Kingley Vale
Site of Special Scientific Interest
LocationWest Sussex
Grid referenceSU 822 112[1]
InterestBiological
Area204.4 hectares (505 acres)[1]
Notification1986[1]
Location mapMagic Map

Kingley Vale is a 204.4-hectare (505-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest north of Chichester in West Sussex.[1][2] It is also a Special Area of Conservation[3] and a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I.[4] An area of 147.9 hectares (365 acres) is a national nature reserve.[5]

The site is managed by Natural England. It has an information centre and a nature trail.[6] There is a large area of grass downland and shrubland with a number of old yew trees. From the top there are views over Sussex and the south coast. There are a number of walks and bridleways around the NNR.The main walk (known as the "Hidden Landscape Trail") focuses on the Devil's Humps, Goosehill Camp and Auxiliary units of World War II, as well as highlighting other hidden ancient features.[7]

The reserve car park is at West Stoke about five miles northwest of Chichester,[8] and there are footpaths leading up from the village of Stoughton.[7]

Natural features

An ancient yew

Kingley Vale has one of Europe's most impressive yew forests. The forest contains yews as much as 2,000 years old, which are some of the oldest living organisms in Great Britain.[9] Their survival is remarkable because most ancient yew trees across Europe were felled after the 14th century, being the preferred material for the staves of English longbows.

In 1472, with the increasing popularity of the longbow, the English government enacted a "yew tax" of four "bowestaffs" for every cask of wine unloaded at an English harbour.[10] This sparked a rush for ancient yew trees across Europe, decimating the forests.[10] Kingley Vale is one of the few major stands remaining; most yews elsewhere are solitary trees or small stands.[10]

Other tree species in Kingley Vale include oak, ash, holly and hawthorn. Numerous ash trees were felled because of Ash dieback fungal infection that affected much of the South Downs in the 2010s. This has created new clearings in the woods for other plants to grow. The chalk grassland is home to many flowers and herbs that form a diverse mosaic of species. Over 50 species of birds are found, although only six species breed in the yew woodland. Mammals include deer, yellow-necked mouse, water shrew and dormouse. The 39 species of butterfly at Kingley Vale are mainly found in the grassland.[11]

Heritage sites

The Devil's Humps

Kingley Vale has a rich and diverse heritage with remains of a Romano-Celtic temple at Bow Hill.[12] Iron Age settlement site known as Goosehill Camp,[13] the Devil's Humps Bronze Age round barrows and prehistoric flint mines. There are also a number of unidentified archaeological remains in the form of linear earthworks, a rectangular enclosure known as Bow Hill Camp and evidence of settlement at the base of the hill.[14]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Designated Sites View: Kingley Vale". Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
  2. ↑ "Map of Kingley Vale". Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
  3. ↑ "Designated Sites View: Kingley Vale". Special Areas of Conservation. Natural England. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  4. ↑ Ratcliffe, Derek, ed. (1977). A Nature Conservation Review. Vol. 2. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. p. 118. ISBN 0521-21403-3.
  5. ↑ "Designated Sites View: Kingley Vale". National Nature Reserves. Natural England. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
  6. ↑ Natural England
  7. 1 2 SDNP (2017). "Kingley Vale Hidden Trail" (PDF). Secret of the High Woods. South Downs National Park Authority. Retrieved 24 September 2022.
  8. ↑ Chichester and South Downs. OS Map. Vol. 197 (Landranger ed.). Ordnance Survey. 2006.
  9. ↑ "Kingley Vale" (PDF). English Nature. 2003. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 June 2007. Retrieved 1 June 2007.
  10. 1 2 3 Jim Robbins (2012). The Man Who Planted Trees: Lost Groves, Champion Trees, and an Urgent Plan to Save the Planet. Spiegel & Grau.
  11. ↑ Kingley Vale. Ashford, Nature Conservancy Council South East Region, 1978.
  12. ↑ Down, Alec (1979). "Gazeteer of Sites and Finds". Chichester Excavations. Chichester: Phillimore & Co. Ltd. 4: 36–7. ISBN 0-85033-344-X.
  13. ↑ Boyden, J. R. (1956). "Excavations at Goosehill Camp, 1953-5". Sussex Archaeological Collections. 94: 70–99. doi:10.5284/1085886.
  14. ↑ Heritage Gateway. "A multiple enclosure fort known as Goosehill Camp and a prehistoric linear boundary on Bow Hill". Historic England. Archived from the original on 31 May 2022. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
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