Cotwall End Valley is a local nature reserve in

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

, England. It is about a mile south of

Sedgley Sedgley is a town in the north of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, Sedgley is on the A459 road between Wolverhampt ...

, in the

Metropolitan Borough of Dudley The Metropolitan Borough of Dudley is a metropolitan borough of West Midlands, England. It was created in 1974 following the Local Government Act 1972, through a merger of the existing Dudley County Borough with the municipal boroughs of Stourb ...

. It incorporates some of the grounds of

Ellowes Hall Ellowes Hall was a stately home located in Sedgley, Staffordshire (now West Midlands). It was built in 1821 in parkland near Lower Gornal village as the home of wealthy local ironmonger John Fereday and his family. Over the next 100 years or more ...

, a stately home built in the early 19th century and demolished in 1964, which has led to the wooded part of the valley being known locally as "Ellowes Hall Wood".

Description

It was declared a local nature reserve (LNR) by

Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council is the local authority for Dudley metropolitan borough. It is more commonly known as Dudley Council or Dudley MBC. The present authority was formed as a result of further reorganisation of local government ...

in 1990. It is also a

Site of Importance for Nature Conservation Site of Nature Conservation Interest (SNCI), Site of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINC) and regionally important geological site (RIGS) are designations used by local authorities in the United Kingdom for sites of substantive local nature ...

. The reserve, area , contains

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur natur ...

, woodland including

ancient woodland In the United Kingdom, an ancient woodland is a woodland that has existed continuously since 1600 or before in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (or 1750 in Scotland). Planting of woodland was uncommon before those dates, so a wood present in 16 ...

, and

lowland heath Lowland heath is a Biodiversity Action Plan habitat as it is a type of ancient wild landscape. Natural England's Environmental Stewardship scheme describes lowland heath as containing dry heath, wet heath and valley mire communities, usually below ...

. Some of the flora and fauna is rare nationally."Cotwall End LNR"
''

Natural England Natural England is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. It is responsible for ensuring that England's natural environment, including its land, flora and fauna, ...

''. Retrieved 26 July 2020."Cotwall End Local Nature Reserve"
Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council. Retrieved 26 July 2020.

Geology

The valley is on two branches of a major

geological fault In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust result from the action of plate tectonic ...

at the edge of the South Staffordshire coalfield, and so there is great geological diversity. These features, meeting the criteria specified by the

Global Geoparks Network UNESCO Global Geoparks (UGGp) are geoparks certified by the UNESCO Global Geoparks Council as meeting all the requirements for belonging to the Global Geoparks Network (GGN). The GGN is both a network of geoparks and the agency of the United Nati ...

, make it a

geosite Geoheritage is the geological aspect of natural and cultural heritage. A geosite is a particular geoheritage asset. The word is a blend of ''geological'' and ''heritage''. It is thus a heritage category comparable to other forms of natural her ...

within the

Black Country Geopark The Black Country UNESCO Global Geopark is a geopark in the Black Country, a part of the West Midlands region of England. Having previously been an ‘aspiring Geopark’, it was awarded UNESCO Global Geopark status on 10 July 2020. Geology The ...

. Turner's Hill, within the reserve at , area , is a

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...

for its geology: important strata of the late

Silurian The Silurian ( ) is a geologic period and system spanning 24.6 million years from the end of the Ordovician Period, at million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Devonian Period, Mya. The Silurian is the shortest period of the Paleozo ...

period can be seen."Turner's Hill SSSI"
''

''. Retrieved 27 July 2020.

References

{{Reflist

External links

''Countryside walks in Dudley: Cotwall End Valley'' (leaflet)
Local Nature Reserves in the West Midlands (county) Forests and woodlands of the West Midlands (county) Parks and open spaces in the West Midlands (county) Geology of the West Midlands (county) Metropolitan Borough of Dudley