35-528: The Gog Magog Hills are a range of low chalk hills, extending for several miles to the southeast of Cambridge in England . The highest points are either side of the A1307 Babraham Road, and are marked on Ordnance Survey 1:25000 maps as "Telegraph Clump" at 75 m (246 ft), Little Trees Hill and Wandlebury Hill , both at 74 m (243 ft). The area as a whole is undefined but
70-642: A decree of 1574, forbidding students to visit the Gog Magog Hills on pain of a fine. Random excavations around the hills revealed the remains of defences at Copley Hill and Cherry Hinton , not older than the Iron Age but the sites themselves are now known already to have been occupied in the Bronze Age . The better-preserved hill fort known as the Wandlebury Ring , which is now situated in
105-585: A few are more recent. A mixture of chalk and mercury can be used as fingerprint powder . However, because of the toxicity of the mercury, the use of such mixtures for fingerprinting was abandoned in 1967. Cambridge University Hare and Hounds Cambridge University Hare and Hounds ( CUH&H ) is the University of Cambridge cross country running club. It has been providing training and competitions for its members since 7 February 1880. The club's activities take place in multiple locations, with
140-459: A golf course since 1901. Much of the area is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest . In 1989 the Magog Trust, a charity and registered company created for the purpose, bought 163.5 acres (66.2 ha) of former farmland surrounding Little Trees Hill for £327,100 so that it could be returned to chalk grassland and opened to the public. The reserve was named Magog Down. Some of
175-500: A public park, had several concentric ditches and earthen walls, which were kept in place by wooden palisades . It was already inhabited in the Bronze Age and archaeological finds include bronze and iron objects and pottery, including "Knobbed Ware", dating from the Bronze Age. "Telegraph clump" functioned as one of the locations for the semaphore line , an optical telegraph system, between London and Great Yarmouth from around
210-642: Is mined from chalk deposits both above ground and underground . Chalk mining boomed during the Industrial Revolution , due to the need for chalk products such as quicklime and bricks . Most people first encounter chalk in school where it refers to blackboard chalk , which was originally made of mineral chalk, since it readily crumbles and leaves particles that stick loosely to rough surfaces, allowing it to make writing that can be readily erased. Blackboard chalk manufacturers now may use mineral chalk, other mineral sources of calcium carbonate, or
245-610: Is a fine-textured, earthy type of limestone distinguished by its light colour, softness, and high porosity. It is composed mostly of tiny fragments of the calcite shells or skeletons of plankton , such as foraminifera or coccolithophores . These fragments mostly take the form of calcite plates ranging from 0.5 to 4 microns in size, though about 10% to 25% of a typical chalk is composed of fragments that are 10 to 100 microns in size. The larger fragments include intact plankton skeletons and skeletal fragments of larger organisms, such as molluscs , echinoderms , or bryozoans . Chalk
280-404: Is a soft, white, porous , sedimentary carbonate rock . It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor . Chalk is common throughout Western Europe , where deposits underlie parts of France, and steep cliffs are often seen where they meet the sea in places such as
315-508: Is also the only form of limestone that commonly shows signs of compaction. Flint (a type of chert ) is very common as bands parallel to the bedding or as nodules in seams , or linings to fractures , embedded in chalk. It is probably derived from sponge spicules or other siliceous organisms as water is expelled upwards during compaction. Flint is often deposited around larger fossils such as Echinoidea which may be silicified (i.e. replaced molecule by molecule by flint). Chalk
350-428: Is applied to the hands and feet to remove perspiration and reduce slipping. Chalk may also be used as a house construction material instead of brick or wattle and daub : quarried chalk was cut into blocks and used as ashlar , or loose chalk was rammed into blocks and laid in mortar. There are still houses standing which have been constructed using chalk as the main building material. Most are pre- Victorian though
385-518: Is commonly used as a drying agent to obtain better grip by gymnasts and rock climbers. Glazing putty mainly contains chalk as a filler in linseed oil . Chalk and other forms of limestone may be used for their properties as a base . Chalk is a source of quicklime by thermal decomposition , or slaked lime following quenching of quicklime with water. In agriculture , chalk is used for raising pH in soils with high acidity . Small doses of chalk can also be used as an antacid . Additionally,
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#1732771919584420-582: Is now usually made of talc (magnesium silicate). Chalk beds form important petroleum reservoirs in the North Sea and along the Gulf Coast of North America. In southeast England, deneholes are a notable example of ancient chalk pits. Such bell pits may also mark the sites of ancient flint mines, where the prime object was to remove flint nodules for stone tool manufacture. The surface remains at Cissbury are one such example, but perhaps
455-468: Is roughly the elevated area lying north west of the 41 m (135 ft) col at Worsted Lodge. Unlike the nearby hills of the Newmarket Ridge , which have steep sides but flat tops, these hills have large drops between summits and as such have quite a distinctive appearance; Little Trees Hill looks particularly good from Huckeridge Hill near Sawston , and White Hill dominates the view from
490-721: Is shared by 16 addresses on the Gog Magog Hills Estate which are mostly within the grounds of Wandlebury Country Park. In February 2016 the Greater Cambridge City Deal (since renamed the Greater Cambridge Partnership) published early-stage "concepts" for improved transport links along the A1307, which included the idea of a new, off-road busway apparently straight across the Gog Magog Hills, possibly through or adjacent to
525-604: Is so common in Cretaceous marine beds that the Cretaceous Period was named for these deposits. The name Cretaceous was derived from Latin creta , meaning chalk . Some deposits of chalk were formed after the Cretaceous. The Chalk Group is a European stratigraphic unit deposited during the late Cretaceous Period. It forms the famous White Cliffs of Dover in Kent , England, as well as their counterparts of
560-401: Is typically almost pure calcite, CaCO 3 , with just 2% to 4% of other minerals. These are usually quartz and clay minerals , though collophane (cryptocrystalline apatite , a phosphate mineral) is also sometimes present, as nodules or as small pellets interpreted as fecal pellets. In some chalk beds, the calcite has been converted to dolomite , CaMg(CO 3 ) 2 , and in a few cases
595-752: The Cap Blanc Nez on the other side of the Dover Strait . The Champagne region of France is mostly underlain by chalk deposits, which contain artificial caves used for wine storage . Some of the highest chalk cliffs in the world occur at Jasmund National Park in Germany and at Møns Klint in Denmark . Chalk deposits are also found in Cretaceous beds on other continents, such as the Austin Chalk , Selma Group , and Niobrara Formations of
630-536: The Dover cliffs on the Kent coast of the English Channel . Chalk is mined for use in industry, such as for quicklime , bricks and builder's putty , and in agriculture , for raising pH in soils with high acidity . It is also used for " blackboard chalk " for writing and drawing on various types of surfaces, although these can also be manufactured from other carbonate-based minerals, or gypsum . Chalk
665-610: The National Cycle Route 11 section towards Great Shelford . The hills therefore have relatively high topographic prominence . Other tops include: Limepit Hill 56 m (184 ft) — Mag's Hill — Copley Hill — Meggs Hill — Fox Hill — Clarke's Hill — White Hill In English folklore and the Matter of Britain , Gogmagog was a giant, and according to Geoffrey of Monmouth 's influential 12th-century Historia Regum Britanniae , one of
700-403: The 1820s to around 1850. The dowser and archaeologist T. C. Lethbridge claimed to have identified some ancient hill figures buried in the chalk under the surface of the hills. These were purported to represent a sun-god , a moon-goddess and a warrior-god. Lethbridge's claims, however, were controversial and are not widely accepted. Gog Magog Golf Club has used part of the chalk downs as
735-483: The 1960s was CUH&H president for thirty years until his retirement in 2006. The current president is Joan Lasenby. The focus each winter is on the Varsity match against University of Oxford Cross Country Club, in which competitors may receive a University Sporting Blue on merit of performance. This is one of the oldest annual fixtures of its kind in the world, having been held since 1880, with only world wars and
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#1732771919584770-409: The 2016 consultation were stated to include an in-bound (towards Cambridge) bus lane alongside the A1307, however by October 2017 the proposal for an off-road busway was back on the agenda again. Download coordinates as: 52°09′55.66″N 000°10′48.58″E / 52.1654611°N 0.1801611°E / 52.1654611; 0.1801611 ( Gog Magog Downs ) Chalk Chalk
805-534: The Gogs , usually in reference to Magog Down, though some people may also use the term to refer to Wandlebury Country Park. The local paper, Cambridge News , tends to refer to "the Gog Magogs" as a general term, lumping Wandlebury and Magog Down together. To further confuse matters, the adjacent Gog Magog Hills Farm Shop and Cafe re-branded itself in 2016 to be called "The Gog". The postal address "Gog Magog Hills"
840-732: The North American interior. Chalk is also found in western Egypt (Khoman Formation) and western Australia ( Miria Formation ). Chalk of Oligocene to Neogene age has been found in drill cores of rock under the Pacific Ocean at Stewart Arch in the Solomon Islands . There are layers of chalk, containing Globorotalia , in the Nicosia Formation of Cyprus , which formed during the Pliocene . Chalk
875-1000: The University's track facilities at Wilberforce Road off Madingley Road ; road training around the West Cambridge site; and off-road routes in the nearby countryside and parks, including Jesus Green , the Cambridge towpath, and Grantchester Meadows in Cambridge . Past members include the 1956 Olympic Steeplechase gold medallist Chris Brasher , England international Bruce Tulloh , the Australian miler Herb Elliott , scientist Alan Turing , top 1,500m runner Andrew Baddeley , 2012 Summer Olympics & World Triathlon Champion Alistair Brownlee , and Irish 2020 Olympic 800m runner Louise Shanahan who placed 7th in her heat. Mike Turner , an international distance runner in
910-548: The chalk came mostly form low-magnesium calcite skeletons, so the sediments were already in the form of highly stable low-magnesium calcite when deposited. This is in contrast with most other limestones, which formed from high-magnesium calcite or aragonite that rapidly converted to the more stable low-magnesium calcite after deposition, resulting in the early cementation of such limestones. In chalk, absence of this calcium carbonate conversion process prevented early cementation, which partially accounts for chalk's high porosity. Chalk
945-494: The dolomitized chalk has been dedolomitized back to calcite. Chalk is highly porous, with typical values of porosity ranging from 35 to 47 per cent. While it is similar in appearance to both gypsum and diatomite , chalk is identifiable by its hardness, fossil content, and its reaction to acid (it produces effervescence on contact). In Western Europe, chalk was formed in the Late Cretaceous Epoch and
980-437: The early Palaeocene Epoch (between 100 and 61 million years ago). It was deposited on extensive continental shelves at depths between 100 and 600 metres (330 and 1,970 ft), during a time of nonseasonal (likely arid) climate that reduced the amount of erosion from nearby exposed rock. The lack of nearby erosion explains the high purity of chalk. The coccolithophores, foraminifera, and other microscopic organisms from which
1015-459: The edge of Magog Down. This concept was met with dismay by both Cambridge Past, Present & Future and the Magog Trust. Later that month reassurances were made that any busway would not go through the hills; the formal consultation document in June 2016 still included an off-road busway option, albeit with the line on the map drawn slightly further south from Magog Down. The preferred options following
1050-475: The inhabitants of Albion discovered by Brutus of Troy and his men. He was the last of the giants that they killed, and was thrown from a cliff by Corineus . The 1990 book Where Troy Once Stood argued that the ancient city of Troy was in fact located in the Gog Magog Downs; however, this is not taken seriously by scholars. The earliest mention of the name Gog Magog for this region is found in
1085-528: The mineral gypsum ( calcium sulfate ). While gypsum-based blackboard chalk is the lowest cost to produce, and thus widely used in the developing world , use of carbonate-based chalk produces larger particles and thus less dust, and it is marketed as "dustless chalk". Coloured chalks, pastel chalks, and sidewalk chalk (shaped into larger sticks and often coloured), used to draw on sidewalks , streets, and driveways , are primarily made of gypsum rather than calcium carbonate chalk. Magnesium carbonate chalk
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1120-515: The money to buy the land came from the sale of "Gogs" to the general public: these were notional areas of land costing £5 each but without title or rights. As well as re-establishing chalkland plants and insects, Magog Down has become well used for recreation and by dog walkers. A 5-mile running race involving two laps of the reserve and a shorter fun-run have helped raise funds for the local primary school for several years. The Cambridge University Hare and Hounds running club have also used Magog Down as
1155-562: The most famous is the extensive complex at Grimes Graves in Norfolk . Chalk was traditionally used in recreation. In field sports, such as tennis played on grass, powdered chalk was used to mark the boundary lines of the playing field or court. If a ball hits the line, a cloud of chalk or pigment dust will be visible. In recent years, powdered chalk has been replaced with titanium dioxide . In gymnastics, rock-climbing, weightlifting and tug of war , chalk — now usually magnesium carbonate —
1190-436: The small particles of chalk make it a substance ideal for cleaning and polishing. For example, toothpaste commonly contains small amounts of chalk, which serves as a mild abrasive . Polishing chalk is chalk prepared with a carefully controlled grain size, for very fine polishing of metals. French chalk (also known as tailor's chalk) is traditionally a hard chalk used to make temporary markings on cloth, mainly by tailors . It
1225-537: The venue for their tri-annual hosting of the RAF Match. Magog Down is situated across the A1307 road from the Wandlebury country park (which itself has been managed since 1954 by Cambridge Past, Present & Future). Both Magog Down and Wandlebury Country Park are popular places to visit for fresh air and recreation on the edge of Cambridge. Locals tend to refer to the open access areas on these hills as simply
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