Brimble Pit and Cross Swallet Basins
geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Somerset, England
Brimble Pit and Cross Swallet Basins (grid reference ST512505) is a 154.3 hectare (381.3 acre) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest between Wookey Hole and Priddy in the Mendip Hills, Somerset, notified in 1987.
The site covers the two adjacent karstic basins draining into Brimble Pit and Cross Swallet. These are the two best defined of the belt of large shallow closed depressions which account for the total Topography along the southern edge of the Mendip Hills. The Brimble Pit depression has a large old lake sediment floor now pitted with sinkholes, while the Cross Swallet Basin feeds to a single active sinkhole around which are well preserved terraces of both rock and sediment. Both depressions have marginal cols feeding to overflow channels now permanently dry. The site also contains important Pleistocene/Quaternary mammal remains within
sediments infilling former caverns exposed on the north east face of Westbury Quarry.
The swallet was excavated by William Stanton between 1991 & 1992 for spelaeological purposes. However, archaeological material was discovered, leading Stanton to separate the deposits he was removing and examine them for archaeological material, which included 42 sherds of Grooved Ware pottery and a polished greenstone axehead.
The area is included in the Cook's Fields Nature Reserve run by the Somerset Wildlife Trust.
The Site of Special Scientific Interest is divided into units by Natural England.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Brimble Pit and Cross Swallet Basins” as geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Somerset, England. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the science & nature register because the source frames it as geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Somerset, England. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4968107. Authority coordinates are 51.252, -2.701. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1987, 1991 and 1992.
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This entry incorporates text from “Brimble Pit and Cross Swallet Basins” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.