Quarrington Hill

Quarrington Hill Grasslands is a Site of Special Scientific Interest in County Durham, England. The site consists of three separate areas, two closely adjacent to the east of the village of Quarrington Hill, the third immediately west of the village, which lies 8 km south-east of Durham City. The area is important for its magnesian limestone grassland communities, which are largely confined to County Durham and increasingly scarce even there. The grasslands at Quarrington Hill are typical of the type, being characterised by the presence of blue moor-grass, Sesleria albicans, and small scabious, Scabiosa columbaria. Less common species include common milkwort, Polygala vulgaris, hairy violet, Viola hirta, and wild carrot, Daucus carota. The nationally scarce dark-red helleborine, Epipactis atrorubens, is found at the site, as is basil thyme, Clinopodium acinos, a southern species that is uncommon this far north. The Durham Argus butterfly, Aricia artaxerxes salmacis, a form which is only found in the magnesian limestone areas of Durham, is known to breed at the site.

Cassop Vale is a Site of Special Scientific Interest in the Durham City district of County Durham, England. It lies between the villages of Bowburn and Cassop, 7 km south-east of the centre of Durham.. The site is important as one of the larger areas of grassland developed on magnesium limestone. This rock has a restricted distribution in England and grassland associated with it is confined almost entirely to south-east Tyneside and County Durham, usually in small, scattered patches that are threatened by quarrying and modern agricultural practices. Habitats at Cassop Vale include grassland, scrub, woodland and wetland, the last fed by spring-lines. The area also includes recolonised open quarries and mine spoil-heaps, which add to the floral diversity. The main grass species on the magnesian limestone is blue moor-grass Sesleria albicans amongst which grow fragrant orchid Gymnadenia conopsea, cowslip, Primula veris, rock rose Helianthemum nummularium, and quaking grass, Briza media. Several rare and local species are present, including globeflower, Trollius europaeus, birds's-eye primrose, Primula farinosa, lesser club-moss, Selaginella selaginoides, and moonwort, Botrychium lunaria. Elsewhere there is neutral grassland with red fescue and such herbs as cat’s-ear, earthnut and knapweed.The scrub is dominated by hawthorn, gorse and hazel and on the basic soils grow woodruff, dog's mercury and sanicle. The small flushes on the springline are dominated by rushes and sedges, but are also home to marsh valerian, marsh ragwort, ragged robin and northern marsh-orchid. The wetlands are fringed by common spike-rush, soft rush and greater willow-herb.The site also supports a diverse invertebrate fauna that includes populations of the Durham argus butterfly, Aricia artaxerxes salmacis, and the least minor moth Photedes captiuncula.

Cassop (formerly New Cassop) is a village in County Durham, in England. It has a population of about 500 and is located near the city of Durham. A former mining village, mining is no longer the main occupation of Cassop's inhabitants due to extensive mine closure over the last 30 years. Formerly this village was in the parish of Kelloe, but like many of the villages in that extensive parish, it broke away during the 19th century in this case to form the parish of Cassop-cum-Quarrington, with the neighbouring village, Quarrington Hill. Cassop Primary School is believed to have been the first in the UK to generate some of its own electricity with its own wind turbine which was erected in February 1999.

Kelloe is a village and civil parish in County Durham, England. The population of the civil parish as taken at the 2011 Census was 1,502. It is situated to the south-east of Durham.

Cassop-cum-Quarrington is a civil parish in County Durham, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 4,735, increasing to 5,219 at the 2011 census.The parish covers a number of settlements: Bowburn Cassop Old Cassop Old Quarrington Parkhill TursdaleUnlike the ecclesiastical parish of Cassop-cum-Quarrington with Bowburn, the civil parish does not include Quarrington Hill. The civil parish was created in 1887 from the townships of Cassop and Quarrington with boundary changes in 1946 and 1953 (the latter changes moved much of the newly built Bowburn Estate into the parish from Whitwell House). Following a residential development at the north-west corner of Bowburn, falling within the Shincliffe parish boundaries, a small adjustment to boundaries was made in 2014 to bring the development wholly within Cassop-cum-Quarrington. The parish was divided into two wards from the May 2013 elections. The division between the two is marked by the A1(M) motorway. West Ward, consisting of Bowburn and Tursdale, has 11 councillors East Ward, consisting of Cassop, Parkhill, Old Cassop and Old Quarrington, has 4 councillors.As of 2019 the majority of councillors are members of the Labour Party.

Old Cassop is a hamlet in County Durham, in England. It is situated a few miles to the south-east of Durham. Old Cassop lies within the Cassop-cum-Quarrington civil parish. Old Cassop is about a quarter of a mile south of the A181 road and is accessible only by an unclassified single-track road. It is covered by a conservation area to preserve its character.

Raisby Hill Grassland is a Site of Special Scientific Interest in east County Durham, England. It lies just over 1 km east of the village of Coxhoe. The site consists of a small disused quarry and the undisturbed part of Raisby Hill, as well as a small area of wetland alongside Raisby Beck. It formed part of the Raisby Hill Quarry SSSI until 1984 when it was removed and, with some expansion of the area, notified as a separate SSSI. In the undisturbed part of Raisby Hill primary magnesian limestone grassland is the main vegetation type. Blue moor-grass, Sesleria albicans, is abundant, and there is a rich assemblage of species characteristic of calcareous soils, such as quaking grass, Briza media, meadow oat grass, Avenula pratensis, glaucous sedge, Carex flacca, and fragrant orchid, Gymnadenia conopsea. The skeletal soils in the abandoned quarry at the southwestern end of the site support the largest population of dark-red helleborine, Epipactis atrorubens, in County Durham. Other species found here include rock rose, Helianthemum nummularium, frog orchid, Coeloglossum viride, and pyramidal orchid, Anacamptis pyramidalis. The site supports a breeding population of Durham Argus butterfly, Aricia artaxerxes salmacis, a form which is only found in the magnesian limestone areas of Durham.

Old Quarrington is a hamlet in County Durham, in England. It is situated between Bowburn and Quarrington Hill. It is also known locally as Heugh Hall, which was the name of a local colliery.In the Middle Ages, Old Quarrington was the centre of a district of County Durham called “Queringdonshire" (Quarringtonshire), which contained nearby Sherburn, Shadforth, Cassop, Tursdale and Whitwell House.

Raisby Hill Quarry is a Site of Special Scientific Interest in east County Durham, England. It lies just under 2 km east of the village of Coxhoe. The site is a working quarry and has been designated as of national importance in the Geological Conservation Review. Until 1984, the site included most of the area that now forms the Raisby Hill Grassland SSSI. The quarry exposes a section through the Marl Slate and the Ford and Raisby Formations of the Upper Permian. It is the type locality for the Raisby Formation, a carbonate unit of the English Zechstein sequence. The exposed sequence commences with the Yellow Sands, which are overlain by the Marl Slate and some 200 feet of calcareous and dolomitic limestones.

Garmondsway is a small dispersed hamlet in the parish of Kelloe in County Durham, England situated between Durham and Sedgefield. It is notable as including substantial remains of an abandoned village including an extant ridge and furrow field system and became a scheduled monument in 1957. It was formerly part of the extra-parochial chapelry of Garmondsway Moor due to its ownership by Sherburn Hospital. Garmondsway Moor was also a civil parish between 1866 and 1937. King Canute (1017–1035) reportedly walked five miles barefoot from Garmondsway to Durham Cathedral on pilgrimage, and gave the church a large estate around Staindrop and Gainford.

Town Kelloe is a small village in County Durham, in England. It is situated a short distance to the east of Kelloe.

Coxhoe Bridge railway station served the village of Coxhoe, County Durham, England, from 1846 to 1984 on the Hartlepool–Ferryhill Line.