Barnack Hills & Holes National Nature Reserve

Barnack Hills & Holes is a 23.3-hectare (58-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Barnack in Cambridgeshire. It is also a national nature reserve. It is a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I. In 2002 it was designated as a Special Area of Conservation, to protect the orchid-rich grassland as part of the Natura 2000 network of sites throughout the European Union. Arising from the rubble of a medieval quarry, the Hills and Holes is one of Britain’s most important wildlife sites. Covering an area of just 50 acres (22 ha), the grassy slopes are home to a profusion of wild flowers. This type of meadowland is now all too rare; half of the surviving limestone grassland in Cambridgeshire is found here. In 2002 it was designated as a Special Area of Conservation, to protect the orchid-rich grassland as part of the Natura 2000 network of sites throughout the European Union. The hummocky landscape was created by quarrying for limestone. Barnack stone, was a valuable building stone first exploited by the Romans over 1,500 years ago. Stone from Barnack was used to build Peterborough and Ely Cathedrals. By the year 1500 however, all the useful stone had been removed and the bare heaps of limestone rubble gradually became covered by the rich carpet of wild flowers that can be seen today. The limestone was originally formed in Jurassic times. It is made from the remains

NatureReserve data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).