Pegsdon Hills and Hoo Bit

Deacon Hill SSSI is a 35.4-hectare (87-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Pegsdon in Bedfordshire. It is in the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and it is part of the Pegsdon Hills and Hoo Bit nature reserve, managed by Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire.The site is calcareous grassland which is rich in plant species, some of which are uncommon. Birds include lapwings and buzzards, and there are butterflies such as dingy and grizzled skippers. There are also the remains of ancient strip lynchet fields.The SSSI covers part of Deacon Hill and part of the adjacent Pegsdon Hills. This is a remnant of semi-natural chalk downland and the calcareous soil supports a characteristic range of grasses and herbs. The main grasses present are sheep’s fescue, false oat-grass and upright brome. Forbs found here include spring sedge, autumn gentian, yellow-wort, fragrant orchid, common spotted-orchid, common milkwort, common rock-rose, cowslip, eyebright, clustered bellflower, harebell, carline thistle, wild thyme, marjoram and moschatel. There are also wild candytuft, field fleawort and pasque flower, all of which are rare in Bedfordshire.There is also some scrubland, the main trees being hawthorn, which often invades chalk downland, a buckthorn and wayfaring tree, with black bryony and old man's beard; false-brome usually dominates the ground flora in scrubby areas. There are glowworms, and grizzled skipper and dingy skipper butterflies.There is access to the site from Hitchin Road.

Telegraph Hill is a nature reserve near Lilley in north Hertfordshire. It is in the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). According to the Chilterns AONB, the hill is owned by the Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust; a notice on the site says that it is managed by the trust, but it is not listed on the trust's web site as one of its reserves.

Pegsdon is a hamlet located in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England. It is part of the Shillington civil parish, and is almost encircled by the county border with Hertfordshire. Pegsdon Hills are located south and east of Pegsdon. They form the north-eastern end of the Chiltern Hills, and are managed as a nature reserve by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire. They adjoin Deacon Hill, and Deacon Hill and half of Pegsdon Hills are designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Knocking Hoe is accessed by a footpath from Hitchin Road. It is a national nature reserve and a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Knocking Hoe is a 7.7 hectare National Nature Reserve and biological Site of Special Scientific Interest near Pegsdon in Bedfordshire. It is mentioned in A Nature Conservation Review. It is part of the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and is managed by Natural England.The site is a flat bottomed valley with steep sides. The unimproved chalk grassland has several nationally rare plants, including moon carrot, spotted catsear, field fleawort, burnt tip orchid and pasque flower. There are also a variety of wild flowers such as the autumn lady’s tresses, which has been studied on the site for over fifty years. The ancient strip lynchet field system is of archaeological interest.There is access by a footpath from Hitchin Road in Pegsdon.

The Shillington Hoard is a Roman coin hoard found in Shillington, Bedfordshire in 1998. It consisted of 127 gold aurei, the latest of which was from 79 AD. The coins were issued by Tiberius, Claudius, Nero, Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and Vespasian.Metal detectorists Shane Pyper and Simon Leete discovered 123 aurei in October 1998. They also found a much smaller hoard of seven silver denarii a few metres away. In September 1999, Pyper and Leete found a further four aurei and eleven denarii, making a total of 127 aurei and 18 denarii. Ten of the denarii are Republican, and one was of Hadrian from 128 AD, so the relationship between the gold and silver hoards is uncertain.The coins appear to have been deposited without intention of recovery, perhaps as a votive offering at a Romano-Celtic temple. They are now on display at the Wardown Park Museum in Luton.

Yeshivas Toras Chessed is a Jewish yeshiva, or rabbinical school. Its curriculum focuses on Torah study, emphasizing the study of Talmud and Jewish law. It is based in Wellbury House, Great Offley, near Hitchin in Hertfordshire. Previously Wellbury House had been a private school for Catholic boys aged 7 to 13.Founded in about 1989, the yeshiva follows the Ashkenazi Orthodox ritual and is affiliated to the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations. The yeshiva has about 200 students on a 6-acre (24,000 m2) site.

Hexton Chalk Pit is a 1.9-hectare (4.7-acre) nature reserve in Hexton in North Hertfordshire, managed by the Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust. It is grassland with steep slopes and many chalk-loving plants such as horseshoe vetch, yellow-wort, milkwort and rockrose. There are five species of orchid and a large colony of chalkhill blue butterflies. The site has extensive views over the countryside.The reserve is on the left of the road signposted "Lilley" from Hexton. There is also access by a footpath, signposted "circular walk", from Barton Hill Road, close to the Icknield Way Path.

Hexton Manor is a country house in Hexton, Hertfordshire that has been home to the Lautour family, descendants of the Dukes of Bouillon and Major Sir Patrick Ashley Cooper.

Hexton is a small village and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England, about 6 miles (10 km) west of Hitchin. This parish is a salient of Hertfordshire jutting northwards into Bedfordshire. The southern half of the parish is part of the chalky downs of the Chiltern Hills, which are covered with short turf and plantations of fir trees. The hills end abruptly and close to their foot lies the village of Hexton. It stands among grass fields and orchards at the beginning of a low plain, which, sloping gradually to the north, becomes merged in the large plain of southern Bedfordshire. The southern boundary of the parish is the grassy Icknield Way. Hexton formerly belonged to the half-hundred of Hitchin, but when it came into the possession of the abbots of St Albans Abbey it was probably added by them to their hundred of Cashio. Hexton was originally named Hehstanstuna, Hegestanestone (11th century); Hextenestona (14th century); Hextone (15th century), from Anglo-Saxon Heahstānes tūn. Much of the parish was owned by George Hodgson, owner of Hexton Manor, a large modernized house standing in an extensive park. There is no regular village street, but most of the houses are near cross roads, which lead north, south, east and west and connect Hexton with the neighbouring small villages.Hexton stands in well-wooded and hilly country adjacent to the Bedfordshire border. The church, dedicated to St Faith, is mediaeval with heavy 19th-century restoration. The Manor House in its extensive park dates from at least the 15th century, although it was substantially altered in 1901. The village was owned by the de Lautour family who lived at the Manor and were descendants of the French Dukes of Bouillon, however the manor and estate was then passed on to Major Sir Patrick Ashley Cooper and is still owned by his descendants.

Saint Faith's Church, Hexton is the Anglican parish church for the village of Hexton, Hertfordshire. The church is within the parish of Barton-le-Clay in the Diocese of St Albans. The church has been a Grade II* listed building since 1968.

Lilley is a small village and civil parish situated between Hitchin and Luton in Hertfordshire, England. Lilley stands on high ground: nearby Telegraph Hill is just over 600 feet above sea level. The church, rebuilt in the 19th century, contains some original features and a fine Elizabethan heraldic memorial. According to tradition, Lilley was once the residence of John Kellerman, an alleged occultist described by Sir Richard Phillips as the "last of the alchemists."Lilley lies within the parliamentary constituency of Hitchin and Harpenden. Until recently it had two public houses, the Silver Lion and the Lilley Arms. The recent closure and conversion of the Silver Lion leaves the Lilley Arms as the village's only pub. The low-lying land to the south of Lilley is called Lilley Bottom. The Icknield Way Path passes the edge of the parish on its 110-mile course from Ivinghoe Beacon in Buckinghamshire to Knettishall Heath in Suffolk. The village has a football team, although they presently do not play in Lilley due to lack of facilities. The village cricket club is one of the oldest in Hertfordshire, with fixtures dating back to the mid-1890s. The cricket club plays at the Geoff Banks-Smith Memorial Cricket Ground, between St Peter's Church and the village hall and are currently in North Herts League Division 2. The church holds a flower festival every early May Bank Holiday weekend.

Barton Gravel Pit is a 1.1-hectare (2.7-acre) nature reserve east of Barton-le-Clay in Bedfordshire. It is managed by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire.This former gravel pit has been partially filled in to become flower-rich chalk grassland. Plants include knotted hedge-parsley, common poppy and great pignut. Mature beech trees provide a habitat for the white helleborine orchid.There is access from the second public bridleway on the right off Hexton Road, proceeding from Barton-le-Clay. When the path turns left, the site is 100 metres on the left. There are no signs or information board on the site.