IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Fossil View, DUDLEY, DY1 3SS

Another campus of Dudley College located near the summit of Mons Hill.

The limestone ridge of the Wren's Nest is an important geological reserve. For photos see Image

Looking north-east from near the Dudley Bar and Grill (formerly The Caves public house). Modern housing in Fossil View is off to the right. The Wren's Nest Nature Reserve is nearby, off to the left and right.

Looking north-east from near the Dudley Bar and Grill (formerly The Caves public house). Modern housing in Fossil View is off to the right. The Wren's Nest Nature Reserve is nearby, off to the left and right.

Wren's Nest is a popular destination for geological societies because of the limestone outcrops in the former quarries surrounding the ridge. Here, the group is studying the fossils in the layer known as the Lower Quarried Limestone Member. To the right, the overlying (younger) Nodular Limestone Member can be seen, characterised by alternating limestone and sandstone deposits. The strata dip by about 60 degrees to the east on this side of the hill. On the western side, they dip in the opposite direction, demonstrating that Wren's Nest is an anticline, i.e. a fold structure with the oldest rock exposures at the centre.

This ravine is a trench created by quarrying limestone from the Lower Quarried Limestone Member at Wren's Nest. To the left lies the (younger) Nodular Limestone Member, which wasn't quarried as it contains too much sandstone and would therefore have needed additional processing before it could be used in the iron smelting industry. These Silurian limestones were deposited while the area was in a shallow, tropical shelf sea. On the right lies the (older) Coalbrookdale Formation, a mudstone sediment deposited while this area was in deeper water in which shelly creatures couldn't live.

A path through the eastern limb of the anticline, formed from many beds of Silurian period Wenlock limestone. Rich in paleozoic fauna including the rare 'Dudley bug' a trilobite. Famous geologist Sir Roderick Impey Murchison studied the fossils here. The limestones were uplifted in the Caledonian and the Variscan orogenies (400 and 330ma).

A path through the eastern limb of the anticline, formed from many beds of Silurian period Wenlock limestone. Rich in paleozoic fauna including the rare 'Dudley bug' a trilobite. Famous geologist Sir Roderick Impey Murchison studied the fossils here. The limestones were uplifted in the Caledonian and the Variscan orogenies (400 and 330ma).

The Pub stands alongside the Dudley National Nature Reserve of Wrens Nest.

Public House on the top of Mons Hill adjacent to the Wren's Nest National Nature Reserve. The pub name reflects the limestone mining history and presence nearby of caverns within the Reserve.