Lowside Brickworks (SSSI)
Location and Access Information
Grid Reference: SD 941041
Geology trail through Upper
Carboniferous Coal Measures.
Lowside Brickworks is located near the centre of Oldham. The site comprises a disused quarry on a steep hillside near Glodwick, to the south east of the town centre.
Oldham Leisure Services publish a leaflet, the "Glodwick Lows Trail" explaining the Geological and industrial history of the site. A more detailed 'Geology Trail' leaflet has also been produced for teachers and Geology students by the Oldham Geological Society. Both are available from the Oldham Civic Centre.
View the site map on Nature on the Map
.
Geological Interest
This site provides exposure of the Upper Carboniferous Coal Measures. These rocks were deposited approximately 300 million years ago in a coastal environment on an extensive and low-lying area of river deltas on which lush tropical vegetation grew. The periodic flooding and building of the deltas along the coastline resulted in the deposition of a series of layers of coals (representing the compressed remains of the luxuriant swamp vegetation) interspersed with layers of shale, clay, sandstone and mudstone. At Lowside Brickworks, exposures of the coals, mudstones and sandstones can be seen. The site has been a well known Carboniferous Coal Measures fossil locality since the 1920's and yields well preserved freshwater mussels as well as plant fossils such as tree ferns and ferns.
