This site must rank as one of the oldest conservation areas in the country, a result entirely of its history. The protected area contains no natural landforms at all, consisting solely of industrial relics from 19th-century chemical works. The majority of the 5ha site derives from accumulations of a caustic alkali waste known as Leblanc-process waste, intermixed in places with boiler slag, the remains of building foundations and a derelict canal wharf.