Arthur Raistrick: a polymathic geologist

with Colin Speakman

Dr Arthur Raistrick (1896-1991) is best remembered as a gifted landscape historian, field and industrial archaeologist, popular writer and campaigner for National Parks and access to the countryside, most notably in his native Yorkshire Dales. 

Professor John Marshall of Southampton University, examining Raistrick’s early work on fossil pollens in coal measures, has suggested Raistrick was a world pioneer in the science of palynology. Indeed, he has been dubbed 'Britain's premier palynologist' - the methodology he developed for correlating coal seams is still the standard today.

Recent work by Dr Trevor Faulkner, based on his research on glaciation in Norway, has recognised that Raistrick’s geological work on
glaciation and the formation of caves within the Yorkshire, undertaking in the 1930s when he was a lecturer at Newcastle University, was in fact remarkably accurate and ahead of its time.

And he was a populariser of geology - as author of the best-selling  'Teach Yourself geology' book; which emerged out of a principled necessity- all part of the Arthur Raistrick story.

But these achievements were matched during and after World War II by Raistrick’s major contributions to the creation and understanding of what became the Yorkshire Dales National Park, its landscape, history and culture. 

This revaluation of Arthur Raistrick’s work coincides, in 2024, with the 70th anniversary of the creation of the Yorkshire Dales National Park, his many contributions to which are being celebrated by the Yorkshire Geological Society, the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, Friends of the Dales and several other regional amenity and outdoor groups.

And, as a not insignificant addendum, Arthur Raistrick was a recognised authority on the organ works of J.S. Bach!

This talk will undoubtedly be a fascinating biography of a geologist,  and a highly productive and principled character.

Colin Speakman is a member of HOGG and also a Dalesman. He has at various times been a teacher, lecturer, National Park officer, County Tourist Officer and public transport consultant. Award winning writer and environmentalist, he is a poet and author or co-author of over 60 books, mainly about walking and the countryside, but also on Adam Sedgwick, John Phillips. He is perhaps he is best known as co-founder of the Dales Way long distance footpath between Yorkshire and the Lake District.  Colin knew Arthur Raistrick in his latter days.