Barrow Hill Local Nature Reserve is a
local nature reserve situated in
Pensnett
Pensnett is a village of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, West Midlands County, England, south-west of Dudley. Pensnett has been a part of Dudley since 1966, when the Brierley Hill Urban District, of which it was a part, was absorbed into ...
in the county of
West Midlands, England. Its most distinctive feature, Barrow Hill, is the eroded remnant of a high level
igneous intrusion
In geology, an igneous intrusion (or intrusive body or simply intrusion) is a body of intrusive igneous rock that forms by crystallization of magma slowly cooling below the surface of the Earth. Intrusions have a wide variety of forms and com ...
that was formed 315 million years ago during the
Carboniferous
The Carboniferous ( ) is a Geologic time scale, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era that spans 60 million years, from the end of the Devonian Period Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the ...
period.
The reserve was created in 2005.
History
Barrow Hill is the only proven example of surface volcanic activity in the
Black Country
The Black Country is an area of England's West Midlands. It is mainly urban, covering most of the Dudley and Sandwell metropolitan boroughs, with the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall and the City of Wolverhampton. The road between Wolverhampto ...
area. The earliest evidence of human presence at the area were two burial chambers (known as barrows) that were found on the northern side of Barrow Hill. These burial chambers are believed to date back to the
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...
of around 2000BC to 700BC.
The area was once woodland inside
Pensnett Chase
Pensnett Chase was a wooded area of land owned by the Lords of Dudley Castle in the parishes of Kingswinford and Dudley (or mainly so). As a chase, it was originally used by them to hunt game in although it was also used as common land by local ...
, which was mainly common land under the lordship of the
Barons of Dudley. The hard volcanic rock (
dolerite
Diabase (), also called dolerite () or microgabbro,
is a mafic, holocrystalline, subvolcanic rock equivalent to volcanic basalt or plutonic gabbro. Diabase dikes and sills are typically shallow intrusive bodies and often exhibit fine-grain ...
) that forms Barrow Hill was quarried in the 19th century for use as road stone.
Another reminder of the industrial age in the reserve is a footpath that follows the course of one of the
Earl of Dudley's private railways.
The reserve was created in 2005.
Location
The reserve is located at Pensnett, near to St Marks Church and
Russells Hall Hospital
Russells Hall Hospital is an NHS general hospital located in Dudley, West Midlands, England, managed by the Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust. The hospital is south-west of the town centre on the A4101 road, which connects to the Kingswinford ...
. Access is via Vicarage Lane, Pensnett.
Landscape
The reserve is dominated by Barrow Hill, the remains of an extinct volcano. The effects of quarrying for dolerite can be clearly seen. The quarrying removed the two
barrows (Bronze Age burial mounds) that gave the hill its name. Exposed rock faces in the quarries reveal volcanic features, such as
hexagonal pillars that formed during the cooling of the magma.
The summit of Barrow Hill stands at over 150m (500ft) above sea level. A large cross that was commissioned by St Mark's Church now stands at the summit of the hill.
The area contains woodland, such as Barrow Hill Copse, along with meadowland and ponds.
See also
*
Buckpool and Fens Pool Local Nature Reserve
References
{{Authority control
Local Nature Reserves in the West Midlands (county)
Carboniferous volcanoes
Dudley