The Cheddar Complex supports a wide range of semi-natural habitats which includes unimproved grassland, calcareous dry dwarf-shrub heath, semi-natural broadleaved woodland and dense and scattered scrub. Four nationally rare plants are present, including Little RobinGeranium purpureum, Cheddar PinkDianthus gratianopolitanus and Cheddar BedstrawGalium fleurotii, two of which are endemic to the Cheddar area, as well as fifteen nationally scarce species.
Geological
This site is important for karst, caves and vertebratepalaeontology and comprises four single interest localities. Cheddar Gorge is Britain’s largest gorge and probably the country’s best known limestone feature. It is a spectacular fluvial feature with a geomorphic history extending back 2 million years and encompassing the major environmental changes of the Pleistocene period. Cheddar Caves contain both active and fossil systems. The active cave system is one of the most heavily studied karst systems in Britain with reference to the conduit and diffuse flow characteristics of its hydrology. Charterhouse Caves include four major swallet caves that provide an indisputable record of Pleistocene landform development in the Mendips and surrounding area. Sun Hole Cave provides a varied fauna radiocarbon-dated to the end of the Late Devensian Cold Stage.
The Charterhouse area is of great importance as the finest remaining example of the unique Lead orefields of the Mendips. The surface features derived from lead working from pre-Roman times up to the nineteenth century are extremely well preserved. [1]
