周辺の天然記念物・トップ10

Hurley Chalk Pit is a beautiful nature reserve located not too far from Maidenhead in Berkshire. The reserve is made up of stunning beech woodland and chalk grasslands that provide habitat to a wide diversity of wildlife, including 15 species of butterflies.

Pinkneys Green, originally part of the Royal Manor of Cookham, was sold off in 1818. In the 1920s, the Maidenhead and Cookham Commons Conservation Committee protected the land, which was later donated to the National Trust. Today, Pinkneys Green is mostly grassland managed by local farmers with areas of trees and thicket for wildlife, and its open meadows are filled with wildflowers during the summer.

Meander through beech, oak, and ash trees on this beautiful section of walking through Lambridge Wood. The area has been declared a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Robin Hood's Arbour There are no known connections linking the legend of the outlaw, Robin Hood with Robin Hood’s Arbour. Indeed Robin Hood’s Arbour dates from much earlier times. The feature is an Iron Age rectilinear enclosure which is thought to have been a farmstead. An archaeological excavation in 1890 revealed ‘samian ware’, a type of Roman pottery produced mainly in Gaul. Further excavations in 1960 recovered some Iron Age pottery and some wattle marked daub. Other finds comprised flint implements including a Palaeolithic hand axe. These finds can be seen in the Reading Museum.

Pinkneys Green derives its name from the Norman Knight, Ghilo de Pinkney, who was granted lands in the Maidenhead area as a reward for supporting William the Conqueror. Along with other areas of common land in the Cookham and Maidenhead area, Pinkneys Green was originally part of the Royal Manor of Cookham, but they were sold off by the Crown in 1818 and passed into private ownership. In the 1920s, for fear that the common land would be enclosed or developed, the Maidenhead and Cookham Commons Conservation Committee was established, which raised £2800 to buy the land, which was donated to the National Trust in 1934. Today, Pinkneys Green consists largely of grassland, which is managed by local ‘commoner’ farmers as a hay crop for livestock; although some mature trees and areas of thicket provide valuable refuges for wildlife. The grasses in these open, unfenced meadows are left to grow tall all summer long so you’ll find a wealth of wildflowers

Although you are less than 35 metres above the river valley, this vantage point gives you a 180 degree view of the Thames Valley between Henley-on-Thames and Hambleden Mill. You should be able to see the river in places. At this point, the river follows an arc, which is an ‘incised meander’. At some time in the past, the natural sinuosity of the river channel has been cut down into the landscape, preserving it in a fixed position. This view is at its most colourful in the autumn when many of the trees turn yellow, brown and red. This is also a good place to see red kites gliding on the wind and to hear skylarks singing overhead.