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A historical perspective on local communities and geological conservation

Graham J. Worton
Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 300, 137-146, 1 January 2008, https://doi.org/10.1144/SP300.11
Graham J. Worton
Dudley Museum and Art Gallery, St James Road, Dudley, West Midlands DY1 1HU, UK (e-mail: )
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  • For correspondence: graham.worton@dudley.gov.uk
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Abstract

Like every other human endeavour in the modern world geological conservation has evolved from the changing desires and necessities of evolving communities. Local people in generations past had a need to be ‘in tune’ with their local landscapes and the environments making use of local materials and landform in order to survive and prosper. These early communities have enriched our modern landscapes with their legacy of geodiversity in altered landscapes, the built environment and venerated geological features. In a modern context we may consider ‘geoconservation’ to be the ‘conservation of geodiversity’ and we should acknowledge that local people and historic communities have had a very long involvement in conserving geological heritage although often without consciously doing so. This is particularly the case in terms of landscape and the applied geology of the built environment. Early local communities were usually of low cultural diversity with values of narrow focus. It is commonly local people and local specialist interest societies that have made geological discoveries and brought their importance to the attention of the specialists. In the late 1900s local groups drove the development of what is now the familiar framework for protection of geological heritage and in particular the non-statutory sites and features that rely being locally valued for their sustainability and survival.

This paper cannot be a comprehensive account of the evolution of peoples and their changing engagement with geodiversity. It is, rather, a summary account using selected scattered illustrations of geoconservation through the ages. It examines what we mean by local community and its involvement, either consciously or unconsciously, in protecting geodiversity through stages in human history.

  • © The Geological Society of London 2008
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Geological Society, London, Special Publications: 300 (1)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications
Volume 300
2008
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A historical perspective on local communities and geological conservation

Graham J. Worton
Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 300, 137-146, 1 January 2008, https://doi.org/10.1144/SP300.11
Graham J. Worton
Dudley Museum and Art Gallery, St James Road, Dudley, West Midlands DY1 1HU, UK (e-mail: )
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
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  • Search for this author on this site
  • For correspondence: graham.worton@dudley.gov.uk

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A historical perspective on local communities and geological conservation

Graham J. Worton
Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 300, 137-146, 1 January 2008, https://doi.org/10.1144/SP300.11
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  • Article
    • Abstract
    • The development of communities and consequential geoconservation
    • Early rumblings of cultural geodiversity in Britain: Dud Dudley 1599–1684
    • Early site recording: Robert Plot 1686
    • The advent of site conservation? Pompeii and Herculaneum
    • Conservation of geological specimens and site knowledge: Mary Anning
    • Conscious geoconservation and the impact of art in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries
    • The Black Country experience
    • Dudley and Midland Geological and Scientific Society and Field Club
    • Murchison and the second British Association visit of 1849
    • The second Dudley and Midland Geological Society and the fortunes of the Dudley Geological Museum
    • The third society: The Black Country Geological Society
    • The advent of explicit Nature Conservation Law and its impact in Dudley
    • The Black Country Geodiversity Action Plan
    • Looking to the future
    • Conclusions
    • Acknowledgments
    • Select Bibliography
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