Halecombe

Halecombe, gbmapping|ST697474 is a limestone quarry near Leigh-on-Mendip on the Mendip Hills, Somerset, England.

The quarry exhibits pale to dark grey well-bedded Carboniferous Limestone, about 350-320 million years old, dipping steeply and consistently northwards and numerous “fist-sized” calcite inclusions within the limestones both solid and hollow with internal calcite crystal growth. There are abundant near-vertical fissures and joints in the limestone with varying amounts of calcite mineralization and tufa growth around groundwater seepages. [cite web | title=Halecombe Quarry Geodiversity | url=http://www.somerset.gov.uk/somerset/ete/countryside/geodiversity/index.cfm?override=subtopic&infoid=4654 | work=Somerset County Council | accessdate=2007-02-02] There are abundant shelly fossils and corals.

Quarrying activity was initiated at Halecombe at the time of the Second World War. It had been worked under private ownership until purchased by Hobbs in the 1960’s; subsequently worked by Wimpey Hobbs following their amalgamation in the early 1980’s and by Tarmac Ltd from the early 1990’s. It is now owned by Anglo American. [cite web | title=Halecombe Quarry, Leigh upon Mendip, Nr Frome | url=http://www.somerset.gov.uk/somerset/media/7083B/Geodiversity%20-%20HALECOMBE-REPORT.pdf | work=Geodiversity Audit of Active Aggregate Quarries | accessdate=2007-02-02]

References

See also

* Quarries of the Mendip Hills