Chancellor's Farm is a 34.2-hectare

Hectare

The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...

 (84.6 acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest just north of Priddy

Priddy

Priddy is a village in Somerset, England in the Mendip Hills, close to East Harptree and north-west of Wells. It is in the local government district of Mendip....

 in the Mendip Hills

Mendip Hills

The Mendip Hills is a range of limestone hills to the south of Bristol and Bath in Somerset, England. Running east to west between Weston-super-Mare and Frome, the hills overlook the Somerset Levels to the south and the Avon Valley to the north...

, Somerset

Somerset

The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...

, notified in 1984.

The site, which is close to the Yoxter

Yoxter

Yoxter Training Camp is a British Army training area and camp situated on the Mendip Hills in Somerset. It is between the villages of Charterhouse and Priddy...

 military range, is operated as a restricted-access nature reserve

Nature reserve

A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research...

 by the Somerset Wildlife Trust

Somerset Wildlife Trust

Somerset Wildlife Trust is a wildlife trust covering the county of Somerset, England.The trust, which was established in 1964, aims to safeguard the county's wildlife and wild places for this and future generations and manages almost 80 nature reserves. Examples include Fyne Court, Westhay Moor,...

.

This site provides outstanding examples of some of the grassland communities associated with the higher parts of the Mendip plateau. The soils include a mixture of wind-deposited silts and weathered material from the parent Carboniferous Limestone

Carboniferous limestone

Carboniferous Limestone is a term used to describe a variety of different types of limestone occurring widely across Great Britain and Ireland which were deposited during the Dinantian epoch of the Carboniferous period. They were formed between 363 and 325 million years ago...

. The grassland is a type characterised by Sweet Vernal Grass (Anthoxanthum odoratum), Red Fescue

Fescue

Festuce is a genus of about 300 species of perennial tufted grasses, belonging to the grass family Poaceae . The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution, although the majority of the species are found in cool temperate areas...

 (Festuca rubra), Common Bent

Agrostis

Agrostis is a genus of over 100 species belonging to the grass family Poaceae, commonly referred to as the bent grasses...

 (Agrostis capillaris), Pignut

Conopodium majus

Conopodium majus is a small perennial herb, whose underground part resembles a chestnut and is sometimes eaten as a wild or cultivated root vegetable....

 (Conopodium majus) and Sorrel

Sorrel

Common sorrel or garden sorrel , often simply called sorrel, is a perennial herb that is cultivated as a garden herb or leaf vegetable...

 (Rumex acetosa). Of particular interest is the abundance of Common Bluebell

Common Bluebell

Hyacinthoides non-scripta, commonly known as the common bluebell, is a spring-flowering bulbous perennial plant. -Taxonomy:...

 (Hyacinthoides non-scripta), a species rare outside woodland habitats in Somerset.

The site includes extensive remains of lead

Lead

Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...

 mining from the medieval period to the early 18th century, with some evidence of iron

Iron

Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...

mining in the north east corner of the site.