Clipping from the Oldham Evening Chronicle 29th November 1879

A FOSSIL TREE

A few days ago, at the invitation of Mr George Milne, I visited that gentleman’s brickyard situated near Mr Mayall’s colliery, Edge Lane-road, for the purpose of seeing the remains of a large fossil tree which has lately been laid bare in the workings. The huge fragment, for such it is, stands erect as when growing, undisturbed by the inundation that buried it in the mud during one of the many subsidences of the coal area which has resulted in the innumerable alter[n]ations of sandstone, coal, shale, etc. known to the practical miner.

I do not wish to be understood to mean that the inundation of the area and the consequent entire submersion of the tree was sudden, the result of cataclysmic action. The innumerable bare in the section nearest to Mortimer Street, if carefully interpreted, would seem to forbid such a supposition. Read by their light it is reasonable to hold that the subsidence of the land surface was very gradual, that the total submersion of the tree was not completed till after the lapse of many, very many years, and that when the time of its disappearance arrived, the tree was [a] leafless, branchless, lifeless thing.

Though there are at present no roots visible, it appears as if the bottom of the bole or shaft of the tree has been reached. The portion still standing is about seven feet long, measuring two feet 4 inches in diameter at the top and about three feet in diameter at the base. Another and upper portion of about the same length has previously fallen before the mattock and spade of the excavator in removing an upper section. Some twelve or eighteen months since I last saw several remains in this upper level, upwards of one above alluded to. It should be remembered that the material here wrought into bricks, etc. is not of the same nature or of the same geologic age as that used in our ordinary brick fields. The latter is the common "till" or “boulder clay" of the glacial period, the former that which Mr Milne is working, is the "shade" immediately above what I believe to be the "Bent Mine". Having some knowledge of the general form and habit of these old world trees, and judging from the rate at which they diminish in circumference as their upper end is approached. I think that I am within the bounds of reason when I say that this one was from fifty feet to sixty feet in height when in its prime, sending its bifurcating branches far and wide. I am sorry that geologic science is so inexorable as to forbid me here to add that I or some other human creature, for the very reason - so the geologists tell us - that there were no birds to sing or people to listen, when this now cylindrical mass of hardened mud was a giant forest tree. It is now but a mass of mud in tree-like form, and indistinguishable, save in shape, from the material of the matrix in which it has been embedded during the lapse of countless ages, the pith and woody cylinder having passed away.
James Nield

Oldham Chronicle, [probably April/May] 1880

THE FOSSIL TREES AT EDGE LANE

The fossil forest at Edge Lane is attracting a great deal of outside attention, and visitors from the surrounding districts are to be seen daily examining the phenomena. Unfortunately, some mischievous lads have destroyed a great portion of the trunk of the best specimen of a forest tree to be found in the quarry, and, fearful lest these depredations might be continued, a watch has been set, day and night, at the quarry. On Saturday afternoon, a number of the Urmston Literary and Scientific Society (of which Mr. Hibbert, M.P., is the president) visited the quarry and inspected the fossil remains. In the course of the afternoon Captain Aitkin, the leader of the party, delivered a short extempore address on the phenomena before them. After regretting the absence of Mr. James Nield, Captain Aitkin said they had before them one of the best examples to be seen, perhaps, in Europe, of one of these carboniferous subterranean forests. Their existence has been known for a long time, and several very valuable communications had been made upon the subject, but this collection was almost unique in presenting to them such a number of trees as were now opened up to view, and which at the same time were so easily accessible. This might be looked upon as a most valuable and interesting discovery, and a most pleasing exhibition was presented to them that day. Before he said anything specially about these trees, perhaps it would be as well to describe briefly the character of the carboniferous strata, which would enable them to better understand his subsequent remarks. In the first place, at the base of the carboniferous system, which was one of the great systems of geology, was the carboniferous limestone, which was extremely well developed in Derbyshire and in the midland counties of England. Passing through Yorkshire into Lancashire, they found that the carboniferous limestone attained a thickness of something like 3,000 ft. They had a good example shown of carboniferous limestone, and the many kind of fossils with which it was charged, in a recent tour at Castleton. Over the carboniferous limestone came the millstone grit. The carboniferous limestone showed that it was deposited far off in the deep, still ocean, in deep sea conditions, and far from land. They came, as he said, to the millstone grit, which was largely developed in Saddleworth, and these showed the various conditions to which the earth had been subjected. They showed we had a land condition, large estuaries, and deposits sent down by rivers. They also showed that the conditions of the carboniferous limestone had hardly changed when they got into the millstone grit. They then came above that to the coal measures, which had given a name to the system which these beds of rocks had obtained, viz., the carboniferous system, and the reason it was called so was from the abundance of carboniferous matter found in the form of crystalline coal. These coal measures were divided into three – the lower, the middle, and the upper. The lower dipped rapidly, and cropped out amongst the Saddleworth ridges. The middle, upon which they were at that moment standing, terminated before they had reached that point, and it was in the middle that the most valuable coal mining existed. The Royley Mine was a fossil bed in the middle coal measure, and was about 250 yards below the foundation upon which they were now standing. The shales they saw in the quarry lay just over the upper Bent Mine, a well known bed of coal worked in that neighbourhood. This brought them to these fossil remains, and perhaps it would not be out of place to say a word upon the extent of the fossil trees. During the carboniferous period the earth was covered with a vast luxuriant growth of vegetable matter, which assumed the form in many cases of these large trees of which they saw the remains in that quarry, and which are at the present moment extinct, although they flourished in the coal measure period. The earth was surrounded by a warm, tepid atmosphere, not very uniform in quality, but they had not then the vicissitudes of seasons as at the present time. They had not the sun shining as it shone that afternoon, but it was very much warmer than now, and it was believed that the atmosphere was charged with a greater portion of carbonic acid gas than at present. These trees were supposed to have flourished in lagoons, or lakes, not upon any elevated land – indeed, land was supposed, in the coal measure time, to have been pretty flat, and water stretched over large areas, which were also occasionally inundated by sea water, causing the water to become brackish, for they found in some cases of animal existence the remains which were said only to live in brackish water. Some even went so far as t say that these large forest trees grew in salt water – that was a thin layer of salt water occasionally laved their roots; but that was not generally accepted, although some eminent geologists adopted that theory. Thus they had these trees growing in marshy wet places, and then they must combine in their growth the warm tepid atmosphere, an perhaps a somewhat over-clouded sky, in consequence of the vast moistures spreading over the land. This over-clouded sky was born out by the fact that very few flowering plants existed during the coal measure period. The great characteristics of the vegetation of that period undoubtedly arose from the abundance of the foliage and the dense growth of the thickets that then covered the surface of the earth. As far as regarded that particular quarry, the trees generally occupied one level. An elevation did take place, but that resulted from the inequalities of the surface which they saw at the present moment. Captain Aitkin then went on to speak of one peculiarity with regard to the quarry which was quite unusual. In all cases, or in nearly all, that ha come under his observation the trees had sprung from large or small beds of coal. They always expected to find coal in a forest of this sort, but here there was an absence of it, and what was the cause he could not say, unless the subsidence took place before there was time to allow sufficient carbonaceous matter to accumulate and form a bed of coal. Captain Aitkin spoke of the preservation of the trees in the midst of the water, and declared that although bark looked more liable to decay than the hard woody matter in the interior of the trunk, yet such was not the cause, for the latter decayed much sooner than the bark. It was seen in tropical countries that the hard woody matter was destroyed, whilst the bark remained intact. The bark seemed to possess in its structure all those preservative properties which prevented it decaying so rapidly as the timber, and not only that, probably some crystalisation would set in, and the bark would becom firm, and thus assist in resisting the pressure of the water, and prevent its being crushed in. In all these carbonaceous trees they found in every case that a portion of bark was preserved in the form of carboniferous matter. After some further remarks Captain Aitkin concluded an interesting address.
On the motion of Mr. Watts a vote of thanks to Captain Aitken for his address was unanimously passed.

Oldham Chronicle, 15th May 1880
To the Editor:

FOSSIL TREES

Sir – I am pleased to see in your report of the last general Council meeting that many of the Members of that body are at last awakening to the necessity of providing a museum, and are evidently beginning to blush for the undoubted fact that Oldham is behind, in this particular, in the race of intellect and, further, judging by your remarks under the head of ‘Current Topics’, in the same issue, I am glad to find in you an advocate of the desires of many of the more advanced in the Council, and what is now fast becoming a demand of the public outside. It is lamentable to think that now when Oldham has become at a bound famous throughout Europe for being possessed of a carboniferous forest, we have no place to receive the riches that others from remote parts of the country have the wisdom to value and the sharpness to bear away to places, for all practical purposes, beyond our reach, where they will be treasured and cared for as they deserve. “The old, old story” over again. There is, however, a little gleam of light breaking in the horizon, which may widen into full day some time, when we shall have a museum in Oldham, like other places of less wealth, of less importance, and ergo, less moral responsibilities. I am not disposed to be over critical, or to be fretful and peevish, but I cannot help remembering and lamenting that some years ago, just previous to the beautiful building in our Park being ignominiously doomed to be a common pop and toffy shop, that a few of us made efforts, including that of waiting on the Park Committee to try and induce them to accept our scheme for converting that edifice into a museum, but they proved unavailing. I know from experience that since that time valuable specimens – sparks that have from time to time lit and kept burning the fire of science - have been sent far and wide, and many museums have been made additionally attractive by the riches of Oldham, some of which I have reason to believe, will never be replaced. I fear much that those to whom we have a right to look for help in the matter will allow another “tide in the affairs of men which, when taken at the flood leads on to fortune,” to pass away neglected. Let us not, however, further indulge in “loathed melancholy.” We may yet retrieve much. Our fossil forest may, if well watched, which it is not, yet prove a source of scientific wealth. Could we not secure one of these antediluvian forest giants, and, indeed, other things? Ithink, with a sufficient effort we might. Many of them are but indifferently preserved, nearly devoid of character, and highly perishable, truly. Others I feel quite confident, with due care, proper appliances, and ordinary protection after removal, could be secured for the museum “looming in the distance.” But who is to undertake to do this work? Private enterprise and scientific enthusiasm seem wanting in sufficient strength, and you will, Sir, agree with me that it would be manifestly unfair to expect Mr. Milne, the proprietor, to undertake the task, that gentle kindness and courtesy having been drawn upon too much already. Then let us ask those who hold the public purse strings, and whose position amongst us makes them responsible for our moral and intellectual status and advancement, as well as for our material well-being, to provide us, at least, with a modest assuagement to a crying public want.
Jas. Nield

Report in the Oldham Chronicle, 17th May, 1880

This visit was also reported in the Manchester Guardian, 17th May 1880, page 7.
under the heading, “A Carboniferous Forest”

PROF. DAWKINS ON OLDHAM FOSSILS

On Saturday Professor Boyd-Dawkins, of Owens College, Manchester, with some forty of his pupils, paid a visit to and inspected the geological formation of portions of the Oldham Edge. Mr. J. Nield, geologist, Radcliffe-street, officiated as guide, and he first conducted the party to a quarry off Edge-lane-road, where the professor treated of the construction of the rocks, and of the causes of the faults or cracks, giving illustrations as to the directions of the faults. At the conclusion of his description, he expressed his obligation to Mr. Nield for his services, stating that Mr. Nield knew more about this particular geological formation than any of them or of all of them put together. Mr. Nield next conducted the party to Mr. Milne’s quarry, on the opposite side of the Edge, to view the fossils. Professor Dawkins addressed a few remarks to his pupils and others interested in the science of geology. He said he wished them to realise that the quarry in which they were assembled was to be looked upon as giving them a most admirable illustration not merely of one, but he believed of more than one, of the ancient carboniferous forests. In that quarry, in those shattered pieces which they saw around them there, were the remains of the vegetation of which the seams of coal were formed; and if they examined these fragments of vegetation carefully they would recognise a good many familiar forms. In the first place, if they were to look at the large collection of things on the trucks (on which a large number of specimens were collected) they would see a vast number of fronds of ferns. Anyone, even though not a botanist, would realise that there had been a large quantity of ferns growing near the spot in which these fragments of ferns were entombed in the interior of the rock, so that that rock might be said to be a receptacle or great museum, in which samples of the vegetation of that period were preserved; but that quarry was more than that. When he asked them to look at such a tree trunk over there (pointing), and another over there, and when they saw further traces of other trees on the other side of the quarry, although not so distinct now as they were some time ago, they would realise that this particular vegetation grew upon that very spot. In imagination they must fling away all idea of stone – they must consider that they are standing in the midst of a forest analogous to that illustrated in these remains, and that they were surrounded by huge trees. He should like to say a few words regarding these trees. In the first place, if they examined the material at the base of the trunk, they would see the old surface soil. They would find this soil was full of roots, running in every direction – the same sort of interlacement that was to be found in any other soil, and some of these roots could be traced in other parts. At all events, some of these roots were traceable, when he was there before, for a long distance indeed. What species, then, were they to consider these trees belonged? On answering that question he would ask them to consider the nearest representatives of that vegetation. On the tops of some of our higher hills there was a little moss known as the “club moss,” which at its biggest was not more than eight inches long. That little moss gave a better idea of the ancient form of vegetation than any other idea they could form, and there could be no doubt from the comparison of that moss with the structure of the fossil wood that these huge trunks really belonged to gigantic representatives of the club moss tribe. Then what of the branches and the foliage of these trees? The branches and the foliage had, of course, been destroyed; they had been swept away from the upper parts, but traces of the foliage and of the smaller branches they could see on many of the stones around them, and he had no doubt that if they looked longer they would find examples of the fruit. The next point worthy of consideration was as to how these trees became embedded in the rock, and upon that point he would say to his hearers that the history was as simple as A,B,C, The trees grew over an untold period of time – grew and decayed upon the surface, until it so happened that in the course of ages the land became depressed beneath the level of the water. The forest then disappeared – that was to say, the upper parts of it got swept away and the ancient parts came to be represented by sorts of tree trunks. In the neighbourhood of Fleetwood and Blackpool, and also on each side of Liverpool, both to the north and south, there was a submarine forest, in which they would see trunks of trees standing with their roots. The forest was depressed beneath the level of the water; the water brought down a sediment, which accumulated in the rocks they saw before them; and after all that had happened, then the original tree trunk decayed away, leaving a hollow in the rock which had formerly been occupied by the wood. After that had happened another set of accumulations and sedimentary deposit came on, and into the hollows of the rock this sediment poured. That was the simple history of the structure of the great standing column. There was another thing they might learn when they looked at such a phenomenon as this. It was perfectly clear that the accumulation of the rocky material, such as that before them, could not have been a slow process. If it had been a slow process then the trunks would have disappeared by the natural process of decay before the stone had had time to accumulate. Therefore, they must believe that the tree trunk was covered up with comparative swiftness by these accumulations of stony matter. This was an important fact for them to realise when they knew that the coal measure rocks of this part of the country were no less than 7,200 feet in thickness; so that when they considered the enormous mass of this rock they must believe it was very possible that a considerable thickness of it might have been deposited in a comparatively short time. It was perfectly clear that the rock which surrounded the trunk could not have taken 1,000 years to accumulate, because the tree would not have survived 1,000 years to allow of that perfect cast to be made. That was a fact he had learned from the examination of this quarry quite as much as from any other. It so happened that in that place the forests did not grow sufficiently long to allow of the formation of beds of coal on that horizon. In some places they had an accumulation of coal to the height of 30ft.belonging to the same genera or species as those which were met with in that quarry. He did not believe there was any other place in the country in which they could see such a thing as that exposed to the light of day, and would venture to say that he sincerely hoped that the public spirit of those in Oldham who had the means would be sufficiently great to allow of them preserving some record of those things in their park. It would be a great shame if those trees were allowed to fall to pieces and be destroyed simply for the want of someone to put them in the public park as a sample of the vegetation of this part of the world and as a sample of those trees to which the wealth of Lancashire was more indebted than anything else. He said to convey them to the public park in Oldham, because it so happened that in the Manchester Museum they had such large and fine specimens that he did not think they desired to have more. The specimens here were perfectly unique in their kind, and so far as he knew there was only one other place in the world like this in that respect, and that was New Brunswick in America. He was exceedingly glad that it had fallen to their lot that day to go, not to New Brunswick, but to go to Oldham to see them (Applause) – Mr. Nield, at the request of the learned professor, next made a few observations. He said he felt himself highly honoured in being called upon to offer a few remarks. For some months he had been visiting the quarry for the purpose of collecting such things as were of interest to geologists. He had had years of botanical ramble and botanical studies; but at present he had given up the field and taken to coming into the quarry to look at the vegetation of past ages. He had sought amongst the rocks for remnants of the plants, and he had been tolerably successful. If the Corporation, or some person with the means, were to take the examination and the watching of the quarry, he thought sufficient valuable material might be obtained to store not only one museum, but a great many. Within the last few days he had borne home things he believed to be entirely new and others new to the district. Many of the trees had grown in about three successive levels, and many of them had measured from 10 inches to 2ft. 4in. In diameter, and 6ft. or 7ft. from the base. They were now nothing more than mere casts; but as had been observed by them they became acquainted with the nature of many of the plants, but with others they were not so well acquainted. - Professor Dawkins expressed his thanks to Mr. Milne, the owner of the quarry, who had been kind enough to allow them to visit it.- Mr. Nield also concurred in thanking Mr. Milne for his kindness. - A student of Professor Dawkins suggested the advisability of inaugurating a subscription to defray the cost of the removal of the fossils to the park, stating that he would undertake the collection of subscriptions for that object among the students.