LAND AND LANDFORM
TOPOGRAPHY
Frodsham stands at the foot of the sandstone hills of the Mid-Cheshire Ridge. Overton Hill, which overlooks the town, rises to a height of 150m AOD. The town and the area of the town to the west of Church Street sits on upper Sandstone, while that to the east lies on Waterstones. The Waterst ones are free-draining, while Keuper Sandstone is hard and cemented. On the west Cheshire Plain are stagnogley soils, which are ideal for grassland and a major factor in the development of the Cheshire dairy farming indus- try; while on the Mid-Cheshire Ridge are brown earths and brown Soils, which are generally fertile soils suitable as either arable or grassland (Furness 1978).
CONTOUR MAP
See description above.
GEOLOGY
The parish, like most in west Cheshire, is underlain by a suite of sedimen- tary rocks dating from the Triassic Period. They comprise (in ascending order) the Lower Triassic age Kinnerton Sandstone, Chester Pebble Beds and Wilmslow Sandstone Formations together with the upper Triassic age Helsby Sandstone, Tarporley Siltstone and Sidmouth Mudstone Formations. The younger siltstones and mudstones are assigned to the Mercia Mudstone Group. The sequence of sandstones is exposed in a railway cutting and two road cuttings.
SUPERFICIAL DEPOSITS
Several faults run roughly northwest area, notably the Overton Fault, which roughly parallels the roads, and the Frodsham Fault, which runs from the vicinity of Crowmere to the mouth of the River Weaver. Overlying the bed- rock is a variety of superficial deposits (otherwise known as drift). These comprise a thin and patchy cover of glacial till (or ‘boulder clay’), largely a legacy of the last ice age. Recent alluvium fills the deeply incised valley of the Weaver and also extends across the Marsh to the Mersey Estuary.
LAND TYPE
Ince Banks Character Area is a Special Area of Conservation (SAC). It is an Internationally important site for wildfowl and consists of large areas of intertidal sand and mudflats. Several areas of salt-marsh area present.