Candlesby Hill Quarry
Parish: Welton-le-Marsh
OS: 122 • GR: TF 460682 • Map ref: 9
1.70 hectares (4.30acres) • Freehold 1964
Habitat type: Grassland
Location and Access
The quarry is situated on the east side of the A1028 Skegness-Louth road, about l km (0.6 miles) north of Gunby Corner roundabout. There is parking space for one car only in the entrance; otherwise park on the verge by the roadside. Visitors are advised to park well away from the dangerous bend. Cliff and scree should not be climbed and care must be taken not to trample vegetation unnecessarily in the summer. Beware of exposed lime kilns.
Description and Management
At the southern tip of the eastern edge of the chalk Wolds, this quarry was once the Gunby estate chalk pit. The lime kilns are probably older than those at Mill Hill Quarry in Claxby, and the quarry has been disused for longer. The chalk cliff exposure shows only the Lower Chalk. Several habitat types merge into one another. The track passes through tall hawthorn and ash wood, and scrub of dog rose and hawthorn, and finally emerges in an open grassland area, which is still being colonised. Most of the chalk flowers of the south-east Wolds (including four orchid species) are present, and woodland flora has developed in the ash wood. Breeding birds include garden warbler, whitethroat, spotted flycatcher and several species of finch. Butterflies are abundant and include common blue, small copper and wall brown.
Management consists of mowing and scrub control in order to maintain the various types of chalkland habitats and to diversify the woodland.
