High Close Farm, Snitterfield

Also within

Warwickshire County

Condition (Natural England)

Habitats

Fast flowing river and stream

Geology & landscape

Geological Period: Jurassic, Quaternary, Triassic

Landscape processes: Glacial

Description

Description High Close Farm lies approximately halfway between Warwick and Stratford upon Avon, two kilometres east of the village of Snitterfield. The site is a disused gravel pit now restored to agriculture. This site provides unique evidence for a large part of the classic Pleistocene stratigraphy of the Midlands, as described in the Coventry Rugby area. It shows a tripartite sequence which has been recognised over a wide area, comprising a thick basal gravel Baginton Lillington Gravel, an overlying sand Baginton Sand and a capping of clays and silts Wolston Series. The gravel at this site contains more Jurassic material than is typical, suggesting the involvement of a tributary to the main Baginton Gravel river. The upper deposit at Snitterfield is exceptional. It comprises strongly laminated possibly varved clay and silt, passing upwards into structureless clay near the modern land surface perhaps disturbed by soil processes. This laminated deposit would conventionally be attributed to deposition in Glacial Lake Harrison, which is thought to have covered a large part of the Midlands during the Wolstonian Glacial Period. Adjacent sections at Snitterfield were of major importance in the original descriptions of Lake Harrison, while the present site provides probably the best exposures of these glacio lacustrine deposits ever to have existed. There is considerable controversy at present about the glacial stratigraphy of the Midlands, the extent of Lake Harrison, or even whether a single large lake existed at any one time. The Snitterfield site provides vital evidence for the debate and will be of major significance for future research. Comparison to other sites in great Britain, High Close Farm, Snitterfield, Warwickshire The site at High Close Farm, Snitterfield was selected by the Geological Conservation Review GCR and forms part of the Quaternary of the Midlands block. The majority of the sites selected for this geological block represent the Quaternary drainage of Central England. The High Close Farm site is of national significance for several reasons. The course of the river that deposited the lower sands and gravels Baginton Formation is controversial, although it is generally agreed that it drained the Cotswold escarpment. This is demonstrated by the presence of reworked Jurassic material and Triassic sands originating from the Cotswolds. These Triassic sands also occur at the Waverley Wood Farm GCR site. The laminated deposits at the top of the High Close Farm sequence represent sedimentation into Lake Harrison, a feature associated with the Wolstonian Glaciation. The type site for the Wolstonian Glaciation is at Wolston, Warwickshire and the lake deposits at High Close Farm are the best example of lacustrine sedimentation associated with this glacial episode. These deposits comprise the Wolston formation.

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