Extent and Geology
The Vale is an east-north-east trending tract of low ground of somewhat ill-defined area. Its vale-like form can be viewed from either its southern flank (the Belvoir "ridge") or from the north-west along the A46 (Roman Fosse Way) from which it is much less conspicuous. It is the product of geological processes, being occupied in the main by the sedimentary mudstones and thin limestones of the Liassic (Lias), with a northern fringe comprising the upper parts of the Triassic (Mercia Mudstone and Rhaetic). As described above its south-eastern margin is the most clearly defined, as it is formed by a conspicuous scarp slope, about 100 metres higher than the valley floor, upon which Belvoir Castle sits. Its resistance to erosion is due to a capping of relatively thick Jurassic Ironstone. The vale-like form is further constrained by cappings of ancient glacial till that form the higher ground along its western margin.
In the Pliocene epoch (1.7 m years ago) the Vale of Belvoir was occupied by the 'Proto-Trent' River, which cut a gap through the limestone ridge at Ancaster and then on to the North Sea. At the end of the Wolstonian Stage (c. 130,000 years ago) a mass of stagnant ice left in the Vale of Belvoir caused the river to divert north along the old Lincoln river, through the Lincoln gap.
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