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Chosen Hill (grid reference SO882187) (or Churchdown Hill) rises above Churchdown[1] in Gloucestershire, England, and is the site of a 11.5-hectare (28-acre) nature reserve.[2]

Chosen Hill
Footpath on Chosen Hill, Churchdown
Chosen Hill shown within Gloucestershire
Type	Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust nature reserve
Location	between Gloucester and Cheltenham
Coordinates	51°52′1.93″N 2°10′19.39″W
Area	28.5 acres (11.5 ha)
Created	1990
Operated by	Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust Severn Trent plc
Status	Open all year

The hill commands good views over the scarp and the Severn Vale and there is a network of paths for walkers. One such path is 'coffin way' from St Bartholomew's Church at the top of the hill towards Hucclecote.[2]

Covered reservoirs were constructed on the Hill in the 1940s and 1950s. There is an archaeological site - an Iron Age fort known as Churchdown Hill Camp - below the main reservoir.[2][3]

Geologically, it is on one of outliers of the Cotswold scarp.[2]

Nature reserves

The Hill is encircled by four nature reserves, considered and managed as one reserve, by the Woodland Trust[4][5] and also by Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust under agreement with Severn Trent plc since 1990.[2]

Trees

The largest conifers were planted some 120 years ago. Recent planting dates from the 1940s. The large trees include Scots pine, Austrian pine and coast redwood. The more recent plantings include larch and pine.[2]

The ancient woodland area includes oak, ash, hazel and field maple. Also growing are hawthorn, blackthorn, crab apple, wild cherry and holly.[2]

Gorse and ash grow in the grassland.[2]

Plants

The reserve is known for its spring flowering of bluebell, together with archangel, wood anemone and dog-violet.[1][2]

The grassland area is now unimproved and cowslip, tormentil, cuckooflower and bird's-foot-trefoil flourish. The bee orchid has also been recorded.

There is a limestone-loving range of plants at the top of the slope which include common milkwort, field scabious, yellow-wort and hairy violet.[2]

Birds

Breeding birds recorded are chiffchaff, little owl, great spotted woodpecker, linnet, nuthatch, yellowhammer and whitethroat. There is a ride to the north of the reserve where woodcock have been seen.[2]

Conservation

Over the years, there has been felling of some of the conifers and dense areas of cherry laurel. Replanting done is with broad-leaved species. Coppicing of the hazel has taken place as well as other scrub clearance. Grazing was reintroduced in 1991 after a gap of some five years.[2]

Cultural influence

Chosen Hill was a favourite haunt of the early twentieth-century composers Ivor Gurney and Herbert Howells - it was the direct inspiration for Howells' Piano Quartet in A minor and his 'Chosen Tune' (the latter dedicated to his fiancée who lived at Churchdown).[6]

Gerald Finzi spent New Year's Eve 1925 at the Sexton's Cottage by the church, and the ringing in of the new year inspired two works - the orchestral Nocturne (New Year Music) (1926) and his choral work In Terra Pax (1954). Showing Ralph Vaughan Williams the hill in 1956, Finzi visited the cottage, but caught chickenpox from children living there. Already dying from Hodgkin's lymphoma, the illness brought about Finzi's death two weeks later.[7]

In 2010, the BBC reported that Willard Wigan, famed for his microscopic art, had sculpted a model of Chosen Hill's St Bartholomew's church on a grain of sand that he had taken from its churchyard. He had done so in response to a challenge from his girlfriend, who described the result as "absolutely fantastic". Despite positive feedback, Wigan expressed dissatisfaction with the work, saying "As small as what you've seen, it's not the best of me yet, I'm taking it even smaller because I'm not satisfied with my work right now, it's too big."[8]

Publications

References

External links

• Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust
• Severn Trent plc
• Woodland Trust

• 
  Trig point on Chosen Hill (Churchdown Hill)
• 
  View to Chosen Hill, Churchdown
• 
  View from top of Chosen Hill
• 
  View from top of Chosen Hill to Robinswood Hill
• 
  Foothpath on Chosen Hill to south-west
• 
  Foothpath on Chosen Hill
• 
  Footpath on Chosen Hill to north-west
• 
  Footpath to Chosen Hill
• 
  Reservoir on Chosen Hill, Churchdown
• 
  St Bartholomew's Church, Chosen Hill
• 
  St Bartholomew's Church, Chosen Hill

На других языках

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[de] Churchdown Hill

Der Churchdown Hill, lokal bekannter als Chosen Hill, zu deutsch etwa Churchdowner Berg oder Chosen Berg[1] ist ein offiziell 154 Meter hoher (gemäß einer Hinweistafel auf dem Gipfel allerdings 155 Meter) Berg in Gloucestershire. Auf topographischen Karten ist neben oben genanntem "Gipfel" noch ein 164 Meter hoher Punkt verzeichnet. Der Berg liegt unmittelbar süd-westlich der namensgebenden Ortschaft Churchdown, ziemlich genau zwischen den Großstädten Gloucester und Cheltenham. Im Süden liegt die Ortschaft Hucclecote, die zum großen Teil aber mittlerweile nach Gloucester eingemeindet ist und städtebaulich mit der Großstadt verwachsen ist. Der Churchdown Hill ist das landschaftliche Zentrum des sogenannten Grüngürtels (green belt) um die Ortschaften Churchdown und Innsworth, der sich zwischen beiden Großstädte erstreckt und um dessen Erhaltung in jüngster Zeit von den Bewohnern dort gerungen wird.[2]

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- [en] Chosen Hill, Gloucestershire

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