TIMELINE 1 - Pre-human History

Whilst this website is primarily concerned with the all-too-brief period of Weddington Castle’s existence, for purposes of completeness this section covers the earliest origins of the Weddington area. What this does show is that in terms of history, human history is but a blink of an eye when set against the millions of years that the Earth has existed.

This section details the development of the area that has become Weddington – itself a fascinating story! Perhaps most interesting is the fact that the land that was to become Weddington has its origins many miles from its current location – indeed, many miles from Britain!

From earth science evidence it is clear that the earth consists of several giant rafts of crustal rock. These rafts are moving relative to each other in a very purposeful way (called Continental Drift). Their average speed is about 1-2" per year. The processes that cause this movement are called Plate Tectonics. Below is a review of just how far Weddington has moved in time and what the district looked like in those times.

The Table below has a latitude column giving an idea where geologists believe Weddington was. Obviously when Weddington was near NEW GUINEA 500 million years ago, New Guinea was elsewhere.

DATE

ENVIRONMENT

LATITUDE

 

 

 

500,000,000 BC

Shallow sea

40° South (near New Zealand)

380,000,000 BC

Low lying land

20° South (near Peru)

340,000,000 BC

Low land/estuary

4° South (near Peru)

250,000,000 BC

Rocky desert

17° North (near Antigua)

220,000,000 BC

Alluvial plains

20° North (near Mid-Atlantic)

170,000,000 BC

Low lying land

29° North (near Mid-Atlantic)

100,000,000 BC

Shallow sea

39° North (near Portugal)

50,000,000 BC

Land

47° North (near Portugal)

 

A typical geological succession beneath St James Church is as follows:

GEOLOGICAL TIME PERIOD

SOIL TYPE

DEPTH TO BASE (metres)

 

 

 

PRECAMBRIAN (550,000,000 BC+)

Caldecote Volcanic Formation

at least 700

TRIASSIC (220,000,000 BC)

Polesworth Formation (sandstones)

365

 

Bromsgrove Sandstone Formation

190

 

Mercia Mudstone Group

100

RECENT

River terrace – sandy gravel

1 to 3

 

During the last million years a single lake: "Lake Harrison", existed in the area, thought to be up to 1,000 square miles in area at maximum. This lake may have been many smaller lakes that drained away and as they did so they changed local river drainage patterns. Before the time of "Lake Harrison" the River Anker was a tributary of the Proto-Soar which drained to the Trent via the Leicester area. After the glacier melted the River Anker changed direction and joined the Tame and Trent systems.

475,000 to 425,000 BC

Lake Harrison exists in the area

10,000 BC

Last glacier melts - River Anker joins Tame and Trent systems.

 

(c) Alan F Cook 1992