Fossil Grove

I knew there was a Unilocal section for Fossil Grove, yet I couldn’t find it on the app when I was trying to check in today. Very odd.
Anyway, this is an absolute hidden gem of a place, a veritable Victorian marvel that we are lucky has survived into the 21^st century without being sold off and redeveloped. Unbelievably, although I’ve lived within a couple of miles of it for years, this is the first time I’ve actually found it open when I’ve visited (it’s ostensibly open from Easter through September from 10am to 4pm, but even these times can be variable).
Basically it’s the fossilised remains of around 11 or 12 trees of an ancient rainforest that are 330 MILLION years old. Now that’s OLD — that’s 100 million years before the dinosaurs came along! At the time, Glasgow (and the rest of Scotland for that matter) was somewhere down in the equatorial regions and the climate was tropical (curse you, plate tectonics!).
The trees were uncovered in 1887 when some excavations were being done in a dolerite quarry that used to be here during the making of the park. Fortunately the Victorians recognised the value of what they had found, and preserved the site by erecting a building around it and making it a main feature of the newly-​dedicated Victoria Park.
The lady attendant on duty gave us a lovely explanation of the site and pointed out the more interesting features that I otherwise might have missed. You can only view the fossils from one end, but that’s where the most interesting bits are located. I did think that some more sympathetic lighting could be employed to enhance the rest of the trees, as it was pretty gloomy farther back — there only seemed to be two spotlights that were actually on although there is a fairly extensive rig. Maybe they need to do a lamp-​round, or maybe they’re just saving money?
This is a site of international importance. As well as being a site of Special Scientific Interest, it’s also a Regionally Important Geological /​Geomorphological Site, one of the world’s oldest examples of conservation of a geological site, and the first to be housed in a specially-​constructed building, a practice which is common today.
Don’t miss this place if you’re visiting the park. Marvel at the fossils. Be humbled by the vastness of time.