Downe Bank
Encyclopedia
Downe Bank is a nature reserve owned and managed by the Kent Wildlife Trust
in the North Downs
, close to Downe
in the London Borough of Bromley
. It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest
together with the neighbouring High Elms Country Park
. Located close to Charles Darwin
's home, Down House
, it was one of his favourite places and helped to inspire his work.
, addder's tongue
and false oxlip. Up to 31 species of birds have been recorded, together with dormice
and invertebrates.
Access is by a footpath, which goes through the reserve, between Christmas Tree Farm on Cudham Road in Downe and Overshaws on Cudham Lane near Cudham
. The footpath is part of the Cudham Circular Short Walk (not the full Walk). The entrance, which has no car parking, is on Hangrove Hill. The southern part is open to the public, and access to the more important northern part is by prior arrangement with the Trust.
, published in 1862, and experts agree that it inspired his famous conclusion to On the Origin of Species:
According to his son, Francis
:
Darwin's daughter, Henrietta Lichfield, wrote:
Kent Wildlife Trust
Kent Wildlife Trust covers the county of Kent, England, and is one of the largest of the 47 Wildlife Trust organisations in the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man and Alderney...
in the North Downs
North Downs
The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent. The North Downs lie within two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty , the Surrey Hills and the Kent Downs...
, close to Downe
Downe
Downe is a village in the London Borough of Bromley in London, UK.Downe is south west of Orpington and south east of Charing Cross. Downe lies in a wooded valley, and much of the centre of the village is unchanged; the former village school now acts as the village hall.-Darwin:Charles Darwin...
in the London Borough of Bromley
London Borough of Bromley
The London Borough of Bromley is a London borough of south east London, England and forms part of Outer London. The principal town in the borough is Bromley.-Geography:...
. It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...
together with the neighbouring High Elms Country Park
High Elms Country Park
High Elms Country Park is an extensive public park on the North Downs in Farnborough in the London Borough of Bromley. It is a Local Nature Reserve, and together with the neighbouring Downe Bank, a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The park surrounds High Elms Golf Course, and has extensive...
. Located close to Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
's home, Down House
Down House
Down House is the former home of the English naturalist Charles Darwin and his family. It was in this house and garden that Darwin worked on his theories of evolution by natural selection which he had conceived in London before moving to Downe....
, it was one of his favourite places and helped to inspire his work.
The site
The reserve occupies 16 hectares at grid reference TQ438609. There is an area of ancient woodland called Hangrove Wood, and chalk downland called 'Rough Pell' on a tythe map of 1840, but known to Darwin as Orchis Bank, because many wild orchids grew there. It has a good diversity of chalk grassland species, including toothwortToothwort
Toothwort is a small genus of five to seven species of flowering plants, native to temperate Europe and Asia. They are parasitic plants on the roots of other plants, and are completely lacking chlorophyll. They are classified in the family Orobanchaceae. In addition, Cardamine concatenata is also...
, addder's tongue
Erythronium
Erythronium is a genus of 20-30 species of spring-flowering perennial plants with long, tooth-like bulbs and attractive pendant flowers, native to forest and meadow in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere.-Species:-Uses:The bulb is edible as a root vegetable, cooked or dried, and can be...
and false oxlip. Up to 31 species of birds have been recorded, together with dormice
Dormouse
Dormice are rodents of the family Gliridae. Dormice are mostly found in Europe, although some live in Africa and Asia. They are particularly known for their long periods of hibernation...
and invertebrates.
Access is by a footpath, which goes through the reserve, between Christmas Tree Farm on Cudham Road in Downe and Overshaws on Cudham Lane near Cudham
Cudham
Cudham is a village in the London Borough of Bromley in London, UK. It is located south-southeast of Charing Cross and about northwest of Sevenoaks....
. The footpath is part of the Cudham Circular Short Walk (not the full Walk). The entrance, which has no car parking, is on Hangrove Hill. The southern part is open to the public, and access to the more important northern part is by prior arrangement with the Trust.
Charles Darwin
Darwin's observations of orchids and their insect pollinators at Orchis Bank provided the evidence for his important book, Fertilisation of OrchidsFertilisation of Orchids
Fertilisation of Orchids is a book by Charles Darwin published on 15 May 1862 under the full explanatory title On the various contrivances by which British and foreign orchids are fertilised by insects, and on the good effects of intercrossing...
, published in 1862, and experts agree that it inspired his famous conclusion to On the Origin of Species:
- It is interesting to contemplate an entangled bank, clothed with many plants of many kinds, with birds singing on the bushes, with various insects flitting about, and with worms crawling through the damp earth, and to reflect that these elaborately constructed forms, so different from each other, and dependent on each other in so complex a manner, have all been produced by laws acting around us .... and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.
According to his son, Francis
Francis Darwin
Sir Francis "Frank" Darwin, FRS , a son of the British naturalist and scientist Charles Darwin, followed his father into botany.-Biography:Francis Darwin was born in Down House, Downe, Kent in 1848...
:
- Another favourite place was "Orchis Bank," above the quiet Cudham valley, where fly- and musk-orchis grew among the junipers, and Cephalanthera and Neottia under the beech boughs; the little wood "Hangrove," just above this, he was also fond of, and here I remember his collecting grasses, when he took a fancy to make out the names of all the common kinds. He was fond of quoting the saying of one of his little boys, who, having found a grass that his father had not seen before, had it laid by his own plate during dinner, remarking, "I are an extraordinary grass-finder!"
Darwin's daughter, Henrietta Lichfield, wrote:
- Just on the other side of the narrow steep little lane leading to the village of Cudham, perched high above the valley, was 'Orchis bank,' where bee, fly, musk, and butterfly orchises grew. This was a grassy terrace under one of the shaws of old beeches, and with a quiet view across the valley, the shingled spire of Cudham church shewing above its old yews.
World Heritage Site nomination
'Darwin's Landscape Laboratory', which included Down House and its gardens and Downe Bank, was the British Government's 2009 nomination for a World Heritage Site, but the application was unsuccessful.See also
- List of Sites of Special Scientific Interest in London
- Charles DarwinCharles DarwinCharles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
- Down HouseDown HouseDown House is the former home of the English naturalist Charles Darwin and his family. It was in this house and garden that Darwin worked on his theories of evolution by natural selection which he had conceived in London before moving to Downe....