Creswell Crags
Also within
Condition (Natural England)
| Unit | Feature | Condition | Area (ha) | Assessed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SK534741 | — | Favourable | 4.77 | 2021-11-11 |
| SK534743 | — | Favourable | 7.62 | 2021-11-11 |
| SK535740 | — | Favourable | 5.87 | 2021-11-11 |
| SK537742 | — | Favourable | 0.98 | 2021-11-11 |
| SK539743 | — | Favourable | 0.21 | 2021-11-11 |
Geology & landscape
Geological Feature: Cave / Cavern, Gorge / Ravine · Geological Period: Quaternary
Landscape processes: Fluvial, Karst
Description
Area, 21.3 ha. 52.6 ac. Description Creswell Crags is a site of national and international importance for Quaternary studies. It provides exposures and an in situ reserve of crucial Pleistocene cave deposits, together with associated subaerial and fluvial sediments filling the open Creswell gorge. The celebrated cave deposits have yielded prolific mammalian remains as well as Palaeolithic artefacts. They are thought to afford a complete stratigraphical record from 'Middle Palaeolithic' to early post Palaeolithic times, which makes them of considerable importance both to Quarternary geology and to archaeology. The 'working out' of many of the caves by earlier palaeontologists has made the conservation of any remaining unexploited cave earths of critical importance. The associated gorge fill deposits, although yielding mammalian and molluscan faunas, are as yet poorly researched, but they are certain to be the subject of in depth studies in an attempt to relate them to the cave sediments. They may provide important information for the evaluation of the Pleistocene record in the Creswell caves and are therefore worthy of conservation as part of the Creswell Crags site. Creswell Crags is one of the three richest sites in Britain for fossil mammals. Both the sediments in the caves and in the valley slopes below the caves have yielded prolific mammal remains, including spotted hyaena, woolly rhino, reindeer and mammoth. The presence of further in situ deposits offers significant potential not only for dating fossil assemblages but also for correlations with lithostratigraphy and other biostratigraphic records. In addition, Creswell Crags provides an unparalleled record of fossil fish and bird faunas.