Haydon Meadow known locally as Clifford Meadow is a 6.39 hectare

Hectare

The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...

 biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Wiltshire

Wiltshire

Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...

, notified in 1999.

The site lies within the Parish of Haydon Wick

Haydon Wick

The Parish of Haydon Wick lies to the north of Swindon in Wiltshire, UK and has an estimated population in excess of 16,000, more than 13,950 of which are registered electors.-Government:...

 and is home to Anacamptis morio a rare protected species of Orchid family Orchidaceae

Orchidaceae

The Orchidaceae, commonly referred to as the orchid family, is a morphologically diverse and widespread family of monocots in the order Asparagales. Along with the Asteraceae, it is one of the two largest families of flowering plants, with between 21,950 and 26,049 currently accepted species,...

. This flower was adopted as the logo for the nearby Priory Vale

Priory Vale

Priory Vale is a community within the Swindon ‘Northern Development Area’. It is made up of the villages Redhouse, Oakhurst and Haydon End. Although not strictly part of Priory Vale, the nearby village of Taw Hill completes this latest instalment in Swindon's northern expansion which began with...

housing development.

Source

• English Nature citation sheet for the site (accessed 14 August 2006)

External links

• English Nature website (SSSI information)