Down Stone Books(DSB) is the self-publishing vehicle of Dr Geoffrey walton. He is a Chartered Engineer who has lived and worked in Charlbury, West Oxfordshire since 1976. He developed and ran two consulting practices, one of which, GWP Consultants, remains in the town. Initially he studied for his PhD in mining engineering at the RSM at Imperial College and then followed his supervisor to Nottingham University. Previously he read Geology and Physics at Bristol University where he met his wife Liz when she was reading medicine; they married in 1963 and have a son Luke and daughter Kate and four granddaughters. For 20 years he was Visiting Professor of Mining at Leeds University and for 10 years served on the Board of the British Geological Survey. Geoffrey has travelled widely working on projects in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia.

The first DSB book in 2021 was ‘An early history of an applied geoscience consultancy- setting up GWP’. It looks at the trials and tribulations of setting out on and growing a niche consultancy when relatively few were attempting and succeeding. The attitude of client industries and the response of various governments are recorded both at home and abroad. It mentions projects worldwide and different attitudes and work ethics. Items such as the limitations of the practice of engineering geology/geotechnical engineering in the extractive industries and financial corruption in consultancy are covered. There are good things and bad, feast and famine, humour and sadness in the account.

Dr Walton’s second DSB book published in 2022 deals with ‘Charlbury Then and Now’ and covers changes in the life of the town as seen by the writer since 1976, in what was a small Oxfordshire market town. It is a personal take on how things have changed and might now be viewed by an incomer. It particularly deals with the survival of shops and other businesses and the shameful retreat of services from the town. There are many photographs of what is here now. The places, some of the people, and how things were in earlier decades. He draws attention to the drivers behind developments sensu lato as well as touching on causes, problems and solutions. Key amongst these concerns is the growing loss of government commitment to the objectives of Beveridge and the growth of poverty for some.

In preparation for publication are two other books. One is ‘An Introduction to English Cider and Perry Glasses of the 18th Century’. It describes what they are – an unusual and small sector of a wide range of drinking glasses. They were produced in the latter two thirds of the 18th Century. Essentially and differing from all other glasses of the period they are engraved with items related to apples and/or pears. The engraved vignettes provide a unique insight into the social and commercial world of cider and perry making at a key juncture of the Industrial Revolution. The other book is jointly produced with Prof Hugh Torrens. It comprises a review of copies of original early 19thCentury stratigraphical sequences including that of William Smith the ‘father of English Geology’. This has never been undertaken previously and reveals the extent to which geological concepts changed radically in the second decade and prepared for the development of geological mapping and evolutionary theory in later decades. It also discusses issues around the failure to develop and accommodate the appliance of the new science and some unethical practices in scientific societies.