Burrington Combe
Notification 1952 | | |
Natural England website |
Burrington Combe is a Carboniferous Limestone gorge near the village of Burrington, on the north side of the Mendip Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, in North Somerset, England.
"Combe" or "coombe" is a word of Celtic origin found in several forms on all of the British Isles, denoting a steep-sided valley or hollow. Burrington Combe is a gorge through the limestone hills although there is now no river running through it. Various cave entrances are exposed which have been occupied by humans for over 10,000 years, with a hillfort being built beside the combe in the Iron Age. The geology has led to a diversity of plant life.
According to legend
Geology
Water draining from Black Down has exposed rocks from the Devonian sandstones of the Portishead Formation which show through the limestone, Carboniferous mudstones of the Avon Group, limestones of the Black Rock Limestone Subgroup and oolitic limestones of the Burrington Oolite Subgroup; however the exact mechanism by which the gorge was formed is unknown.[1] The northern and lower end of the combe, which was once the bed of the Congresbury Yeo, cuts through overlying Clifton Down Limestone. Triassic dolomitic conglomerate can also locally be seen along the combe.[2]
Caves
Goatchurch Cavern is 1,500 m (4,900 ft) long and has a surveyed depth of 61.5 m (202 ft). It was first recorded in 1736,[4] and explored by lead miners in the 19th century.[5] Around 1901, the owner unsuccessfully tried to turn it into a
A swallet, also known as a sinkhole, sink, shakehole, swallow hole or doline, is a natural depression or hole in the surface topography caused by the removal of soil or bedrock, often both, by water flowing beneath the water-table at considerable depth. Sidcot Swallet is named after the Sidcot School Speleological Society who explored it in 1925.[9]
The earliest scientifically dated cemetery in Great Britain was found at Aveline's Hole. The human bone fragments it contained, from about 21 different individuals, are thought to be between roughly 10,200 and 10,400 years old.[10] A series of inscribed crosses found on the wall of the Aveline's Hole cave are believed to date from the early Mesolithic period just after the Ice age.[11]
Hillfort
Above the combe on its eastern side is the site of an
Special Scientific Interest
In recognition of its biological and geological interest, an area of 139.1 hectares (344 acres) within and around the combe was
The calcareous grasslands support a diverse flora which includes salad burnet (Sanguisorba minor), knapweed (Centaurea scabiosa and Centaurea nigra), rock-rose (Helianthemum nummularium) and wild thyme (Thymus praecox). On the higher, more acidic, slopes goldenrod (Solidago virgaurea), wood sage (Teucrium scorodonia) and common bent (Agrostis capillaris) can be found. There are also scrub plants including hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna), mountain ash (Sorbus aucuparia), gorse (Ulex europaeus) and elder (Sambucus nigra). Several of the caves support bat populations.[13]
Geologically it is recognised as a
Rock of Ages
There is a legend that
The then Vicar at Westbury-on-Trym H. J. Wilkins published a 16-page booklet in 1938 titled "An Enquiry concerning Toplady and his Hymn "Rock of Ages" and its connection with Burrington Combe, Somerset" that found that in relation to the hymn "All available evidence goes to show that it was published in 1776, soon after it was written." Toplady had left the neighbourhood of Burrington Combe in 1764.[16]
In George Lawton's 1983 publication Within the Rock of Ages the author finds the claim that Rock of Ages was written at Burrington Combe to be only a legend, although he does state that "It is extremely doubtful whether at this distance of time, the legend that it was written in a cleft there can be proved or disproved."[17] In George Ella's 2000 study A Debtor to Mercy Alone any links between the hymn and Burrington Combe are again said to be no more than legendary, with readers being referred to Lawton's 1983 study.[18]
C. H. Sisson wrote a poem entitled Burrington Combe, collected in Exactions (Manchester: Carcanet 1980). The local area, including Black Down and Ellick Farm, features prominently in his poetry.
References
- ISBN 978-1-4564-1631-7.
- ^ "Burrington Combe". British Geological Survey. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
- ^ Somerset County Council. p. 26. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
- ISBN 978-0-9500433-6-4.
- ASIN B0000CNIE0.
- ISBN 978-0-9501459-1-4.
- ISBN 0-9536103-0-6.
- ^ "Goatchurch Cavern marks". Apotropaios. Archived from the original on 31 December 2006. Retrieved 27 January 2007.
- ISBN 978-0-9500433-6-4.
- ^ "Earliest British cemetery dated". BBC. 23 September 2003. Retrieved 5 January 2010.
- ^ "Aveline's Hole Discovery". University of Bristol Spelaeological Society. Retrieved 5 January 2010.
- ^ "Burrington Camp". Fortified Britain. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
- ^ a b c "Burrington Combe" (PDF). SSSI Citation sheet. English Nature. Retrieved 21 October 2008.
- ^ "Sheltering in the Rock". Banner of Truth. Archived from the original on 22 August 2006. Retrieved 19 January 2011.
- ^ "Rock of Ages". The Ensign Message. Retrieved 15 November 2016.
- ^ "An Enquiry concerning Toplady and his Hymn "Rock of Ages" and its connection with Burrington Combe, Somerset" (PDF). Toplady.org.uk. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
- ISBN 978-0-227-67836-7.
- ISBN 978-0-9527074-5-5.