NATURE
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> Walks > Jurassic Swindon > Stage 3 |
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Where was Swindon
during Jurassic Times? |
Where
was Swindon during Jurassic Times?
You
are standing opposite Christ Church, on Cricklade Street. The local Swindon
Stone, that the church is built with, was created at a time when Swindon
was hot, humid and much nearer the equator. |
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Christ Church
on Cricklade Street was opened in 1852 and like many of the buildings
in Old Town is built from a mixture of local Swindon Stone and Bath Stone.
At the time
Swindon Stone was created Swindon Old Town wasn't anywhere near where
it is today. In fact it sat just 30-35 degrees north of the equator roughly
at the same latitude as Gibraltar.
But as the
continental plates started shifting northwards, through geological time,
so did Swindon.
Swindon's
climate, throughout the Jurassic period, was also a tad different. It
was in fact a true green house climate hot, humid and with an atmosphere
rich in carbon dioxide.
There were
no ice caps on the poles and there was vegetation from pole to pole. The
seas were tropical and warm circulating around an earth which was hotter
than it is today.
...cross over Cricklade Street and enter the churchyard of Christ Church
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> Walks > Jurassic Swindon > Stage 1 |
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