Ketton Quarry SSSI
Location and Access Information
Grid Reference: SK 977053
Middle Jurassic limestones on the
Ketton Geology Trail.
This site is located in the County of Rutland, at the village of Ketton, 5km south-west of Stamford. There are two sites at this location, showing both the geology of the area and the habitats associated with the rocks that outcrop here.
A geology trail has been developed that shows some of the exposures in parts of the old quarry workings. Access to the trail is from the main road from Stamford through Ketton (A6121), past the large Castle Cement works, which is the main entrance to the quarry, and down the Ketton Business Park road. Follow this road all the way down and there is a small car park on the left adjacent to the Geological Trail.
The nearby wildlife reserve is managed by the Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust. The entrance to the reserve is on the eastern side of the village, off Pit Lane about 400m up on the left hand side.
View the site map on Nature on the Map
.
Geological Interest
The geological trail provides information on a number of exposures of rocks of Middle Jurassic age (approximately 170 million years old) that were deposited in a very shallow sea and at times under estuarine conditions. The rocks present at the first location belong to the Lincolnshire Limestone, which here comprises mudstones and a massive oolitic limestone deposited in an area sheltered by a fringing reef. The second location provides a view of the cyclic clays and shelly beds of the Rutland Formation which lie above the Lincolnshire Limestone. The rocks of the Rutland Formation, and overlying Blisworth Limestone and the Blisworth Clay, were deposited near to the shore of a shallow tropical sea. Some beds are very fossiliferous and yield the fossils of extinct bivalves, sea-urchins and brachiopods.
The wildlife reserve comprises a long worked-out area consisting of hills and holes that have been colonised by calcareous grassland plants and scrub. The mosaic of calcareous grassland, scrub and woodland provides habitat for a wide variety of animals and plants. Species present in the grassland include butterflies such as marbled white and grizzled and dingy skippers, glowworm, common lizard and adder. Flowering plants include typical Jurassic limestone species such as bee orchid, cowslip, yellow-wort, autumn gentian, viper's bugloss and carline thistle.
