I hadn’t planned it at the beginning of my walk to St Loyes Chapel, but seeing the stone in the chapel made me want to walk back up Quarry Lane and look for evidence of the quarry. The red ‘cliff’ on the right side of Quarry Lane is good evidence already, but I also wanted to look in Lancaster Close and Coates Road.
Sure enough, the cliff turns a corner into Lancaster Close, and runs behind the houses for tens of yards. It makes an abrupt edge to the gardens and cuts out the morning sun. I don’t know how far south it extends.
In Coates Road, I turned right into Britten Drive, and came upon an unexpected flat green area – a playing field. At the far end was another red cliff with a lap of brambles and other scrub that made it impossible to get to. Never mind, it was still exciting to find the evidence.
I had meant to go back to Quarry Lane and photograph the exposed stone of the cliff, but found a path down to Coates Road to the north and followed that round back home.
I found the Coates Road circle one winter when Quarry Lane was treacherous with ice and blocked with a car accident. But in a car I’d never noticed anything. Mythogeography is easier when car-free.
