Cold Ash Quarry
Protected area in Berkshire, England
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cold Ash Quarry is a 0.4-hectare (0.99-acre) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest north of Newbury in Berkshire.[1][2] It is a Geological Conservation Review site.[3][4]
| Site of Special Scientific Interest | |
View towards Cold Ash Quarry | |
  Location within Berkshire | |
| Location | Berkshire |
|---|---|
| Grid reference | SU 500 714[1] |
| Coordinates | 51.439°N 1.282°W |
| Interest | Geological |
| Area | 0.4 hectares (0.99 acres)[1] |
| Notification | 1984[1] |
| Location map | Magic Map |
The quarry is unique in Britain for the collection of fossil plants and insects which occur in a layer of silt and clay within the Reading Beds. The fossils date to about 60 million years ago. The fossil flora consists of well-preserved angiosperm leaves, in some of these fossils there is evidence of the activity of contemporary leaf-miner insects. This is the only location in Britain at which fossil leaf-miner activity have been discovered.[5]
The site is private land with no public access.