Neepsend Railway Cutting

Site of Special Scientific Interest · 53.4023, -1.4841

Condition (Natural England)

Unfavourable Recovering (3)
UnitFeatureConditionArea (ha)Assessed
SK343896 Unfavourable Recovering 1.51 2022-04-25
SK344892 Unfavourable Recovering 1.51 2022-04-25
SK345890 Unfavourable Recovering 1.51 2022-04-25

Geology & landscape

Geological Period: Carboniferous · Rock Type: Sandstone

Description

Area, 1.4 ha. 3.5 ac. Description The rock outcrops are within the eastern side of a railway cutting, to the north of the Sheffield conurbation. This is the best available exposure in the eastern Pennines area of the sequence between the Crawshaw Sandstone Formation and the Norton Coal lower Westphalian A Carboniferous. It shows a predominantly lacustrine sequence, with abundant non marine bivalves of the Carbonicola lenisulcata Biozone. There is also some evidence of the periodic marine incursions that characterize the lower Westphalian A sequence of northern Britain. It provides a valuable comparison with the coeval sequences found further to the west such as Goyt’s Moss and Upholland and allows a more complete palaeogeographical reconstruction to be achieved for this early part of the Westphalian. A site of considerable scientific interest.