Registered Charity Number 1016312 Company Registration Number 02775501
Capel Horeb Quarry Grid Reference: SN 844 323 The British Institute for Geological Conservation has received funds from the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund for Wales to purchase and develop Capel Horeb Quarry. This disused quarry, of late Ludlow and possibly lower Pridoli siltstones and sandstones, near Llandovery, Powys has yielded very important discoveries of both plant and animal fossils. R.I.Murchison visited the quarry in 1834 and collected many new fossils. He used a number of new species of brachiopods and mussels collected from here when he used information from his visit in crystallising his ideas on the succession of rocks in this part of Wales. All this was incorporated in his seminal work The Silurian System that was published in 1835. Since then a number of other workers have collected more invertebrate shells from here. The importance of these fossils is reviewed in the Geological Conservation Review volume No. 19 - The Silurian System of Great Britain by Aldridge et al 2002. The quarry is also important for a number of exciting early land plant fossils with the first being described by Heared in 1939. Since then more plant fossils have been described by Edwards, Rogerson and Davies including Cooksonia hemisphaerica (illustrated L), which is the oldest unequivocal plant with a vascular conducting system known from anywhere in the world. Cleal and Thomas 1995 have reviewed the importance of these plant fossils in the Geological Conservation Review volumes No. 9 - British Palaeozoic Palaeobotany. Even though Capel Horeb quarry is such an important site, it has been inaccessible for many years through the reluctance of the previous owner to allow people access. The quarry face has now been cleared (as illustrated L) with support from the Countryside Council for Wales with whom we will have a management agreement. The process of fencing the quarry edge and gating the entrance will start in the immediate future. The quarry will be used to further the scientific and educational interests of geology, and geological conservation. There are also two strips of woodland fringing the quarry that have been purchased within the deal. They consist of oak, ash and mountain ash with a rich ground flora of many species of flowering plants, ferns and mosses. A wet copse of birch in the centre of the quarry includes boggy areas with horsetails and mosses. The plan here is to create a boardwalk (for which we have the money for materials). The rocks also show a diverse covering of lichens. All these habitats will provide a good and easily accessible area of biological diversity of interest to visitors.