About

Looking across the Nidd Valley | Stephen Lewis

This website has been growing in my mind over the last 10 years or so, ever since I started taking visitors around the rocks at Brimham.

The rocks at Brimham may appear at first to look static, revealing very little of their origins, but a detailed investigation shows not only the nature of the rocks but also their origins.

The aim of this website is to explain the geological factors that created the features present today, linking the features that are easily visible together with those features that are perhaps hidden or off the beaten path with explanations of the geology.

By using a combination of photographs taken on site together with diagrams of the science underlying the geology, I hope to explain how the rocks have been formed within the local landscape.

The need for a way of guiding visitors through Brimham Rocks has been demonstrated to me by the numerous visitors I have met at Brimham during the years that I have been volunteering on the site for the National Trust.

The excitement so many visitors have at being among the rocks leads so often to questions: How old are the rocks? How did they form? Why are they here? And, probably the most commonly asked question, Where is the balancing rock?

For the past few years I have taken visitors on guided walks round the rocks talking about the history of the site and, in particular, explaining the geology and the processes that have created the features here. The feedback has been wonderful, with the common request of where can we find out more?

I realised that the ideal way would be to create a website as a resource aimed at the inquisitive visitor who might have no geological knowledge at all, but also to those with a great deal of geological knowledge.

I’m Stephen Lewis, by training a zoologist with a doctorate, having studied the respiratory physiology of lampreys. Not something that you might think would have set me up to be the author of this website but perhaps lecturing to a bunch of students at 9 o’clock on Monday mornings and keeping them awake was good training to keep our visitors interested in learning a bit more about some rocks.

After I retired some years ago from a career that had nothing to do with zoology, I started volunteering for the Trust at Brimham and this rekindled my love for the outdoors and my interest in all aspects of natural history. Meeting Roman Soltan here was instrumental in my understanding the geology as he very patiently explained the science of sedimentology to a novice.

Another advantage of being a volunteer is that I have been able to indulge in my interest in photography. Most of the photos on this site are ones that I have taken, often in the company of other keen photographers.

All of this has led to this website, where, needless to say, all the errors are mine.

Stephen Lewis BSc, PhD, FLS.