St.James' Church is a true railway church. The land was conveyed from The North Eastern Railway Company containing 1 acre 16 perches for the purpose of erecting a church and vicarage for the growing population of railway workers. Money for the building was raised by local people and the shareholders of the London and North Western Railway Company.
The building was consecrated on July 20th 1880 by the Reverend Harvey Goodwin DD, Lord Bishop of Carlisle, who had family connections with Orton. The churchyard was licensed for burials in August 1881.
So lets look the stone that the Church is built out of. It is a local stone, shap granite.
Granite is a common type of igneous rock. Igneous rock is one of the three main rock types , the others being sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rock is formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or lava, which then forms crystals which make up the rock. Granite is formed of crystals, of which some can be described as phenocrysts. Igneous rock forms by crystallisation either below the surface as intrusive (plutonic) rocks or on the surface as extrusive (volcanic) rocks. Intrusive rock forms within the crust from the crystallization of magma. As the magma pushes up from deep, it eventually slowly cools into a solid, and forms rock. An intrusive rock is any form of igneous rock that forms within the crust of the planet. Large areas of magma that solidify underground before they reach the surface are known as plutons .Granitic rocks mainly consist of feldspar, quartz, mica and amphibole minerals, which form an interlocking matrix of feldspar and quartz with scattered darker biotite mica and amphibole (often hornblende) peppering the lighter colour minerals.
A phenocryst is a crystal in igneous rock, that is larger than the surrounding crystals of the rock that it forms part of. Though shap granite is known for its large pink orthoclase feldspar, which form Megacrysts. These are crystals that are larger than the surrounding crystals, indeed it could be said that a megacryst is a phenocryst.
So lets look at the rock at the listed co-ordinates.
This being an EarthCache, in order to log it, I ask that you answer the below questions . Please send them to me, and do not include them in your log. You can send them to me by using the message facility or email, both of which can be found by looking at my profile. Alternatively, they can also be given face to face should we meet.
1. Looking at the stone, what percentage is filled by the feldspar megacrysts?
2. What colour are they, and what shape is predominant?
3. Shut your eyes and feel the rock, what does it feel like?
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