Grid Ref: SK975685
Status: Site of Nature Conservation Importance (Lincolnshire Trust)
Regionally Important Geological Site (Lincolnshire Trust)
Bracebridge Old Clay Pit is a 4.5ha disused clay working being colonised by scrub
and rough
grassland. It has been designated as Critical Natural Asset for the following reasons:
1) The site is one
of only 3 geologically important sites in Lincoln. It is one of 7 sites in
Lincoln predominantly consisting of scrub and represents 27% of Lincoln's scrub habitat.
2) The site has
regionally important geological features. The high walls of the quarry,
currently scrub covered, include a full sequence of Upper Lias Clays. Fossils include
ammonites and large belemnites, and there are bands of septarian nodules in the shales.
The site suffers from landslips.
3) The site is linked
to the Cross O' Cliff Orchard SNCI and provides semi-natural habitat in
an area of the City (the south-west) that is otherwise impoverished of such interest.
Landscape Value
Together with the adjoining Bennett's Field and Old Orchard comprises a wooded hillside
site
which, as an extension of the Lincoln Cliff Area of Great Landscape Value designated by North
Kesteven District Council, helps to define the line of the Lincoln Edge, an essential part of the
character of the city and proposed for protection in the form of a Green Wedge. The whole of the
site is the subject of the Cross O'Cliff Hill No.1 Tree Preservation Order 1986.