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Cheddar Gorge is a limestone gorge in the Mendip Hills, near the village of Cheddar in Somerset. Within the gorge are the Cheddar show caves, where Britain's oldest complete human skeleton, Cheddar Man, estimated to be 9,000 years old, was found in 1903. Older remains from the Upper Late Palaeolithic era (12,000–13,000 years ago) have been found. The caves, produced by the activity of an underground river, contain stalactites and stalagmites.
On top of Cheddar Gorge looking out over Somerset towards the Bristol Channel. The 'mirror' in the landscape is Cheddar Reservoir, with the mist coming down over the Somerset floodplain..
Cheddar Gorge, Somerset, England.
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If you come to England expecting canyons you will be disappointed . Cheddar Gorge is about the closest to a canyon we can manage.At almost 450 feet deep and three miles long, this is England’s largest gorge, and with its weathered crags and pinnacles, one of our most spectacular natural sights.
Cheddar is a Limestone gorge lying on the southern edge of the Mendip Hills. The maximum depth of the gorge is 449 ft, with a near-vertical cliff-face to the south, and steep grassy slopes to the north. The B3135 road runs along the bottom of the gorge.
The area is underlain by Black Rock slate, Burrington Oolite and Clifton Down Limestone of the Carboniferous Limestone Series, which contain ooliths and fossil debris, on top of Old Red Sandstone and by dolomitic conglomerate of the Keuper. Evidence for Variscan orogeny is seen in the sheared rock and cleaved shales. In many places weathering of these strata has resulted in the formation of immature calcareous soils.
The gorge was formed by meltwater floods during the cold periglacial periods which have occurred over the last 1.2 million years. During the ice ages, permafrost blocked the caves with ice and frozen mud and made the limestone impermeable. When this melted during the summers, water was forced to flow on the surface, and carved out the gorge. During warmer periods, the water flowed underground through the permeable limestone, creating the caves and leaving the gorge dry, so that today much of the gorge has no river until the underground Cheddar Yeo river emerges in the lower part from Gough's Cave.
The gorge is the site of the Cheddar show caves, where Britain's oldest complete human skeleton, Cheddar Man, estimated to be 9,000 years old, was found in 1903. Older remains from the Upper Late Palaeolithic era (12,000–13,000 years ago) have been found. The caves, produced by the activity of an underground river, contain stalactites and stalagmites. The gorge is part of a Site of Special Scientific Interest called Cheddar Complex.
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The rock formation that is known as King Solomons Temple deep underground in Cheddar Gorge Caves in the Mendip Hills. When the cave system was closed over the pandemic a new light and air filtration system was installed to really light up some of the formations. This one is a giant and is one of the biggest formations and caverns in the whole cave system.
One from a few weeks ago at the top of Cheddar Gorge. This is a bit of a contrast to my 'other' picture of the Gorge, taken in February when everything looks so barren.
Hope you're all enjoying the extended weekend!
A 5 image pano stitch of Cheddar Gorge looking down through the gorge towards the village of Cheddar and beyond across the Someset levels.
Nikon D7000 Sigma 10-20mm
Thank you for looking.
Decided it was about time I went and took some shots of the Gorge, seeing as I drive through it twice a day!
Also a good opportunity to try the new tripod and continue my learning curve with the ND filters.
This shot was taken from quite a precarious perch up the steep slope opposite the bend. Stacked ND grads were used, along with an old polyester 0.6ND and edited in LR 5.
Canon 600D, Canon 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 @10mm
20secs, f/20, ISO100
One of the most exciting things I have seen in years was Goughs Cave in Cheddar Gorge, if you have never visited, you must go here, get it on your bucket list, it really is breathtaking.
Yesterday we walked the gorge, first along the top, which is where this one was taken, and then along the bottom (along the road) to get back to where we started. See the previous shot for a view along the bottom of the gorge >>
HTMT!
Passing through Cheddar Gorge on our way out to the Somerset Coast.
The contrast in light was amazing, from a bright cloudless sky to very deep shadows in the gorge, it was a problem of how to capture the scene in a number of spots there, I took an exposure for the shadows and an exposure for the bright areas and manually blended them together .
Not the famous one in London but the name given to this startling formation in Gough's Cave, Cheddar Gorge (SW England). The cave is the largest show cave in Britain; the oldest complete human skeleton in the UK was found near the entrance dated to 7000BC. Nothing prepares you for the sight of this 'waterfall' as you go deep into the cave itself. It truly looks amazing, solely the work of Mother Nature. I read that iron oxide has interacted with the cascading stalactites of limestone to create the intense variations of reds,browns and yellows. I took other photos closer in but this hopefully gives some idea of the scale. It's huge!
Another shot from the top of Cheddar Gorge, the rock formations to the left of shot are the 'Pinnacles', the bend in the road below is 'Horseshoe Bend'.
The village of Cheddar can be seen in the background, along with the reservoir, Crook Peak, Brent Knoll and the Somerset Levels...
The shot used my usual Lee ND Grads to even the exposure and the RAW was edited in LR5, into Nik Silver Efex for the mono conversion, Nik RAW output shrpening and then back into LR for finishing touches.
Canon 600D, Canon 10-22mm f/4.5-4.5 @10mm 1/5sec, f/11, ISO100