Cheddar Cliffs

Cheddar Cliffs, which might rather be called a pass or gorge, a narrow winding fissure in the carboniferous limestone of the Mendip Hills, near Cheddar, in Somersetshire. The fissure, no doubt, originated along a line of fracture, and has a general N.E. and S.W. direction, the beds of limestone dipping across it S. or S.E., from 19° to 24° on one side and from 15° to 23° on the other. The solvent action of carbonated water, frost, and streams running underground, have widened the ravine, most of the material being removed from the north-west or dip-slope side. A road now runs along the bottom of the pass. There are numerous caverns and swallow-holes in the district, and the former by collapse of their roofs may give rise to ravines.