The Wolds

The Wolds is a term used in England to describe a range of hills which consists of open country overlying a base of limestone or chalk.

[1] The Wolds comprise a series of low hills and steep valleys that are in the main underlain by calcareous (chalk and limestone) and sandstone rock laid down in the Cretaceous and Jurassic periods.

The characteristic open valleys of the Wolds were created during the last glacial period through the action of glaciation and meltwater.

[1] Wold is an Anglian form of the word, as in other parts of England, different variations can be found.

[4] "On either side the river lie/Long fields of barley and of rye, That clothe the wold and meet the sky;" First lines of The Lady of Shalott by Alfred Tennyson "Once in the wind of morning I ranged the thymy wold; The world-wide air was azure And all the brooks ran gold."