Cold Ash Quarry is a geological
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...
north of
Newbury in
Berkshire
Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...
.
It is a
Geological Conservation Review site.
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
Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...
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.
The site is private land with no public access.
References
{{SSSIs Berks
Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Berkshire
Geological Conservation Review sites