Chapter 9.

Conservation.

Rifle Butts SSSI.

Rifle Butts near Goodmanham is a small geological site (Horne and Dutton 1992 revised 2021) that was designated as a SSSI in 1952. Rifle Butts was a man-made site and never was a quarry (Horne 2020). It was in fact the site of the targets for a rifle range firing along the valley from up to 800 yards to the west. In 1964 the YGS and the geological community raised the funds for its purchase and the Yorkshire Naturalists Trust took on the ownership. In 1987 a larger exposure at the site was created by the Nature Conservancy Council and that December the HGS took on the task of caring for the exposure and began visiting the site twice a year, in the early spring and late autumn. They soon found that frost was damaging the exposure and decided that the regular removal of the loose material was too destructive. They tried to prevent this by covering it in straw for the winter months without much success. In 1993 members of the HGS designed, raised the funds for and commissioned the building of a shelter to keep the exposure dry to stop the winter frost damage. Members of the society also designed an information board and had it installed under the shelter to protect it from rain and weathering. The Cottingham Watch Group regularly maintained the nature reserve part of the site, treating it as a meadow by mowing it in the spring and autumn. The gateway to the site was kept locked and the HGS was a designated keyholder with permission to loan the key to bona fide geologists and societies.

At some stage [ca 2012] the YWT received a grant from the National Lottery for the nature reserve part of the site [I don’t know what this was for] and this stipulated that there should be open public access to the site in the future. The HGS noticed that this led to an increase in general vandalism at the exposure and more worryingly hammering and collecting by rogue geologists. This, along with concerns about rabbits burrowing into the upper part of the bank just under the rear footings of the roof, led to the covering of the exposure with wire netting by contractors, which had to be re-fitted by members of the HGS in 2014.

Although there is a partnership agreement for the site between the HGS and the YWT, the YWT has not always informed, discussed or consulted the HGS about changes to the site. In 2003 the hawthorn hedge that protected the exposure from driving rain from the south and hid it from view from the road was chopped down.  During the repainting of the structure by contractors the noticeboard was moved so that it is no longer protected from the elements by the shelter. Sheep were being grazed in the nature reserve and the exposure was fenced off to keep the sheep out, but this makes access for work parties difficult. Goats grazing in the nature reserve got onto the top of the shelter (M Howard pers. comm. 2025). 

In the autumn or winter of 2023 a panel blew off the roof and the warden closed the site to the public. The HGS found out about this by accident in February 2024. Since then the HGS has been told on three occasions that the YWT warden is seeking quotations for the repair and will then apply for a grant for the cost of the repair in 2026.

Site Documentation Scheme.

The HGS collaborated with Hull Museums in the setting up of the local data centre for the National Scheme for Geological Site Documentation. The Society donated the funding to buy a filing cabinet for the Museum to store the site records in 1987. Mick Stanley was a key mover in the establishing of the National Scheme. The aim of the project was to record all geological exposures including historic ones.

RIGS Group.

The East Yorkshire RIGS Group was formed in 1992. Its purpose was to designate and monitor Regionally Important Geological and Geomorphological Sites in the region. The sites could be designated for their scientific research value, educational value, scenic value or their importance in the history of the geological sciences

Membership of the Group was open to any individual or organisation with an interest in geoconservation. Several organisations were represented at Group meetings including the Hull Geological Society, Hull Museums, Kingston Lapidary Society, Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, Hull University and Hull Natural History Society. Initially meetings were held at the offices at Monument Buildings which are part of the Ferens Art Gallery.

The staff of Hull Museums had leading roles in the Group: Mick Stanley was the Chair and Matt Stephens the Secretary. When Mick left the Museum Mike Horne became the Chair in 1999 and when Matt left Barrie Heaton became the Secretary. The Group managed without funds for quite a while; later Tony Hibbert was the Treasurer, being succeeded by Stuart Jones. Mike resigned as Chair and was replaced by David Hill in 2013.

The area covered by the RIGS Group is not the present East Riding of Yorkshire County Council boundary, but the more natural Watsonian Vice-County of East Yorkshire (Number 61), which coincided with the designated collecting area of Hull Museums. The area is bounded by the Humber to the South, the coast to the east, the middle of the Vale of Pickering to the north and the middle of the vale of York to the west. This later caused some problems when a new RIGS group was set up in Ryedale which used the present day political boundaries meaning that some sites are covered by two RIGS groups!

A small number of formerly nationally important sites had lost their SSSI status and were obvious candidates for RIGS status. Other sites were rapidly identified and designated. Four sites on the original list were removed because the owners already had permission to fill the quarries. Twelve Quaternary sites were added in 2000 with the help of John Catt. There was an effort to try to conserve as complete a stratigraphic succession of the Yorkshire Chalk as possible. Of the sites, one is Triassic, three are Jurassic, 21 are for Chalk stratigraphy and 24 are Quaternary, plus four for their geomorphology, four for structural geology, one historical and one as an educational resource. The County Council accepted their conservation status and included them in its future planning. The RIGS Group is consulted about any planning applications that may affect the sites by the East Riding of Yorkshire County Council. <hyperlink to RIGS LIST>

Eight buildings in Hull were added for their educational value in 2001 and are informally known as HUGS (Hull Urban Geological Sites). Hull City Council has difficulties in recognising and monitoring these sites because the RIGS conservation status is not statutory. Of those sites, one has been demolished, one is closed to the public and one has had the geologically interesting cladding removed. Two areas within Hull's Western Cemetery were added in 2004 for the variety of memorial stones.

Over the years the input from other representatives and groups declined and effectively the East Yorkshire RIGS Group activists were all members of the Hull Geological Society just wearing a different hat (or hard hat) so to speak. In 2016 the Secretary Barrie Heaton was finding the responsibility for the Group difficult and there were concerns for the continued existence of the Group. The advice from national UKRIGS body was that it would be best if the responsibility for the sites remained locally rather than nationally. At an Extraordinary General Meetings on 8th December 2016 the Group was dissolved and at the AGM of the HGS in March 2017 the Society took on responsibility for the sites &c. The Chair of the Group David Hill was elected as the RIGS Officer of the HGS and the Group’s funds were added to the Conservation Fund of the HGS.

Geovalue Project.

Members of the Society collaborated with Professor Peter Scott from the University of Exeter in 2007 to visit some of the important sites in East Yorkshire. The project’s aims were to document a variety of sites and rank them for their importance (Scott et al. 2007). The EYRIGSGp received some funding for this research and their report on the Humber Bridge Country Park was published in the handbook.

The Lewis Penny Collection at the University.

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