Ashwell Quarry and Quarry Springs

Ashwell Quarry

Ashwell Quarry and Quarry Springs is a three hectare nature reserve managed by the Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust near Ashwell in Hertfordshire.^[1] Ashwell Quarry is owned by a local farmer, and Quarry Springs by Hertfordshire County Council.^[2] It is a Regionally Important Geological Site.^[3]

The quarry may date to Roman times and its Totternhoe stone was probably used to build Ashwell's fourteenth-century church. In the nineteenth century it was grazed by sheep, adding the nutrients required for wild flowers which need soils which are dry and chalky. In 1970 it became a nature reserve. Plants include pyramidal orchid, clustered bellflower and glaucous sedge, and there are rare mosses in shaded hollows. Quarry Springs has rare wildlife such as flatworms which need water which is clean and at a constant temperature around 10 degrees Celsius.^[2]^[1]

A permit is required from the local warden of the Wildlife Trust for entry to Ashwell Quarry,^[1] which is a mile west of Ashwell, on the Hinxworth Road opposite Loves Lane. Quarry Springs is on the opposite side of the road to the quarry.^[2]

References

1 2 3 "Ashwell Quarry and Quarry Springs". Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
1 2 3 "Ashwell Quarry Nature Reserve". Ashwell Museum. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
↑ "A Geological Conservation Strategy for Hertfordshire" (PDF). Hertfordshire RIGS Group. 2003. p. 52.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ashwell Quarry and Quarry Springs.

Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust

Dacorum	Aldbury Nowers Alpine Meadow Long Deans Tring Reservoirs

East Hertfordshire	Amwell Quarry Balls Wood Danemead Hertford Heath Hunsdon and Eastwick Meads King's Meads Patmore Heath Rye Meads Tewin Orchard and Hopkyns Wood Tewinbury Thorley Wash Waterford Heath Willowmead

Hertsmere	Hilfield Park Reservoir

North Hertfordshire	Ashwell Quarry and Quarry Springs Blagrove Common Fox Covert Hawkins Wood Hexton Chalk Pit Oughtonhead Purwell Ninesprings

St Albans	Broad Colney Lakes

Stevenage	Ridlins Mire

Three Rivers	Frogmore Meadows Longspring Wood Stocker's Lake

Watford	Cassiobury Park

Welwyn Hatfield	Fir and Pond Woods Gobions Wood Lemsford Springs Stanborough Reedmarsh Stocking Springs Wood

Hillingdon	Broadwater Lake Old Park Wood Uxbridge Alderglade

Former reserves	Barkway Chalk Pit Darland's Lake Nature Reserve Hill End Pit Marshalls Heath Pryor's Wood Rowley Green Common Sawbridgeworth Marsh Telegraph Hill

Coordinates: 52°02′25″N 0°10′26″W / 52.040188°N 0.17384°W / 52.040188; -0.17384

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/19/2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.