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.

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831 m

Town Kelloe Bank

Town Kelloe Bank is a Site of Special Scientific Interest in County Durham, England. It is situated to the south of The Bottoms SSSI and just north of the village of Town Kelloe. The site has an important expanse of primary magnesian limestone grassland, in which the dominant blue moor-grass, Sesleria albicans, is associated with species such as quaking grass, Briza media, glaucous sedge, Carex flacca, and meadow oat-grass, Avenula pratensis. The site holds the largest known population of bird's-eye primrose, Primula farinosa, in County Durham. Other plants that are largely confined to northern limestone areas include butterwort, Pinguicula vulgaris, maidenhair spleenwort, Asplenium trichomanes, and grass of Parnassus, Parnassia palustris. The site has a breeding population of the Durham argus butterfly, Aricia artaxerxes salmacis.

Hiking Landmark

Wingate Quarry

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.

Landmark Park

Thornley, Durham

See also Thornley in Weardale. Thornley is a village and civil parish in County Durham, England, about 5 miles (9 km) to the east of Durham and 5 miles (7 km) west of Peterlee. The community grew around a coal mine established in 1835, which remained open until 1970.

Industrial Landmark

1.5 km

Town Kelloe

Town Kelloe is a small village in County Durham, in England. It is situated a short distance to the east of Kelloe.

Landmark Neighbourhood