Wye and Crundale Downs

Wye and Crundale Downs is a 358.3-hectare (885-acre) biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in a number of separate areas east of Ashford in Kent.[1][2] It is a Special Area of Conservation[3][4] and a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I.[5] and it is part of Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.[6] Some areas are part of a National Nature Reserve,[7][8] and another area is listed on the Geological Conservation Review.[9][10]

Wye and Crundale Downs
Site of Special Scientific Interest
Wye Downs
LocationKent
Grid referenceTR 076 460[1]
InterestBiological
Geological
Area358.3 hectares (885 acres)[1]
Notification1989[1]
Location mapMagic Map
View from the top of the Devil's Kneading Trough
Wye Crown Down in the winter.

The most well-known part of the SSSI, usually known as "Wye Downs," is a stretch of chalk downland and woodland located on the North Downs near the village of Wye. The site is a national nature reserve (NNR) owned and managed by Natural England, and comprises a chalk escarpment dissected by several coombes, which were formed by frost weathering in the period following the last ice age.[11][12] The most spectacular coombe is known as the Devil's Kneading Trough.

The field containing Wye Crown is also within the NNR but is privately owned. Originally the Crown was carved in the chalk but is now made of white-painted stone gabions.

Crundale is a valley situated a few kilometers north of Wye Downs, the main part of which is Winchcombe Down, another chalk escarpment, owned and managed by Natural England, although it is not publicly accessible except along the North Downs Way footpath.

Wildlife

The sites have a variety of habitats, including grassland, calcareous fen meadow, scrub, dry woodland on chalk and wet alder woodland.

Over 21 species of orchids have been recorded at the reserve including one of the UK's rarest species, the late spider-orchid. Many uncommon species of animals are also found here, including the Duke of Burgundy butterfly and black-veined moth.

Access

There are two public car parks at the top of Wye Downs, along Coldharbour Lane. They are free to use, but a donation is requested (to be paid by mobile phone app). Marked trails extend around Pickersdane Scrubs and Broad Downs, including the Devil's Kneading Trough. The rest of Wye Downs is open to the public, but there are few formal paths.

Crown Field has is a popular view point and can be accessed via a public footpath from Coldharbour Lane.

Author Russell Hoban repurposed The Devil's Kneading Trough as "Mr Clevvers Roaling Place" in his 1980, post apocalyptic novel Riddley Walker. Withersdane became "Widders Dump"; Wye, "How"; Pet Street , "Pig Sweet", and the Crundale Downs themselves, "Bundel Downs".[13][14][15]

References
  1. "Designated Sites View: Wye and Crundale Downs". Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
  2. "Map of Wye and Crundale Downs". Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
  3. "Designated Sites View: Wye & Crundale Downs". Special Area of Conservation. Natural England. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
  4. "Wye & Crundale Downs". Special Areas of Conservation. Joint Nature Conservation Committee. Archived from the original on 22 April 2016. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
  5. Ratcliffe, Derek, ed. (1977). A Nature Conservation Review. Vol. 2. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. pp. 115–16. ISBN 0521 21403 3.
  6. "Wye Downs". Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
  7. "Kent's National Nature Reserves". Natural England. 2 August 2014. Archived from the original on 24 January 2018. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
  8. "Designated Sites View: Wye". National Nature Reserves. Natural England. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
  9. "Devil`s Kneading Trough (Quaternary of South-East England)". Geological Conservation Review. Joint Nature Conservation Committee. Archived from the original on 12 January 2018. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
  10. "Devil`s Kneading Trough (Quaternary of South-East England)". Geological Conservation Review. Joint Nature Conservation Committee. Archived from the original on 12 January 2018. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
  11. Kerney, M. P.; Brown, E. H.; Chandler, T. J. (1964). "The Late-glacial and Post-glacial history of the Chalk Escarpment near Brook, Kent". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. 248: 135–204. doi:10.1098/rstb.1964.0010.
  12. "Wye and Crundale Downs citation" (PDF). Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
  13. "Places - Riddley Walker Annotations". Errorbar. Archived from the original on 29 July 2021. Retrieved 21 August 2022.
  14. Mullan, John (13 November 2010). "Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 23 August 2021. Retrieved 21 August 2022.
  15. "Russell Hoban's RIDDLEY WALKER". Ocelot Factory. Archived from the original on 16 October 2021. Retrieved 21 August 2022.

51.176°N 0.969°E / 51.176; 0.969

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