Withow Gap, Skipsea

Site of Special Scientific Interest · 53.9744, -0.1982

Condition (Natural England)

Favourable (1)
UnitFeatureConditionArea (ha)Assessed
TA182546 Favourable 8.72 2024-04-04

Climate exposure

This is about exposure to a nationwide pressure this habitat type carries — not a verdict on this site's own management.

Coastal

Coastal habitats are exposed to sea-level rise and storm erosion. Where hard sea defences sit behind them, there's nowhere landward to retreat to — a squeeze that keeps compressing the habitat no matter how well it's managed.

Geology & landscape

Landscape processes: Coastal, Glacial

Description

Area, 7.8 hectares 19.3 ac Description Withow Gap, Skipsea is an important site for the interpretation of Late Devensian glacial and Flandrian post glacial environmental history in Holderness. The unique feature of the site is the exposure in a coastal section of a sequence of mere deposits which occupies a hollow in the Late Devensian Skipsea till. This provides an unusual opportunity to see the complete stratigraphy, its lateral variations and the complexity of the geomorphological processes that operated at the former lake margin. Both the coastal section and the subsurface aspects of the hollow inland are invaluable for research and education and the site has yielded a considerable volume of palaeo environmental data from studies of pollen, plant macrofossils, molluscs and lithostratigraphy. Other Information The site is identified as being of national importance in the Geological Conservation Review.