The Branscombe Project

Branscombe Project Winter Talks

Monday, 25 Nov 2024   19:30

AGM & Annual John Torrance Talk

Red River Project

Pollution - Landscape - People

John Wedgewood Clarke

The Red River may be small and ugly in places, but it tells us a lot about what we value and our attitude to the natural world. It has been polluted for centuries and evolved its own unique ecological response to the impact of tin mining, including trout adapted to its toxic water. Tidying it up has, in the past, involved destroying both industrial ruins and unofficial playgrounds, as well as unique hot-spots of biodiversity. The most damaged and scrappy places along the river are, paradoxically, the most biodiverse and culturally important. In this talk Prof. Clarke describes his relationship to the river and his poetic exploration of its past, present and future.

Monday, 27 Jan 2025   19:30

Vindolanda

Andrew Birley

Extraordinary finds from the peatlands alongside Hadrian’s Wall. Roman letters written on birch bark and much more, under threat as the peatlands dry out.

Monday, 5 Feb 2025   19:30

Dr Rowe & Branscombe’s Bastard Fauna

Stratigraphy, paleocology & field study of local Cretaceous chalk

Rob Beard

Fossil hunting in the Branscombe area is not nearly as well regarded as in the famous Jurassic exposures of West Dorset. Fossils are fewer in East Devon and harder to find. When good specimens are recovered, they are often beautifully preserved and find rates are sufficient to support a small group of collectors from the local Cretaceous strata.

This talk will look at the unique lithology and beautiful fossils of the Cretaceous Chalk between Branscombe West Cliff and Salcombe Regis. We will revisit the work of Edwardian geologist Arthur Rowe whose field study provides the only reference for the fossil assemblage highly anomalous lower Turonian chalk deposits area that he termed “the bastard fauna of Branscombe”. These unique marine fossil communities have received scant academic attention ever since.

Monday, 24 Mar 2025   19:30

Bog Burials

Face to Face with the Past

Mel Giles

New work from the author of ‘Bog Bodies: Face to Face with the Past’.