Gallows Hill SSSI, Wiltshire
51°01′08″N 2°04′12″W / 51.019°N 2.070°W / 51.019; -2.070
Gallows Hill SSSI is a Site of Special Scientific Interest on the north side of the Ebble Valley in south Wiltshire, England. Its chalk grassland and scrub contain a number of animal and plant species that are nationally rare. The 27.8 hectares (69 acres) site was notified in 1965.
The site
The site includes three areas of a series of slopes, with a range of aspects, on a long ridge of Lower, Middle, and Upper Chalk formations.[1] The site lies in Alvediston parish and within the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.[1] The OS grid reference for the site is ST 952 244.[1]
Importance
The site is important as an example of a species-rich downland habitat.[1] This type of habitat has been reduced across the country because of changes in agricultural practice.[1]
The site is notable for (in the grassland areas) Festuca ovina (sheep's fescue), Avenula pratensis (meadow oat-grass), Brachypodium pinnatum (tor-grass), and Polyommatus bellargus (Adonis Blue) – a nationally scarce species of butterfly. In the scrub areas are Crataegus monogyna (common hawthorn), and Hedera helix (ivy).[1]
History
Gallows Hill SSSI was first notified in 1965 under Section 28 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. The notification was revised in 1975.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Gallows Hill SSSI Citation (PDF) (Report). Natural England. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
External links
- Natural England website (SSSI information)
- Defra map of site
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- Acres Farm Meadow
- River Avon System
- Baverstock Juniper Bank
- Bencroft Hill Meadows
- Bentley Wood
- Bincknoll Dip Woods
- Blackmoor Copse
- Botley Down
- Bowerchalke Downs
- Box Mine
- Bracknell Croft
- Bradley Woods
- Bratton Downs
- Brickworth Down and Dean Hill
- Brimsdown Hill
- Britford Water Meadows
- Burcombe Down
- Burderop Wood
- Calstone and Cherhill Downs
- Camp Down
- Chilmark Quarries
- Chickengrove Bottom
- Chilton Foliat Meadows
- Clattinger Farm
- Clearbury Down
- Cley Hill
- Cloatley Manor Farm Meadows
- Clout's Wood
- Coate Water
- Cockey Down
- Colerne Park and Monk's Wood
- The Coombes, Hinton Parva
- Cotswold Water Park
- Cranborne Chase
- Dank's Down and Truckle Hill
- Distillery Farm Meadows
- East Harnham Meadows
- Ebsbury Down
- Emmett Hill Meadows
- Figsbury Ring
- Fonthill Grottoes
- Fyfield Down
- Gallows Hill
- Goldborough Farm Meadows
- Great Cheverell Hill
- Great Yews
- Gutch Common
- Ham Hill
- Hang Wood
- Harries Ground, Rodbourne
- Haydon Meadow
- Heath Hill Farm
- Homington and Coombe Bissett Downs
- Honeybrook Farm
- Inwood, Warleigh
- Jones's Mill
- River Kennet
- Kennet and Lambourn Floodplain
- King's Play Hill
- Knapp and Barnett's Downs
- Knighton Downs and Wood
- Landford Bog
- Landford Heath
- Langley Wood and Homan's Copse
- Little Grubbins Meadow
- Long Knoll
- Loosehanger Copse and Meadows
- Lower Coombe and Ferne Brook Meadows
- Lower Woodford Water Meadows
- Midford Valley Woods
- Morgan's Hill
- The New Forest
- North Meadow, Cricklade
- Odstock Down
- Out Woods
- Parsonage Down
- Pewsey Downs
- Picket and Clanger Wood
- Piggledene
- Pike Corner
- Pincombe Down
- Porton Down
- Porton Meadows
- Prescombe Down
- Rack Hill
- Ravensroost Wood
- Restrop Farm and Brockhurst Wood
- Rotherley Downs
- Roundway Down and Covert
- Salisbury Plain
- Savernake Forest
- Scratchbury & Cotley Hills
- Silbury Hill
- Spye Park
- Starveall and Stony Down
- Steeple Langford Down
- Stockton Wood and Down
- Stoke Common Meadows
- Stratford Toney Down
- Sutton Lane Meadows
- Throope Down
- River Till
- Tytherington Down
- Upper Waterhay Meadow
- Upton Cow Down
- West Yatton Down
- Whiteparish Common
- Whitesheet Hill
- Win Green Down
- Winklebury Hill
- Winsley Mines
- Wylye and Church Dean Downs
- Yarnbury Castle
- Neighbouring areas
- Avon
- Berkshire
- Dorset
- Gloucestershire
- Hampshire
- Oxfordshire
- Somerset