Priory Woods

Also within

Isle of Wight County

Condition (Natural England)

Climate exposure

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

Habitats

Fast flowing river and stream

Geology & landscape

Geological Feature: Raised Beach · Geological Period: Paleogene, Quaternary

Landscape processes: Coastal, Fluvial, Periglacial

Description

Description Priory Woods is located on the eastern side of the Isle of Wight, just north of Bembridge Harbour. Exposures in Priory Woods reveal Pleistocene gravels overlying Eocene Bembridge Marls. The gravels here contain a prolific Acheulian Palaeolithic industry, the richest known on the Isle of Wight. The origin of the gravel deposits remains debatable, with both fluvial and beach/marine environments being proposed. In addition the site provides an important comparison with the nearby Bembridge raised beach side sequence, which is at a lower topographic elevation. Priory Woods is a site of national scientific importance on account of the occurrence of Palaeolithic tools within cliff gravels and their relationship to the sedimentary succession at Bembridge raised beach. Explanatory Geological Note The purpose of this note is to describe the nature and importance of the site, avoiding specialist terms, for the site owner and/or occupier. This note does not form part of the formal notification documents. Priory Woods, Isle of Wight, The site consists of an area of 2.94 hectares which includes the land between the edge of the cliff top Priory Bay and the break in slope at the top of the vegetated scar within Priory Woods. The scientific interest lies in the gravels which are generally poorly exposed although an excavation was carried out in 1986 by a team from Cambridge University. The gravels lie on top of rocks known as Bembridge Marls which belong to the division of geological time known as the Eocene Period. Overlying the gravels is a layer of very fine grained siltstones, known as brickearth. During the last century, hand tools used by people of the Old Stone Age were found on the beach of Priory Bay. The source of these tools was eventually traced to the gravels washed from the cliff top. These were found to be the most prolific source of Palaeolithic = Old Stone Age tools on the Isle of Wight. The Palaeolithic equates in part with the division of geological time known as the Hoxnian Stage of the Pleistocene Period. This began approximately 330 thousand years ago. The environment in which the gravels were deposited is not fully understood because the gravels lack any sedimentary structures which would give a clue as to how they were deposited. All primary structures were lost during a period when the gravels were subjected to frost heave and solifluction during a period of very cold climate at the height of an ice advance. At present it is considered that they could represent a raised beach or river deposits. Further research on these gravels is required in order to develop a better understanding of their origins, the environment and geography of this part of southern England during the Pleistocene Period, as well as adding to our knowledge of early humans in the area.

Plant communities