Talk:List of volcanoes in the United Kingdom

Another possibility?
With not much in the way of proof other than their words many yrs ago, I can't really justify making an edit on the main page, but I thought it worthy of mention in the hope that someone may know more? Thanks Codeye (talk) 07:00, 24 January 2018 (UTC)
 * I believe the area including what's now Bardon Hill quarry, between Whitwick and Coalville in Leicestershire, may also have been an active volcano at some point in the past? I'm far from an expert on the topic, but I lived in the area for a while as a kid. One day whilst out walking,I found a very unusual, very large rock formation at the top of a hill. I assumed it to be some ruined ancient building or monument, but was interested enough to ask an old couple out walking their dog if they knew anything about it. The people I'd asked actually ran the local history society in their area. They explained that the colossal slabs of rock had started life in the heart of the hill\volcano on the horizon. The countless tonnes of rock were apparently ejected and sent flying distances of a mile or more, by a particularly violent volcanic eruption in prehistoric times? The couple's son had also been educated by my class teacher, maybe 30 years before me. The teacher, Mr Bell, is a published author of many books detailing the local history of the area.


 * Codeye, thanks for raising this point. Volcanic rocks definitely occur in Bardon Hill Quarry. The descriptions in Wikipedia's articles Bardon Hill and Bardon Hill Quarry seem to interpret their cited source references (which describe the volcanic rocks of the quarry) as meaning that the hill was a volcano. It's possible, however, that this could be incorrect interpretation of the sources because the volcano that erupted the lavas may have actually been located elsewhere although nearby. I'll try to check these articles and their cited source references in more detail when I get more time. GeoWriter (talk) 20:44, 24 January 2018 (UTC)

Many thanks for that! I actually hadn't thought to actually search Wikipedia for Bardon Hill or the quarry. Apologies for my stupidity there. ;-) Codeye (talk) 23:10, 25 January 2018 (UTC)

Are these names valid?

 * In the Cheviot Hills and Cuillin sections, it seems to list modern hills which erosion carved out of the structure long after eruption ceased. Instead, it should list the old volcanic eruption centers. Anthony Appleyard (talk) 09:22, 1 September 2010 (UTC)


 * Isn't Giant's Causeway a tertiary flood basalt? And there's no mention of the highly significant Snowdonian and Borrowdale volcanics — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.190.119.221 (talk) 08:07, 5 February 2017 (UTC)

Non-United Kingdom data
Below is the content removed from the UK list. It could be the basis of new page(s) / list(s) .... Chienlit (talk) 11:18, 13 July 2012 (UTC)

, but there are a few in British dependent territories. One of the largest is Mount Belinda 1370 m at -58.41667°N, -26.38333°W on Montagu Island in the Weddell Sea off the coast of Antarctica. It is within the British Overseas Territory, the South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. Although, Mount Michael 805 m at -57.8°N, -26.46667°W on Saunders Island has been active as recently as 2005. The 700 m diameter summit crater is thought to possibly contain an active lava lake, one of only a handful in the world.

another one
The Wrekin, a very obvious volcano in Shropshire. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.140.247.199 (talk) 22:16, 19 January 2015 (UTC)
 * It may be 'obvious' . . but it was never a volcano! Nor for that matter was Sugar Loaf, another hill near the Welsh border, the profile of which superficially resembles a volcano. Sure the former is formed in part from volcanic rocks but its shape is coincidental, The rocks forming the latter are entirely sedimentary in origin. In fact a few of the items in the list need tweaking, explaining or deleting due to misunderstanding as to what actually amounts to a volcano.Geopersona (talk) 18:12, 6 November 2016 (UTC)

Devon and Cornwall
Is it worth at the very least adding a link to the Cornubian batholith in southwest England? I'm not sure whether there were ever active volcanoes in the area - the batholith article talks about Permian plutons at Dartmoor, Bodmin Moor and several other sites, so there may not have been surface eruptions, but a link in the "see also" section might be worthwhile. Grutness... wha?   13:47, 17 September 2019 (UTC)

Inclusion criteria
This list is problematic. The inclusion criteria are not obvious. Most of the listed examples are deeply eroded volcanic centres, rather than volcanoes. Other are just outcrops of volcanic rocks that are no doubt linked to volcanoes but should they really be on this list? Perhaps this could be renamed to List of volcanic centres in the United Kingdom? I removed Brent Tor, as that is just a hill made up of volcanic rock, and I'm checking through others. Comments? Mikenorton (talk) 13:56, 21 June 2021 (UTC)


 * It depends on which definition of volcano is used - some definitions include the subvolcanic "plumbing system" and e.g. Adnamurchan has plenty of that. Numerous academic experts on British volcanism refer to e.g. the Palaeogene volcanic outcrops as e.g. "the Rhum volcano", the "Adnamurchan volcano", the Skye volcano" etc. and there are many references for older remnants such as e.g. "Arthur's Seat volcano". I agree that some of the entries in this list are definitely not volcanoes e.g. the Giant's Causeway. For now, I'm inclined to keep the current list as "List of volcanoes in the United Kingdom" (as per WP:COMMONNAME) but I support the removal of entries that are definitely not volcanoes. There is already a sentence in this list's introductory text about the deeply-eroded roots of extinct volcanoes - perhaps that could be clarified and amplified by slightly more detailed notes for individual entries? There is also the question of scale when defining a volcano. Some geologists, in some situations, would regard a small volcanic cone (e.g. Speedwell vent) as a volcano while others would regard the same cone as a relatively insignificant part of a much larger volcano. GeoWriter (talk) 15:26, 21 June 2021 (UTC)