Double Arches Pit was a sand

Sandstone

Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...

 quarry

Quarry

A quarry is a type of open-pit mine from which rock or minerals are extracted. Quarries are generally used for extracting building materials, such as dimension stone, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, and gravel. They are often collocated with concrete and asphalt plants due to the requirement...

 near the village and civil parish of Heath and Reach

Heath and Reach

Heath and Reach is a village, civil parish, and political ward near the Chiltern Hills in Bedfordshire. It is about two miles north of Leighton Buzzard and three miles south of Woburn and adjoins the county boundary with Buckinghamshire....

, Bedfordshire

Bedfordshire

Bedfordshire is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region.It borders Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Northamptonshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the south-east....

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It is now a Site of Special Scientific Interest

Site of Special Scientific Interest

A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...

 and a Geological Conservation Review

Geological Conservation Review

The Geological Conservation Review is produced by the UK's Joint Nature Conservation Committee and is designed to identify those sites of national and international importance needed to show all the key scientific elements of the geological and geomorphological features of Britain...

 site.

History

Archaeological excavations have concluded that a good-sized Roman settlement existed there, with multiple pieces of pottery and a Roman well being discovered.

The pit was opened by J.Arnold & Sons Limited in 1916. In 1927, the site was subject to a valuation in accordance with the Rating and Valuation Act 1925. The valuer who visited the site recorded its size as 19.149 acres (7.7 ha). The following is an extract from his notes:
The pit was mentioned in an article in the Cement, Lime & Gravel magazine, describing the site as "largest and most important of the Firm's workings", and described the site as having a system of 'locos' used to transport materials around the site. The site used to be the furthest point along the Leighton Buzzard Light Railway

Leighton Buzzard Light Railway

The Leighton Buzzard Light Railway is a narrow gauge light railway in Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire, England. It operates on a gauge, and is just under long. The line was built after the First World War to serve sand quarries north of the town...

 that was constructed to provide a means of transporting sand from a series of quarries in the area. The site closed in 1985.

Site of Special Scientific Interest

An application was made to designate the pit a Site of Special Scientific Interest in 1988. The application was made on the basis that it was the best accessible exposure to Lower Greensand and Gault

Gault Clay

Gault is a clay formation of stiff blue clay deposited in a calm, fairly deep water marine environment during the Lower Cretaceous Period...

 in the Leighton Buzzard

Leighton Buzzard

-Lower schools:*Beaudesert Lower School - Apennine Way*Clipstone Brook Lower School - Brooklands Drive*Greenleas Lower School - Derwent Road*Dovery Down Lower School - Heath Road*Heathwood Lower School - Heath Road*Leedon Lower School - Highfield Road...

 area. This helps geologists study fossil

Fossil

Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...

 and environmental changes in the area's history, particularly for the interval covering the Leymeriella tardefurcata and Douvilleiceras mammillatum

Douvilleiceras

Douvilleiceras is a genus of ammonite from the Cretaceous. Its fossils have been found in Europe, North America, and South America.-External links:* in the Paleobiology Database...

ammonite

Ammonite

Ammonite, as a zoological or paleontological term, refers to any member of the Ammonoidea an extinct subclass within the Molluscan class Cephalopoda which are more closely related to living coleoids Ammonite, as a zoological or paleontological term, refers to any member of the Ammonoidea an extinct...

 zones

Biozone

Biostratigraphic units or Biozones are intervals of geological strata that are defined on the basis of their characteristic fossil taxa....

. The application also mentions a "unique example of channelling in the junction beds" and "clear development of the Cirripede bed

Bed (geology)

In geology a bed is the smallest division of a geologic formation or stratigraphic rock series marked by well-defined divisional planes separating it from layers above and below. A bed is the smallest lithostratigraphic unit, usually ranging in thickness from a centimeter to several meters and...

.". A site assessment on 12 February 2008 identified the site to be in a "Favourable" condition, and giving the size as 4.22 acres (1.7 ha).