Sandstone

A dull day, with some rain, so there was no point going up onto the fell for views. Instead we are down in the Ghyll, which is woodland with Dufton Gill running through it, that runs parallel with the village. 

What you can see now are the huge cliffs of sandstone which were quarried for the village buildings. When the London Lead Company acquired the lead mining rights in the 19th century, this Quaker-owned company built houses for the miners and their families using the red sandstone, known as St Bees Sandstone, quarried from here. You can still see the marks from the quarrymen's tools on the face of the rocks. The houses were strongly built and had gardens so the families could grow their own food. They did a lot of other things for the village - more of this tomorrow. 

Today we had another family Zoom quiz. Questions set by the Cornwall couple and all around films and music, with some clever things like shared screens. Crazy hair was the dressing up theme, which the girls went to town on. I'm afraid we just did hats. Great fun.