A20 DR4 Nearcliff Wood Quarries

Site information

Site name: Nearcliff Wood Quarries

Site key: DR4

Grid reference: [SK 527 995] (centred on)

Site type: disused quarries, pits and cuttings

Local authority: Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council, South Yorkshire

Site dimensions: 300m x 100 m

Site owner: Taylor Woolhouse Holdings

Conservation status: Proposed Regionally Important Geological Site Date: No Date

Field surveyor: Scott Engering Date: 13/3/07

Stratigraphy and rock types

Time unit: Permian Rock unit: Cadeby Formation, Zechstein Group

Rock type: Dolostone Details: Slumped and rifted massive bedded limestones and reefs

Time unit: Devensian, Late Pleistocene Rock unit:

Rock type: Sand and Gravel Details: Fissure deposits in rifts associated with slumping and cambering

Site map

(Figure 99) — DR4 Nearcliff Wood Quarries

This map is based upon Ordnance Survey topographic material with the permission of Ordnance Survey on behalf of The Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, © Crown copyright. Unauthorised reproduction infringes Crown Copyright and may lead to prosecution or civil proceedings. Licence Number: 100017897 [2007]

Site description

As part of the inspection of the entrances to Conisbrough Caves East (D300), a brief survey of the old quarry faces, which exceed 20 m in places, reveal numerous examples of brecciation, rifting, slumping on a massive scale, with associated deposits of head and breccia with an orange sandy matrix. These are similar in colour and composition to exposures seen in smaller excavations at Grey Stones [SE 52971 00367] on the north bank of the River Don and have similarities to the component rocks at the breccia stump at Warmsworth Quarry (D94).

The bedded appearance normally associated with limestones of the Cadeby Formation are largely absent but when seen in large slumped blocks massive beds dip steeply with no obvious relationship to the structural dip of bedded limestones in the region and often at oblique angles to neighbouring blocks.

Large pillow shaped masses with no obvious bedding planes appear to be reefs. Examples of these structures can be seen from [SK 52737 99519] (near to Nearcliff Wood Rift Cave entrances), [SK 52763 99485], [SK 52763 99843] and from [SK 52761 99540], where the entrance of Windy Cave is also seen at the bottom of the quarry face. Here there is a very good example of a sand and breccia filled rift, 3 m wide at the base.

From Constitution Hill to Levitt Hagg Wood, there are several slip rift cave systems that appear to be associated with this pattern of large scale slumping and which have been listed as RIGS. The rift structures and associated sandy deposits found along the Don Gorge have been considered to be worth detailed investigation for fossil remains. In Victorian times, the Don Gorge was considered to possess similar potential to Cresswell Crags, which is now an internationally recognised heritage site.

Along with sites at Levitt Hagg Wood, Grey Stones and other sites along the Don Gorge that have not yet been surveyed for their potential value, there is further scope to bring the geology into line with other historic, archaeological, architectural and biological interests that already feature in the Don Gorge Management Plan.

RIGS assessment of site value

Ratings: 1–2 very poor; 3–4 poor; 5–6 acceptable/useful; 7–8 quite good; 9–10 very good/excellent; N/A not applicable; D/K don't know

Access and safety

Aspect/Description/Rating

Road access & parking Very poor and visit to the site requires a good walk along country paths. Rating: 5

Safety of access Off country paths along River Don, access is over vegetated quarry waste. Rating: 5

Safety of exposure The quarry faces, by their disrupted and brecciated nature, requires due care and attention when visiting. Rating: 5

Permission to visit Site privately owned, but adjacent to PROW D/K

Current condition Some rubbish, fires and other debris associated with redundant quarries but acceptable for scientific visits. Rating: 5

Current conflicting activities Fires, rubbish etc and misuse of redundant quarries

Restricting conditions No hammering of quarry faces

Nature of exposure Old quarry faces

Multiple exposures/prospect for trail

Notes Excellent prospects for an extended or short field trip along the Don Gorge

Culture, heritage & economic

Aspect/Description/Rating

Historic, archaeological & literary associations None known but further investigation is merited. Rating: 7

Aesthetic landscape Extremely good, with a walk from Conisbrough to the A1 beyond Sprotbrough unrivalled in Yorks. Rating: 9

History of earth sciences The region is a largely untapped site for geological/anthropological/archaeological research. Rating: 9

Economic geology The Don Gorge has been continually exploited for its limestone resources at least as far back as Norman times. Rating: 9

Notes A first class site

Education and science

Surface processes Large scale structures associated with cambering, slumping and rifting during the Quaternary period. Rating: 7

Geomorphology Excellent opportunity to study and observe large scale structures associated with the formation of a major gorge. Rating: 9

Sedimentary A good variety of large scale sedimentary structures associated with glacial and interglacial conditions. Rating: 9

Fossils Potential for investigation of sandy fissure deposits

Igneous Not applicable. Rating: 0

Metamorphic Not applicable. Rating: 0

Tectonic: structural Slumping, cambering and rifting along the Don Gorge associated. Rating: 9

with the Don Monocline and Don Fault System

Minerals Not applicable. Rating: 0

Stratigraphy Extremely good potential to research the hard rock geology and stratigraphy of a nationally important limestone gorge. Rating: 8

Notes As a part of the entire Don Gorge, this site possesses first class research and education potential

Geodiversity value

Extremely important in at least both a regional and national context for the use and exploitation of a natural resource. Rating: 10

Site photographs DR4 Nearcliff Woods/Quarries

(Figure 100) General view of large scale slumping, breccias, rifts and associated head and fissure deposits. [SK 52763 99485].

(Figure 101) General view of large scale slumping, breccias, rifts and associated head and fissure deposits. [SK 52763 99485].

(Figure 102) Slump structures. [SK 52763 99548].

(Figure 103) General view of large scale slumping, breccias, rifts and associated head and fissure deposits. [SK 52763 99485].

(Figure 104) Slump structures. [SK 52763 99548]. (Figure 105) . Breccia and sandy deposits in rift [SK 52761 99540].