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Aldermaston Gravel Pits

AldermastonKennet and Avon CanalNature reserves in BerkshireQuarrying in the United KingdomSites of Special Scientific Interest in Berkshire
Use British English from February 2018West Berkshire District
Aldermaston Gravel pits geograph.org.uk 71868
Aldermaston Gravel pits geograph.org.uk 71868

Aldermaston Gravel Pits is a 24.6-hectare (61-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest north of Aldermaston in Berkshire. It was purchased by Natural England in 2003. This site consists of mature flooded gravel workings surrounded by dense fringing vegetation, trees and scrub, affording a variety of habitats for breeding birds and a refuge for wildfowl. The irregular shoreline, with islands, promontories, sheltered eutrophic pools and narrow lagoons provides undisturbed habitat for many water birds including surface feeding ducks such as teal (Anas crecca) and shoveler (Anas clypeata). The surrounding marsh and scrub are important for numerous birds including nine breeding species of warblers, water rails (Rallus aquaticus), kingfishers (Alcedoa atthis) and an important breeding colony of nightingales (Luscinia megarhynchos).

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Aldermaston Gravel Pits (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Aldermaston Gravel Pits
Basingstoke Road,

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Latitude Longitude
N 51.39711 ° E -1.1447 °
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Basingstoke Road

Basingstoke Road
RG7 4LQ
England, United Kingdom
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Aldermaston Gravel pits geograph.org.uk 71868
Aldermaston Gravel pits geograph.org.uk 71868
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Nearby Places

Aldermaston
Aldermaston

Aldermaston is a village and civil parish in Berkshire, England. In the 2011 census, the parish had a population of 1,015. The village is in the Kennet Valley and bounds Hampshire to the south. It is approximately 8 miles (13 km) from Newbury, Basingstoke, and Reading and is 46 miles (74 km) from London. Aldermaston may have been inhabited as early as 1690 BCE; a number of postholes and remains of cereal grains have been found in the area. Written history of the village is traced back at least as far as the 9th century CE, when the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles showed that the Ealdorman of Berkshire had his country estate in the village. The manor of Aldermaston was established by the early 11th century, when the village was given to the Achard family by Henry I; the manor is documented in the Domesday Book of 1086. St Mary the Virgin Church was established in the 13th century, and some of the original Norman architecture remains in the building's structure. The last resident Lord of the Manor, Charles Keyser, died in 1929. Aldermaston Court, the manor estate and house, was requisitioned for armed forces use during the Second World War. The name "Aldermaston" is well known in connection with the UK's nuclear weapons programme, as well as the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. The Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), which develops, maintains, and disposes of the UK's nuclear weaponry is in the parish. Built on the site of the former RAF Aldermaston, the plant has been the destination of numerous Aldermaston Marches. Until 2006, the village was home to the Aldermaston Pottery, which was established by Alan Caiger-Smith and Geoffrey Eastop in 1955.