour from red-brown and purple-red to grey and were laid down in lagoons and when the rivers flooded. Fossils include plants, algal mats and crustaceans similar to water fleas that live in brackish pools today. The arid conditions and the nearby presence of the sea, led to gypsum and anhydrite accumulating. The Eden Shales are poorly exposed and information about them comes mainly from boreholes. They are up to about 160m thick and infill the uneven dune surface of the Penrith Sandstone. The Culgaith Tunnel is through limestone beds in the Eden Shales, laid down when the sea briefly flooded the area.

Just out from Langwathby Station, there is a cutting through glacial till. The railway then runs across glacial sands and gravel deposited from glacial melt water until it crosses the River Eden. Just before it does it runs along the slopes of a small hill capped by St Bees Sandstone with Eden Shales beneath. Across the river the track climbs a gentle hill of Penrith Sandstone before crossing back on to glacial sands and gravels to Lazonby.

• Introduction, Geological History and Economic Geology
• Settle, Horton and Ribblehead
• Ribblehead, Dent and Garsdale
• Garsdale, Kirkby Stephen and Appleby
• Appleby, Langwathby and Lazonby
• Lazonby, Armathwaite and Carlisle
• Geological Terms and References

						The last stone on Smardale Viaduct was laid by Agnes Crossley on June 8th 1875.