Lee and Roberson on ice limits

 

The inferred Anglian glacial limit, following Booth et al, 2015.  The line on the south shore of the Bristol Channel is overall rather sensible, but the authors ignore the evidence for glaciation of the whole of the Isles of Scilly and in the Somerset Levels depression.  They pay due respect to the evidence of glaciation in the Fremington area, and the blue line approx as far inland as Bideford is deemed to be supported by hard evidence on the ground,  as suggested by Kidson and Wood back in 1974.

Interpreted late Devensian glacial limit, conjectural (red line) and even more conjectural (yellow line).  The "ice-free enclave" in southern Pembrokeshire is shown here uncritically, even though there is no evidence on the ground to support it.  Some conjectures are repeated so often that people think that they must surely be true, and that somebody, long ago, must have had some evidence, long since forgotten.........

This is a interesting article which synthesises a great deal of material contained in the specialist literature. It's interesting in that it pays virtually no attention to the idea of a Walstonian glaciation (or series of glaciations) in the British Isles, on the grounds that the evidence is too sparse.  So the authors refer to just two big glaciations for which there is abundant evidence on the ground -- the Anglian and the late Devensian.  

The paper is open access, and there is a vast reference list with links.  Very handy.

We are reminded of just how much conjecture there is till in the literature.  

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Refining the known extent of major onshore Quaternary glaciation in the UK — Types of evidence, nomenclature and uncertainty
Jonathan R. Lee, Sam Roberson 
Proceedings of the Geologists' Association
Volume 136, Issue 3, June 2025, 101087

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016787824000683#bb0095


See also:

Quaternary Provinces and Domains – a quantitative and qualitative description of British landscape types
Steve Booth , Jon Merritt , James Rose 

Proceedings of the Geologists' Association
Volume 126, Issues 4–5, October 2015, Pages 608-632

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0016787815000668

C. Kidson, R. Wood
The Pleistocene stratigraphy of Barnstaple Bay
Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 85 (1974), p. 223

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0016787874800258

and this:  

https://www.qra.org.uk/mp-files/qn158_1_late-devensian-ice-free-corridor-in-pembrokshire.pdf/