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Martin and Tidpit Downs

Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Hampshire
Lesser butterfly orchid (Platanthera bifolia) (geograph 1942616)
Lesser butterfly orchid (Platanthera bifolia) (geograph 1942616)

Martin and Tidpit Downs is a 367.5-hectare (908-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest north-west of Fordingbridge in Hampshire. Martin Down is a 341-hectare (840-acre) national nature reserve and an area of 115 hectares (280 acres) is a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I. Bokerley Dyke, a prehistoric linear earthwork and scheduled monument, runs through the site. This site is rich in prehistoric earthworks, including Bokerley Dyke. It has chalk grassland, heath and scrub, with a rich herb flora. Sheep grazing is increasing the botanical quality of the grassland. There is an outstanding assemblage of butterflies, with 36 species recorded, including marbled white, dark green fritillary, silver-spotted skipper and Duke of Burgundy.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Martin and Tidpit Downs (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Martin and Tidpit Downs
Townsend Lane, New Forest Martin

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Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 50.973 ° E -1.934 °
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Address

Martin Down National Nature Reserve

Townsend Lane
SP6 3JT New Forest, Martin
England, United Kingdom
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Lesser butterfly orchid (Platanthera bifolia) (geograph 1942616)
Lesser butterfly orchid (Platanthera bifolia) (geograph 1942616)
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Nearby Places

Pentridge
Pentridge

Pentridge is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Sixpenny Handley and Pentridge, in the Dorset district, in the ceremonial of Dorset, England, lying in the north-east of the county. It is situated on the edge of Cranborne Chase down a dead-end minor lane just south of the A354 road between the towns of Blandford Forum (ten miles to the south-west) and Salisbury (twelve miles to the northeast). In 2001 the parish had a population of 215. The civil parish was abolished on 1 April 2015 and merged with Sixpenny Handley to form "Sixpenny Handley and Pentridge".The village name derives from the Celtic pen ("hill") and twrch ("boar"), and thus means "hill of the wild boar"; its existence was first recorded (as "Pentric") in the eighth century, eighty years before the birth of Alfred the Great.The village is located amongst many Neolithic, Roman and Saxon earthworks, notably Bokerley Dyke, a long defensive ditch which was dug by the Romano-British to keep out the Saxon invaders. Nearby is Pentridge Hill, formed by a band of more resistant chalk than the surrounding land. Approximately 2 km East of Pentridge is Blagdon Hill. On 17th January 1947 Mr.A.L.Parke of Salisbury reported that the round barrows on this hill had been recently "trenched" and a grave was opened. He supposed it to be the main interment, it "being situated in a hole scooped in the solid chalk". He further stated that " a few sherds of a well baked urn were found" and "fragments of burnt bone and charcoal accompanied" the urn.