Totternhoe Chalk Quarry

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Infobox SSSI

|image=Totternhoe Chalk Quarry 5.JPG

|name=Totternhoe Chalk Quarry

|aos=Bedfordshire

|interest=Biological

|gridref={{gbmappingsmall|SP986225}}

|area=13.4 hectares

|notifydate=1990

|map=[http://magic.defra.gov.uk/MagicMap.aspx?startTopic=Designations&activelayer=sssiIndex&query=HYPERLINK%3D%271005582%27 Magic Map]

}}

Totternhoe Chalk Quarry is a {{convert|13.4|hectare|acre|adj=on}} biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Totternhoe in Bedfordshire.{{cite web|url=http://www.sssi.naturalengland.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/1005582.pdf |title=Totternhoe Chalk Quarry citation|series= Sites of Special Scientific Interest|publisher=Natural England|accessdate= 9 September 2015}}{{cite web|url=http://magic.defra.gov.uk/MagicMap.aspx?startTopic=Designations&activelayer=sssiIndex&query=HYPERLINK%3D%271005582%27 |title=Map of Totternhoe Chalk Quarry|series= Sites of Special Scientific Interest|publisher=Natural England|accessdate= 9 September 2015}} Part of it lies in Totternhoe nature reserve, which is managed by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire.Trust noticeboard at the entrance to Totternhoe nature reserve near the National Trust car park The site is part of the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.{{cite book|title=The Chilterns|publisher=English Nature|page=39|first=Derek|last=Langslow}}

The site is a disused medieval quarry 1446: Common Plea Rolls; http://aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT1/H6/CP40no740/bCP40no740dorses/IMG_1965.htm, county margin Bed, second entry; plaintiffs: Wm Halle & John Heyworth, defendant John Prudde; "quaryour" for Totternhoe stone, a durable chalk which was used for buildings including Westminster Abbey. The steeply sloping spoil heaps have developed into grasslands which have a wide variety of flowers, including orchids.{{cite web|url=http://www.wildlifebcn.org/reserves/totternhoe-knolls-and-quarry|title=Totternhoe|publisher=Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire|accessdate= 9 September 2015}} Grass chalkland is a habitat under threat, and the site has a number of rare plant species, including great pignut. It also has butterflies such as the chalkhill blue and the nationally rare Duke of Burgundy.

There is access from a footpath between Sewell Cutting and Totternhoe and from Totternhoe Knolls, which is also part of Totternhoe nature reserve.

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