Arkell, House and Bradley
A celebration of Dr William Joscelyn Arkell FRS, 1904-1958, Professor Michael Robert House, 1930-2002 and Professor Peter Sylvester-Bradley, 1914-1978 (Local Heroes event)
| Organised by: | Dorset Geologists' Association Group |
| Date: | 28-29 July 2007 |
| Event Type: | Local Heroes Event |
| Venue: | Sutton Poyntz Pumping Station |
Arkell was a world leader in Jurassic biostratigraphy, famous especially for his ‘Jurassic Geology of the World’, 1956. House is primarily known for his work on the Devonian, particularly the ammonoids, and also published many papers on Dorset and his book ‘The Geology of the Dorset Coast’ is well known. Sylvester-Bradley started research into the stratigraphy of the Purbeck Beds in Dorset after graduating but was diverted into the study of ostracods which continued through his life together with research on Jurassic oysters.
House was encouraged at the age of 16 to read Arkell’s ‘Geology of the coast around Weymouth, Swanage, Corfe and Lulworth’, 1947 and this stimulated his interest in local and then global geology. The two met and frequently went out on field trips in Dorset. Both men communicated with amateur geologists as well as professionals and their contribution to their fields is immense. Sylvester-Bradley was an early enthusiast for the developing theories of sea floor spreading and plate tectonics.
The events will be aimed at the general public, the amateur and hopefully, the professional geologist. Those attending will be able to see the location of the water source, see and touch some Dorset fossils and minerals and find out more about the Heritage Coast and its famous geologists.
The events will take place during the weekend of July 28th & 29th 2007 at Sutton Poyntz Water Pumping Station, at Sutton Poyntz about 3 miles NE of Weymouth in south Dorset. This station is there because of the geology, it collects the spring water from the stream and supplies it to the Weymouth area. Both Arkell and House wrote papers on the Sutton Poyntz anticline and the structure of the area.
The events will consist of an exhibition, talks, and field trips repeated on both days. The exhibition will consist of pictures of the Heroes, copies and facsimiles of their works, fossils representative of their work and of the local area and pictures of the area. Talks on these aspects will be given periodically during the morning. A PowerPoint presentation of Michael’s photos of Dorset and thin sections of the rocks will be run during the day. Photos of the present World Heritage Site taken over the last 100 years will be on display in postcards, engravings, magic lantern slides and Dorset GA members photographs.
In the afternoon there will be two field trips available based on the itinerary produced by Michael House for The DGAG publication ‘Coast and Country’, 2003. The general public will be encouraged to join the trips.
On the Saturday evening there will be lectures pertinent to the Heroes given by well known speakers including Tony Hallam, Michael Le Bas and Norman Butcher. The lectures will also be open to the public. Felicity House, Michael's widow, and her daughter will be attending the lectures as will members of the family of William Arkell and Sylvester-Bradley. They will be guests of honour at a dinner to be held in the Springhead Arms after the lecture.
Wessex Water is kindly allowing us to use the Museum and lecture room facilities. Mr John Willows, curator of the Museum, will also give a talk describing the operation of the Station and a tour of the facilities for the public attending on both days.
House was encouraged at the age of 16 to read Arkell’s ‘Geology of the coast around Weymouth, Swanage, Corfe and Lulworth’, 1947 and this stimulated his interest in local and then global geology. The two met and frequently went out on field trips in Dorset. Both men communicated with amateur geologists as well as professionals and their contribution to their fields is immense. Sylvester-Bradley was an early enthusiast for the developing theories of sea floor spreading and plate tectonics.
The events will be aimed at the general public, the amateur and hopefully, the professional geologist. Those attending will be able to see the location of the water source, see and touch some Dorset fossils and minerals and find out more about the Heritage Coast and its famous geologists.
The events will take place during the weekend of July 28th & 29th 2007 at Sutton Poyntz Water Pumping Station, at Sutton Poyntz about 3 miles NE of Weymouth in south Dorset. This station is there because of the geology, it collects the spring water from the stream and supplies it to the Weymouth area. Both Arkell and House wrote papers on the Sutton Poyntz anticline and the structure of the area.
The events will consist of an exhibition, talks, and field trips repeated on both days. The exhibition will consist of pictures of the Heroes, copies and facsimiles of their works, fossils representative of their work and of the local area and pictures of the area. Talks on these aspects will be given periodically during the morning. A PowerPoint presentation of Michael’s photos of Dorset and thin sections of the rocks will be run during the day. Photos of the present World Heritage Site taken over the last 100 years will be on display in postcards, engravings, magic lantern slides and Dorset GA members photographs.
In the afternoon there will be two field trips available based on the itinerary produced by Michael House for The DGAG publication ‘Coast and Country’, 2003. The general public will be encouraged to join the trips.
On the Saturday evening there will be lectures pertinent to the Heroes given by well known speakers including Tony Hallam, Michael Le Bas and Norman Butcher. The lectures will also be open to the public. Felicity House, Michael's widow, and her daughter will be attending the lectures as will members of the family of William Arkell and Sylvester-Bradley. They will be guests of honour at a dinner to be held in the Springhead Arms after the lecture.
Wessex Water is kindly allowing us to use the Museum and lecture room facilities. Mr John Willows, curator of the Museum, will also give a talk describing the operation of the Station and a tour of the facilities for the public attending on both days.