<< Our Photo Pages >> A55 Erratic - Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature in Wales in Anglesey
Submitted by guile on Thursday, 06 May 2010 Page Views: 8538
Natural PlacesSite Name: A55 ErraticCountry: Wales County: Anglesey Type: Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature
Nearest Town: Holyhead Nearest Village: Gwalchmai
Map Ref: SH3774475886
Latitude: 53.255104N Longitude: 4.433703W
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
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cactus_chris visited on 29th Apr 2022 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 3 Access: 5 Drove along the A55 to see this it is in one of the laybys.
guile have visited here
During construction of the A55 dual carriageway across Anglesey, numerous large boulders were unearthed from the ‘superficial’ glacial deposits. These were temporarily stockpiled and then used largely as ‘fill’ for road construction. At the request of Gwynedd and Môn RIGS Group, one of the largest and geologically most significant boulders was placed permanently in a newly constructed lay-by.
The sub-rounded boulder, some 2.4m x 2.0m x 1.2m, has been well abraded, suggesting a considerable distance of glacial transport. A thin section shows it to be micro-dolerite, a medium-grained igneous rock. Although the boulder possibly came from one of the Tertiary dykes on Anglesey, it is thought more likely that it was derived from a massive Tertiary intrusion called the Fleetwood Dyke, located on the floor of the Irish Sea between the Isle of Man and the Fylde coast.
Although the exact source of the boulder has not yet been pinpointed, it is believed to have been deposited by the Irish Sea ice sheet that traversed the island broadly north-east to south-west, introducing materials from Scotland, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Lake District and from the floor of the Irish Sea Basin.
There were many such erratics stockpiled during the construction of the A55, this particular specimen won a very special contest, in that most of the other glacial erratics were crushed and lost forever beneath the A55.
With regard to the Cull of the A55 Erratics, there are other survivors. These are also displayed on the A55, one site is on the westbound side, and comprises several boulders attractively displayed on a slope but is not accessible to the public. The other is a single boulder lying near a lay-by on the eastbound side. Both sites are to be found between Junction 4 and Junction 5.
The unusual position and the undoubted primacy of this particular erratic make for a very interesting ambience.
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