Blow's Down
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Blow's Down (or Blow's Downs) is a biological
Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...
in
Dunstable Dunstable ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, east of the Chiltern Hills, north of London. There are several steep chalk escarpments, most noticeable when approaching Dunstable from the north. Dunstable is the fou ...
in
Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated ''Beds'') is a Ceremonial County, ceremonial county in the East of England. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Hertfordshire to the south and the south-east, and Buckin ...
. It was notified in 1989 under Section 28 of the
Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (c. 69) is an act of Parliament in the United Kingdom implemented to comply with European Council Directive 79/409/EEC on the conservation of wild birds. In short, the act gives protection to native species ...
, and the local planning authority is
Central Bedfordshire Council Central Bedfordshire Council is the local authority for Central Bedfordshire, a local government district in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. The council is a unitary authority, being a district council which also performs the functi ...
. The site forms around half of the Blow's Downs nature reserve, which is managed by the
Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire The Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire (WTBCN) is a registered charity which manages 126 nature reserves covering . It has over 35,000 members, and 95% of people in Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshi ...
. It has a maximum elevation of 212 m. The site has varied habitats with a large area of unimproved grassland, a scarce survival of this important habitat. Cattle help to maintain the pasture. Features include a disused quarry and medieval cultivation terraces. A rare plant,
Bunium bulbocastanum ''Bunium bulbocastanum'' is a plant species in the family Apiaceae. It was once used as a root vegetable in parts of western Europe, and has been called great pignut or earthnut. Growth The plant is native to western Europe. It reaches about ...
, and beetle ''Odontaeus armiger'' can be found at the site. Dunstable is built around Blow's Down, from the south around clockwise to the east. The A5 road follows a valley between the Blow's Down and the neighbouring
Dunstable Downs Dunstable Downs are part of the Chiltern Hills, in southern Bedfordshire, England; and are located near (and named after) the town of Dunstable. They are a chalk escarpment forming the north-eastern reaches of the Chilterns. At , Dunstable Do ...
, which together make up part of the
Chiltern Hills The Chiltern Hills or the Chilterns are a chalk escarpment in southern England, located to the north-west of London, covering across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire; they stretch from Goring-on-Thames in the south- ...
range. There is access from Jeans Way in the north, from Jardine Way and Half Moon Lane in the west, and from Skimpot Road in the east.


History


Neolothic era

Blow's Down has a lengthy history, with evidence of human habitation dating back around 4000 years. The archeologist Worthington G. Smith identified several remains of
Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...
huts, finding among other things a horse's bone and, in 1888, part of a human skeleton.


Medieval period

Following the establishment of the town of Dunstable by
Henry I Henry I or Henri I may refer to: :''In chronological order'' * Henry I the Fowler, King of Germany (876–936) * Henry I, Duke of Bavaria (died 955) * Henry I of Austria, Margrave of Austria (died 1018) * Henry I of France (1008–1060) * Henry ...
, the land would likely have been rented by the king, with the slopes of the downs being mainly used for grazing as they were too steep to plough. There is however, some evidence of crops being grown, namely the existence of strip lynchets, quite visible in the area now known as Cottage Bottom fields. Blow's Down was one of relatively few places in England permitted to hold
tournaments A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...
during times of calm, with a tournament being held in 1214. The fields at the foot of Blow's Down would likely have made ideal locations for such mock battles of the time. At the top of the downs lies Zouche's farm, which is likely to have been the site of Zouche's manor, an important estate of the family of the name la Zouche of Harringworth, who leased the land in the mid 14th century. For a while, among other names, Blow's down was eponymously referred to as Zouche's (or Souches) Downs, as seen in Jefferys' 1765 map of Bedfordshire.


1800s and onwards

Throughout the 1800s and later, the Downs underwent several changes from human activity. The parliamentary
enclosures Enclosure or inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or "common land", enclosing it, and by doing so depriving commoners of their traditional rights of access and usage. Agreements to enc ...
of the early 1800s would likely have drastically changed the appearance of Blow's Downs, due to hedges planted to separate fields. Around this time is when the Downs became known by the name they are known today, probably named after tenant farmers at Zouche's farm with the surname "Blow". In the early 20th century, commercial chalk extraction brought further, large changes to Blow's Downs. There is evidence of a limeworks on the Downs by 1901. The Luton-Dunstable rail link, which opened in 1858, provided transportation of lime away from Blow's Down. The British Portland Cement Manufacturing Company acquired the lease to the site, and were still running the works during the 1920s. Production ceased some time before the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, with the chalk pit being used by the
Home Guard Home guard is a title given to various military organizations at various times, with the implication of an emergency or reserve force raised for local defense. The term "home guard" was first officially used in the American Civil War, starting ...
as a training area.


References

{{Coord, 51.883, -0.502, type:landmark_region:GB-BNE, display=title Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Bedfordshire Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire reserves