Avon Gorge
The fossil shells and corals indicate that the limestone formed in shallow tropical seas in the Carboniferous, 350 million years ago.
[1] For a long time it was unclear what caused the Avon to cut through the limestone ridge, rather than run southwest through the Ashton Vale towards Weston-super-Mare.
[5] Bristol Diamonds, brilliant quartz crystals found in geodes in dolomitic conglomerate in the gorge,[6] were popular souvenirs for visitors to the Hotwells spa in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
[2] The steep south-west facing sides receive the afternoon sunlight, but are partially sheltered from the prevailing winds.
When winds come from the Bristol Channel in the north west they may be funnelled into the gorge, creating harsh and wet conditions.
The steep gorge walls make an ideal habitat for peregrine falcons, with a plentiful supply of food nearby in the form of pigeons and gulls.
The gorge also houses large populations of Jackdaw and horseshoe bats, both of which find homes in the caves and bridge buttresses.
[13] lady orchid was discovered here in 1990, in Nightingale Valley on the west side of the Gorge; there is some doubt as to whether this was a wild plant or an introduction.
It was mined for lead, calamine, iron and limestone, and became home to a windmill which produced snuff from the tobacco which had become one of the city's principal imports.
In the Victorian era, with houses creeping further onto the Downs, an Act of Parliament was passed to protect them as a park for the people of Bristol.
Throughout Bristol's history the gorge has been an important transport route, carrying the River Avon, major roads and two railways.
The Bristol Channel and Avon estuary have a very high tidal range of 15 metres (49 ft),[28] second only to Bay of Fundy in Eastern Canada;[29][30] and the gorge is relatively narrow and meandering, making it notoriously difficult to navigate.
Several vessels have grounded in the gorge including the SS Demerara soon after her launch in 1851, the schooner Gipsy in 1878, the steam tug Black Eagle in 1861 and the Llandaff City.
The section of the Bristol Port Railway between Hotwells and Sneyd Park junction was closed in 1922, when construction of a major road through the gorge, the Portway, was started.
In the late 1990s the wide pavement through nearly all the Avon Gorge was designated to be legally usable by both cyclists and the fewer pedestrians.
[38] The 2017 edition of The Climbers' Club Guide to Avon Gorge by Martin Crocker[39] lists 400 pages of routes and guidance.
Another variation tells of the brothers falling for Avona, a girl from Wiltshire, who instructs the giants to drain a lake which stretches from Rownham Hill to Bradford-on-Avon (i.e. the Avon valley).
Goram began digging the nearby Hazel Brook Gorge in Blaise Castle estate, but consumed too much beer and fell asleep.
