Explored other places from the car.
Stopped at Beam House (SX473207), a PGL outddor adventure centre, to ask permission to sample from the bank. The bank here is not owned by them, & if permission was given I would need a DBS to be able to access the site.
Drove to Weare Giffard, past Annery Kiln & stopped at the water testing station at SX473220. A cricket match was going on at the community field, so I stopped to ask some of the spectators if they know who owned the land around the river here. Got some info from a nice man who pointed out another who owns part of the bank there and was happy to show me some places where I might access the bank to look for clay. Also a local farmer who I didn’t speak to. Other landowners are owners of the Hall.
Then drove to Hallspill where there is a bridleway leading to the shore of the river 100 meters from the road. Met retired farmer David, fishing for Bass on the upcoming tide.
TP04: SX 469236 – Dug some silt and estuary mud from the shore here. Very muddy and full of worms. Will dry and slake down. Will be salty. Fire in a gas kiln. Most probably will make a good dark slip. Might be difficult to make enough for a clay – with all the impurities in. The tide is coming in very quickly now, so can’t stay.
Sample weight (back in studio) – 6450g (very wet)
No more easy access points between here and Bideford with out talking to landowners. Road access difficult and no footpaths visible on the OS map. Drove over the hill towards Bideford and Instow looking for places to stop. Tide was coming right in by this point and so there was nowhere to stop.
Drove back up river, past Torrington to Beaford and to a site where I know I could access the river just outside the village. Asked one of the farmer’s family to be able to access the site at SX 535155.
A walk though some pine forest to the bank of the river. Getting down to the bank, hunted around for a while to find some adequate material to use. Dug from the river bank; just over the base level of the stream on the side of the stream I had come to a 100 yards or so down from the path. Here the flow was very low (no rain for a long time) and so the deposits are quite dry and sandy. Had difficulty digging even with a trowel. Colour: brown – mid tan.
Was the end of the day and so spent some time here looking around and thinking in this beautiful spot. I know this place and particularly enjoy the way the bedrock comes up underneath the river and the strata is worn by the water. The rounded curves of the worn rock in places look like the fossilised surface ripples of an ancient sand dune or beach. You see similar formations and patterns of weathering in some of the rocks protruding from the beaches of the North Devon coast.
The strata of the bedrock comes up almost vertically here and runs diagonally across the river in small shelves and steps. At this time it is well visible as the river levels are so low.
3/9 Studio Process: Sieved with a kitchen seive & dried on a plaster bat. Result was a very sandy bisuit like slab which was not workable. 3 test tiles made & remade with a #60 sieve. Kept some of the washed and sieved sand that did not pass through. Test this in the kiln. Colour – Mid tan when wet.
TP06 – Dug from the path near the river. A lot of sharp shillet. Not river deposit. Very pale, dry & powdery – slaked in water
