1 Site Assessments
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PROTECTING THE GEODIVERSITY OF THE CAPITAL 1 SITE ASSESSMENTS The following types of site are Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) 7 Regionally Important Geological Site (RIGS) 30 Locally Important Geological Site (LIGS) 34 CONTENTS Number Name Borough Page GLA1 Abbey Wood Bexley 3 GLA 2 Stephens House (formerly known as Avenue House), Finchley Barnet 7 GLA 3 Beckenham Place Park Lewisham 9 GLA 4 Chelsfield Gravel Bromley 11 GLA 5 Chingford Hatch Waltham Forest 14 GLA 6 Croham Hurst Croydon 16 GLA 7 Crystal Palace Geological Illustrations Bromley 19 GLA 8 Dog Rocks Greenwich 22 GLA 9 Carshalton Urban Dry Valley Sutton 24 GLA 12 Finsbury Gravel Islington 26 GLA 14 Gilbert's Pit Greenwich 28 GLA 15 Hainault Forest Country Park Redbridge 32 GLA 17 Happy Valley Croydon 35 GLA 18 Harrow Weald Harrow 37 GLA 19 Hornchurch Cutting Havering 40 GLA 20 Horsenden Hill Ealing 43 GLA 22 Keston Common Bromley 46 GLA 24 Old Gravel Pit, Blackheath (Eliot Pits) Lewisham 49 GLA 25 Putney Heath Wandsworth 52 GLA 26 Riddlesdown Quarry (formerly Rose and Crown Pit) Croydon 54 GLA 29 The Gravel Pits, Northwood Hillingdon 57 GLA 30 Cray Valley Golf Course Sand Pit Bromley 59 GLA 31 North End Pit (Erith Park) Bexley 62 GLA 32 High Elms Dene Hole Bromley 65 GLA 33 Elmstead Pit Bromley 67 GLA 34 Harefield Pit Hillingdon 69 GLA 35 Wansunt Pit (in Braeburn Park) Bexley 72 GLA 36 Pinner Chalk Mines Harrow 75 GLA 37 Marks Warren Farm Quarry Complex Barking & Dagenham 78 GLA 38 Chalky Dell, Lesnes Abbey Woods Bexley 81 GLA 39 Erith Submerged Forest and Saltings Bexley 84 GLA 40 Chislehurst Caves Bromley 87 GLA 41 Klinger Pit, Foots Cray (deleted, formerly a RIGS) Bromley 90 GLA 42 Kenwood House Quarry Camden 91 GLA 43 Springfield Park, Hackney Hackney 94 GLA 44 Highgate Wood & Queens Wood Haringey 97 GLA 45 Bedfords Park, Havering Ridge Havering 100 GLA 46 Rainham Submerged Forest Havering 103 GLA 47 Rainham Quarry Complex Havering 105 GLA 48 Thames Foreshore, Isleworth Hounslow 107 GLA 49 Fairlop Quarry Complex (Hainault Quarry) Redbridge 109 GLA 50 Knighton Wood Redbridge 112 GLA 51 Parish's Pit, Erith Bexley 115 GLA 52 Bromley Palace Park, Pulhamite and St. Blaise's Well Bromley 118 GLA 53 Charmwood Farm Chalk Mine Bromley 121 GLA 54 Sundridge Park Manor Pulhamite grotto Bromley 123 ______________________________________________________________________________ 2 PROTECTING THE GEODIVERSITY OF THE CAPITAL Number Name Borough Page GLA 55 Trent Park Enfield 126 GLA 56 Bleak Hill Sandpit Greenwich 129 GLA 57 Wickham Lane Brick works Complex Greenwich 132 GLA 58 Coldfall Wood Haringey 135 GLA 59 Pole Hill Waltham Forest 138 GLA 60 Bourne Wood Thanet Sand Quarry Bromley 141 GLA 61 Spring Park, Threehalfpenny Wood, Sparrows Den Bromley and Croydon 144 GLA 62 Sipson Lane complex Hillingdon 147 GLA 63 Barn Hill, Wembley Brent 149 GLA 64 Waterlow Park, Highgate Camden 152 GLA 65 Old Gravel Pit, Blackheath (Vanbrugh Pits) Greenwich 155 GLA 66 Tripcock Ness Submerged Forest Greenwich 158 GLA 67 Summerhouse Lane Chalk Pit Hillingdon 160 GLA 68 Bedfont Lakes Hounslow 163 GLA 69 Wanstead Flats Redbridge 166 GLA 70 Richmond Park Richmond 169 GLA 71 Hollow Ponds, Leyton Flats (Snaresbrook Park) Waltham Forest 172 GLA 72 Monken Hadley Common Barnet 175 GLA 73 Greenwich Park Greenwich 178 GLA 74 Springwell Farm Hillingdon 182 GLA 75 Watts Common Hillingdon 185 GLA 76 Rockingham Anomaly Southwark 188 GLA 77 Park Hill Chalk Pit, Carshalton Sutton 192 GLA 78 Wimbledon Common Merton 195 GLA 79 Buckthorne Cutting Lewisham 198 References 202 Sites GLA 10, 11, 13, 16, 21, 23, 27 and 28 were originally described in the 2009 edition of London’s Foundations but were deleted in the 2012 edition in favour of better sites elsewhere. The map for each site was produced by GIGL (Greenspace Information for Greater London). They are based on Ordnance Survey 1:10,000 maps © Crown Copyright and database rights 2019 Ordnance Survey 100046223 GLA BGS – British Geological Survey MIS – Marine Isotope Stage, sometimes referred to as Oxygen Isotope Stages (OIS) MOL – Metropolitan Open Land LNR – Local Nature Reserve NNR – National Nature Reserve SAC – Special Area of Conservation SINC – Site of Importance for Nature Conservation (divided in Metropolitan, Borough Grade I and II, Local) ______________________________________________________________________________ PROTECTING THE GEODIVERSITY OF THE CAPITAL 3 GLA 1 Abbey Wood Grid Reference: TQ 480 786 [SE2 0AX] Site Type: Natural exposure Site Area (hectares): 6.89 Current use: Recreational land Site ownership: London Borough of Bexley Borough: London Borough of Bexley Field surveyor: Joanna Brayson Date: December 2007 Last visited: Diana Clements/Laurie Baker Date: March 2020 Other designation: LNR; Metropolitan SINC (Lesnes Current geological designation: SSSI Abbey Woods and Bostall Woods) Site Map OS Topography © Crown Copyright Stratigraphy and Rock Types Rock Unit: Lessness Shell Bed (Blackheath Beds, termed Blackheath Time Unit: Eocene Formation by Hooker, 2010; Blackheath Member of the Harwich Formation by the BGS); base of the Thames Group Details: Medium-fine-grained sand containing numerous black rounded Rock Type: Sand and Gravel pebbles with a mainly brackish fauna but including marine species and occasional bones of rare land mammals. Time Unit: Paleocene-Eocene Rock Unit: Lambeth Group Details: There is no evidence that the Lambeth Group underlies the SSSI, in fact for much of Lesnes Abbey Wood it seems that the Lambeth Group is Rock Type: Sand, silt and clay absent. The Blackheath Beds have channelled down through these strata and much of the Thanet Formation as well. The marine sand of the Upnor Formation has been located at Knee Hill. Time Unit: Paleocene Rock Unit: Thanet Formation (formerly Thanet Sand) Details: Glauconitic coated nodular flint at base, overlain by pale yellow- Rock Type: Sand brown, fine-grained sand that can be clayey and glauconitic. Can be seen at Chalky Dell (GLA 38) within Lesnes Abbey Woods ______________________________________________________________________________ 4 PROTECTING THE GEODIVERSITY OF THE CAPITAL Site Description Abbey Wood contains some of the most fossiliferous deposits in the Greater London area providing remains of a rare but diverse mammal assemblage of early Tertiary age. The deposits are also important for studies in the evolution of bird faunas. It also contains a large number of marine molluscs and sharks’ teeth. The site covers deposits of early Eocene age (Lesnes Shell Bed within the Blackheath (Beds) Formation). Excavations of these Beds have yielded an important mammalian fauna of 46 species of which 15 have been named for specimens from the site, described by Jerry Hooker (2010). Additional species are still being added during most excavations. This is comparable to sites in the Paris Basin, and contains elements resembling those of the Wasatchian faunas of North America. Upnor Formation (base of the Lambeth Group, latest Paleocene) and Thanet Formation are present but the Woolwich Formation (early Eocene) is cut out by the unconformity at the base of the Blackheath beds which represents incised channel fill. Over much of Lesnes Abbey Woods, the Upnor Formation is also cut out. This site also yields remains of one of only two birds described from the Paleocene of Great Britain. A lower mandible has been reconstructed as the holotype of Marinavis longirostris, which is the only bird of this type known from this period. It appears to have been a large Procellariiform sea bird and would seem to indicate a coastal fauna. The site has great potential in that it might help solve the problem of Procellariiform - Pelecaniform ancestry. Hooker, J.J. 2010. The mammal fauna of the Early Eocene Blackheath Formation of Abbey Wood, London. Monograph of the Palaeontographical Society. London. (Publ. No. 634, part of Vol. 154, 1-162). Information can be found on www.lesnesabbeywoods.org Assessment of Site Value Geodiversity topic: Palaeontology, sedimentology lithostratigraphy, evolution and palaeobiogeography. Access and Safety Aspect Description Paths run through the park and woods from the roadside. Fossil collecting Safety of access site is situated a short distance from a path in the woods and surface collecting is permitted. Fairly level and obstruction free. Fossil collecting area consists of a flat fenced off area with an open Safety of exposure entrance way. Safety procedures must be followed when excavating. The fossil beds can be visited at any time but if fossil collecting, you may remove no more than 2kgs of material from the site and do not dig more than two feet deep. Please refill any large or deep holes. Finds of Permission to visit vertebrate material should be taken to the Natural History Museum. All groups, schools and professional digs should contact the Council at least one month in advance to book their visit, please note there is a charge for this, email: [email protected] Current condition As an SSSI, the site is very well maintained by the park rangers. Current conflicting activities None. Excavation and group visits only by prior permission. Feature only visible Restricting conditions with excavation. Flat fenced off area within woods within which Palaeontology of the Nature of exposure Lessness Shell Bed can be excavated from the sediment. Culture, Heritage & Economic Aspect Description Rating The park in which the SSSI is situated also contains the remains Historic, archaeological & of Lesnes Abbey which was established in 1178. 10 literary associations Much research has been carried out on the site. The park provides an important green space within the local area and spectacular views towards Canary Wharf and beyond. A new Aesthetic landscape Centre, Lesnes Lodge, was opened in September 2017 with café 8 and toilet facilities as well as a hall used for events. The Green Chain Walk runs through the park. ______________________________________________________________________________ PROTECTING THE GEODIVERSITY OF THE CAPITAL 5 Evolution of early mammal and rare bird faunas; Procellariiform – History of Earth Sciences 8 Pelecaniform ancestry.