Whatley Quarry, grid reference ST731479 is a limestone quarry owned by Hanson plc, near the village of Whatley on the Mendip Hills, Somerset, England.
The quarry exhibits pale to dark grey Carboniferous Limestone with small area of overlying horizontally bedded buff-coloured Jurassic oolitic limestone forming an angular unconformity, with extensive dolomitisation of top of the Black Rock Limestone. There are abundant near-vertical fissures and joints near top of limestone with karst weathering and minor pinnacle formation. [1]
The quarry is linked by a freight only railway line, part of the former Bristol and North Somerset Railway using trains operated by Mendip Rail, to a junction with the Reading to Taunton Line near Frome station.
The quarry has been the object of protests against its impact on the environment and has had to appeal against planning application decisions because of the claimed derogation of river flows, groundwater abstractions and local springs due to historic dewatering associated with the quarry. [2]
Hanson runs a study centre for school children close to the quarry. [3]
The Mendip Hills is a range of limestone hills to the south of Bristol and Bath in Somerset, England. Running from Weston-super-Mare and the Bristol Channel in the west to the Frome valley in the east, the hills overlook the Somerset Levels to the south and the Chew Valley and other tributaries of the Avon to the north. The hills give their name to the local government district of Mendip, which administers most of the area. The higher, western part of the hills, covering 198 km2 (76 sq mi) has been designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), which gives it a level of protection comparable to a national park.
Buckland Dinham is a small village near Frome in Somerset, England. The village has a population of 381. The village's main industry is farming, but the village is also a dormitory village for the nearby cities of Bath and Bristol.
The Class 59 3,300 bhp (2,460 kW) Co-Co diesel-electric locomotives were built between 1985 and 1995 by Electro-Motive Diesel for operation in Great Britain. A total of 15 locomotives were built for three different operators.
Mendip Rail Ltd is an independent freight operating railway company in Great Britain. It is a joint venture composed of the rail-operation divisions of Aggregate Industries and Hanson Aggregates.
Somerset is a rural county in the southwest of England, covering 4,171 square kilometres (1,610 sq mi). It is bounded on the north-west by the Bristol Channel, on the north by Bristol and Gloucestershire, on the north-east by Wiltshire, on the south-east by Dorset, and on the south west and west by Devon. It has broad central plains with several ranges of low hills. The landscape divides into four main geological sections from the Silurian through the Devonian and Carboniferous to the Permian which influence the landscape, together with water-related features.
Emborough Quarries is a 1 hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest at Emborough in the Mendip Hills, Somerset, notified in 1971.
Asham Wood is a 140.6-hectare (347-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest east of Downhead and south of Leigh-on-Mendip in the Mendip Hills, Somerset, notified in 1963.
Shatter Cave is a cave in Fairy Cave Quarry, near Stoke St Michael in the limestone of the Mendip Hills, in Somerset, England. It falls within the St. Dunstan's Well Catchment Site of Special Scientific Interest.
Halecombe, grid reference ST697474 is a limestone quarry near Leigh-on-Mendip on the Mendip Hills, Somerset, England.
Colemans Quarry, grid reference ST726452 is a limestone quarry at Holwell, near Nunney on the Mendip Hills, Somerset, England.
Gurney Slade quarry, grid reference ST626497 is a limestone quarry near Gurney Slade between Binegar and Holcombe, on the Mendip Hills, Somerset, England.
Batts Combe quarry, grid reference ST460550 is a limestone quarry on the edge of Cheddar village on the Mendip Hills, Somerset, England.
Callow Rock quarry is a limestone quarry located in Shipham Gorge between Cheddar and Shipham on the Mendip Hills, Somerset, England.
Dulcote Quarry is a disused limestone quarry at Dulcote, near Wells on the Mendip Hills, Somerset, England. The quarry measures around 600 metres (2,000 ft) from West to East and around 350 metres (1,150 ft) from North to South, with an area of 18 acres (7.3 ha), which is surrounded by 80 acres (32 ha) of woodland.
Torr Works quarry, grid reference ST695446 is a limestone quarry at East Cranmore, near Shepton Mallet on the Mendip Hills, Somerset, England. The quarry was formerly known as Merehead, a name which has been retained for its rail depot on the opposite side of the A361 road.
Stoke Lane Slocker is a cave near Stoke St Michael, in the Carboniferous Limestone of the Mendip Hills, in the English county of Somerset.
The Mendip Way is an 80-kilometre (50 mi) long-distance footpath across the Mendip Hills from Weston-super-Mare to Frome. It is divided into two sections.
Doulting Stone Quarry is a limestone quarry at Doulting, on the Mendip Hills, Somerset, England.
Cloud Quarry was a quarry near Temple Cloud, in the limestone of the Mendip Hills, in Somerset, England.
The county of Somerset is in South West England, bordered by the Bristol Channel and the counties of Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, and Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south, and Devon to the west. The climate, influenced by its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean and the prevailing westerly winds, tends to be mild, damp and windy.