Warwickshire’s French Connection
Small pebbles that originated from France have been found in Warwickshire following a journey that took over 200 million years.
During the Triassic Period, roughly 240 million years ago, Warwickshire would have been almost unrecognisable to us. The climate was much hotter and drier than it is today.
At times the area would have been a dusty desert, criss-crossed by dry river beds, choked with sand and gravel. Today, the ancient Triassic river sands and gravels are found beneath the fields and villages that surround the Warwickshire Coalfield. In places they include literally billions of incredibly hard pebbles of white, brown or black pebbles that turn up in the fields and gardens.
Warwickshire Museum’s geologist, Dr Jon Radley, has discovered that some of the pebbles are remarkably similar to an ancient rock-type known as quartzite, nearly as hard as steel, which occurs naturally in Brittany, north-western France.
Jon said: “This is an incredible story. It seems that in the distant geological past, powerful rivers carved their way northwards from ancient mountains over northern France and south-west England. Ultimately the rivers and their pebbly deposits reached what is now Warwickshire. The next pebble that you pick up in your garden might well be a small piece of France!”
The evidence for ancient Warwickshire can be seen at Warwickshire County Council’s Warwickshire Museum, open Tuesday to Saturday, 10am-5pm, all year round. The story of Warwickshire’s French Connection has been turned into a travelling display, now being booked by county libraries.
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