The 19th Century & the New Science of Geology

In the 1820's and 1830's the leaders of the new science of 'geology' were carving up the history of planet Earth into recognisable periods. One of these early geological pioneers was Sir Roderick Impey Murchison.

 

He was particularly interested in the fossiliferous rocks of the Midlands of England and Wales. He spent some years travelling and studying these rocks wherever they were exposed by man or nature. He came to Dudley on a number of occasions around 1837. Two years later he published the great pioneering scientific work 'The Silurian System' in which he established one of the major time periods in Earth History.

 

In his book 65% of all of the fossils illustrated and described are from Dudley.

Since this publication Dudley fossils have been illustrated and described in thousands of popular and academic publications. There are now some 600 to 700 species known from the Dudley limestones of which 186 are 'type' specimens and 63 are found nowhere else.

 

The rocks have been the basis of all development in the Black Country and have provided centuries of wealth, vast quantities of industrial products to Europe and beyond and a truly unique and incredibly important heritage held in trust for the World.