St Boniface Down

St Boniface Down is a chalk down on the Isle of Wight, England. It is located close to the town of Ventnor, in the southeast of the Island, and rises to 241 metres (791 ft), the Island's highest point with views stretching from Beachy Head to the east, Portsmouth to the north and the Isle of Portland to the west. It is 1 kilometre (0.6 mi) north of the town.[1] There is reputed to be a wishing well on its southern slope, which requires the wisher to climb up from the south without looking back. In 1545, a French invasion force attempted this against a force of the Isle of Wight Militia commanded by Sir John Fyssher – which allegedly included several women archers- and were routed. In 1940, the radar station was bombed by Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers, which is reconstructed in the film "The Battle of Britain". The top is surmounted by a round barrow.

St Boniface Down
Highest point
Elevation241 m (791 ft)
Prominence241 m (791 ft) (island highpoint)
ListingMarilyn, Hardy, County Top
Coordinates50°36′12.46″N 1°11′55.43″W 
Geography
St Boniface Down
Location of St Boniface Down in the Isle of Wight
LocationIsle of Wight, England
OS gridSZ568785
Topo mapOS Landranger 196
The radar station on the summit
View of Ventnor, looking south-west down the steep southern face of the down

At the eastern foot of the down, on the A3055 road between Bonchurch and Luccombe, a path descends into Bonchurch Landslips via a scenic rock cleft, the Devil's Chimney.

Wildlife

St Boniface Down is home to the largest cricket species within the British Isles, the great green bush cricket.

The area includes some unusual plant communities including acid grassland and heathland, resulting in parts of the Down being designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The gravel capping supports extensive tracts of gorse Ulex europaeus with intervening areas of heathland and acid grassland dominated by heather Calluna vulgaris, bell heather Erica cinerea, purple moor-grass Molinia caerulea, bristle bent Agrostis curtisii and locally bilberry Vaccinium myrtillus. The occurrence of heathland on deep gravel overlying chalk, the naturalised holm oak woodland and the juxtaposition of heath and chalkland vegetation are all unusual biological features in Britain.[2]

Cultural references

St Boniface Down is also the name and was the inspiration of a 1956 work by the English composer, Trevor Duncan.

gollark: Earlier today I was on there, as someone who is technically a staff member. It was broken in so many ways.
gollark: * frogpocalypse™, sponsored by Coca-Cola
gollark: Terra's servers get traffic from beta testers roped into trying it for 10 minutes, and bored people who don't know better.
gollark: Actually, according to PotatOS Autocalendar, it's Wednesfridaythurs.
gollark: Also, why frogs? Crabs are superior.

References
  1. "St Boniface Down, England". Peakbagger.com. Retrieved 2009-01-11.
  2. Natural England citation sheet for Ventnor Downs SSSI

50.60346°N 1.19873°W / 50.60346; -1.19873


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.