Access to this reserve is RESTRICTED. The quarry face is very high and precipitous and unstable in places. There are several viewing places around the reserve marked with a ‘V’ on the reserve map.

Description

The quarry lies in the large block of woodland known as Lord's Wood, which itself lies at the southern end of the Doward and fills the whole of the dramatic horse-shoe bend of the River Wye as it winds through the Wye Gorge. The wood was already enclosed in the 18th century, but it was not until the 20th century that limestone extraction became an important industry here. A small quarry operated here around 1938 for a short time, with the limestone being taken to nearby lime kilns for burning. The main quarry was not opened up until 1952, when the woodland covering the area was felled. The extracted limestone was taken to the crushing machines situated in the nearby Trust reserve at King Arthur's Cave. Quarrying operations finally ceased about 1970. Geologically the site is interesting because the quarry is excavated into the upper part of the Carboniferous Limestone and displays massive tilted limestone beds. Contact with magnesium-rich waters has converted most of this limestone into the dolomitic form containing magnesium rather than calcium carbonate.

There are three main habitats within the quarry. The sheer, SE-facing cliffs, some in full sun and some in permanent shade, have fissures which are gradually being colonised by young Ash trees, while mosses and lichens find a foothold on the vertical walls. Kestrels have bred on the cliff ledges. The tumbled piles of limestone blocks at the foot of the cliffs have been more rapidly colonised by Ash, Wild Clematis, Evening Primrose, Ploughman's Spikenard and Wood Sage. The rocky floor of the quarry and associated rubble heaps have all the above species, together with St. John's Wort and Blue Fleabane, plus common weedy species like Dandelion and various thistles. The quarry floor acts as a sheltered sun-trap and is attractive to butterflies, like the Small Copper and nymphalids like the Small Tortoiseshell and Peacock. The fringe of woodland around the reserve, mainly Beech, harbours a variety of fungi in Autumn, including the Magpie inkcap.

Little direct management is envisaged, the main conservation interest of the site being in the rate of colonisation by invading native plants. Alien tree species have been removed. In 1988, six years after the Trust acquired the site, plants were recorded along a line transect. Repeats of this exercise at intervals will give some indication of the speed and stages of colonisation of the vegetation from bare rock.

Freehold purchased in 1982. The reserve is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

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