Cleeve Common

Cleeve Common
Site of Special Scientific Interest
	Cleeve Common panorama
	Location within Gloucestershire
Location	Gloucestershire
Grid reference	SO990260
Coordinates	51°55′59″N2°00′55″W / 51.93296°N 2.015225°W
Interest	Biological/Geological
Area	455 hectare
Notification	1974
	Natural England website

Last updated December 13, 2023

Cleeve Common (grid reference SO990260 ) is a 455-hectare (1,120-acre) biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Gloucestershire, England, notified in 1974.^[1]^[2] It is looked after by a small charity called Cleeve Common Trust, formally Cleeve Common Board of Conservators.

It lies in the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and is on Cleeve Hill. There is a golf course on the site and the site is registered as a common. The site is on Jurassic limestones on the top of the Cotswold scarp. It is north-east of Cheltenham. It is a large site and is important for its biology and geology.^[1]

Biological interest

There are several types of grassland within the site and their origination is dependent upon aspect, soil, grazing intensity and how areas of the common have been managed. The site supports several species of rare orchid such as the bee orchid, the frog orchid and the musk orchid. Spoil and scree from disused quarries provide conditions for plants which grow in more open habitats.^[1]

The site supports a wide range of invertebrates. These include butterflies such as the dark green fritillary, grayling and marsh fritillary. The rare snail Abide secale is recorded.^[1]

Geological interest

The Bouguetia and phillipsiana beds of the upper Middle Inferior Oolite are confined to a very limited outcrop on Cleeve Common. These units, which have distinctive fossil faunas of bivalves, gastropods and brachiopods, are only visible at Rolling Bank Quarry. These outcrops are thus unique and are considered the only examples of part of the Middle Jurassic, Bajocian, time interval in Britain. The Inferior Oolite hill top of Postlip Warren shows the best example of ridge and trough features.^[1]

Pot Quarry and Rolling Bank Quarry are listed as a Regionally Important Geological Site (RIGS).^[3] The Cleeve Cloud Fault Section is also so designated.

Related Research Articles

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Minchinhampton Common is a 182.7-hectare (451-acre) biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Gloucestershire, notified in 1972.

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Puckham Woods is a 32.38-hectare (80.0-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Gloucestershire to the east of Cheltenham near Whittington, notified in 1954. The site is listed in the 'Cotswold District' Local Plan 2001-2011 as a Key Wildlife Site (KWS).

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References

1 2 3 4 5 "SSSI citation for Cleeve Common" (PDF). Natural England. Archived (PDF) from the original on 25 August 2020. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
↑ "Tewkesbury Borough Local Plan to 2011, adopted March 2006, Appendix 3 'Nature Conservation', Sites of Special Scientific Interest". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 10 October 2012.
↑ "Tewkesbury Borough Local Plan to 2011, adopted March 2006, Appendix 3 'Nature Conservation', Regionally Important Geological Sites". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 10 October 2012.

SSSI Source

External links

Media related to Cleeve Common at Wikimedia Commons

Natural England (SSSI information)
Official Cleeve Common Website

Cleeve Common
Cleeve Common view
Sheep on Cleeve Common
Top of Cleeve Hill on Cleeve Common
Butterfly reserve

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[NE_citation-1] 1 2 3 4 5 "SSSI citation for Cleeve Common" (PDF). Natural England. Archived (PDF) from the original on 25 August 2020. Retrieved 25 August 2020.

[2] "Tewkesbury Borough Local Plan to 2011, adopted March 2006, Appendix 3 'Nature Conservation', Sites of Special Scientific Interest". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 10 October 2012.

[3] "Tewkesbury Borough Local Plan to 2011, adopted March 2006, Appendix 3 'Nature Conservation', Regionally Important Geological Sites". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 10 October 2012.

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v t e Biological Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Gloucestershire
Summarised data for all sites (biological and geological)
Ashleworth Ham Astridge Wood Badgeworth Barnsley Warren Barton Bushes Bigsweir Woods Blaisdon Hall Bourton Down Box Farm Meadows Boxwell Brassey Brooks Head Grove Buckshraft Mine & Bradley Railway Tunnel Bull Cross, The Frith and Juniper Hill Bushley Muzzard, Brimpsfield Caerwood and Ashberry Goose House Chaceley Meadow Clarke's Pool Meadow Cleeve Common Cockleford Marsh Collinpark Wood Coombe Hill Canal Coombe Hill Cotswold Commons and Beechwoods Cotswold Water Park Crickley Hill and Barrow Wake Daneway Banks Dean Hall Coach House & Cellar Devil's Chapel Scowles Dingle Wood Dixton Wood Dymock Woods Edge Common Elmlea Meadows Frampton Pools Highbury Wood Hobbs Quarry Hornsleasow Roughs Hucclecote Meadows Innsworth Meadow Juniper Hill, Edgeworth Kempley Daffodil Meadow Kingscote and Horsley Woods Lark Wood Leckhampton Hill and Charlton Kings Common Lineover Wood Lower Woods Lower Wye Gorge May Hill Midger Minchinhampton Common Nagshead Old Bow and Old Ham Mines Old River Severn, Upper Lode Pennsylvania Fields, Sedbury Poor's Allotment Puckham Woods Range Farm Fields River Wye Rodborough Common Rough Bank, Miserden Salmonsbury Meadows Selsley Common Severn Estuary Severn Ham, Tewkesbury Shorn Cliff and Caswell Woods Slade Brook Soudley Ponds Speech House Oaks Stenders Quarry Stinchcombe Hill Strawberry Banks Swanpool Wood and Furnace Grove Swift's Hill Sylvan House Barn The Hudnalls The Malvern Hills Tudor Farm Bank Turvey's Piece Upper Severn Estuary Upham Meadow and Summer Leasow Upper Wye Gorge Walmore Common Westbury Brook Ironstone Mine Whelford Meadow Wigpool Ironstone Mine Wildmoorway Meadows Winson Meadows Woodchester Park Workman's Wood Wotton Hill Yarley Meadows
Neighbouring areas Avon Herefordshire Oxfordshire Wiltshire Worcestershire

v t e Geological Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Gloucestershire
Summarised data for all sites (biological and geological)
Alderton Hill Quarry Bull Cross, The Frith and Juniper Hill Campden Tunnel Gravel Pit Cleeve Common Coaley Wood Quarries Crickley Hill and Barrow Wake Easter Park Farm Quarry Edgehills Quarry Foss Cross Quarry Garden Cliff Hampen Railway Cutting Haresfield Beacon Harford Railway Cutting Hobbs Quarry Hornsleasow Quarry Huntsman's Quarry Jackdaw Quarry Kemble Railway Cuttings Knap House Quarry, Birdlip Land Grove Quarry, Mitcheldean Leckhampton Hill and Charlton Kings Common Longhope Hill Lower Woods Lower Wye Gorge Lydney Cliff May Hill Meezy Hurst Minchinhampton Common New Park Quarry Nibley Knoll Notgrove Railway Cutting Oakenhill Railway Cutting Puddlebrook Quarry River Wye Robin's Wood Hill Quarry Rodborough Common Salmonsbury Meadows Scully Grove Quarry Severn Estuary Slade Brook Stenders Quarry Stony Furlong Railway Cutting Swift's Hill Upper Severn Estuary The Malvern Hills Purton Passage Selsley Common Upper Wye Gorge Veizey's Quarry Wainlode Cliff Wellacre Quarry Wood Green Quarry & Railway Cutting Wotton Hill
Neighbouring areas Avon Herefordshire Oxfordshire Wiltshire Worcestershire