Ebbor Gorge
Ebbor Gorge is a limestone gorge in the Mendip Hills of Somerset.
The gorge was donated to the National Trust in 1967 and is now managed as a National Nature Reserve.
The gorge is a great slice though the Clifton Down Limestone of these hills, formed by innumerable ages’ water action on the limestone. The floor of the gorge is impermeable Millstone Grit and Lower Coal Measures. The rare mineral mendipite has also been found.
The gorge was occupied by humans in the Neolithic Era and their tools and flint arrow heads have been discovered, along with pottery from the Bronze Age. There are also fossils of small mammals from the Late Devensian. The nature reserve provides a habitat for a variety of flora and fauna, including flowers, butterflies and bats.
Geology
- Location map: 51°14’2"N, 2°40’55"W
- Streetmap: ST525485
Ebbor Gorge cuts through on the southwest-facing slope of the Mendip Hills and consists of a steep-sided ravine cut into 350-million-year-old Carboniferous Limestone of the Dinantian. The gorge was cut into Clifton Down Limestone by meltwater in the Pleistocene Epoch.[1][2] The rocks of the area lie above a thrust fault formed during the Variscan orogeny.[3] Millstone Grit and Lower Coal Measures form an impermeable floor to this valley. An example of the rare mineral mendipite was found at the head of the gorge.[4]
A stream issuing to the west of the site runs down the tributary valley of Hope Wood before joining the main gorge. The original watercourse which may have cut the gorge into the limestone became diverted underground and now emerges at Wookey Hole Caves to form the River Axe.[5]
Historical interest
Various caves within the gorge were inhabited by Neolithic people and some flint tools found in these caves are now held in the Wells and Mendip Museum.[6] One particularly fine flint flake can be seen in the museum at King John's Hunting Lodge in Axbridge.[7] Human and animal bones from the Neolithic were recovered from Outlook Cave in 1907.[8] Bones from the Palaeolithic have been found at Savory's Hole.[9]
Several caves occur within the Gorge, of which Bridged Pot and Gully Cave provide some of the best Late Devensian small-mammal assemblages known from Britain. Most of the deposits remain in situ and include steppe pika, Arctic lemming, Norway lemming, various voles, red deer and reindeer.[10][11]
Bronze Age finds include pottery from the Beaker culture,[12] a stone axe and flint knife.[13]
Current use
A 98.8-acre (40.0-ha) area of the gorge is owned by the National Trust, and managed by Natural England as a Nature Reserve.[14]
The land was donated to the National Trust by Mrs G.W. Hodgkinson, in 1967, in memory of Winston Churchill.[15]
The gorge is close to Wookey Hole village and caves and offers views across the Somerset Levels to Glastonbury Tor and beyond. There are three marked trails of varying lengths around the steeply wooded gorge, the longest being two miles long, the shortest of which is suitable for wheelchair users.[16]
Conservation
The gorge was designated in 1952 as a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest, covering 157 acres.
Plants and wildlife
The ground flora of the Ebbor Gorge is indicative of the calcareous nature of the site, with dog's mercury (Mercurialis perennis) being locally dominant. Many of the associated species are characteristic of ancient woodland. Wood anemone (Anemone nemorosa) and common bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) are both locally abundant. The valley of the main gorge is humid and provides ideal conditions for Fungus|fungi and ferns. It contains a substantial assemblage of bryophytes with over 120 species recorded including the nationally rare Bryum canariense and the very rare Amblystegiella confervoides.
The varied age and canopy structure of woodland encourages a high diversity of Butterfly|butterflies, nationally scarce species including the white-letter hairstreak (Strymonidia walbum) and high brown fritillary (Argynnis edippe), while species such as the chalkhill blue (Lysandra coridon) and brown argus (Aricia agestis) occur on the limestone grassland.[17] Greater horseshoe bats (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum) and lesser horseshoes (Rhinolophus hipposideros) regularly use sites in the Gorge as hibernacular roosts. The site also supports birds of prey and a few red deer.[18]
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Ebbor Gorge) |
References
- ↑ "Wookey Hole and Ebbor Gorge". British Geological Survey. http://www.bgs.ac.uk/mendips/localities/wookey.html. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
- ↑ Donovan, D.T. (1988). "The late pleistocene sequence at Wells, Somerset" (PDF). Proceedings of the University of Bristol Speleological Society 18 (2): 241–257. http://www.ubss.org.uk/resources/proceedings/vol18/UBSS_Proc_18_2_241-257.pdf.
- ↑ Haslett, Simon K. (2010). Somerset Landscapes: Geology and landforms. Usk: Blackbarn Books. pp. 101–105. ISBN 978-1-4564-1631-7.
- ↑ Toulson, Shirley (1984). The Mendip Hills: A Threatened Landscape. Victor Gollanz Ltd. p. 32. ISBN 978-0-575-03453-2.
- ↑ Smith, David Ingle (1975). Limestone and Caves of the Mendip Hills. David & Charles. p. 120. ISBN 978-0-7153-6572-4.
- ↑ Lewis, Jodie (1998). "The Everton flint collection in Wells Museum" (PDF). Proceedings of the University of Bristol Speleological Society 21 (2): 141–148. http://www.ubss.org.uk/resources/proceedings/vol21/UBSS_Proc_21_2_141-148.pdf.
- ↑ Bond, Clive Jonathon (2013). "The later upper palaeolithic open sites and settlement trajectories. The evidence from the Mendip Hills, south-west Britain". Notae Praehistoricae 33: 179–192. http://www.naturalsciences.be/mars/groups/fnrs-contact-group/notae-praehistoricae/resolveUid/9d61bc5a9a1b9ac0c05fc0fc4ee55b69.
- ↑ National Heritage List 1010711: Ebbor Gorge
- ↑ National Heritage List 1012061: Savory's Hole
- ↑ "Wolves and wildcats: surviving the end of the last ice age in Somerset". Harrow and Hillingdon Geological Society. http://www.hhgs.org.uk/monthly_meetings/previous_meetings/wolves_and_wildcats/wolves_and_wildcats.htm. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
- ↑ "Learning & Leading Fieldwork Apprentices" (PDF). Royal Geographical Society. http://www.rgs.org/NR/rdonlyres/A3B13E99-7E2D-4D70-94A5-9FEAE564DBA9/0/FieldworkApprenticeshipProfile_2010_LisaHowell.pdf. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
- ↑ "Bridged Pot Shelter, Ebbor Gorge, Wookey, Somerset". A Gazetteer of English Caves, Fissures and Rock Shelters Containing Human Remains. University of Sheffield. Archived from Pot Shelter the original on 4 February 2012. http://web.archive.org/web/20120204160157/http://capra.group.shef.ac.uk/1/swest.html. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
- ↑ "Bridged Pot Hole, Ebbor Gorge". Somerset County Council. http://webapp1.somerset.gov.uk/her/details.asp?prn=24332. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
- ↑ Ebbor Gorge - Natural England}}
- ↑ Leete-Hodge, Lornie (1985). Curiosities of Somerset. Bodmin: Bossiney Books. p. 24. ISBN 0-906456-98-3.
- ↑ Toulson, Shirley (1984). The Mendip Hills: A Threatened Landscape. Victor Gollanz Ltd. pp. 128–129. ISBN 978-0-575-03453-2.
- ↑ "Ebbor Gorge". United Kingdom Butterfly Monitoring Scheme. http://www.ukbms.org/SiteFactsheet.aspx?siteId=23. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
- ↑ Toulson, Shirley (1984). The Mendip Hills: A Threatened Landscape. Victor Gollanz Ltd. p. 128. ISBN 978-0-575-03453-2.