Middle Hope Fossil Hunting

1841 — William Sanders describes the Middle Hope raised beach
Sanders published an early account of the raised-beach deposits at Middle Hope. This began a separate line of research into the headland’s Quaternary shore platform, fossil molluscs and changing sea levels, distinct from the much older volcanic rocks.

1899 — Archibald Geikie and Aubrey Strahan publish an early Geological Survey account
Middle Hope’s igneous rocks were already attracting Geological Survey attention by the end of the nineteenth century. Archibald Geikie and Aubrey Strahan included the locality in the Survey’s published work in 1899. Their observations of the lava and large calcite-filled amygdales were cited by later researchers, establishing Middle Hope as an important locality for understanding volcanic activity within the Carboniferous Limestone of the Bristol district.

1904 — Conwy Lloyd Morgan and Sidney Hugh Reynolds describe the Carboniferous igneous rocks
Conwy Lloyd Morgan and Sidney Hugh Reynolds published a major study of the igneous rocks associated with the Carboniferous Limestone of the Bristol district. At Middle Hope they described several separate volcanic exposures and recognised that the volcanic ejecta become thinner eastwards, while lava is concentrated towards the western end. Their work strongly supported a contemporaneous volcanic origin for the lavas and tuffs rather than a much later intrusion.

1905 — Thomas Franklin Sibly distinguishes two volcanic horizons in the Weston district
Thomas Franklin Sibly’s work on the Carboniferous Limestone of the Weston-super-Mare district showed that the volcanic rocks occurred at two distinct stratigraphical levels. The lower volcanic horizon is the Middle Hope succession within the Black Rock Limestone, while the higher volcanic rocks occur around Spring Cove. This distinction became fundamental to later mapping and prevented the two volcanic episodes from being treated as a single horizon.

1917 — Sidney Hugh Reynolds revisits the Middle Hope volcanic sequence
Reynolds returned to the Bristol district volcanic rocks and provided further detail on Middle Hope. He documented the irregular, discontinuous nature of the basaltic lava at the western exposure and its relationship with the surrounding tuffs. These observations helped establish that the rounded basalt bodies represent submarine pillow lava and that the volcanic sequence records repeated eruptions and sedimentation in a marine setting.

1930 — G. E. Bush describes the Avonian succession of the Woodspring promontory
G. E. Bush published a study of the Carboniferous Limestone succession of the Woodspring promontory, the headland that includes Middle Hope. His measured stratigraphical work contributed to the increasingly detailed understanding of how the fossiliferous limestones, dolomitised beds and volcanic horizons fit into the wider Lower Carboniferous succession of the Weston area.

1967 — Geological Survey remapping by G. W. Green
During the modern Geological Survey resurvey of the region, G. W. Green mapped the Middle Hope area on the six-inch / 1:10,000 sheet ST 36 NW in 1967. This work formed part of the detailed field mapping later incorporated into the 1983 Geological Survey memoir for the Weston-super-Mare district and provided a modern structural and stratigraphical framework for the headland.

1973–1979 — renewed sedimentological study of the limestones and volcanic rocks
S. C. Matthews, M. Butler and P. M. Sadler included Middle Hope in their 1973 work on Lower Carboniferous successions in North Somerset. D. L. Speedyman subsequently reviewed the volcanic rocks of the Bristol region, and D. H. Jeffreys studied the sedimentology of the Dinantian volcaniclastic carbonate rocks of Middle Hope and Spring Cove in 1979. These studies shifted attention from simple bed description towards the processes that formed the carbonate shelf and volcanic deposits.

1983 — Whittaker and Green establish the detailed modern section and fossil zonation
A. Whittaker and G. W. Green’s Geological Survey memoir Geology of the country around Weston-super-Mare provided the most detailed published bed-by-bed account of the Middle Hope coast. Beds A1–A23 were logged through the Black Rock Limestone, volcanic sequence, dolomitised upper interval and Gully Oolite. Fossil collections allowed the succession to be placed within coral and conodont biozones, including the Zaphrentites delanouei, Caninophyllum patulum and Siphonophyllia cylindrica assemblage biozones. The Middle Hope Volcanic Member was subsequently formalised in BGS lithostratigraphy with Swallow Cliff as its type section.

1989 — T. J. Faulkner reconstructs the growth and demise of the Middle Hope volcanic high
T. J. Faulkner published the influential study The Early Carboniferous (Courceyan) Middle Hope volcanics of Weston-super-Mare: development and demise of an offshore volcanic high. By combining sedimentology, volcanology and palaeontology, Faulkner showed that the volcanic pile grew upwards through progressively shallower water. The volcanic beds reach about 37 m at Swallow Cliff but thin to only a few metres eastwards, indicating a volcanic source to the west. The pillow lava demonstrates submarine eruption, while the overlying cross-bedded grainstones record the later drowning and erosion of the volcanic high.

2003 — Geological Conservation Review identifies Middle Hope as a nationally important volcanic site
The Geological Conservation Review synthesis of Britain’s Carboniferous and Permian igneous rocks highlighted Middle Hope as an exceptional Tournaisian locality. Its national importance lies in the combination of pillow lava, lapilli-tuffs, marine limestones, fossils and sedimentary structures, which together allow the growth and subsequent subsidence of a submarine volcanic cone on a carbonate shelf to be reconstructed in unusual detail.

Section Architecture

The Middle Hope coast provides nearly continuous exposure through the upper three-quarters of the Black Rock Limestone Subgroup and into the Gully Oolite Formation, although beach material, seaweed, structural disturbance and local faults interrupt individual parts of the section. The best-known western log is at Swallow Cliff, where the Middle Hope Volcanic Member is thickest and includes the pillow lava. The same volcanic interval reappears in several exposures farther east but becomes progressively thinner. The highest beds, including the Gully Oolite, occur close to the National Trust parking area at the western end of the headland.

Terminology Note

The 1983 BGS memoir divided the section into Black Rock Limestone, Black Rock Dolomite and Gully Oolite. Current BGS lithostratigraphy places the first two within the Black Rock Limestone Subgroup of the Pembroke Limestone Group; the former Black Rock Dolomite is no longer treated as a separate formation because it represents secondary dolomitisation of the original limestone. The Middle Hope Volcanic Member remains a formal unit and is restricted to Middle Hope, with Swallow Cliff as its type section.

PEMBROKE LIMESTONE GROUP

BLACK ROCK LIMESTONE SUBGROUP (TOURNAISIAN TO CHADIAN)

Beds A1–A2 — Lower exposed Black Rock Limestone

The BGS estimates roughly 70–75 m for bed A1 alone, with the approximately 8 m cherty bed A2 above it. Both comprise dark grey to nearly black, fine-grained, well-bedded crinoidal limestone; their combined thickness must not be reported as 70–75 m. These beds contain crinoids, brachiopods and corals and were deposited on the outer part of a shallow marine carbonate ramp. In A2, about 8 m thick, chert nodules become abundant and many corals and brachiopods are silicified. The lower fossil assemblages include Sychnoelasma clevedonensis and Zaphrentites delanouei; the incoming of a richer coral fauna marks the transition into the Caninophyllum patulum Biozone.

Middle Hope Volcanic Member (Tournaisian)

Bed A3 — Lower tuffaceous interval, about 5 m

The base of the volcanic member is marked by red-brown and green tuffs and thin tuffaceous limestone ribs. Parts are commonly obscured by beach cover. A pale grey and red soft shale occurs near the base. The abrupt incoming of volcanic ash above normal marine limestone records the onset of local submarine volcanism.

Bed A4 — Bioclastic limestone, about 1.2 m

This thin dark grey and brown limestone contains marine skeletal debris, including Michelinia and spiriferid brachiopods. Its position within the volcanic sequence demonstrates that normal marine carbonate production continued between eruptive episodes and that the volcano remained submerged.

Beds A5–A6 — Red-brown and green tuff with ferruginous limestone, about 6 m

A5 consists mainly of weathered red-brown and green tuff with limestone lenses, especially near its base. A6 is a thinly bedded red ferruginous tuffaceous limestone resting on an uneven surface. The increasing grain size and abundance of lapilli within the lower volcanic succession indicate eruptions becoming progressively more energetic.

Bed A7 — Crinoidal limestone with zaphrentoid corals, about 3.5 m

A grey granular crinoidal limestone temporarily interrupts the tuffs. It contains zaphrentoid corals and a band of chert nodules near the top. Dolomitisation and silicification affect the upper part and penetrate down joints. This is an excellent example of marine carbonate sedimentation resuming between volcanic phases.

Beds A8–A9 — Green tuffs and red chert, about 4 m

Fine- and coarse-grained green tuffs alternate through A8, while A9 is represented by a thin red chert layer that can be strongly contorted. These beds form part of the increasingly energetic volcaniclastic phase preceding the main lava.

Bed A10 — Basaltic pillow lava, about 3.5–4.3 m

This is the best-known volcanic feature at Middle Hope. The basalt is deeply weathered and contains abundant calcite-filled amygdales, some reaching several centimetres across. Its irregular pillowed form demonstrates eruption directly into seawater. The highly amygdaloidal upper surface and the way tuffs occupy spaces around the lava show that volcanic and sedimentary processes were occurring together on the sea floor.

Bed A11 — Sandy crinoidal limestone with tuff and chert, about 3 m

Above the pillow lava is a blue-grey sandy crinoidal limestone with lines of chert nodules and partings of fine tuff containing abundant basaltic lapilli. The bed is locally disturbed, reflecting the unstable volcanic sea floor and repeated mixing of carbonate sediment with eruptive debris.

Beds A12–A14 — Upper tuffs and red limestones, about 5 m

A12 is approximately 3 m of green tuff, followed by red limestone with lenticular green tuff seams in A13 and red nodular limestone with ferruginous clayey partings in A14. These beds mark the waning stages of the main volcanic episode at Swallow Cliff. The top of the member is erosive and is overlain by coarse crinoidal limestone.

Eastward volcanic exposures and the Pipe Rock

The volcanic member is repeated farther east along the northern coast. At the second major exposure, about 700 m west-north-west of Woodspring Priory, the volcanic succession is around 29.5 m thick and includes tuffs, thin limestones, volcaniclastic conglomerates and a distinctive laminated sandstone riddled with vertical cylindrical burrows. This “Pipe Rock” is associated with the brachiopod Lingula mytiloides. Farther east the volcanic member continues to thin, reaching only a few metres near St Thomas’s Head. The progressive thinning is one of the strongest indications that the volcanic source lay to the west.

BLACK ROCK LIMESTONE SUBGROUP — ABOVE THE VOLCANIC MEMBER

Beds A15–A21 — Upper Black Rock Limestone above the volcanic member

The volcanic member is overlain erosively by pale grey coarse crinoidal limestone in A15, locally containing volcanic fragments at its base. Above are darker, well-bedded limestones A16–A20 and a grey crinoidal limestone A21, whose uppermost part is dolomitised. Together these beds form a fining-upwards marine succession interpreted as a high-energy offshore shoal that developed as the volcanic high was eroded and progressively drowned. Crinoid debris remains common and rolled corals occur locally.

Coral and conodont biozones through the Black Rock Limestone Subgroup

Fossil collections allow the Middle Hope succession to be divided biostratigraphically. Lower beds belong to the Zaphrentites delanouei assemblage biozone. A rich coral fauna then marks the Caninophyllum patulum Biozone, with Caninophyllum patulum greeni in the lower part and C. patulum patulum higher up. The uppermost dolomitised interval reaches the Siphonophyllia cylindrica Biozone. Conodonts independently place much of the volcanic succession within the Polygnathus communis carina Biozone of the historical BGS scheme, making Middle Hope useful for correlating coral and conodont zonations.

Bed A22 — Dolomitised upper Black Rock Limestone Subgroup, about 30 m

A22 is the interval historically called the Black Rock Dolomite. It consists of grey, massive, medium- to fine-grained dolostone that weathers very pale grey and commonly develops a criss-cross fracture pattern. Fossils are often preserved as calcite-filled moulds. The lower few metres are better bedded and more fossiliferous, with Caninophyllum patulum patulum; the highest beds yield forms including Siphonophyllia cylindrica and Delepinea notata. Modern BGS terminology includes this secondary dolomitised interval within the Black Rock Limestone Subgroup.

Individual Beds Within The Grouped BGS Intervals

These measurements belong to the western BGS bedA log. They must not be combined with the differently generalised GCR section as though both were the same measured column. Existing grouped descriptions above retain their environmental context; the entries below make each supported individual bed explicit. The BGS A15–A21 package totals approximately 50 m, whereas the GCR/Faulkner sedimentological summary describes a 24 m post-volcanic grainstone unit; these differently defined intervals must not be treated as identical measurements.

Bed A1 — Non-Cherty Lower Limestone (estimated 70–75 m)

The oldest exposed limestone lacks the abundant chert and widespread silicified fossils characteristic of A2. Its thickness is estimated from partly covered foreshore, not a completely clean face.

Bed A2 — Cherty Limestone (8 m)

Chert nodules and silicified corals and brachiopods become common. The top is locally pink-stained with thin red clay partings.

Middle Hope Volcanic Member — Supplementary Bed Detail

Bed A5 — Weathered Tuff (5 m)

Red-brown and green tuff contains limestone lenses, especially low in the bed.

Bed A6 — Ferruginous Tuffaceous Limestone (1 m)

Thin red limestone has an uneven base and records carbonate deposition mixed with volcanic debris.

Bed A8 — Green Tuff (3.7–4.3 m)

Coarser and finer volcanic layers alternate beneath the chert marker.

Bed A9 — Red Chert Marker

A thin red chert layer is locally contorted. The source does not give it a separate numerical thickness.

Bed A12 — Upper Green Tuff (3 m)

This distinct tuff lies above the sandy crinoidal limestone interval.

Bed A13 — Red Limestone With Tuff Seams (1 m)

Green tuff forms lenticular bands within the red carbonate.

Bed A14 — Nodular Red Limestone (1 m)

Irregular iron-rich clay partings may represent decomposed tuff.

BLACK ROCK LIMESTONE SUBGROUP — POST-VOLCANIC BEDS

Bed A15 — Coarse Crinoidal Limestone (10.5 m)

The erosive basal part contains volcanic fragments; this bed begins the post-volcanic carbonate package.

Bed A16 — Bedded Granular Limestone (7.6 m)

Dark-grey granular limestone forms a separate well-bedded interval.

Bed A17 — Fine Dark Limestone (2.4 m)

One or two beds of nearly black fine limestone contain scattered crinoid ossicles.

Bed A18 — Upward-Coarsening Limestone Package (9 m)

Fine dark limestone with scattered ossicles passes up into better-bedded granular limestone.

Bed A19 — Coral-Bearing Limestone (1.5 m)

A granular limestone bed contains rolled corals near its base in places.

Bed A20 — Bedded Granular Limestone (12 m)

Dark-grey granular limestone forms a substantial bedded package.

Bed A21 — Crinoidal Limestone (7 m)

The upper part of this grey crinoidal limestone is dolomitised, before the main A22 interval.

Gully Oolite Formation (Chadian)

Bed A23 — Basal Gully Oolite, about 10 m exposed in the western section

The Gully Oolite is a pale grey to white, very massive, cross-bedded ooid limestone formed in shallow, high-energy water. Its lowest part is locally crinoidal and fossiliferous before passing upward into purer oolite. Fossils recorded from the basal beds include Caninia cf. caninoides, Caninophyllum arrhiaci, Fasciculophyllum densum, Michelinia cf. megastoma, Delepinea notata, Levitusia humerosa, Megachonetes cf. magna, Syringothyris cuspidata and Straparollus. A significant break in deposition occurs around the transition from the upper dolomitised Black Rock succession into the Gully Oolite.

BLACK ROCK LIMESTONE SUBGROUP — EASTERN EXPOSURE

Middle Hope Volcanic Member — Eastern Exposure

Separate Eastern Volcanic Log: Exposure 2, ST 3371 6643

This BGS log describes a different section east of Swallow Cliff, listed from youngest to oldest. Its bracketed 1–19 numbers are Morgan and Reynolds’s scheme, not the western A numbers. Do not sum its beds with the western section or imply that the pillow lava persists here. The unmeasured limestones bound the volcanic interval; historical fossil identifications and exposure comparisons follow the original source.

Unmeasured Upper Bounding Crinoidal Limestone

[Massive crinoidal limestone]

Bed 19 — Mostly Unexposed Interval And Basal Tuff (3.0 m)

[19] Most unexposed; lowest metre (seen at one place) comprising red and purple shaly tuff

Bed 18 — Coarse Crinoidal Limestone (3.7 m)

[18] Dark grey to grey, coarsely crinoidal limestone with F. densum and Michelinia sp.

Bed 17 — Green And Red Tuff (1.5 to 2.1 m)

[17] Green and red tuff; coarse and fine layers including decomposed basalt clasts

Bed 16 — Pipe Rock (0.75 m)

[16] ‘Pipe-rock’-laminated coarse and fine sandstone traversed by numerous vertical cylindrical sediment-filled pipes (Plate 8)

Bed 15 — Fine-Grained Tuff (0.6 m)

[15] Fine-grained tuff

Bed 14 — Limestone (0.05 m)

[14] Limestone

Beds 13–12 — Clast-Rich Tuff (4.4 m)

[13]- [12] Tuff with abundant variable-sized pebbles and fragments of limestone (Black Rock types), chert, dolomite, brown and green tuff and mudstone clasts

Bed 11 — Brown Fine-Grained Tuff (0.36 m)

[11] Brown fine-grained tuff

Bed 10 — Limestone (0.4 m)

[10] Limestone

Bed 9 — Fossiliferous Brown Tuff (6.7 m)

[9] Brown fine-grained tuff with’Edmondia‘ and gastropods in upper part

Bed 8 — Red Crinoidal Limestone (0.3 m)

[8] Red crinoidal limestone

Bed 7 — Brown Fine-Grained Tuff (0.6 m)

[7] Brown fine-grained tuff

Bed 6 — Fine-Grained Dolomite (0.08 m)

[6] Fine-grained dolomite (cf. bed 3 of ‘exposure 3’ of Morgan and Reynolds, 1904b, p. 200)

Bed 5 — Brown Fine-Grained Tuff (1.1 m)

[5] Brown fine-grained tuff

Bed 4 — Argillaceous Limestone (0.15 m)

[4] Compact rather argillaceous limestone

Bed 3 — Contorted Brown Tuff (3.35 m)

[3] Brown fine-grained tuff, much contorted

Bed 2 — Limestone Bands With Shale And Tuff (2.1 m)

[2] Limestone in bands (0.08 to 0.15 m) with partings of red shale. Green tuff band 0.3 m below top

Bed 1 — Unmeasured Lower Bounding Cherty Limestone

[1] [Black Rock Limestone with chert]

Other Eastern Volcanic Exposures — Separate Lateral Sections

At BGS exposure 3 (ST 3392 6655), folding and a nearby fault repeat and distort the beds; the top is not fully exposed and no reliable total thickness was established. The source warns that some historical numbered beds may be repetitions. This section must not be combined with exposure 2 or the western A-bed log.

Exposure 4 Near St Thomas’s Head — Historical Top-To-Bottom Inventory

The BGS records 0.75 m of shaly beds above 0.6 m of fine red tuffaceous limestone and 0.6 m of coarser tuff. Below are an estimated 2 m concealed interval, 2.4 m of red-yellow crinoidal limestone and an estimated 3 m concealed interval above red-stained Black Rock Limestone. Exposure and the uncertain member boundary prevent a simple sum from being used as the volcanic thickness. The source considers at least 2 m proven, perhaps 4 m or as much as 8 m when the uncertain covered interval is included.

At St Thomas’s Head the separate district summary records, from top to bottom, 37 m of Gully Oolite seen, about 45 m of Black Rock Dolomite, 55 m of Black Rock Limestone down to the base of the chert-bearing interval, and a further 85 m of Black Rock Limestone seen below the chert. The Gully Oolite and dolomitised interval compare with 10 m and 30 m respectively in the western A-bed log. These historical eastern measurements require caution: a thrust repeats part of the southern section, and structural disturbance obscures the Gully Oolite–dolomite contact. They are not a clean unrepeated total or additional beds stacked above the western section.

PLEISTOCENE DEPOSITS

Fossil cliff, shore platform and raised beach

Middle Hope also preserves an important Quaternary sequence unrelated to the Carboniferous bedrock. A Pleistocene fossil cliff and shore platform are overlain by slope deposits containing terrestrial and reworked marine molluscs. Younger raised-beach deposits contain abundant molluscs and foraminifera and are in turn overlain by later slope material. The raised beach has been correlated with the Ipswichian Interglacial, while the associated slope deposits record colder climatic phases. The unusual completeness of this sequence is one of the reasons for the site’s geological protection.

Structural Geology

The Carboniferous rocks were deposited approximately horizontally but were later folded, tilted and faulted during the Variscan Orogeny. Middle Hope forms part of the structurally complex Bristol–Mendip region and lies on the continuation of the Lower Severn structural axis. The steep dips, local synclines, faults and repetitions of beds around the headland mean that the coast is not a simple vertical stratigraphical section. This deformation is responsible for the dramatic inclined limestone ridges visible today.

Depositional Environment

The full Middle Hope succession records a shallow tropical carbonate ramp repeatedly disrupted by local volcanism. The lower Black Rock Limestone formed in relatively deeper outer-ramp water below normal wave influence. Increasing volcanic activity built a submarine cone upwards into progressively shallower water, while tuffs and lapilli were reworked by gravity flows, storms and ordinary marine currents. Pillow lava erupted directly onto the sea floor. After volcanism waned, the cone was eroded and drowned, allowing high-energy crinoidal grainstones and later shallow-water ooid shoals of the Gully Oolite to spread across the area.

Swallow Cliff Quaternary Log: Separate From The Carboniferous

Middle Hope Formation — Historical GCR Quaternary Scheme

At ST 325 661 the local Quaternary deposits rest on an older rock platform and fossil cliff. GCR 14 describes about 2.6 m overall, with the following maximum individual bed measurements; these maxima are not necessarily all attained in the same vertical line. Its named Woodspring, Swallow Cliff and Brean divisions are retained as the cited local Quaternary scheme, not confused with the Carboniferous volcanic member.

Middle Hope Palaeosol — Beds 1–3

Bed 1 — Red Stony Clay (up to 0.35 m)

Clay occupies hollows in the rock platform and contains volcanic, limestone and possible Triassic sandstone clasts. Clay coatings record soil development.

Bed 2 — Mottled Stony Clay (up to 0.10 m)

Red-brown silty clay contains possible Triassic marl fragments, some foraminifera and soil-related clay coatings; it grades down into bed 1.

Bed 3 — Very Stony Silty Clay (up to 0.15 m)

Limestone and weathered older-rock clasts occur with terrestrial snails and pockets of reworked marine shell. Beds 1–3 form the Middle Hope palaeosol in the source interpretation.

Woodspring Member — Historical GCR Scheme

Bed 4 — Silty Clay Loam (up to 0.15 m)

Slightly stony brown loam contains angular marl fragments, abundant foraminifera and some soil coatings.

Bed 5 — Very Stony Clay Loam (up to 0.15 m)

Limestone and flint fragments occur with weathered sandstone and marl, in a friable blocky loam.

Bed 6 — Dark Silty Clay Loam (up to 0.02 m)

A very thin brown-black loam separates the stonier beds below and sandier loam above.

Bed 7 — Sandy Loam (up to 0.08 m)

This layer contains abundant marine shell fragments and foraminifera with some land snails. Beds 4–7 are assigned to the Woodspring Member in the GCR scheme and interpreted as slope and wind-worked deposits.

Swallow Cliff Member — Historical GCR Scheme

Bed 8 — Raised-Beach Gravel (up to 1.0 m)

Rounded limestone cobbles lie in a shell-rich matrix. The temperate assemblage is dominated by Macoma balthica, with periwinkles, cockles, limpets and less common marine molluscs. This is the Swallow Cliff Member of the cited scheme.

Brean Member — Historical GCR Scheme

Bed 9 — Upper Stony Loam (up to 0.33 m)

Angular limestone and volcanic clasts occur in a sandy loam above the beach gravel. The GCR interprets renewed cold-climate slope deposition and correlates this layer with its Brean Member.

Modern Soil — Outside The Member Subdivision

Bed 10 — Modern Soil (up to 0.25 m)

The present soil caps the local Quaternary section.

The interglacial character of the raised beach is well supported, but the source discusses conflicting amino-acid results. MIS 5e/Ipswichian is the preferred correlation in that review; an older contribution or age has also been proposed. This uncertainty is retained rather than turning the beach into an exactly dated horizon.

References

Geikie, A. & Strahan, A. (1899). Geological Survey observations on the Carboniferous igneous rocks of the Bristol district.
Morgan, C. L. & Reynolds, S. H. (1904). The igneous rocks associated with the Carboniferous Limestone of the Bristol District.
Sibly, T. F. (1905). The Carboniferous Limestone of the Weston-super-Mare district.
Reynolds, S. H. (1917). Further work on the igneous rocks associated with the Carboniferous Limestone of the Bristol District.
Bush, G. E. (1930). The Carboniferous Limestone Avonian succession in the Woodspring Promontory, Weston-super-Mare.
Matthews, S. C., Butler, M. & Sadler, P. M. (1973). Lower Carboniferous successions in North Somerset.
Speedyman, D. L. (1977). Volcanic rocks of the Bristol Region.
Jeffreys, D. H. (1979). Sedimentology of the Dinantian volcaniclastic carbonate rocks of Middle Hope and Spring Cove.
Whittaker, A. & Green, G. W. (1983). Geology of the country around Weston-super-Mare. British Geological Survey memoir, Sheet 279.
Faulkner, T. J. (1989). The Early Carboniferous (Courceyan) Middle Hope volcanics of Weston-super-Mare: development and demise of an offshore volcanic high.
Waters, C. N. and co-authors (2009). A lithostratigraphical framework for the Carboniferous successions of southern Great Britain.
Geological Conservation Review: Middle Hope, Carboniferous and Permian Igneous Rocks of Great Britain.

Hunt, Middle Hope, GCR14 Quaternary of South-West England

Findlay & Catt (2006), A temporary section in Head at Bourne, Burrington, Somerset