Comley Quarry

Also within

Shropshire County Shropshire Hills Scenic Area

Condition (Natural England)

Geology & landscape

Geological Period: Cambrian

Description

Area, 2.023 ha. 5 ac. Description This is one of Britain’s most important geological and palaeontological sites, illustrating part of the Lower and Middle Cambrian rock sequence. The fossil faunas, particularly those of the Comley Limestones, are abundant and diverse and provide a British standard sequence with which other faunas can be compared. This locality is also historically important, having yielded the first British Lower Cambrian fossil to Lapworth, proving for the first time that rocks of this age are present in Britain and demonstrating their position relative to other Cambrian rocks. The faunas provide a basis for correlating the British Lower and Middle Cambrian succession with North America, Scandinavia and Central Europe.