Blue Bell Hill is a chalk hill between Maidstone and Rochester in the English county of Kent. It overlooks the River Medway. Blue Bell Hill forms part of the North Downs. There is a car/park view point which can be used to access the above co-ordinates.
Please note :- there are questions to answer AND a photo to be taken in order to claim this EC
This area is part of The North Downs which are a ridge of chalk hills located in south east of England that stretch for 120 miles (190 km) from Hampshire through Surrey to Kent.
They form the northern part of the Wealden dome, of which the South Downs are their mirror image and often reach in excess of 200 metres (660 ft).
The North Downs of which this is a part is a geographical feature called ‘downland’, downland is formed when chalk formations are raised above the surrounding rocks.
The chalk slowly erodes to form characteristic rolling hills and valleys. As the chalk layer is generally tilted, chalk downland formations typically have a marked scarp slope on one side (subject of one of the photo tasks), which is very steep, and a dip slope on the other, which is much shallower.
More information about the Chalk hill - The Chalk Formation was laid down under the sea during the Upper Cretaceous period, and was later uplifted at around 65 million years ago.
In the south-east England, the chalk deposits were formed into an elongated dome, with the long axis in a roughly east-west direction. Erosion along the line of this axis removed the central part of the chalk and revealed the underlying Wealden deposits. The remaining chalk forms the characteristic escarpments of the North and South Downs.
Bluebell Hill is one end of the region known as Kent Downs the other end more famously known at Dover – The White Cliffs.
From BlueBell Hill the North Downs continues west following a break due to the intrusion by the River Medway.
A famous feature of BlueBell hill is a group of prehistoric tombs called the Medway megaliths including Kit's Coty House.
A Roman temple was also later built on the hill. Kit's Coty House is the name of the remains of a Neolithic chambered long barrow (dating c3000 BC) – there are many stones in the area linked to this series of tombs in particular ‘The Upper White Horse’ and a group called the ‘Countless Stones’
(some of this info has come from Wikipedia.com and Kent County Council info site)
From the view point looking south you are looking over the much steeper drop. From the top of the hill it is not easy to see the chalk formation, though from a lower level, like at the village of Eccles (approx 0.6 miles SE of the view point) you get a wonderful view looking back. In the earlier years of this cache there was a requirement to take a second photo from that location in Eccles looking back up to the chalk hills. However it was decided to remove that requirement - though that doesn't stop you from going down to Bull Lane and having a look.
To claim this cache there are questions to answer and a photo to take
The photo is at the published co-ords (parking for this at N51 19.906 E000 30.048) - At this location looking south you will see remains of a chalk quarry - take a picture of these remains with you, part of you (if you dont do selfies), your GPS, or a piece of paper (or similar) with your geocaching ID written on it in the image - please do not just take a picture of the landscape as this will not show YOU have been to this location
The questions for which the answers will have to be emailed /messaged are :-
Question 1:- These chalk hills were laid down during the Upper Cretaceous period and were uplifted approx 40 Million years later - what is this period called ?
Question 2:- The Kent part of the North downs is called 'Kent Downs', this carries on west, what is that region of the North Downs called ?
Question 3:- Near the parking area at the top of Blue Bell Hill - there is a Kent Wildlife Trust information board - There is a heading which says "The Medway ????? a living ?????????" - What are the two missing words
(please do not give these answers in your log)
Once you have sent the answers you may log your find along with your photo (required) - any issues with the answers will be addressed.
DO NOT LOG A 'FOUND IT' BEFORE YOU HAVE EMAILED THE ANSWERS, we are constantly chasing people up - if you log a found and haven't sent the answers you may find your log deleted until you do send the answers
