Limestone, Scartleigh, Saleens and the Hercynian Orogeny

This photograph shows the east - west folds in the land above and below Lismore, through Cork City, through Cobh and between Bandon and Kinsale, caused during the Hercynian Orogeny when Africa’s plate collided with Europe’s 350 Million yrs. ago. These ribs of terrain are old Red Sandstone. In the valley’s it is commonly Limestone which was laid down during the same period, when most of the land of Europe and Africa were south of the then Equator.

Limestone filled with fossils from sea creatures that lived and died 350 million years ago in a tropical sea.

There’s an enthralling story to be told in exciting ways to bring to life the landscape beneath our feet. A story about mountain building when Africa and Cork collided resulting in the west - east  ripples of land of county Cork from the Blackwater Valley,  south to the coast, including the ripple on which Scartleigh NS is built which it shares with Great Island in Cork harbour to the east.

The material is the linkage to meanings that I believe will engender wonder in the minds of the pupils at Scartleigh, instilling deeper connections to place and its location within the landscape. The limestone shown, from Kilkenny is a fossil rich limestone which was laid down 350 million years ago when the piece of planet Earth that is now Ireland was beneath the waves at a latitude south of the equator and within the tropics. Similarly, throughout that time, that same piece of planet earth was being barged into by another piece of planet Earth that is now Africa which caused parallel ripples in the land that created the valleys that now guide the west-east flowing rivers in County Cork namely, the Blackwater, the Bride a tributary of the Blackwater, the Lee, the Bride: a tributary of the Lee and the river Bandon image above. Previous to this event which spanned millions of years, most of the land that was to become Ireland and that was above sea level drained its river basins flowing from the north  to south. To the east of these Hercynian ripples one can see a striking example of where these rivers escaped the effects of the rippling of the land, in the flow of the Suir the Nore and the Barrow. 

This is a photograph of Limestone with a cross section of the tubular fronds of an ancient coral visible within it..

Interestingly, Scartleigh School sits on one of these ripples, coincidentally, one of the most striking of them due to the fact that it is trisected by the north south features which are said to pre-date the ripples of the Hercynian Orogeny (Hercynian: named after a region in Germany where the rippling was first discovered. Orogeny: a mountain building period) resulting in the intersection of Passage West and East Ferry channels creating Great Island in Cork harbour.  In the valleys to the north and south of Scartleigh, the limestone from this period of formation can still be found.  

The crests of these ripples and the limestone valley deposits form the surface features which affect how we live and move through every day: road patterns are governed by them, rivers of the region are guided by them as they wind their way to the sea and so on and so forth yet most of us are unaware of the magnificent story of their formation underfoot.