Geosites Project

A wooded gorge about 1 km long with riverside cliffs of limestones, mudstones and sandstones as well as a small waterfall.

The River North Esk flows through a steep-sided and narrow valley about a kilometre long between Mill Bridge near Amazondean and Craigy Bield. The valley is thought to be a glacial meltwater channel and the waterfall is a knick point, produced by headward erosion by the river.
The sedimentary rocks consist of limestones, sandstones and mudstones of two formations of the Carboniferous Clackmannan Group (Visean), the Lower Limestone Formation and the Limestone Coal Formation. Exposures are found in the sides of the valley but rarely in the river bed. The succession is cut by several faults, indicated by frequent changes of dip angle and direction.
1. Limestone exposure at NT 1690 5640 near Mill Bridge, Amazondean. This is the Blackhall Limestone within the Lower Limestone Formation and is a crystalline, fossiliferous, cream-coloured limestone that effervesces freely with dilute HCl and has a characteristic yellow weathering skin. Fragments of crinoid stems, a solitary coral and shells were visible in a loose block. Rubbly beds of limestone range in thickness from 10 cm to more than 1 m and the dip is 83 towards the south-east. The steep dip suggests the proximity of a fault (Photos 1 & 2).
2. A waterfall is reached at NT 1709 5633. It falls over 2 m of crinoidal Blackhall Limestone underlain by dark grey mudstone which gives rise to the plunge pool below (Peggy’s Pool) (Photos 3 & 4). From the top of the waterfall there is a good view south-west along the river showing the upper section of the glacial meltwater valley (Photo 5).
3. From the waterfall, the path follows the north bank, passing cliffs of the Blackhall Limestone up to 10 m high on both sides of the river. Crags of Blackhall Limestone that dip at 12° to the south-east (205°) are found close to a footbridge downstream from the waterfall at NT 1714 5634 (Photo 6)
4. Rocks of the Limestone Coal Formation (Namurian) are found at the east end of the gorge, seen at NT 1783 5657 where the valley widens at Craigy Bield. An extensive exposure of a sandstone is seen on the north bank next to the footbridge (Photos 7 & 8).
5. At NT 17826 56574 near the footbridge at Craigy Bield is a plaque with a quotation from Allan Ramsay’s ‘The Gentle Shepherd’ (Photo 9).
6. From the footpaths west from Newhall House towards Mary’s Bower, there are good views down into the steep-sided meltwater valley (Photos 10 & 11).