Wednesday 13 May 2009

Tansey Green Claypit - International important (honest)

If you ever happen to be walking from my parents house in Pensnett to Lower Gornal to go for a drink you will pass Tansey Green Claypit. This may just look like a sad old industrial waste landfill to you and me. However it is a site of international importance. Crazy but true.

Discovered right here were the oldest three dimensional conifers, in the world to date, and are of international importance.

If you were standing around here 300 million years you wouldn’t like to linger too long. This is because you’d be near to an active volcano. The remains of the Dudley Volcano can still be seen at nearby ancient Barrow’s Hill next to Russell’s Hall hospital. Examples of the confer fossils can be seen in Dudley Museum.