Marsden Old Quarry from Lizard Lane

Image: © Andrew Curtis Taken: 30 Jan 2020

Marsden Old Quarry is managed as a Local Nature Reserve as a unique site for wildlife. It is a site of geological importance being on a long thin band of Magnesian Limestone that stretches from South Shields to Nottingham. Only a few miles wide, this strip was laid down 260 million years ago, in the Permian Period. The lizard is one of three large limestone sculptures - an abstract owl, a lizard and an armchair. They are the work of Marsden artist, ‘Ant’ Bryant. The public art project was backed by donation of the rock by neighbouring Marsden Quarry operator, Owen Pugh Aggregates, for the Limestone Landscapes Partnership. The nearby Souter Lighthouse occupies a location on Marsden's Lizard Point although named after the more southerly Souter Point to avoid confusion with the lighthouse on Lizard Point in Cornwall. The latter is said to take its name from the Cornish words, Lis for 'place' and Ard for 'high'. There are several Lizard place names in this part of South-Tyneside including the Cleadon Lizards, which along with North Field, was part of the medieval common field system on the Cleadon Hills. It possibly also had a similar origin in the appearance of the hills from sea when such things were important for navigation. However, the Common or Viviparous Lizard (Zootoca vivipara) is found in this region of magnesian limestone, including on nearby Lizard's Farm so perhaps it's derivation is not so complicated https://web.archive.org/web/20200205125902/http://www.nhsn.ncl.ac.uk/interests/reptiles-amphibians/common-lizard/

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