Burrington Combe (SSSI)
Location and Access Information
Grid Reference: ST 478583
The gorge at Burrington Coombe is cut
through Lower Carboniferous limestone.
Burrington Combe is located on the northern flank of the Mendip Hills 3km to the west of the village of Blagdon. The B3134 to Cheddar runs through the combe and provides easy access to the area. Car parking is available at the northern end of the coombe, where a board provides information on the interest of the site.
View the site map on Nature on the Map
.
Geological Interest
The steep-sided valley of Burrington Combe is cut into the Carboniferous Limestone that forms the main bulk of the Mendip Hills. The Combe is a dry-valley that would have originally been cut by river action during the arctic conditions of the Ice Age when the frozen ground would have supported surface streams. The valley is comparable in many ways with the nearby and larger Cheddar Gorge and shows a close relationship to geological structure. Sinking streams disappear along the boundary between the Carboniferous Limestone and the underlying shales. There are also a number of caves within the Carboniferous Limestone that are intersected by the gorge.
