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Wingate Quarry is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in the County Durham district of east County Durham, England.
Part of the site is also a Local Nature Reserve
It is a disused quarry located just south of the village of Wheatley Hill.
The quarry was worked for Magnesian Limestone until the 1930s, when it closed. Since then a large and varied grassland has developed on the site. Magnesian limestone grassland is nationally scarce, with this site accounting for close to 8 per cent of the national total. As well as species that are characteristic of this vegetation type, there are also two orchids, fragrant orchid, Gymnadenia conopsea, and frog orchid, Coeloglossum viride, both of which are uncommon in County Durham.
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1.1 km
Deaf Hill
Deaf Hill is a village in County Durham, England. It is situated a short distance to the east of Trimdon Colliery. The origin of the name is not known. The alternative name for the village is Trimdon Station.
Locally Deaf Hill is thought to have been originally called Death Hill, the name originating from a belief that if children were passed through the fork of a sycamore tree in the area they would be cured of diphtheria, however they died and the spot was called Death Hill. The name was changed as more people settled there.
According to Trimdon Snippets, "No one can really find out the origin of the word Deaf Hill. The nearest solution I think is when land did not yield much, it was called "deef" or dead (deed) land". The rising land behind the pit is called Sleepy Hill.
1.2 km
Old Wingate
Old Wingate is a small village in County Durham, in England. It is situated a short distance to the west of Wingate. Most of the village was deserted in the Middle Ages.
1.3 km
Wheatley Hill
Wheatley Hill is a village in County Durham, in England. It is situated to the west of Peterlee, near Thornley and Wingate. Until 2009, it was part of Easington District.
1.3 km
The Bottoms (SSSI)
The Bottoms is a Site of Special Scientific Interest in County Durham, England. It lies just south of the A181 road, roughly midway between the Cassop and Wheatley Hill villages, some 10 km south-east of Durham city.
The site's interest lies in unimproved magnesian limestone grassland, where blue moor-grass, Sesleria albicans, and small scabious, Scabiosa columbaria, are the dominant species. This is a scarce vegetation type found only in County Durham, and the extent of which has been severely reduced by quarrying and intensive agriculture.
Other grasses that are frequent in the sward include meadow oat-grass, Avenula pratensis, quaking grass, Briza media, sheep's fescue, Festuca ovina, crested hairgrass, and Koeleria macrantha. There is a rich variety of herbs, including rock-rose, Helianthemum nummularium, glaucous sedge, Carex flacca, spring sedge, C. caryophyllea, and mouse-ear hawkweed, Pilosella officinarum, and a small population of purple milk-vetch, Astragalus danicus, a local rarity on magnesian limestone.