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Geological Curator, Vo1.4, No.8, 1987 (for 19861, pp.487-491COLLECTIONS, COLLECTORS AND RlUSEUMS OF NOTE, No.51THE FOSSIL COLLECTION OF C.B. SALTERFROM CLIFF QUARRY, COMPTON MARTIN, MENDIP HILLSBY MURRAY MITCHELLBIOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTlONClifford Barnett Salter was born in Bristolin 1910, the only child of Henry and DoraSalter. He was educated at Bristol GrammarSchool where his interest in natural scienceswas quickly recognised. In 1926 he wasoffered the opportunity of further education,but his father, who was chief accountant in asubsidiary firm of the Imperial TobaccoCompany, arranged for him to he a traineethere, with security of employment for life -all important during that time of deepdepression. ClifPs interests in thecountryside never waned and years later,after he had changed his job, a move toCompton Martin enabled him to follow manycountry pursuits. Not far from the villagelay Cliff Quarry, a small quarry in theCarboniferous Limest~ne which had producedstone for housebuilding and road making;working had ceased in 1956 and it was whenexploring this quarry that Cliff made thediscovery that enabled him to amass avaluable collection of fossils. His untimelydeath in 1971 prevented him from makingfurther discoveries in this field of geologywhere amateurs have always made (and continueto make) such valuable contributions (Figs. 1-51.HISTORY OF THE COLLECTIONCliff Salter made a notable contribution togeology by amassing a very large collectionof fossils from the Carboniferous Limestoneat Cliff Quarry (NGR ST5415681, ComptonMartin, in the Mendip Hills, Somerset. Thefossils from this quarry have been known fora long time (e.g. Sibly 1906, p.3511, hutCliff Salter's meticulous work resulted inone of the largest collections ofCarboniferous Limestone fossils ever madefrom a single locality.Cliff's interest in geology and fossilcollecting was aroused by finds of ammonitesand other fossils from the Jurassic rocks ofDundry Hill, south of Bristol, and it was ahappy chance that turned his attention to thefossils from Cliff Quarry. He and his wifeEsm'e had bought a seventeenth century cottage(The Long House) in the village of ComptonMartin as a weekend retreat; as a break fromthe toils of conversion work, they would taketheir dogs for walks in the hlendip Hillswhich form the high ground south of thevillage. It was not long before ClifPseagle eye noticed that the limestone of CliffQuarry was richly fossiliferous. Hisinterest was fired by this discovery and, onlooking more closely, he found a bed oflimestone in a state of weathering thatenabled even the smallest and most delicatefossils to be extracted from the rock.Fig.1 Cliff Salter (1910-1911).Photograph taken in 1968.Boxes of this weathered limestone weregathered up and carted back to Bristol. Thedining room of the Salters' house at 25Cotham Road was converted into a workshop andlaboratory, and for a number of years Cliffdevoted every spare moment to breaking downthe limestone blocks and cleaning anddeveloping the fossils that he found. Thesight of Cliff, hunched over his microscopevery early every morning in the large frontwindow of his house, roused the interest andcuriosity of passers by; some were driven toenquire about ClifPs labours, hut most neverappreciated what it was that drove him tosuch toil and effort. While this work was inprogress, the Salters' domestic help used togrumble at the dust Cliff created when he was'scratching at his offals'! He sorted thefossils into different species and storedthem with great care so that he was able tokeep a check on the wide range of forms thathe collected. He developed his owntechniques, modifying instruments such asdental tools, for extracting the fossils -many of them very small - from the rock, andused his considerable engineering skill to