Back to Cornwall and Devon - Kinda Rocky Here (an info update on my rock obsession)

We've discovered I'm obsessed with rocks now, haven't we?  No sooner had I thought I moved on from the Cornwall area but then I get word that there's a show called British Countrysides that featured  - wait for it - yes! Rocks!

A lot of my questions were answered with this show.  So I wanted to share them with you!

Remember how I was so amazed at how the UK had so much rock and where it came from?  Ya well, this show answered that.  Can you imagine thousands of years ago, the magma under the earth forming volcanoes?  How about the land between Europe and the US being all dry and being able to walk between them?  Is it a  bit unfathomable?

This show started out with Wolf Rock.  Wolf Rock was a volcano that became extinct.  The molten rock inside solidified into igneous rock.  Millions of years and a succession of ice ages later, the last of the cone was washed away, leaving only the hard rock.  This Rock at this location was huge, causing ships to crash upon it.  So James Walker had a lighthouse built on top of it in 1861 and it was lit in 1870.  It wasn't automated until 1988.  Hard to believe!!!  Here's a picture of this amazing lighthouse.  See the very top of it?  That's a helicopter pad so they can go out and do maintenance on it.

 

Moors

A term that we, in America, do not use much is Moor.  According to the dictionary, a moor is a tract of open uncultivated upland; a heath.  We have words we use here for that like field, among others.  The show took us to Dartmoor which is in south Devon, covering 368 sq miles of land.  It's a savaged, untamed country covered in myths and stories of beasts, dogs and large cats.  Once covered in dense woodland.  People moved in the area and cut down the trees for building and fire, leaving the land empty except for the rocks.  The people moved out.  Rather an eerie feel for a land.  For someone not familiar with the land, wondering where the huge boulders of rock in the middle of nowhere would have come from.  

Thick layers of rock hid hot magma that tried to force itself upwards, but wouldn't allow the magma to come through the land since there were no volcanoes.  It was forced together in giant underground domes.  Then the magma cooled into giant pockets of granite.  Eventually, the land around them has eroded and they now have these huge granite boulders called TORS - which is another term we don't use very often in the US. Here's the definition according to WIKIPEDIA: A tor is a large, free-standing residual mass (rock outcrop) that rises abruptly from the surrounding smooth and gentle slopes of a rounded hill summit or ridge crest. In the South West of England, where the term originated, it is also a word used for the hills themselves – particularly the high points of Dartmoor in Devon and Bodmin Moor in Cornwall.

(a representation of the hot magma that created the TORS above)

There was so much more than about the rocks than I can post here, but needless to say, I understand how the UK has so many rocks and sources of it, but I still don't understand how that area has so much more of it than the US.  Makes me smile and intrigues me enough to keep researching. 

Ponies

Although ponies clearly are not made of stone, these are from the same region we've been discussing and because of their cuteness, have earned a spot in my blog :)

Still in Dartmoor - PONIES!  I have become completely fascinated with these ponies!  Dartmoor ponies are this amazing hardy breed due to the extreme conditions they have to endure on the moors.  They have excellent stamina and are considered work ponies.  They used to work in the mines and quarries in the 1930 and had numbers in excess of 25,000.  Now, they are mostly just used for keeping the moors grazed and the numbers are down to 1,000 or less.  They have small heads featuring wide set eyes and alert ears.  I'm including some pictures of these amazing creatures but what I cannot find is a picture of one of their tongues.  Looking at the vegetation in the area that they are grazing on, I can imagine they have a very thick, tough tongue.  If anyone has a picture - please send it to me at itsthewriter@gmail.com and I'll be sure to update this :)

 (Aren't they pretty?)

Till Next time... I think it's time to move a bit more East....

Love ~ Peace ~ Happiness

~*~ Marianne ~*~