Daw End Railway Cutting

This site is not accessible to the public.

The old quarry and railway cuttings at Daw End provide excellent exposures on Wenlock Shale (Coalbrookdale Formation) and the overlying Wenlock Limestone which were deposited during the Silurian Period about 410 million years ago.

These are the best exposures available in Britain for this particular group of rocks. During deposition of the Wenlock Limestone marine organisms grew in patches on the sea bed trapping sediment and forming low mounds or reefs. These patch reefs are well seen in the Wenlock Limestone at this site. This is an important geological locality for the study of the Wenlock Series in Britain.