Great Quarry, Swindon (grid reference SU151836 ) is a 0.994 hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Wiltshire, England, notified in 1951.
The site is in Old Town, in the southern ridge of Swindon. It was formerly named Town Garden Quarries which, with the Old Town Station Cutting, comprised Town Garden Quarries and Station Cutting SSSI. The two are now separate with Station Cutting renamed Old Town Railway Cutting, Swindon, SSSI.
"It has long been famous for the richness of its molluscan faunas from the marine Swindon Roach. These beds, of Portlandian age, comprise a suite of sediments ranging in their depositional environment from freshwater and hypersaline lagoons to true marine shell beds and soil profiles. The site has been the subject of dozens of published accounts since the mid 19th century and is still the subject of active research. The channelled form and erosive pebbly bases which characterise the majority of the beds in this succession and the variety of environments exhibited make this by far the most complex Jurassic section in Britain."
Coordinates: 51°33′04″N1°47′01″W / 51.55109°N 1.78362°W
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A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of Man. SSSI/ASSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in the United Kingdom are based upon them, including national nature reserves, Ramsar sites, Special Protection Areas, and Special Areas of Conservation. The acronym "SSSI" is often pronounced "triple-S I".
The River Blackwater is a tributary of the Loddon in England and sub-tributary of the Thames. It rises at two springs in Rowhill Nature Reserve between Aldershot, Hampshire and Farnham, Surrey. It curves a course north then west to join the Loddon in Swallowfield civil parish, central Berkshire. Part of the river splits Hampshire from Surrey; a smaller part does so as to Hampshire and Berkshire.
Gripwood Quarry is a 2.9 hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Wiltshire, England, notified in 1951. The quarry is of Oolitic limestone and has a wall in the middle creating an upper and a lower quarry, last used for mushroom growing. The walls are whitewashed and there is a large wooden crane.
Okus Quarry is a 2,500 square metre geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Old Town, Swindon, Wiltshire, notified in 1951.
Old Town Railway Cutting is a 1.78 hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Swindon, Wiltshire, notified in 1975. It is near the site of the former Swindon Town railway station.
Teffont Evias Quarry and Lane Cutting is a 3.6 hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest at Teffont Evias in Wiltshire, England, notified in 1989. It consists of two parts, Teffont Evias Quarry, and Teffont Evias Lane Cutting. Forest trees are currently growing on both sites, but there are small accessible exposures on the sides of quarry and roadway cuttings.
Totternhoe Stone is a relatively hard chalk outcropping in the middle of the Lower Chalk in the Chiltern Hills in Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire, England. Geologically, it is located in the upper part of the Cenomanian stage of the Cretaceous.
Totternhoe Knolls is a 13.1 hectare Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Totternhoe in Bedfordshire. It is also a local nature reserve, and part of the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The site is owned by Central Bedfordshire Council and leased to the National Trust. Most of the site is maintained jointly by the National Trust and the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire (WTBCN), and is part of the WTBCN Totternhoe nature reserve, which also includes Totternhoe Chalk Quarry and Totternhoe Stone Pit. The SSSI also includes Totternhoe Castle, the earthworks of a Norman motte-and-bailey castle which is a Scheduled monument.
Turners Hill SSSI is a 0.2-hectare (0.49-acre) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Turners Hill in West Sussex. It is a Geological Conservation Review site.
Holmbury Hill is a wooded area of 261 metres (856 ft) above sea level in Surrey, England, and the site of an Iron Age-period hillfort. The Old Saxon word "holm" can be translated as hill and "bury" means fortified place. It sits along the undulating Greensand Ridge, its summit being 805 feet (245 m) from the elevated and tightly clustered small village of Holmbury St. Mary which was traditionally part of Shere, 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) away.
Wotton Hill is a hill on the edge of the Cotswold Hills in Gloucestershire, England, 0.5 miles (0.80 km) north of Wotton-under-Edge. The Cotswold Way passes over the hill.
Harrow Weald SSSI is a 3.7 hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Harrow Weald in the London Borough of Harrow. It was formerly part of the Stanmore and Harrow Weald Commons and Bentley Priory SSSI. It is a Geological Conservation Review site.
Harefield Pit is a 1.8-hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Harefield in the London Borough of Hillingdon. It occupies much of a partially filled-in chalk quarry. It has two entries in the Geological Conservation Review database.
Crickley Hill and Barrow Wake is a 56.8-hectare (140-acre) biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Gloucestershire, notified in 1974.
Robin's Wood Hill Quarry is a 1.67-hectare (4.1-acre) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Gloucestershire, on Robinswood Hill, notified in 1966.
Totternhoe nature reserve is managed by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire (WTBCN). The 31 hectare site is in Totternhoe in Bedfordshire, and it includes parts of three Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs). Totternhoe Knolls is a biological SSSI owned by Central Bedfordshire Council and leased to the National Trust. Most of it is managed jointly by the National Trust and the WTBCN, excluding Totternhoe Castle, the earthworks of a Norman motte-and-bailey castle which is part of the SSSI but not of WTBCN's nature reserve. Totternhoe nature reserve also includes the geological SSSI, Totternhoe Stone Pit, which is not open to the public, and other areas owned by WTBCN, including part of Totternhoe Chalk Quarry, another biological SSSI.
Fognam Chalk Quarry is a 3-hectare (7.4-acre) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest west of Upper Lambourn in Berkshire. It is a Geological Conservation Review site. It is in the North Wessex Downs.