Ashwell Quarry and Quarry Springs

{{Short description|Nature reserve in Hertfordshire, England}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}}

File:Ashwell Quarry 10.JPG

Ashwell Quarry and Quarry Springs is a three hectare nature reserve managed by the Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust near Ashwell in Hertfordshire.{{cite web|url=http://www.hertswildlifetrust.org.uk/reserves/ashwell-quarry-and-quarry-springs|title=Ashwell Quarry and Quarry Springs|publisher=Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust|accessdate=27 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150419220353/http://www.hertswildlifetrust.org.uk/reserves/ashwell-quarry-and-quarry-springs|archive-date=19 April 2015|url-status=dead}} Ashwell Quarry is owned by a local farmer, and Quarry Springs by Hertfordshire County Council.{{cite web|url=http://www.ashwellmuseum.org.uk/page_id__150.aspx?path=0p2p|title=Ashwell Quarry Nature Reserve|publisher=Ashwell Museum|accessdate=27 September 2015}} It is a Regionally Important Geological Site.{{cite web|page=52 |url=http://www.geo-east.org.uk/newsletters/herts/a_geological_strategy_for_hertfordshire2003.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100119174633/http://www.geo-east.org.uk/newsletters/herts/a_geological_strategy_for_hertfordshire2003.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=2010-01-19 |title=A Geological Conservation Strategy for Hertfordshire |publisher=Hertfordshire RIGS Group |year=2003 }}

The quarry may date to Roman times and its Totternhoe stone was probably used to build Ashwell's fourteenth-century church. In the nineteenth century it was grazed by sheep, adding the nutrients required for wild flowers which need soils which are dry and chalky. In 1970 it became a nature reserve. Plants include pyramidal orchid, clustered bellflower and glaucous sedge, and there are rare mosses in shaded hollows. Quarry Springs has rare wildlife such as flatworms which need water which is clean and at a constant temperature around 10 degrees Celsius.

A permit is required from the local warden of the Wildlife Trust for entry to Ashwell Quarry, which is a mile west of Ashwell, on the Hinxworth Road opposite Loves Lane. Quarry Springs is on the opposite side of the road to the quarry.