In this section we consider the relief,
geology, and climate of Papplewick parish.
The village of Papplewick is located on the eastern side of
the valley of the R. Leen, at between 75m and 90m above sea
level. The principal road, Main Street, occupies the gently
sloping ground of a south-facing spur. There is rich farmland
surrounding the village, and most of the parish of Papplewick is
situated on gently rolling hills between 75m and 125m above sea
level. 
The highest land
is located to the north (along Blidworth Waye) and east of the region. (around Forest Farm) A valley that runs from Seven-Mile
House and Barracks Farmhouse westwards towards the Leen Valley
dissects these hills. There is no stream in this valley at
present, but the extensive deposits of alluvium and peat along
its floor indicate that this has not always been so.
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2. The geology and soils of the
area.
The rocks of the area around Papplewick are all of the
Permo-triassic period (200 to 300 million years old) and lie
above the coal measures for which this part of Nottinghamshire is
more famous. They are arranged in layers (or 'beds') which are
inclined (or 'dip') towards the east, at angles of between 2º
and 6º. The oldest rocks are found at the surface in the west of
the area, and the rocks at the surface are younger towards the
east. There are four main types of rock found in the area.
Starting with the oldest these are:
- The Magnesian Limestone beds outcrop to
the west of the R. Leen. Although these beds have been
quarried in the neighbouring parish of Linby, they are
covered with regolith and soil in the Papplewick area.
The rock is a yellow-orange sandy limestone, which
weathers to produce a lime-rich clay soil. It is this
rock which has been used as a building stone in the
parish.
- The Red Marl is a thin bed of mudstone
that occupies belt parallel to the Leen valley. The soils
developed on this are lime-rich clay-loams, but poorly
drained
- Above the Red Marl is a thin bed of Mottled
Sandstone. This is virtually indistinguishable
from, and merges into -
- The Pebble Sandstone beds form the
surface over the highest parts of the area. In the parish
it is a soft red sandstone which contains pebbles as big
as 5cm across. The rock is porous (and is used as an
aquifer at the nearby Papplewick pumping station) and
weathers to a sandy, well-drained soil. In summer this
soil can be so dry as to require irrigation when some
crops are grown
In addition to the solid rocks there are also three important
surface deposits.
- Glacial sand and gravel. Between
Papplewick Hall and The Lodge is a low rounded hill,
formed of fluvio-glacial till (sand and gravel) material
deposited by the Pleistocene ice-sheets.
- Alluvium. In the lowest parts of the
Leen valley are deposits of river mud and sands. Being
low lying, the land covered by this deposit is poorly
drained and liable to flood. Alluvial mud also formed the
floors of the reservoirs for the mills that were once
built along the valley.
- Alluvium with gravel and peat. These
deposits, (which were probably laid down on the bed of a
meltwater lake when the Pleistocene ice sheets melted)
are found in the valley between Seven-Mile House and the
R. Leen, and in the secondary valley running south from
Barracks Farm. The soils developed on peat are still
badly drained. The rounded pebbles from this deposit
litter the fields along the valley floor.
The silty soils on Papplewick Moor are ideal for arable
farming. They get very dry in summer and other periods of
dry weather. The low relief of this area is obvious from
the picture.
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3. The climate of the Papplewick area
The climate
statistics for the average temperatures and rainfall recorded at
Watnall weather station are shown on the graph. Watnall is only
6km southwest of Papplewick, so we can assume that the average
climate in the area around Papplewick is much the same. In
detail, however, the microclimate may be different. Exposure to
winds, drifting snow and the incidence of ground frost, for
example, will all vary across the parish.
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