Dry stone wall on Black Rock Limestone © Elizabeth Woodger
Black Rock Limestone is very dark grey or black in colour, and contains fossils such as crinoids (sea lilies). This specimen also has some patches of recrystallisation.
Dry stone walls were historically built by using local rocks to mark boundaries and divide fields. Limestone is by far the most common building block seen in the 410km of walls in the National Landscape. Today, many of these walls are slumped, bowed and collapsed. Dry stone walls provide important corridors and homes for wildlife including adders and a range of amphibians, birds, insects, small mammals and plants such as lichens and ferns.
Image part of the ‘Menhir 2023’ collection by Elizabeth Woodger, through the Moments on Mendip project.