Cleeve Common Fossil Hunting

1860 – Rolling Bank section enters the scientific literature
Thomas Wright described the quarry, although he initially mistook the Upper Trigonia Grit for its lower namesake and consequently misinterpreted the position of the underlying beds.

1897 – Distinctive upper beds placed in the succession
S. S. Buckman combined observations from Rolling Bank and neighbouring Cleeve Hill exposures to show that the Phillipsiana and Bourguetia beds lie above the Notgrove beds and beneath the Upper Trigonia Grit. His detailed record remains important for beds no longer continuously exposed.

1901 – Folding and erosion used to explain the preserved beds
Buckman developed the Cleeve Hill Syncline and Bajocian-denudation interpretation to explain why younger Middle Inferior Oolite beds survive here but are absent over neighbouring structural highs.

1904–1929 – Quarry succession documented by Richardson
Linsdall Richardson recorded the local sections and bed numbering used in subsequent accounts. His work helped preserve a detailed description as quarrying ceased and parts of the exposures became obscured.

1974 – Cleeve Common notified as an SSSI
The common’s grassland, geological exposures and landforms were formally recognised through SSSI notification. Geological interest includes the restricted upper Middle Inferior Oolite beds and the ridge-and-trough landscape.

1987 – SSSI notification revised under modern legislation
The common was notified under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, with a boundary reduction recorded in the citation. The designation recognises both biological and geological interest.

1997 – Rolling Bank Member formalised and quarry re-excavated
The revised Inferior Oolite classification combined the Witchellia Grit, Bourguetia Beds and Phillipsiana Beds as the Rolling Bank Member, with Rolling Bank Quarry as its type section. Conservation excavation reopened beds that had become buried in debris.

2001–2002 – Expanded Pot and Rolling Bank sections investigated
Further clearance and the study published by J. Angseesing, A. J. M. Barron and M. Campbell improved knowledge of the Aston Limestone exposures. Faulting and the gap between the two quarry sections still limited a simple thickness correlation.

2003 – Lower Inferior Oolite exposures documented after improvement
Angseesing, D. Owen and C. Toland published an account of improved and enlarged lower Inferior Oolite sections on Cleeve Hill, extending the modern record beyond the two upper quarries.

2005 – Rolling Bank fossil communities compared
Angseesing and Price compared three Clypeus Grit bulk samples from Rolling Bank Quarry with a different assemblage at Chedworth. The Cleeve samples were dominated by bivalves and brachiopods, with abundant deep-burrowing forms.

2006 – Encrusters and crushed brachiopods studied
Angseesing analysed Stroudithyris shells from Cleeve Cloud, recording their attached organisms and extensive distortion. He related preservation to burial rate while recognising the limits of a scree-derived collection spanning several horizons.

2013 – Rolling Bank bivalve preservation compared
Bulk samples from the Clypeus Grit at Rolling Bank Quarry contributed to a study of bivalve articulation, relating preservation to the animals’ positions on or within the seabed.

2014 – Mantle-attachment traces investigated
Cleeve Hill fossils featured in a study of pallial-sinus preservation. Clypeus Grit specimens of Gresslya abducta and Pleuromya subelongata showed preferential preservation of this shell feature on the right side.

2015 – Small oysters used to test burial-rate interpretation
Cleeve oyster assemblages were compared with other Cotswold samples to test whether rapid burial accompanied brachiopod crushing. The Cleeve-only results were not statistically decisive.

2016 – Deep gull structures investigated without excavation
Electrical resistivity tomography at Postlip Warren identified substantial, near-vertical disrupted zones beneath the surface hollows. The study interpreted them as deep gulls containing collapsed limestone blocks and voids, helping explain the common’s ridge-and-trough landforms.

2024 – Witchellia Grit fauna reassessed
Angseesing published a detailed study of material from Pot Quarry and argued that the Witchellia Grit should be separated from the other Rolling Bank beds on lithological and faunal grounds. This remains a published alternative to the BGS classification used in this guide.

The common contains several separate sections, including Cleeve Cloud, Pot Quarry and Rolling Bank Quarry. The account below follows the BGS lithostratigraphic framework and proceeds from younger to older rocks. The numbered Rolling Bank beds are a historical measured record, not a claim that every bed is presently exposed. Pot Quarry measurements and borehole evidence remain explicitly separate.

INFERIOR OOLITE GROUP

The local succession spans the Middle Jurassic, principally the Aalenian and Bajocian, with the Clypeus Grit extending regionally into the earliest Bathonian. Birdlip Limestone, Aston Limestone and Salperton Limestone correspond broadly to the traditional Lower, Middle and Upper Inferior Oolite. Erosional breaks separate them. They contain eleven formally recognised local members in the framework used here; historic beds within those members are not additional formations.

Rolling Bank Quarry: historical numbered section
The descriptions and thicknesses below are those compiled in the 2002 GCR account from Buckman’s 1897 record, with Richardson’s additions and numbering. They refer to Rolling Bank itself. The later conservation exposure differed in how much rock was visible: about 5 m of the upper Rolling Bank Member was reopened in 1997, rather than the whole composite member.

Salperton Limestone Formation

Clypeus Grit Member

Bed 1 (3.66 m)
Limestone, yellow, rubbly, pisoidal, with an admixture of marly material; ‘Terebratula‘ globata J. de C. Sowerby; pebbles of white limestone at base

Upper Trigonia Grit Member

Bed 1b (2.74 m)
Ragstone; planed surface locally with oysters attached; numerous Trigonia and Rhynchonella angulina Davidson’ (= Rhynchonelloidella acutiplicata (Brown))

Aston Limestone Formation

Rolling Bank Member

‘ Phillipsiana Beds ‘

Bed 2 (0.10 m)
Limestone, bluish-grey, hard, sharp fracture; planed top surface bored by annelids and Lithophagus, with numerous oysters attached

Bed 3 (0.15 m)
Limestone, similar to Bed 2 but not bored; but somewhat nodular in places with pockets of sand

Bed 4 (1.52 m)
Limestone, similar to above, in three layers with sandy partings; sparse ‘Terebratula‘ phillipsiana Walker

Bed 5 (0.69 m)
Limestone, grey, similar to above, in two beds, with sandy partings, sandy at base; ‘Terebratula‘ buckmaniana Walker and ‘T.‘ phillipsiana abundant; Acanthothiris cf. paucispina Buckman and Walker, Rhynchonella quadriplicata Davidson non Zieten, Zeilleria anisoclines S.S. Buckman; oysters at base

Bed 6 (0.61 m)
Limestone, massive, similar to above; Rhynchonella quadriplicata, ‘Terebratula‘ phillipsiana, Bourguetia saemanni (Oppel)

‘ Bourguetia Beds ‘

Bed 7 (0.68 m)
Limestone, greyish, shelly, with brownish patches and infillings; Bourguetia saemanni, Ctenostreon pectiniforme (Schlotheim)

Bed 8 (2.13 m)
Limestone, grey, in several beds; numerous large bivalves; Lopha cf. flabelloides (Lamarck), Modiolus explanatus Morris etc., Nautilus cf. ornatus Foord and Crick

Bed 9 (0.46 m)
Limestone, grey, similar to above, somewhat bored

Bed 10 (0.23 m)
Limestone, similar to above

Reading the historical fossil names
The bed record retains the identifications used in its cited source, including quotation marks around historical Terebratula names and the qualified Lopha and Nautilus records. These are historical occurrence data rather than a claim that every identification is current. The source explicitly equates its “Rhynchonella angulina” with Rhynchonelloidella acutiplicata; other names are not silently converted to unverified modern combinations.

Phillipsiana and Bourguetia intervals: measurement and age
Buckman’s composite Cleeve Hill figures were approximately 3.1 m for the Phillipsiana Beds and 4.1 m for the Bourguetia Beds. They are not the sum of a single continuously accessible modern face. The later BGS account reports about 3.43 m and 1.53 m respectively visible in Rolling Bank after conservation work. Faults between the quarries prevent exact matching to the lower part at Pot Quarry. A rare stephanoceratid ammonite, thought to come from Bed 7 and subsequently identified as Skirroceras aff. leptogyrale, is consistent with a Sauzei Zone age.

Witchellia Grit: the lower Rolling Bank interval at Pot Quarry
This is the older part of the member, below the Bourguetia Beds. It comprises iron-speckled, sandy, shell-fragmental limestone, commonly poorly cemented and rubbly. The BGS account describes up to about 1.6 m at Pot Quarry, but cautions that this may include some overlying beds; Buckman’s composite estimate was about 1.2 m. Brachiopods and ammonites including Witchellia indicate the younger part of the Laeviuscula Zone. These figures are separate local observations, not competing measurements of an assuredly identical interval.

Pot Quarry Witchellia Grit fauna, published 2024
Sample-specific records; names follow the published tables, without taxonomic revision.

Bivalves
Actinostreon costata, Actinostreon marshii, Anisocardia rodburgensis, Astarte elegans, Camptonectes laminatus, Chlamys articulata, Coelastarte modiolaris, Corbicella sp., Ctenostreon rugosum, Entolium corneolum, Eopecten spp., Gervillella acuta, Gervillella whidbornei, Grammatodon ornata, Gresslya abducta, Gryphaea sublobata, Inoperna plicata, Isocyprina cf. lucyi, Isognomon sp., Liostrea explanata, Modiolus imbricatus, Myophorella striata, Oxytoma costata, Oxytoma inequivalve, Pinna cuneata, Plagiostoma cf. schimperi, Plagiostoma educta, Pleuromya uniformis jurassi, Pronoella curvirostris, Protocardia buckmani, Pseudolimea duplicata, Pseudolimea interstincta, Thracia curtansata, Trichites sp., Trigonia costata, Trigonopis similis.

Pot Quarry collection and exposure limits
The material studied in 2024 came from the lower Witchellia Grit exposed after the 1997 and 2001 clearance work. The top of the unit was not seen. Its tabulated fauna describes that collection, rather than the whole common or every bed of the Witchellia Grit. Of the tabulated macrofossils, excluding epibionts, Entolium corneolum accounted for 45 records, or 19.7%.

Other recorded remains: Table 2
The collection included 11 unlined burrows, one cidarid spine, one small echinoid spine, one crab limb segment, one other crustacean fragment and two crinoid-debris records. There was one Pseudomelania, one Pachyteuthis, one ribbed ammonite imprint and two Witchellia. The brachiopods comprised 14 Acanthothiris globosa, three Lophrothyris wrighti and 17 indeterminate terebratulids.

Epibionts and their substrates: Table 3
Four colonies identified as ‘Berenicea’ included three on Ctenostreon. There was one Cycloserpula laevigata on Sarcinella and one Cycloserpula on a shell fragment. Dorsoserpula records were on “A.obliqua” (one), Gryphaea (five), Liostrea (two), a “P.jurassi” left valve (one) and shell fragments (four); these abbreviated host labels follow the source. One Placunopsis encrusted a rolled Gresslya, and three colonies of Sarcinella socialis were recorded. Serpulid tubes occurred inside Myophorella (two), on a bivalve cast (one), Ctenostreon (two), a pebble (one), Protocardia left valves (two) and a shell fragment (one). Tetraserpula was recorded as numerous. No Gnathichnus was observed in this collection.

Faunal comparison with the upper Rolling Bank beds
The study reported smaller individuals in the Witchellia assemblage than in the Phillipsiana and Bourguetia beds. Anisocardia gibbosa was absent from the Witchellia collection, while the large Bourguetia saemanni belonged to the Bourguetia comparison. Phillipsiana brachiopods included Morrisithyris, Monsardithyris and Cymatorhynchia, contrasting with Lophrothyris wrighti and the small spinose Acanthothiris globosa in the Witchellia material. These are separately scoped assemblages, not additional identifications for the Pot Quarry collection.

Published alternative classification
Angseesing’s 2024 study of Pot Quarry material argued that the Witchellia Grit is sufficiently distinct in fauna and lithology to warrant separation from the Phillipsiana and Bourguetia intervals. The current BGS Lexicon still includes all three in the Rolling Bank Member, which is the hierarchy followed here. The proposal is therefore recorded as an alternative interpretation, not adopted as an established formal change.

Notgrove Member

Below the Witchellia Grit, Pot Quarry exposes a measured 4.4 m of ooid- and peloid-rich limestone with shell fragments. Increasing shell debris, iron-rich grains and muddy matrix mark passage into the overlying Rolling Bank beds. The traditional name is Notgrove Freestone. The familiar deeply bored top found where Salperton Limestone rests directly on Notgrove elsewhere must not be transferred uncritically to this exposure: at Pot Quarry, Rolling Bank strata intervene.

Gryphite Grit Member

More than 4 m was recorded in the conserved Pot Quarry exposure. Shelly and sandy limestones weather to irregular rubble and are particularly rich in Gryphaea oysters. The formal member includes the older Buckmani Grit and Gryphite Grit divisions. The lower interval is characteristically associated in the regional scheme with Lobothyris buckmani and colonial worm tubes; the upper interval is more oyster- and belemnite-rich. A complete numbered Pot Quarry bed log is not inferred from these member-level measurements.

Lower Trigonia Grit Member

The basal Aston Limestone lies above an erosional break on the Birdlip Limestone. On Cleeve Hill, a coral-bearing basal horizon corresponds to the traditional Second Coral Bed. The enclosing limestone is shelly, sandy and commonly iron-speckled; bivalves, brachiopods and colonial tubes recorded as Sarcinella are characteristic. This lower grit is distinct from the much younger Upper Trigonia Grit in the Salperton Limestone.

Birdlip Limestone Formation

The lower Inferior Oolite succession includes, in descending order, the Harford, Scottsquar, Cleeve Cloud, Crickley and Leckhampton members. The quarries on Cleeve Cloud are recognised BGS reference sections. Thicknesses from the Cleeve Common Borehole describe buried rock and are not necessarily the height available to see in a quarry.

Harford Member

Sand and sandstone are prominent on Cleeve Hill, locally cemented into harder masses, with subordinate muddy and limestone facies. This differs from the limestone-dominated members below and produces locally acidic, sandy soils. The historical names Harford Sands, Snowshill Clay, Naunton Clay and Tilestone describe variable parts of the regional member; they must not be stacked here as four uniformly exposed local beds. Present-day visibility and the full local thickness have not been established.

Scottsquar Member

This is the current BGS name for the interval traditionally divided into Oolite Marl and Upper Freestone. Pale marly, lime-mud-rich beds alternate or pass laterally into more granular limestone. Brachiopods can be conspicuous in the marlier facies. The two old divisions describe contrasting facies within one member, and their thickness and distribution vary; no measurement from Leckhampton or another quarry is assigned to Cleeve.

Oolite Marl and Upper Freestone facies
The marly facies contains carbonate mud and shell debris, reflecting quieter conditions than the cleaner ooid grainstones. The freestone facies contains ooids and peloids but is less uniformly sorted than typical Cleeve Cloud limestone. Their boundaries are not assumed to be two perfectly flat, continuous beds across the common.

Cleeve Cloud Member

The former Lower Freestone is a thick succession of pale ooid grainstones. Cross-bedding is prominent in the upper 16–20 m described at Cleeve Cloud. The local borehole records a much greater total member thickness, about 51 m, which must be distinguished from that exposed upper interval. A hard, oyster-encrusted top marks a break before the succeeding beds.

Lower sandy and upper cleaner oolite facies
The lower part is generally sandier, whereas the upper exposed stone is pale and strongly cross-bedded. Older freestone terminology and the faunal studies’ historical “Cleeve Hill Oolite” do not define extra modern members. Their source-specific scope is retained in the separate collection accounts below. Fossils are often represented only by dispersed or broken shell material; abundant recognisable shells are not a feature of every freestone bed.

Crickley Member

A full 6.9 m was recorded at Cleeve Cloud, with at least 6.2 m penetrated in the Cleeve Common Borehole. The lower limestone passes upwards into the coarser, less well-sorted Pea Grit. The rounded grains of that upper facies are coated grains or oncoids, commonly containing shell fragments at their centres. Bivalves, brachiopods, gastropods, echinoids and corals are documented from the member.

Lower Limestone and Pea Grit facies
The lower part is predominantly granular limestone with ooids, peloids and broken shells. Higher in the member, larger coated grains occur in rubbly shelly limestone with thin muddy partings. These historical divisions describe the local change in sediment texture; separate bed thicknesses are not invented.

Leckhampton Member

The basal Birdlip Limestone is the traditional Scissum Beds interval. It is recorded beneath the Crickley Member at Cleeve Cloud but is poorly exposed. Its sandy, iron-stained limestone contrasts with the cleaner oolites above. Local thickness observations are given separately in the dated Cleeve Cloud log below.

Structure, cambering and the underlying Lias
The limestone rests on weaker Early Jurassic Lias strata that form much of the escarpment below. At Rolling Bank, a west-north-west dip of about 12° contrasts with the gentle regional south-eastward dip. Local faulting and cambering account for this complication. A tectonic fault in the northern quarry brings Cleeve Cloud limestone against younger beds, while some smaller faults and debris-filled gulls relate to slope movement. Postlip Warren’s ridge-and-trough features provide another expression of disrupted limestone above the weaker substrate.

Additional measured records: separate BGS sections
Barron’s 1999 report preserves more finely divided logs from several parts of the common. Each section below has its own location, date and numbering. They complement the historical Rolling Bank record above; their bed numbers do not identify the same divisions. Each log runs from younger to older strata.

INFERIOR OOLITE GROUP

Rolling Bank Quarry: 1995 and 1997 BGS log
At SO 9872 2668, beds 15–10 were logged on 3 May 1995 and beds 9–1 on 23 October 1997. Unlike the older record above, this numbering decreases downwards. The 4.96 m of Rolling Bank Member comprises 3.43 m of Phillipsiana Beds and 1.53 m of probable Bourguetia Beds; it is an exposed part of the member, not its total thickness.

Salperton Limestone Formation

Clypeus Grit Member

1995/1997 Bed 15 (c. 2.7 m)
Pale grey-brown limestone, medium- to coarse-grained ooidal with shells and shell fragments; very rubbly, with common brachiopods.

1995/1997 Bed 14 (1.15 m)
Brownish-grey fine- to medium-grained shell-fragmental grainstone, with occasional larger fragments and very large pieces. Orange-coated peloids occur in the upper 0.5 m. Base indistinct.

Upper Trigonia Grit Member

1995/1997 Bed 13 (0.80 m)
Extremely hard brownish-grey fine- to medium-grained shell-fragmental grainstone forming a ledge. Whole bivalve moulds abundant, including common trigoniids; rhynchonellids common. Base irregular.

1995/1997 Bed 12 (1.23 m)
Grey shelly, shell-detrital grainstone weathering brownish grey, hard and rubbly. Smooth bivalves and trigoniids common. Uppermost layer, up to c. 0.2 m, has burrows up to 25 mm wide and narrow borings. Sharp base.

1995/1997 Bed 11 (up to 0.03 m)
Orange-brown marl, locally with white pockets at the top.

1995/1997 Bed 10 (0.52 m)
Pale-grey shelly and shell-fragmental limestone, with yellow-brown weathering pockets and common iron-rich peloids. Tentatively logged as wackestone. Very rubbly and variably hard/soft, with rhynchonellids.

Aston Limestone Formation

Rolling Bank Member

1995/1997 Bed 9 (0.07 m; Phillipsiana Beds (beds 2–9))
Very hard bluish-grey limestone weathering brown; fine-grained, crystalline and finely sandy with sub-conchoidal fracture. Ferruginous, shell-encrusted top carries vertical/subvertical borings up to 3 mm wide, some reaching beds 7–8 below.

1995/1997 Bed 8 (0.01 m; Phillipsiana Beds (beds 2–9))
Irregular buff marl layer.

1995/1997 Bed 7 (0.30 m; Phillipsiana Beds (beds 2–9))
Buff medium-grained sandy limestone with indistinct lamination locally. Moderately cemented, becoming softer and crumbly towards base.

1995/1997 Bed 6 (0.23 m; Phillipsiana Beds (beds 2–9))
Hard, massive pale-brown medium-grained peloidal packstone, crystalline and sandy, with sparse shells.

1995/1997 Bed 5 (0.45 m; Phillipsiana Beds (beds 2–9))
Buff medium-grained sandy calcarenite, weakly laminated and containing scattered black belemnite fragments. Poorly cemented at top, better cemented below with harder limestone doggers resembling bed 6; basal ochre staining and irregular base.

1995/1997 Bed 4 (c. 0.42 m; Phillipsiana Beds (beds 2–9))
Very hard, splintery, well-cemented sandy calcarenite, grey when fresh and brownish on weathering.

1995/1997 Bed 3 (1.05 m; Phillipsiana Beds (beds 2–9))
Sandy medium-grained peloidal limestone, grey but decalcifying and weathering ochreous brown. Abundant terebratulids in varied orientations, with pectinids and Ctenostreon; numerous burrows; approximately five rough beds.

1995/1997 Bed 2 (0.90 m; Phillipsiana Beds (beds 2–9))
Very rubbly, sandy brownish-grey limestone, weathering and decalcifying ochreous brown. Internal structure indistinct; common recrystallised shells including brachiopods and thick oyster fragments.

1995/1997 Bed 1 (1.53 m seen; probable Bourguetia Beds)
Slightly brownish-grey medium-grained peloidal/ooidal wackestone, rich in coarse shell debris. Contains belemnite, oyster and echinoid fragments, compound coral, a high-spired gastropod, and bivalves including Lopha and a myiid (cf. Pinna, as logged). Peloids more ochreous downwards; very rough bedding, recrystallisation, patchy decalcification and rubbly texture.

Cleeve Cloud: 1981 BGS outline log
This is a composite of several exposures. Beds 17–13 were recorded at SO 9839 2574, Bed 12 at SO 9838 2569, and beds 11–1 at SO 9841 2549. Two gaps are retained below; the larger may conceal a fault. The report’s broad thickness discussion does not establish a single continuously exposed 33 m face.

Birdlip Limestone Formation

Scottsquar Member

1981 Bed 17 (0.6 m seen)
Pale yellow-grey bedded ooidal limestone.

1981 Bed 16 (1.35 m)
Yellow, ooidal, bioturbated and very shelly limestone, with rhynchonellids, terebratulids and bivalves.

1981 Bed 15 (0.3–0.6 m)
Pale yellow-grey ooidal limestone with cross-bedding and calcite veins; strongly burrowed top, peloidal and shelly base.

1981 Bed 14 (1.5 m)
Pale yellow-brown friable, rubbly marl with common oncoids and rare ooids. Contains a 0.4 m ooidal limestone layer 0.6 m below top; marl becomes highly ooidal beneath it. The traditional Oolite Marl.

Exposure gap: 2 m
Between the Scottsquar beds above and the next exposed Cleeve Cloud limestone. This is missing exposure, not a separately established depositional hiatus.

Cleeve Cloud Member

1981 Bed 13 (2.0 m seen)
White ooidal limestone with cross-bedding and calcite veins.

Exposure gap: at least 12.8 m
A fault may lie within this obscured interval. Do not calculate a continuous exposed succession by simply stacking the visible beds across it.

1981 Bed 12 (up to 6.4 m)
Off-white ooidal limestone with common burrows and large-scale cross-bedding towards 342 degrees.

1981 Bed 11 (0.2–2.0 m)
Hard grey bedded ooidal limestone, moderately sandy with some shells; intensely bioturbated and bearing horizontal branching burrows at its base. Strong pitting is distinctive on weathered bed faces.

1981 Bed 10 (0.6 m)
Yellow ooidal/oncoidal sandy limestone with some shell debris; bioturbated and crumbly, with a sharp, very prominent top.

1981 Bed 9 (1.75 m)
Pale yellow sandy ooidal limestone with scarce shell debris and bioturbation. A paler harder 0.35 m layer lies 0.8 m below top.

1981 Bed 8 (1.7 m)
Hard pale yellow sandy ooidal limestone, moderately bioturbated, passing down into strongly bioturbated oolite with faint cross-bedding and some shell fragments.

1981 Bed 7 (1.55 m)
Moderately sandy ooidal limestone, rich in shell debris; bioturbated, bedded and rubbly, with some basal oncoids.

1981 Bed 6 (2.4 m)
Pale yellow shell-detrital limestone weathering brown-grey; bedded and locally ooidal/oncoidal. Minor cross-bedding towards southeast at top; basal dark-yellow marl layer 0.25 m thick.

1981 Bed 5 (1.85 m)
Yellow-grey oolite weathering grey, locally with peloids and shell fragments; massive with wavy bedding and a sharp top.

Crickley Member

1981 Bed 4 (1.2 m)
Yellow-grey limestone weathering grey; bedded, with approximately equal shell-fragment, ooid and oncoid content; shelly marl parting 0.4 m below top.

1981 Bed 3 (2.3 m)
Yellow-brown limestone weathering yellow-grey, containing abundant oncoids and shell debris; bedded and bioturbated. Identified as Wethered’s 1891 typical Pea Grit.

1981 Bed 2 (3.4 m)
Grey-yellow shell-debris-rich limestone weathering grey; bioturbated and well bedded, with numerous persistent sandy, shelly marl partings up to 0.2 m. Top sharp and irregular.

Leckhampton Member

1981 Bed 1 (0.6 m seen)
Dark grey-brown, strongly bioturbated limestone with common shell fragments and discontinuous yellow-brown sandy marl partings. Sharp, uneven shelly top.

The 1981 log records only 0.6 m of the basal Leckhampton Member visible here. Barron also cited an older observation of about 2.4 m; neither figure is a promise of present exposure.

Pot Quarry: detailed 1999 record
The report locates this section at SO 9865 2666. The following are observed unit packages, without invented individual bed numbers. About 1 m of soil and subsoil with limestone rubble was recorded above them; that overburden is outside the formal Jurassic hierarchy.

Aston Limestone Formation

Rolling Bank Member

Witchellia Grit interval (c. 1.7 m seen)
Pale grey-brown limestone with orange-brown speckling. Medium-grained shell-detrital peloidal/ooidal packstone, rich in ferruginous ovoid grains, some concentrated in muddy pockets. Scattered large shell fragments and common burrows filled by mud and peloids. Hard and rubbly, but increasingly friable downwards. Carbonate peloids and ooids become more common down-section while ferruginous grains diminish below 1.0 m. Basal matrix becomes coarse shell-debris grainstone with packstone pockets, rapidly passing into Notgrove as shell debris, ferruginous grains and clay diminish.

Notgrove Member

Recorded package (c. 4.4 m)
Pale pinkish grey-brown, medium- to coarse-grained peloid and ooid grainstone with common medium-sized shell debris and mud-filled burrows. Friable upper 0.1 m passes down into harder medium/thick beds of sparsely shell-detrital grainstone with packstone patches, up to 0.6 m per bed. Large shell fragments common in basal 0.2 m. Base lies on a sharp uneven Gryphite Grit surface.

Gryphite Grit Member

Recorded package (4.3 m seen)
Pale orange-grey fine- to medium-grained peloidal, ooidal and shell-detrital limestone weathering orange-brown. Very common large shell fragments, mainly bivalves including pectinids, and common complete Gryphaea oysters, some very large. Massive beds 0.6–0.9 m thick, weathering rubbly, with intense bioturbation and numerous vertical/oblique burrows. Becomes greyer below.

The upper ironshot package was about 1.7 m in the 1999 account, compared with up to 1.6 m in the 2002 synthesis; both allow that some Bourguetia Beds may be included. The 2002 discussion also notes that burrows near the top of Notgrove may indicate soft-sediment erosion. The textural passage alone does not establish uninterrupted deposition.

Roadstone Hole: 1981 exposure
At SO 9880 2586, this small section records the basal Aston Limestone above the upper Birdlip Limestone. It is a different locality from Roadstone Quarry farther north.

Aston Limestone Formation

Lower Trigonia Grit Member

0.4 m seen
Grey-brown ironshot limestone above the Harford sand and sandstone.

Birdlip Limestone Formation

Harford Member

c. 0.3 m seen
Orange-brown sand and sandstone below Lower Trigonia Grit.

Roadstone Quarry east face (SO 9878 2657)
Gryphite Grit re-exposed during 1997 project; overlying Notgrove is shell-detrital ooidal/peloidal grainstone. The recorded packages are c. 2.5 m Gryphite Grit overlain by up to 2.5 m Notgrove.

Grass Crown Quarries (SO 991 269)
Sand and sandstone exposed at several points by the 1997 RIGS project. Earlier 1981 exposure was restricted to Roadstone Hole; Sand Hole was known in historical records.

Punchbowl Quarry (SO 985 261)
Small marl-facies exposures, one yielding Plectothyris fimbria as identified in 1999. The brachiopod name is the report’s identification, not an independently verified modern reassignment.

Cleeve Common Borehole: separate 1975 subsurface record
The BGS borehole SO 92 NE/14 at SO 9924 2502 was logged by R. J. Wyatt in 1975. The following thicknesses and base depths are the summary printed in the 1999 report, measured downwards from the borehole start. They are not quarry exposure heights. The later 2002 account gives at least 6.2 m for Crickley here rather than the earlier approximately 9.3 m. The reason for this difference has not been established, so these source schemes are not silently combined.

Lower Trigonia Grit
Reported thickness 1.4 m; base at 1.4 m.

Harford
Reported thickness c. 2.6 m; base at c. 4.0 m.

Scottsquar
Reported thickness 7.2 m; base at 11.2 m.

Cleeve Cloud
Reported thickness 51.1 m; base at 62.3 m.

Crickley
Reported thickness c. 9.3 m; base at c. 71.6 m.

Leckhampton
Reported thickness c. 3.6 m; base at c. 75.2 m.

Whitby Mudstone
Reported thickness 13.0 m proved; base at 88.2 m terminal depth.

Other local exposures in the 1999 BGS account
These are separate observations, not one measured succession. The Cleeve Cloud Member examples below are off-white, bedded and cross-bedded ooidal limestone unless otherwise stated. The recorded heights describe past exposures and do not establish present visibility.

Car Park Quarry (SO 9896 2711): Cleeve Cloud Member
About 6 m of off-white, bedded and cross-bedded ooidal limestone.

Freestone Quarry (grid not supplied in this observation): Cleeve Cloud Member
About 2 m of similar ooidal limestone.

Main Postlip quarries (SO 9926 2644 and SO 9940 2615): Cleeve Cloud Member
About 10 m of the same ooidal limestone was described in these quarries.

Other Postlip-area quarry (SO 9925 2671): Cleeve Cloud Member
A separate 4 m exposure was recorded.

Other Postlip-area quarry (SO 9970 2616): Cleeve Cloud Member
A separate 7 m exposure was recorded.

Other Postlip-area quarry (SO 9945 2613): Cleeve Cloud Member
A separate 8 m exposure was recorded.

Postlip Valley (SO 9952 2611): Crickley Member
About 0.3 m of pisoidal limestone was exposed.

Near Cleeve Lodge (SO 9861 2682): Scottsquar Member
Dark-yellow, coarse shell-detrital ooidal limestone yielded Plectothyris fimbria, as identified in the report. No thickness was supplied for this observation.

Rolling Bank faults: historical and later estimates
Buckman described a southern fault-breccia zone and estimated about 30 m displacement on the northern fault. After its 1997 re-exposure, the northern surface was described as a single smooth, tufa-coated plane; Barron’s 1999 estimate exceeded 40 m. These are separate published estimates, not two additive offsets.

Two mapped sets of gulls
The 1999 report distinguishes hollows near SO 988 252, south-east of the fort, reaching about 5 m deep and 500 m long, from the eastern set between SO 999 251 and SO 999 263. The latter trend approximately 110°, with some reaching 50 m wide and 10 m deep. They were interpreted as extension-related gulls; some coincide with tectonic faults. These dimensions describe landforms, not stratigraphic thicknesses.

Historical fissure fills and displaced debris
Buckman’s sketch, reproduced in GCR Figure 3.47, distinguishes conglomerate filling a fissure, a red-clay layer, overlying gravel and rubble, Clypeus Grit rubble, and Phillipsiana debris around the rotated and faulted blocks. These unmeasured fills and slope deposits are separate from the Jurassic bed sequence. The sketch does not supply a secure age for each fill.

Cleeve Cloud joints in the 2016 study
Near SO 984 256, the study described a roughly 300 m long and at least 25 m high Birdlip Limestone section with joint openings up to 1.5 m. Preferred joint directions were 120–140°, crossed by a 070–080° set. These observations describe fractured rock; open joints are not safe visitor routes.

Two separately illustrated deformation features
At SO 9842 2560, Figure 7b shows a foundered zone about 10–15 m wide. Blocks were rotated by at least 30°, although cross-bedding may contribute to the apparent angle, and one block had moved down at least 5 m. Disrupted limestone, stony clay, earth and voids filled the zone; lateral opening was estimated at 2–4 m. Figure 7c separately illustrates an eroded gull about 2 m wide at SO 9842 2543. These dimensions concern deformation and displacement, not additional stratigraphic beds.

Postlip Warren: what the resistivity model establishes
The 2016 electrical-resistivity survey interpreted structures containing limestone blocks, rubble and air-filled spaces extending towards the base of the Birdlip Limestone, around 80 m below the surface. Their inferred depth and contents depend on geological interpretation and modelling. Broad resistivity anomalies are not literal open-void widths: synthetic structures only 1–5 m wide could produce anomalies up to about 50 m across. The modelled overburden and weathering layers are not measured local beds.

Rolling Bank Clypeus Grit: three samples compared in 2005
Angseesing and Price examined three bulk samples from about 1 m above the member’s base, with estimated totals of 209, 118 and 175 individuals. Bivalves represented 48–54%, brachiopods 44–48%, and echinoderms 2–3%; filter feeders comprised 97–98%. Deep burrowers made up 22–32%, principally Pleuromya subelongata, and were commonly articulated in life position. Their disarticulation ratios were 3–7%, compared with 45–65% for shallow burrowers. The collections also included semi-infaunal, free-lying, fissure-dwelling, tethered and encrusting forms. These sample-specific results describe a Clypeus Grit assemblage, separate from the Pot Quarry Witchellia collection and from the Chedworth Soft Bed used for comparison. The authors cautioned that differences in rock consolidation affected recovery of small fossils and fragments.

Encrusters in the three 2005 samples
In sample order Cleeve 1, 2 and 3, the encruster totals were 123, 52 and 89. Bereniciform bryozoans accounted for 2%, 6% and 6%; Dorsoserpula sulcata 6%, 13% and 67%; small Dorsoserpula 76%, 60% and 8%; serpulid scars 1%, 8% and 6%; and Tetraserpula 3%, 2% and 13%. The discussion also records Catinula. Distorted articulated Stiphrothyris represented 16%, 15% and 17%. These are source-specific sample statistics, with encrusters counted separately from the body-fossil totals above.

Body fossils in the 2005 comparison
Secure Cleeve-positive entries in Appendix A include Anisocardia gibbosa, Catinula knorri, Cucullaea, Entolium corneolum, Gervillella sp., Isocyprina lucyi, Liostrea, Lopha costata, Oxytoma costata, Pleuromya subelongata, Protocardia stricklandi, Pseudolimea duplicata, Pseudolimea interstincta, Kallirhynchia sp., Stiphrothyris birdlipensis, Stiphrothyris cheltensis, Stiphrothyris cotteswoldensis, Holectypus depressus, Nerinea clypeata. These retain the paper’s identifications. The list is limited to rows whose Cleeve occurrence is unambiguous; it does not import the separate Chedworth column or assign uncertain counts to individual samples.

Cleeve Cloud shells studied in 2006
Scree-derived shells from SO 984 257 were assigned to Stroudithyris randwickensis, although damaged individuals could be difficult to identify. Of 310 articulated shells, 271 were distorted; 30 single valves were mentioned separately. The historical Cleeve Hill Oolite collection spans several horizons and is not a numbered-bed sample. A comparison using S. pisolithica pooled the Pea Grit of Cleeve, Leckhampton and Crickley; its counts cannot be divided among those hills.

Encrusters on that Cleeve Cloud collection
The 183 recorded epibionts/scars comprised Cycloserpula (10), Dorsoserpula (20), Tetraserpula (18), serpulid scars (48), oysters (31), queried Placunopsis (one), bereniciform bryozoans (41), Stomatopora (13) and one thecidean. Catinula scars were discussed without a genus-specific count. Variation in distortion and encrustation was interpreted in terms of burial rate, subject to the mixed scree sample.

Rolling Bank Clypeus Grit: 2013 bivalve inventory
Catinula cf. knorri, Liostrea sp., Entolium corneolum, Pseudolimea interstincta, Radulopecten fibrosus, Gervillella praelonga, Astarte sp., Praeexogyra acuminata, Plagiostoma schimperi, Cucullaea sp., Trigonia costata, Pseudolimea duplicata, Myophorella striata, Limatula gibbosa, Lopha costata, Modiolus imbricatus, Pteroperna plana, Cryptocardia bajociensis, Ceratomyopsis striata, Isocyprina lucyi, Anisocardia gibbosa, Protocardia buckmani, Inoperna plicata, Homomya gibbosa, Pleuromya subelongata, Pholadomya lirata, Gresslya abducta, Arcomya calceiformis. These are positive rows in the paper’s Rolling Bank sample column; they retain its names and qualifications. The samples pool positions within the quarry, and the study selected sufficiently abundant species rather than providing a complete species census.

Articulation and separately figured Cleeve fossils
The samples contained 155 articulated and eight disarticulated individuals of Pleuromya subelongata, 24 and one of Gresslya abducta, and ten articulated Arcomya calceiformis. Here disarticulated counts estimate individuals, not raw valves. A figured Pleuromya uniformis came from Cleeve’s Lower Inferior Oolite, separately from this quarry column; a figured Radulopecten fibrosus was labelled Cleeve Hill, Clypeus Grit.

Cleeve-wide horizon records published in 2014
The pallial-sinus study used the broader locality “Cleeve Hill”. Its historical unit labels and sample counts below do not identify individual quarries or numbered beds. They concern a mantle-attachment mark preserved on shell casts, not preserved soft tissue.

Gresslya abducta
Cleeve Hill Oolite (4); Clypeus Grit (234); Gryphite Grit (2); Lower Trigonia Grit (7); Oolite Marl (1); Pea Grit (4); Upper Trigonia Grit (3); Witchellia Grit (6).

Pholadomya lirata
Bourgetia Beds (2); Cleeve Hill Oolite (2); Clypeus Grit (18); Lower Trigonia Grit (4); Middle Inferior Oolite (6); Oolite Marl (7); Pea Grit (1); Upper Trigonia Grit (1).

Pleuromya calceiformis
Clypeus Grit (47).

Pleuromya subelongata
Clypeus Grit (733); Upper Trigonia Grit (1).

Pleuromya uniformis
Cleeve Hill Oolite (1); Clypeus Grit (43); Gryphite Grit (1); Lower Trigonia Grit (66); Oolite Marl (5); Pea Grit (1); Rolling Bank Member (1); Upper Trigonia Grit (6); Witchellia Grit (9).

Scope of the pallial-sinus interpretation
The feature occurred more often on the right side in the Clypeus Grit samples of Gresslya abducta and Pleuromya subelongata. A separate ten-specimen Cercomya undulata account pooled the Middle Inferior Oolite of Cleeve, Leckhampton and Chedworth; it supplies no Cleeve-only count.

Small oysters and shell burial: 2015 records
Catinula crickleyensis and Actinostreon costata were recorded in both the historical Cleeve Hill Oolite and Pea Grit at Cleeve; A. costata also occurred in the Oolite Marl. The study also mentioned two A. costata from Cleeve’s Clypeus Grit, without identifying a particular quarry. All Cleeve Hill Oolite material came from scree. Cleeve-only tests were inconclusive; statistically significant results in combined samples cannot be attributed to Cleeve alone.

Rolling Bank comparison and an unassigned horizon
The 2015 Clypeus Grit comparison separately records Catinula cf. knorrii, Praeexogyra acuminata and Radulopecten fibrosus at Rolling Bank. Praeexogyra included two articulated specimens, 11 left and three right valves. A figured sediment-filled Cymatorhynchia quadriplicata was labelled Cleeve Hill without a unit. None of these records establishes a new type specimen or discovery date.

Cleeve brachiopod samples examined in 2022
Angseesing’s 2022 comparison examined Curtirhynchia oolitica from two Cleeve Hill samples: 11 shells from the Pea Grit and seven from the historical Cleeve Hill Oolite. Both samples averaged 7.9 mm wide; their mean total rib counts were 8.5 and seven respectively. The study also included C. extensa from the Oolite Marl at Cleeve Hill, Leckhampton Hill and Charlton Common, together with museum material from several localities. Its 11-specimen C. extensa total is pooled and gives no Cleeve-only count. The comparison supported separating the generally larger, more strongly ribbed C. extensa from C. oolitica. These sample records do not identify numbered quarry beds.

How to read these historical collections
“Cleeve Hill Oolite” retains each author’s historical scope, rather than being silently renamed Cleeve Cloud Member. Source-specific usages such as Arcomya calceiformis (2013) and Pleuromya calceiformis (2014), or Lopha and Actinostreon, are not asserted to be verified current synonymies. Samples may overlap among papers and their totals must not be added as independent new collections.

References
Sumbler, M. G. (2002), “Rolling Bank Quarry”, in Cox and Sumbler, British Middle Jurassic Stratigraphy, Geological Conservation Review 26. The historical measured-bed descriptions are adapted from this JNCC account, available through GeoGuide under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Barron, A. J. M. (1999), Geology of the Bishop’s Cleeve area, BGS Technical Report WA/99/01, Appendix 1, pp. 20–23.
Barron, A. J. M., Sumbler, M. G. and Morigi, A. N. (2002), Geology of the Moreton-in-Marsh district, BGS Sheet 217 description.
Barron, A. J. M., Lott, G. K. and Riding, J. B. (2012), Stratigraphical framework for the Middle Jurassic strata of Great Britain and the adjoining continental shelf, BGS Research Report RR/11/06; current BGS Lexicon entries.
Angseesing, J. P. A. and Price, W. (2005), ‘The Clypeus Grit Member (Salperton Limestone Formation, Middle Jurassic) of the Road Bridge Cutting, Chedworth, Gloucestershire’, Proceedings of the Cotteswold Naturalists’ Field Club 43 (II), p. 156 onwards; separate Rolling Bank samples, Tables 1–7.
Angseesing, J. (2024), “The Witchellia Grit (Middle Jurassic; Gloucestershire)”, Proceedings of the Cotteswold Naturalists’ Field Club 49 (II/III).
Barron, A. J. M. and colleagues (2016), “Investigation of suspected gulls in the Jurassic limestone strata of the Cotswold Hills, Gloucestershire, England using electrical resistivity tomography”, DOI 10.1016/j.geomorph.2016.05.028.
Rolling Bank measured section and historical references
BGS district geology
Current BGS Rolling Bank Member definition
Angseesing, J. P. A. (2006), Preservation of Stroudithyris in the Middle Jurassic of the Cotswold Hills, Proceedings of the Cotteswold Naturalists’ Field Club 43(III), 227–233.
Angseesing, J. P. A. (2013), Middle Jurassic Bivalves – Burial depth in life versus disarticulation in death, Proceedings of the Cotteswold Naturalists’ Field Club 46(I), 86–95.
Angseesing, J. P. A. (2014), Pallial sinus preservation in Jurassic burrowing bivalves, Proceedings of the Cotteswold Naturalists’ Field Club 46(II), 172–187.
Angseesing, J. P. A. (2015), Further evidence that brachiopod crushing is associated with rate of shell burial, Proceedings of the Cotteswold Naturalists’ Field Club 46(III), 288 onwards.