Hexton Chalk Pit

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.

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.

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.

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 Hills and Hoo Bit is a 79-hectare (200-acre) nature reserve in Pegsdon in Bedfordshire. It is managed by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire. The site is on the border between Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, and it covers Pegsdon Hills and part of the adjacent Deacon Hill in Bedfordshire, and Hoo Bit in Hertfordshire. It is in the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and part of the site is designated by Natural England as the Deacon Hill SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest).The site has wildflower meadows in chalk hills, including orchids and moschatels. There are butterflies such as dingy and grizzled skippers, Birds include wheatears and skylarks, and herbs such as marjoram and wild thyme. Hoo Bit is a flower meadow surrounded by woodland.There is access from Hitchin Road.

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.

Higham Gobion is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Shillington, in the Central Bedfordshire district, in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. It is located between the villages of Shillington and Barton-le-Clay. In 1961 the parish had a population of 28. On 1 April 1984 the parish was abolished and merged with Shillington. It was in the hundred of Flitt. This hilltop village, which consists of a church, farm and small industrial unit and one or two houses, gets the second part of its name from the Gobion family, who resided in this area after the Norman invasion of 1066. In the fields a mile north-east of the church are triangular earthworks and medieval fishponds, all that remain today of a substantial deserted medieval village. Roman pottery has also been found in the field east of the former Rectory. The Anglican church, dedicated to St. Margaret, dates from c.1300, but was much restored during the Victorian period. It contains a monument to Dr. Edmund Castell, who died in 1674 and was a Professor of Arabic at Cambridge. He was a rector at Higham during the last years of his life and lived in the adjoining (and much restored), former rectory. The church is part of the Diocese of St Albans.

Barton Hills are situated southeast of the village of Barton-le-Clay in the English county of Bedfordshire. They are part of the Chilterns and hiking routes are marked on maps at the entrance to the hills. From the foot of the hillside, a spring (Barton Springs) marks the start of a chalk stream river. During the summer, Dartmoor ponies roam the hills.

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.

Higham Gobion Castle was once believed to be an 11th-century castle located in the village of Higham Gobion. Now it is part of the civil parish of Shillington, in the English county of Bedfordshire. It has since been determined that the site was in fact a fishery with a breeding island that was mistaken for a defendable moated building of some sort. The "castle" was located 3 miles from Pirton Castle, and 14 miles south of Bedford Castle. Only earthworks remain at the site. Roman Antiquities, such as coins, millstone and cinerary urns have been discovered near the site.