Quarrywood Dave Longstaff

16 August 2026

Quarrywood, a wooded hill 1 mile west of Elgin, has 6 large quarries and numerous small excavations and for about 250 years has provided building stone for the local area. A few quarries show small exposures of an unconformity separating the Upper Old Red Sandstone rocks, which comprise the bulk of the hill, to exposures of the lowermost beds of Upper Permian rocks.

In Cutties Hillock Quarry, at the top of the hill, around 150 years ago fossil reptiles were found only a few feet above rock layers where fossil fish scales occurred. Were these rocks the same age? This was a question which interested many Victorian geologists and drew scientists from all over the UK to Quarry Wood. A clue can be found in Rosebrae Quarry where a gap in the geological record can be examined, an unconformity spanning roughly 100 million years.

 If there is interest we can also see evidence from the last ice-age: glacial striae in small exposures of rocks created by the last ice sheets to cover Moray.

Anyone wishing to attend day trips or to find out more should email:    HighlandGeologicalSociety@Gmail.com    Your email will be passed to the individual event organiser who will respond to you directly.
Field trip contributions are £5 per person / day.