William Smith Column of Stones

Who was he?

Wikipedia: William Smith was an English geologist, credited with creating the first nationwide geological map.

Why was he in Bath?

William Smith visited his supporters at no. 29, Great Pulteney Street (see separate page here).

He worked on the Somerset coalfield and the Somerset Coal Canal. He lived near the canal at Tucking Mill from 1798 to 1810 (see separate page here).

There is a column of stones commemorating William Smith's work alongside the cycle/walking path that follows the track bed of the disused Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway. Next to the column is an information board.

Column of Stones alongside Railway Path:

  The information board on the right gives information about the work of William Smith and the structure of the column:

The text on the left gives the order of the stones in the column

1. Chalk, Cretaceous
(Westbury, Wiltshire)
This was later replaced by a cement replica as the real thing would not stand up to weathering

6. Forest Marble, Upper Jurassic
(Tetbury, Gloucestershire)

7. Great Oolite, Upper Jurassic
(Limpley Stoke, Bath)

12. Inferior Oolite, Middle Jurassic
(Shepton Mallet, Somerset)

15. Blue Lias, Lower Jurassic
(Somerton, Somerset)

16. White Lias, Upper Triassic
(Bishop Sutton, Bristol)

20. Pennant, Upper Carboniferous
(Parkend, Gloucestershire)

(Numbering as on the original list of the “Order of the STRATA” on the right of the image above)

The path connects Bath to the village of Wellow. In doing so, it passes through two tunnels, hence the path is named "Two Tunnels". The longer tunnel under Combe Down, opened in 1874, is 1,829-yard (1,672 m) long and was once the UK’s longest without intermediate ventilation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combe_Down_Tunnel.

Just outside the southern portal is an information board giving more details of William Smith's work:


The image (below) shows a steam locomotive heading a train emerging from the tunnel:

Location map of Combe Down Tunnel on Two Tunnels Railway Path:

 

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