Gog Magog Hills
Location and Access Information
Grid Reference: TL 490540
The Gog Magog Hills are located on the south-eastern outskirts of Cambridge. The rights of way that cross these undulating chalk hills are best accessed from the Country Park at Wandlebury, 7km south of Cambridge City centre, just off the A1307.
View the site map on Nature on the Map
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Geological Interest
The Gog Magog Hills mark the northern edge of the extensive outcrop of Cretaceous (65-142 million years ago) Chalk which outcrops in a broad swathe from Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, via the Chilterns and then through north Essex, central Suffolk and east Norfolk. While this almost pure, white limestone forms the bedrock to a large part of south-east England it is in many places overlain by clays, sands and gravels deposited by the repeated advances and retreats of the ice sheets of the Ice Age over the past 1.5 million years. Where, however, the chalk is close to, or at the surface, it gives rise to thin, calcareous soils which support characteristic chalk grassland and plants such as harebell and lady's bedstraw. Examples of this vegetation can be seen along the tracks crossing the Gog Magog Hills and on the ancient earthworks of Wandlebury.
