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Burrington Combe
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 Augustus Montague Toplady was inspired to write the hymn ''Rock of Ages'' while sheltering under a rock in the combe, although recent scholars have disputed this claim. Geology Water draining from Black Down has exposed rocks from the Devonian sandstones of the Portishead Formation which show through the limestone, Carbon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Top Of Burrington Combe - Geograph
A spinning top, or simply a top, is a toy with a squat body and a sharp point at the bottom, designed to be spun on its vertical axis, balancing on the tip due to the gyroscopic effect. Once set in motion, a top will usually wobble for a few seconds, spin upright for a while, then start to wobble again with increasing amplitude as it loses energy, and finally tip over and roll on its side. Tops exist in many variations and materials, chiefly wood, metal, and plastic, often with a metal tip. They may be set in motion by twirling a handle with the fingers, by pulling a rope coiled around the body, or by means of a built-in auger (spiral plunger). Such toys have been used since antiquity in solitary or competitive games, where each player tries to keep one's top spinning for as long as possible, or achieve some other goal. Some tops have faceted bodies with symbols or inscriptions, and are used like dice to inject randomness into games, or for divination and ritual purp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Triassic
The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 Mya. The Triassic is the first and shortest period of the Mesozoic Era. Both the start and end of the period are marked by major extinction events. The Triassic Period is subdivided into three epochs: Early Triassic, Middle Triassic and Late Triassic. The Triassic began in the wake of the Permian–Triassic extinction event, which left the Earth's biosphere impoverished; it was well into the middle of the Triassic before life recovered its former diversity. Three categories of organisms can be distinguished in the Triassic record: survivors from the extinction event, new groups that flourished briefly, and other new groups that went on to dominate the Mesozoic Era. Reptiles, especially archosaurs, were the chief terrestrial vertebrates during this time. A specialized subgroup of archo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Read's Cavern
Read's Cavern is a cave at Burrington Combe 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 ..., Somerset, England, in which traces of Iron Age occupation have been found. It lies under Dolbury Hill. Its large main chamber has a boulder ruckle floor and is parallel to a cliff face. The cave was excavated by the University of Bristol Spelæological Society (UBSS) in the 1920s, when relics of Iron Age occupation were found. The UBSS excavation followed the removal of 21 tonnes of limestone material below a cliff where a stream sinks. Among the finds were ironwork described as slave shackles. After its discovery, the cave was first known as ''Keltic'' or ''Celtic Cavern'' until the Ordnance Survey decided that it should be known as Read's Cavern, after Mr. R. F. Read, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bath Swallet
Bath Swallet is a karst cave in Burrington Combe on the Mendip Hills The Mendip Hills (commonly called the Mendips) is a range of limestone hills to the south of Bristol and Bath in Somerset, England. Running from Weston-super-Mare and the Bristol Channel in the west to the Frome valley in the east, the hills ... in Somerset, England. On Wednesday 19 September 2007 members of the Wessex Cave Club and Cheddar Caving Club succeeded in connecting Bath Swallet and Rod's Pot. It had been anticipated that the upward dig in Bath would connect with the end of 'Purple Passage' in Rod's Pot and this proved to be true. This creates what is probably Mendip's third longest through trip. See also * Caves of the Mendip Hills References Caves of the Mendip Hills Limestone caves {{Somerset-geo-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rod's Pot
Rod's Pot is a limestone cave above Burrington Combe in the Mendip Hills, in Somerset, England. The cave was first excavated in 1944 by the University of Bristol Spelæological Society. It is one of a line of swallets marking the junction of the Limestone shales with the Carboniferous Limestones where water running off the Old Red Sandstone of Blackdown finds its way underground. Further excavation has now linked Rod's Pot to nearby Bath Swallet. The cave was originally known as Pearce's Pot after Rodney Pearce. Main features Rod's Pot is formed mainly of vertical rift passages, probably in the original joints in the limestone which have been enlarged by water action. The north wall of the main chamber is a continuation of the main chamber in Read's Cave, a quarter mile to the west. The entry chamber divides into two passages about high and long. They merge again at the top of a deep vertical pothole which is a dead end. From the top of the pothole a long passage ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Goatchurch Cavern
Goatchurch Cavern is a cave on the edge of Burrington Combe in the limestone of the Mendip Hills, in Somerset, England. Description Due to early attempts to turn it into a show cave, there are remains of iron handrails inside the cave and a large amount of decoration throughout the cave. Many of the surfaces within are highly polished and slippery, as a result of numbers visiting over many decades, which have also damaged the decoration. The cave is especially popular for training people who are new to caving. This is due to its easy access and wide range of experiences that do not necessitate the use of special equipment such as ropes or ladders. The two entrances to the cave enable cavers to do a through trip. History The earliest written record of this cave was in 1736 when John Strachey of Sutton Court at nearby Stowey made reference to "guy Hole" or "Goechurch". In 1829 John Rutter wrote about the large cave and in 1864 William Boyd Dawkins referred to it as "The Go ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sidcot Swallet
Sidcot Swallet is a cave near Burrington Combe, in the Carboniferous Limestone of the Mendip Hills, in Somerset, England. It was named after the Sidcot School Speleological Society who explored it in 1925. 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. After Goatchurch Cavern Goatchurch Cavern is a cave on the edge of Burrington Combe in the limestone of the Mendip Hills, in Somerset, England. Description Due to early attempts to turn it into a show cave, there are remains of iron handrails inside the cave and a ..., Sidcot Swallet is probably the most popular cave on Mendip for novice parties. What it lacks in length or depth is adequately compensated for by its sporty squeezes and narrow crawls. Despite its popularity, many calcite formations still remain intact in the farthest reaches of the cav ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aveline's Hole
Aveline's Hole is a cave at Burrington Combe in the limestone of the Mendip Hills, in Somerset, England. The earliest scientifically dated cemetery in Britain, 10,200 and 10,400 years old, was found at Aveline's Hole, constituting the largest assemblage of Mesolithic human remains found in Britain. Much of the collection has been lost due to pillaging, poorly recorded investigation and war, and although more than fifty individuals are represented, there are only two complete skeletons. Perforated animal teeth, red ochre and seven pieces of fossil ammonite, suggest that some of the bodies were adorned. 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. The pattern is said to be comparable with others known from Northern France, Germany and Denmark. A gate has been installed in the cave to protect the engraving, after consultations between English Heritage and other intere ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caves Of The Mendip Hills
The caves of the Mendip Hills are formed by the particular geology of the Mendip Hills: large areas of limestone worn away by water makes it a national centre for caving. The hills conceal the largest underground river system in Britain. Geology The hills consist of anticlines of Carboniferous Limestone lying over Devonian Old Red Sandstone, with the sandstone exposed on the summits. When a surface stream running off the sandstone reaches the limestone it sinks below ground through a " swallet", (also known locally as a "slocker"), continuing on its way down towards sea level by enlarging existing cracks in the rock to form caves, and reappearing at the base of the limestone outcrop. As the water changes route within the hill some caves (or parts of caves) are left dry. There is a characteristic type of Mendip cave, in which there is an initially steep descent, and then a more level stretch ending in a "sump" as the cave reaches and descends below the prevailing water table. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Upper Paleolithic
The Upper Paleolithic (or Upper Palaeolithic) is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. Very broadly, it dates to between 50,000 and 12,000 years ago (the beginning of the Holocene), according to some theories coinciding with the appearance of behavioral modernity in early modern humans, until the advent of the Neolithic Revolution and agriculture. Anatomically modern humans (i.e. ''Homo sapiens'') are believed to have emerged in Africa around 300,000 years ago, it has been argued by some that their ways of life changed relatively little from that of archaic humans of the Middle Paleolithic, until about 50,000 years ago, when there was a marked increase in the diversity of Artefact (archaeology), artefacts found associated with modern human remains. This period coincides with the most common date assigned to early human migrations, expansion of modern humans from Africa throughout Asia and Eurasia, which contributed to the Neanderthal extinction, ex ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second principal period of the three-age system proposed in 1836 by Christian Jürgensen Thomsen for classifying and studying ancient societies and history. An ancient civilization is deemed to be part of the Bronze Age because it either produced bronze by smelting its own copper and alloying it with tin, arsenic, or other metals, or traded other items for bronze from production areas elsewhere. Bronze is harder and more durable than the other metals available at the time, allowing Bronze Age civilizations to gain a technological advantage. While terrestrial iron is naturally abundant, the higher temperature required for smelting, , in addition to the greater difficulty of working with the metal, placed it out of reach of common use until the end o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cemeteries
A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a burial ground and originally applied to the Roman catacombs. The term ''graveyard'' is often used interchangeably with cemetery, but a graveyard primarily refers to a burial ground within a churchyard. The intact or cremated remains of people may be interred in a grave, commonly referred to as burial, or in a tomb, an "above-ground grave" (resembling a sarcophagus), a mausoleum, columbarium, niche, or other edifice. In Western cultures, funeral ceremonies are often observed in cemeteries. These ceremonies or rites of passage differ according to cultural practices and religious beliefs. Modern cemeteries often include crematoria, and some grounds previously used for both, continue as crematoria as a principal use long after the interment areas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
