Ranginui and Papatuanuku

The Maori creation myth tells how heaven and earth were once joined as Ranginui, the Sky Father, and Papatuanuku, the Earth Mother, lay together in a tight embrace. They had many children who lived in the darkness between them. The children wished to live in the light and so separated their unwilling parents. Ranginui and Papatuanuku continue to grieve for each other to this day. Rangi's tears fall as rain towards Papatuanuku to show how much he loves her. When mist rises from the forests, these are Papa's sighs as the warmth of her body yearns for him and continues to nurture mankind.

In Maori mythology the primal couple Rangi and Papa (or Ranginui and Papatuanuku) appear in a creation myth explaining the origin of the world.

Union and separation

Rangi and Papa are the primordial parents, the sky father and the earth mother, who lie locked together in a tight embrace. They have many children, all of which are male, who are forced to live in the cramped darkness between them.

These children grow and discuss amongst themselves what it would be like to live in the light. Tumatauenga, the fiercest of the children, proposes that the best solution to their predicament is to kill their parents (Grey 1956:2).

But his brother Tane disagrees, suggesting that it is better to push them apart, to let Rangi be as a stranger to them in the sky above, while Papa will remain below to nurture them. The others put their plans into action: Rongo, the god of cultivated food tries to push his parents apart, then Tangaroa the god of the sea and his sibling Haumia-tiketike, the god of wild food, join him. In spite of their joint efforts, Rangi and Papa remain close together in their loving embrace.

After many attempts, Tane, god of forests and birds, forces his parents apart. Instead of standing upright and pushing with his hands as his brothers have done, he lies on his back and pushes with his strong legs. Stretching every sinew, Tane pushes and pushes until with cries of grief and surprise, Ranginui and Papatuanuku are prised apart.

War in Heaven and Earth

And so the children of Rangi and Papa see light and have space to move for the first time. While the other children have agreed to the separation, Tawhirimatea the god of storms and winds is angered that the parents have been torn apart. He cannot not bear to hear the cries of his parents, nor see the tears of the Rangi as they are parted, so he promises his siblings that from henceforth, they will have to deal with his anger.

He flies off to join Rangi, and there carefully fosters his own many offspring, who include the winds, one of whom is sent to each quarter of the compass. To fight his brothers, Tawhirimatea gathers an army of his children, winds and clouds of different kinds including fierce squalls, whirlwinds, gloomy thick clouds, fiery clouds, hurricane clouds and thunderstorm clouds, and rain, mists and fog. As these winds show their might the dust flies, and the great forest trees of Tane are smashed under the attack and fall to the ground, food for decay and for insects.

Then Tawhirimatea attacks the oceans, and huge waves rise, whirlpools form, and Tangaroa, the god of the sea, flees in panic. Punga, a son of Tangaroa, has two children, Ikatere, father of fish and Tu-te-wehiwehi (or Tu-te-wanawana), the ancestor of reptiles. Terrified by Tawhirimatea's onslaught, the fish seek shelter in the sea, and the reptiles in the forests. Ever since, Tangaroa has been angry with Tane for giving refuge to his runaway children.

So it is that Tane supplies the descendants of Tumatauenga with canoes, fishhooks, and nets to catch the descendants of Tangaroa. Tangaroa retaliates by swamping canoes and sweeping away houses, land and trees that are washed out to sea in floods.

Tawhirimatea next attacks his brothers Rongo and Haumia-tiketike, the gods of cultivated and uncultivated foods. Rongo and Haumia are in great fear of Tawhirimatea, but as he attacks them, Papa determines to keep these for her other children, and hides them so well that Tawhirimatea cannot find them. So Tawhirimatea turns on his brother Tumatauenga.

He uses all his strength, but Tu stands fast, and Tawhiri cannot prevail against him. Tu (or humankind) stands fast, and at last the anger of the gods subsided and peace prevailed. Tu thought about the actions of Tane in separating their parents, and made snares to catch the birds, the children of Tane, who could no longer fly free.

He then makes nets from forest plants and casts them in the sea, so that the children of Tangaroa soon lie in heaps on the shore.

He made hoes to dig the ground, capturing his brothers Rongo and Haumia-tiketike where they have hidden from Tawhirimatea in the bosom of the earth mother, and recognising them by their long hair which remains above the surface of the earth, he drags them forth and heaps them into baskets to be eaten.

So Tu-the-man eats all of his brothers to repay them for their cowardice; the only brother that Tu does not subdue is Tawhirimatea, whose storms and hurricanes attack humankind to this day.

Tane searched for heavenly bodies as lights so that his father would be appropriately dressed. He obtained the stars and threw them up, along with the moon and the sun. At last Rangi looked handsome.

Rangi and Papa continue to grieve for each other to this day. Ranginui's tears fall towards Papatuanuku to show how much he loves her. Sometimes Papatuanuku heaves and strains and almost breaks herself apart to reach her beloved partner again but it is to no avail.

When mist rises from the forests, these are Papatuanuku's sighs as the warmth of her body yearns for Ranginui and continues to nurture mankind

Kauri - Agathis australis

commonly known as the kauri, is a coniferous tree found north of 38°S in the northern districts of New Zealand's North Island. It is the largest - by size or volume - not height - in New Zealand, standing up to 50 m tall in the emergent layer above the forest's main canopy.

The young plant grows straight upwards and has the form of a narrow cone with branches going out along the length of the trunk. However, as it gains in height, the lowest branches are shed, preventing epiphytes from climbing. By maturity, the top branches form an imposing crown that stands out over all other native trees, dominating the heights of the forest.

The flaking bark of the kauri tree defends it from parasitic plants, and accumulates around the base of the trunk. On large trees it may pile up to a height of 2 m or more.

Although its root system is very shallow, it also has several downwardly directed peg roots which anchor it firmly in the soil. Such a solid foundation is necessary for a tree the size of a kauri to prevent it blowing over in storms and cyclones.


Kauri leaves are 3 to 7 cm long and 1 cm broad, tough and leathery in texture, with no midrib; they are arranged in opposite pairs or whorls of three on the stem.

The seed cones are globose, 5 to 7 cm diameter, and mature 18 to 20 months after pollination; the seed cones disintegrate at maturity to release winged seeds, which are then dispersed by the wind. A single tree produces both male and female seed cones. Fertilisation of the seeds occurs by pollination, which may be driven by the same or another tree's pollen.

Kauri forests are among the most ancient in the world. The kauri type trees evolved during the Jurassic period (190 and 135 million years ago) and though it therefore an old type of tree it has an unusual substrate/soil interaction and regenerates in such a way that it kept competing successfully with the 'newer', faster growing angiosperms. It feeds in the organic litter near the surface of the soil through fine root hairs. This layer of the soil is composed of organic matter derived from falling leaves and branches as well as dead trees, and is constantly undergoing decomposition.

As it decays the kauri leaves acidic compounds and as they 'leach' they decayed compounds pass through the soil layers- with the help of rain - releasing nutrients trapped in the soil - typically nitrogen & phosphorus - (a process is known as podsolization, which changes the soil composition making it difficult for undergrowth or competitors to take root. The soil also changes colour - to a dull grey - an area known as a cup podsol.

Leaf litter and other decaying parts of a kauri decompose much more slowly than those of most other species. Besides its acidity, the plant also bears substances such as waxes and phenols that are harmful to microorganisms. This results in a large buildup of litter around the base of a mature tree in which its own roots feed. These feeding roots also house a symbiotic fungi known as mycorrhiza which increase the plant's efficiency in taking up nutrients. In this mutualistic relationship, the fungus derives its own nutrition from the roots. In its interactions with the soil, kauri is thus able to starve its competitors of much needed nutrients and compete with much younger lineages.

Forests containing kauri are generally known as kauri forests, though kauri needn't be the most abundant tree type to gain this description. In fact the kauri has a habit of forming small clumps or patches scattered through mixed forests


Heavy logging which began around 1820, continued for a century, and has considerably decreased the number of kauri trees. It's been estimated that before 1840, the kauri forests of northern New Zealand occupied at least 12,000 square kilometres. By the 1950s this area had decreased to about 1,400 square kilometres in 47 forests depleted of their best kauri. By 1900, less than 10 per cent of the original kauri survived. It is estimated that today, there is 4 per cent of uncut forest left in small pockets.It is calculated that around a little under half of the timber was accidentally or deliberately burnt. A little more than half of the remainder had been exported to Australia, Britain, and other countries, while the small balance was used locally to build houses and ships - superb colour and toughness but especially good for masts (few branches) and very resistant to water ... (the gum was used in varnish too...)

Giant kauri are found in North Island forests but most famous is "Te Matua Ngahere" and "Tāne Mahuta". According to Maori mythology Tāne is the son of Ranginui the sky father and Papatuanuku the earth mother. Tāne was the child that tore his parent’s parental embrace and once done set about clothing his mother in the forest we have today. All living creatures of the forest are regarded as Tāne’s children.

Into Petra

The climb into the back of Petra - (Greek "πέτρα" (petra), meaning rock; Arabic: البتراء, Al-Batrāʾ).

After breakfast and covering some rocky ground, we reached some rough fields, which we crossed, (where the Bedouin sow wheat in the autumn and harvest it the following spring), and finally emerged from the last canyon onto a high plateau, where we could see across to the mountains of Petra and make out Aaron's Tomb - yes - Moses' brother. This is at the top of Mount Hor - situated "in the edge of the land of Edom" (From the Bible -Numbers 33:37). It is the scene of his death, a twin-peaked mountain 4,780 feet above sea-level (6,000+ feet above the Dead Sea), in the Edomite Mountains on the east side of the Jordan-Arabah valley, marked by a white Mosque.
We have had to climb (steadily) uphill … for a long time … to reach this point as we broke out onto a path on the edge of a cliff … see the photo at the top of the page … with Bob leading the Team across the ledge at a fair rate of knots! (Found out it was because he hated the exposure!).

"What exposure?"

The drop was about 300 feet … something no one was keen on trying! None of us talked much during this shuffle around the jutting rock that blocked our way … though those who disliked heights did really well.

Below - just to the right - is a Team photo, (the initial Group plus three newcomers - as we had been joined by a Dutch couple - a Physical Education expert and his wife, who worked for Red Bull in Marketing, and their good friend, a French mountaineer and ski instructor). This was taken as we reached the top of our walk. It was a still a decent stroll to the top of Petra … and then … we had reached our goal … the most amazing place – and much larger than expected; full of incredible carved buildings and Roman remains that cannot be described …Most of the visitors today come into the complex from the east (with a most impressive entrance through a dark, narrow gorge (see later in this Blog). However we had entered at the top of the "back" of Petra.

The photo below is of Bob and I at the first of these great monuments – the Monastery (El Deir). From here we walked down hill through history. The whole of Petra is truly awe-inspiring …. archeological evidence suggests that settlements had begun in and around Petra in the eighteenth dynasty of Egypt (1550-1292 BC). Though the city was founded relatively late, a sanctuary existed there since very ancient times. Parts of Exodus from the Bible mention are places associated with Petra. At the foot of the mountain called 'en-Nejr' - the summit of which was close to where we entered Petra, is a massive stone cut amphitheatre, so placed as to bring the greatest number of tombs within view. At the point where the valley opens out into the plain, the site of the city is revealed with striking effect. The amphitheatre has been cut into the hillside and into several of the tombs during its construction. Almost enclosing the place - on three sides - are the rose-coloured mountain walls, divided into groups by deep fissures, and lined with columns cut from the rock in the form of towers. An very inspiring and deeply moving scene - imagine - cut from rock but very civilised .. a theatre! There is a lot of Roman remains in Petra - not least a Forum, a Temple and paved road (Cardo). However in 106 AD, when Cornelius Palma was governor of Syria, the area of Arabia under the rule of Petra was absorbed into the Roman Empire as part of Arabia Petraea, so the native dynasty came to an end though the city continued to flourish.
At the end of this narrow gorge stands Petra's most elaborate ruin, 'Al Khazneh' - popularly known as "the Treasury" - hewn into the sandstone cliff - a sight Yemaan made sure came as a delight to us by making us hold hands and close our eyes so he could guide us to the view of this. (Below is photo of the Team outside the so called Treasury)

Then we exited via the slash in the mountains that I had mentioned earlier - ('Slash' could be correct - in places it was only 9 foot wide though it is 600 feet high and about a mile in length!) - called the 'Siq' or the shaft, a natural geological feature formed from a deep split in the sandstone rocks and serving as a waterway flowing into Wadi Musa.


Petra - what a place!

New Zealand (Aotearoa in Māori)

North Island - 24th October 2008

The land of the long white cloud.

Got in from Hong Kong, by way of Thailand, and landed at Auckland - drove up to Huntaway Lodge, near Kerikeri way up in North Island.

It was warm and balmy, a very pretty coastline and what views ... we had been given the 'te Ngaere' room - the best in the Lodge - on the right hand side looking out over the coast. The Lodge is a splendid, modern timber house perched above 3 beaches and pristine coastal scenery. The first image here is the view from our room!

Huntaway Lodge.


It was warm and balmy, a very pretty coastline and what views ... we had been given the te Ngaere room - the best in the Lodge - on the right hand side looking out over the coast. The Lodge is a splendid, modern timber house perched above 3 beaches and pristine coastal scenery. The image here is the view from our room (!) - a picture Margaret took of both of us to prove it. The event involved the automatic self-timer on Margaret's camera and her throwing herself at me ... nice eh? But look past see and us that view ... pretty good, what?


Imagine waking up to this view every day whilst on holiday? Fabulous!

Looking the other way (South East) you see the Cavalli Islands - a small group of islands in Whangaroa on Northland's East Coast about 5 kilometres to the east of the mainland - (the islands of Motukawanui and Motukawaiti plus the islets of Motutapere, Panaki, Nukutaunga, Motuharakeke, Haraweka). The main island is used as a nature reserve, and some of the smaller islands are privately owned. Worthy of note was that, on December 2, 1987, the hulk of the bombed Greenpeace vessel Rainbow Warrior was scuttled between Matauri Bay and the Cavalli Islands, to serve as a dive wreck and fish sanctuary.

Waipoua Forest – for detail see my blog of Kauri



We drove over to Waipoua Forest - the garden of Tane Mahuta. Waipoua, and the adjoining forests of Mataraua and Waima, make up the largest remaining tract of native forest in Northland. Most of Northland’s ancient forest cover has been lost to saw and fire, plundered for the precious timber of the kauri tree or cleared for farmland. However the forests are now under the protection of the Department of Conservation.

The drive over to the forest winds through magnificent stands of Kauri, Rimu (Dacrydium cupressinum), a large conifer (evergreen) native to NZ - a member of the podocarps (southern hemisphere conifers with great diversity, both morphologically and ecologically, with most generic variety taking place in New Caledonia, New Zealand and Tasmania - and found in South America / Indonesian islands), and Northern rātā, (Metrosideros robusta), is a huge forest tree endemic to NZ. It grows up to 25 m or taller, and usually begins its life as a hemiepiphyte high in the branches of a mature forest tree; over centuries the young tree sends descending and girdling roots down and around the trunk of its host, eventually forming a massive, frequently hollow pseudo trunk composed of fused roots. So a hemiepiphyte begins its life as an epiphyte but which later grows roots down into the ground.

What we did on our holidays - II

20th April - The Wrekin: We split up and early one morning Ginny and I drove out towards Telford. First, to look at Wroxeter -'Viroconium', which was the fourth largest city in Roman Britain. It began as a legionary fortress and later developed into a thriving civilian city. Though much still remains below ground, today the most impressive features are the 2nd century municipal baths, and the remains of the huge wall dividing them from the exercise hall in the heart of the city. There is a site museum that reveals how Wroxeter worked in its heyday, and the health and beauty practices of its 5,000 citizens. In February 1859 workmen began excavating the baths complex, and by April much of the present site was exposed and thronged with fascinated visitors, including Charles Dickens.

Donated by the landowner for public viewing, Wroxeter thus became one of the first archaeological visitor attractions in Britain. Thanks to a project between English Heritage and Channel 4, a Roman town house

has been erected at Wroxeter and is now open to the public. A TV series followed a team of modern builders as they built the town house using traditional Roman methods.

Then went to look at Ironbridge. The area around Ironbridge is described as the "Birthplace of the Industrial Revolution" due to the legend that Abraham Darby perfected the technique of smelting iron with coke, in Coalbrookdale, allowing much cheaper production of iron. However, the industrial revolution did not "begin" in one place, but in many. The growth of railways, spinning machines, weaving and other industrial inventions and activities were going on all over the country. Smelting iron by Darby was but one small part of this generalised revolution and was soon superseded by the great iron-smelting areas.


The grandson of the first Abraham Darby, Abraham Darby III, built the famous bridge - originally designed by Thomas Farnolls Pritchard - to link the two areas. Construction began in 1779 and the bridge opened on New Year's Day 1781.

Next the climb up The Wrekin, but first Ginny and I circumnavigated it by car.

The hill is formed of Pre-Cambrian rocks, approximately 680 million years old. The rocks are igneous - layers of ancient lava flows laid down in a volcanic island arc, similar to modern Japan. The earliest mention of the Wrekin occurs in a charter of 855, as entered in a late eleventh century Worcester chartulary, spelled Wreocensetun. Its modern form is believed to have come into modern English by way of Mercian, and that is likely to have been taken from the early Celtic word Wrikon perhaps etymologically related to the Latin name Viroconium Cornoviorum - the Cornovii were the British tribe inhabiting the area. There is an Iron Age hill fort on the summit almost 8 hectares in size, to which the name Uriconio originally referred. It is thought the fort was built by the Cornovii tribe and was once their capital.


The legend of the creation of The Wrekin is basically as follows...A giant called Gwendol Wrekin ap Shenkin ap Mynyddmawr with a grudge against the town of Shrewsbury decided to flood the town and kill all its inhabitants.

So he collected a giant-sized spadeful of earth and set off towards the town. When in the vicinity of Wellington he met a cobbler returning from Shrewsbury market with a large sackful of shoes for repair. The giant asked him for directions, adding that he was going to dump his spadeful of earth in the River Severn and flood the town. "It's a very long way to Shrewsbury," replied the quick-thinking shoemaker. "Look at all these shoes I've worn out walking back from there!" The giant immediately decided to abandon his enterprise and dumped the earth on the ground beside him, where it became the Wrekin. The giant also scraped the mud off his boots, which became the smaller hill Ercall Hill nearby. Ironically Shrewsbury is subjected to flooding from the River Severn on frequent occasions naturally.


21st April - Bircher Common - a long settled part of Herefordshire, inhabited for several thousand years. Archaeologists have found evidence of possibly prehistoric and Romano British settlements on the Common, as well as medieval and 18th century occupation. From the Common, we walked uphill for about 500 yards to the woodlands then a short walk took us into fields at then end of which we had lunch. I spotted a grand house across a valley when I explored some of the woodlands. We then entered past the notice board for the Forestry Commission into Croft Wood. There are very large beech trees as we went downhill - on a good track called Fishpools Valley (the pools were just below us and I took Ginny for a drink in two of them (Toffee, off the lead, plunged in most!). In the 18th and 19th century charcoal was produced here, to supply the forge at Bringewood, to the North. There was also carriageways in the woods for amusing the gentry!

What we did on our holidays - I

From 'The Old Bull Pen', (above), Ginny got a short walk every morning ... including a sniff inside this old hollowed-out yew tree near the old Norman Church of St. Mary Magdalene.





Then we were back for a breakfast and the rest of the day ... which, to Ginny's delight, involved walking!



16th April - Long Mynd: The name Long Mynd means "Long Mountain": in Welsh it is called Mynydd Hir. The highest point on the Long Mynd is Pole Bank at a height of 516 m (1,693 ft so its a Marilyn). North to south, it is approximately 7 miles (11 km) long by a maximum of 3 miles (4.8 km) wide.



The principal settlements surrounding the Long Mynd are the Strettons. It is essentially a moorland plateau, approximately 10 miles long in a north-south direction, and approximately 4 miles across at its widest point. Although from a distance the top appears to be relatively flat, large valleys - such as Carding Mill Valley - eat into the edges like deep folds. Once managed as a grouse moor, today the Long Mynd is owned and maintained by the National Trust but many local people have rights to graze sheep here. An old trackway, the Port Way, runs along the length of the ridge. Much of the top is covered in heather, but it also possible to find wild bilberries (known locally as whinberries). Along the western edge of the Long Mynd, above the village of Asterton - a popular centre for gliding and hang-gliding.





17th April - (part of) Winding Jack Trail - in Mortimer Forest - off the B4361 Ludlow to Richard’s Castle road, 2 miles south-west of Ludlow. OS Grid ref: SO497717.



18th April - Wenlock Edge is a limestone escarpment created 400 million years ago when Shropshire could be found just south of the equator and boasted a Caribbean type of environment. Its ancient woodlands has many fossils hidden in the area's rocks including ancient corals, crinoids and trilobites and the limestone of the Edge has been exploited for many years as building material and for burning in small lime kilns,then road building. The National Trust, who manage seven miles of the Edge, has now restored some of the old lime kilns to preserve a part of the industrial heritage of the area. It is roughly 330 metres high (above sea level). The deciduous woodland which runs along it covers much of the steep slopes of the escarpment and in parts it is very well preserved. It is perhaps best known as the setting for A. E. Housman's poem "On Wenlock Edge the Wood's in Trouble". Ralph Vaughan Williams composed 'On Wenlock Edge' in 1909. It is also the subject of several works by the famous artist L. S. Lowry with the best known piece "A Bit of Wenlock Edge" which is a fine pencil drawing of the escarpment detailing the woodland. The Edge contains many interesting features such as Flounder's Folly, Wilderhope Manor and Major's Leap - the latter from the English Civil War a Major Thomas Smallman of nearby Wilderhope Manor was a Royalist officer who was forced to flee from Cromwell’s approaching troops after escaping from his manor. As he was carrying important dispatches, he was cornered on the Wenlock Edge. Rather than surrender, he galloped his horse off the edge falling some 200 feet. His horse was killed but the Major was saved by falling into an apple tree. He made his way on foot to Shrewsbury where he delivered the despatches. The area where he made the jump is known as Major's Leap and is said to be haunted by the Major and his horse.



19th April - The Stiperstones is noted for its tors of quartzite. The principal ones are named as follows, from north-east to south-west:

* Shepherd's Rock (grid reference SO373998)

* Devil's Chair (SO368991)

* Manstone Rock (SO367986)

* Cranberry Rock (SO365981)

* Nipstone Rock (SO365969)

* The Rock (SO351963)

Manstone Rock is the highest of these at 536 metres, and is topped with a trig point. The Devil's Chair is the largest and best known. The Stiperstones ridge is a good place to view the upland landscape of the Shropshire Hills, particularly the Long Mynd to the east, and also gives extensive views towards the North Shropshire plain and the hills of Mid Wales. The small village of Stiperstones lies just under the ridge to the north-west; it has a pub called the Stiperstones Inn. Nearby are the villages of Snailbeach, Minsterley, Ratlinghope and Pontesbury.



The Stiperstones is a National Nature Reserve and in the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is a haven for wildlife, with birds that are normally associated with upland areas present, including Red Grouse, Eurasian Curlew, Peregrine Falcon and the rare Ring Ouzel.

20th April - Set off from Ashford Carbonell at 0830 and looked at Wroxeter, (or the Roman 'Viroconium') at 0930! This was the fourth largest city (about 5,000 citizens at its peak), in Roman Britain. It began as a legionary fortress and later developed into a thriving city. There's still a lot of it "below ground" but has some impressive 2nd century municipal baths, and a huge wall (the remains of one at least) that separated dividing the baths from the exercise hall.

Ashford Carbonell - background

We spent a week in Ashford Carbonell, (sometimes spelt with one 'l'), reputed to be one of the most beautiful villages in Shropshire, just off the A49, about 4 km (2½ miles) south of Ludlow. We stayed in 'The Old Bull Pen' - a new three bedroom (all on-suite), guests of Norman & Lynda Tudge. Ashford Carbonell is set in attractive open countryside with much of the village being in a Conservation Area, located in the Teme Valley. Ashford Carbonell has a population of around 360 and comprises an eclectic mixture of houses, farms, a village hall and one church, dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene and Norman in origin. There are no archaeological ruins - no castle, no Iron-Age fort - and no shops or pubs to attract the tourists. But what is claimed for Ashford Carbonell is peace and quiet - close to the truth, though you can hear the A49 rumbling in the distance.

At Ashford’s ‘beach’, the site of the original ford after which the village takes its name there is a small masonry bridge - the first known example of Thomas Telford introducing the technique of ‘hollow spandrel construction’ into his work. He designed the segmental single-span arch bridge in 1795, when he was County Surveyor for Shropshire. He went on to use the hollow spandrel, (space above the curve of an arch), technique in several of his masonry bridges. Removing the stone spandrel infill reduced the total load on the arch - last repaired in 1970.

Geology - the area's structure dates back to Precambrian - during which time the area would have been 60° south of the equator, (the same latitude as the Falkland Islands!) and Shropshire would have been at the very edge of a large continent near the sea, which was being buckled by tectonic activity, causing volcanoes to form. The area had broad rivers - evidence of mudflats has been found - that would have flowed out to sea, creating large estuaries, which over time caused the mudflats to have built up. Volcanic eruptions deposited ash in layers between the sand and mud (the primary rock of the Long Mynd is for example is sandstone, usually coloured purple or grey).

The volcanoes created the nearby Stretton Hills and the Wrekin, and eruptions would have been frequent. There are layers in the rocks of the Long Mynd that have preserved raindrop marks recording a passing rain shower. The raindrop marks were created when rain fell onto a layer of firm dry mud, and were then covered by another layer of mud, which filled them in and preserved them for 565 million years. Examples of these fossilised rain prints can be viewed today in the National Trust Tearoom Exhibition, in Carding Mill Valley. The layers of rock built up over the millennia to create an approximately 7,000 m (22,966 ft) thick layer composed of sand, mud, silt, and ash.

Towards the end of the Precambrian period, the volcanoes ceased their eruptions, and the rivers had dried up. Instead the forces that created the volcanoes caused the new rocks to lift and fold, creating mountains and valleys in the area. Much of the rock was melted during this period, underneath the Earth's crust, causing the mountains to continually change towards the latter part of the Precambrian. The Church Stretton Fault line was created during this period, and is still active today. The hill Caer Caradoc adjacent to the Long Mynd and from the same time is more volcanic in origin, and is thought to be the remnants of the great mountain chain.

During the Cambrian, Shropshire was flooded by the sea, after the Global Ice Age ended 545 million years ago. Thick layers of beach pebbles and white sand were built up against the sea cliffs that were once molten lava. During this time, the shallow sea played host to the huge explosion of new life which occurred during the Cambrian. Shropshire has some of the most historically important evidence in the explosion of life and in the naming and dividing of the Cambrian period. Trilobites that are found in the county are internationally important for deciding how the Cambrian is divided into smaller segments of time.

The Ordovician had Shropshire back to volcanic activity, and saw the county temporarily split in two, along the Pontesford - Linley fault line. Everything west of this line was ocean, while the east was dry land. The Iapetus Ocean was closing,0 bringing the two halves of Britain towards each other, and volcanic eruptions created the Cumbrian Mountains, and Snowdonia. Shropshire also saw volcanic activity. To the west of the Pontesford - Linley fault, volcanic rocks have been found. The other side of the fault line was quieter. The land was slowly eroded, and the sea gradually flooded it, so that only the tops of hills could be seen, such as the ancient Caer Caradoc. Towards the end of the Ordovician, the sea levels dropped, due to another ice age.

The Silurian period, occurring 439 million years ago, has been well preserved nearby, in Wenlock Edge. During this time, Shropshire would have been flooded again by shallow sea. Wenlock Edge would have formed during this time, and the fossils of ancient corals and shellfish can be found all along the Edge, preserved in limestone. Towards the end of the Silurian the Iapetus would have fully closed, and England and Scotland were joined. The closing of this ocean was important to geology in Great Britain. It caused most of our hills and mountains to align along the fault, northeast to the southwest.

During the Devonian, the newly formed Scottish Mountains had rivers flowing all over the land. Shropshire was no exception; these new rivers caused thick deposits in the area. Most of the rocks from this era are red sandstones, caused by iron in the rock. The area was known as the Old Red Sandstone Continent. These river sediments have traces of fossilised fish. Shropshire would have remained above water until the end of the Devonian, when the seas rose once again.

The Carboniferous was a time of great change for the area. Shropshire would have been near the equator, and the Old Red Sandstone continent had been eroded away; in the early part of the era, the county was under a shallow sea. However, tectonic activity pushed Britain out of the sea. South of Shropshire this effect was felt greatly, though Shropshire was relatively quiet. Mountains to the north were being worn down by rivers, creating enormous deltas that were colonised by plant life. A tropical forest took hold all over Shropshire, with ancient tree ferns and horsetails. Shropshire eventually crossed the equator during this era, and became a part of Pangaea during the Permian; the area would have been very similar to the Sahara Desert, and would have been in the vicinity, around 20° to 30° north of the equator.

The Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous and Tertiary were very quiet in Shropshire, and very little evidence can be found from these periods. The last Ice Age during the Quaternary has its effect on all of Shropshire, shaping the landscape as we see it today. The Long Mynd would have been under a thick Ice Sheet, several hundred metres thick. As the ice melted, it carved out the valleys and hills of the Long Mynd massif we see today. The small rivers, streams and brooks still very slowly carve out the valleys. The springs and bogs play a part in Church Stretton's economy, as the people bottle the mineral water that comes from the Long Mynd.

Today the steep and narrow valleys are covered in a thin layer of soil, with a low pH, able to support only strong grasses, rushes, and heathers. Beneath the soil the evidence of the ancient and chequered past can be seen, and the rocky outcrops and scree slopes are excellent places to view the different layers of ancient rock.