Crook Peak to Shute Shelve Hill is a 332.2 hectare (820.9 acre) geological and biological Site of Special Scientific Interest near the western end of the Mendip Hills, Somerset. The line of hills runs for approximately from west to east and includes: Crook Peak, Compton Hill, Wavering Down, Cross Plain and Shute Shelve Hill. Most of the site is owned by the National Trust, which bought in 1985, and much of it has been designated as common land. It was notified as an SSSI by Natural England in 1952. The ecology of the area includes ancient woodland and calcareous grassland which supports nationally rare species including the Cheddar pink. The underlying rocks are Carboniferous Limestone containing phreatic caves at Shute Shelve Cavern and Picken's Hole from which fossils dating from the Middle Devensian have been recovered. Description The site extends for some from west to east. Near its eastern end it is divided by a gap used by the A38 road and the disused Cheddar Valley railway line. At the western end of the hills, closest to the M5 motorway, is Crook Peak which reaches , and forms a prominent feature from the surrounding landscape. Evidence of early human occupation of Crook Peak includes a polished flint axe. It was used as the site of a beacon at the time of the Spanish Armada. A ridge to the south east of Crook Peak, known as 'The Razor', is used by the West Mendip Soaring Association to fly model aircraft when the wind is a south-westerly, southerly or north-easterly direction. Compton Hill is above the village of Compton Bishop. Also within the parish of Compton Bishop is Wavering Down which reaches a height of , and is marked with a triangulation station. Around the small village of Cross is Wavering Down House which was, for the last 20 years of his life, the home of the British comedian Frankie Howerd. The house is now a tourist attraction, and in the summer hosts concerts and opens regularly as a museum of Howerd's collection of memorabilia to raise fund for charities. Above the village itself is Cross Plain where there are earthworks remaining from enclosures. Further east is Shute Shelve Hill, east of the A38 road, reaching a height of , above the town of Axbridge and adjoining Axbridge Hill and Fry's Hill. A long-distance footpath, the Mendip Way, follows much of the