Top 14 Natural Monuments around Wargrave

Hurley Chalk Pit is a beautiful nature reserve located not too far from Maidenhead in Berkshire. The reserve is made up of stunning beech woodland and chalk grasslands that provide habitat to a wide diversity of wildlife, including 15 species of butterflies.

The Brick and Tile Works, established by Charles Cooper in the early 1800s, employed about 150 people and produced bricks, tiles, gargoyles, and pinnacles. The site, which closed in 1967, is now owned by the National Trust and features lowland ponds with diverse aquatic life and a variety of woodland birds and plants.

Pinkneys Green, originally part of the Royal Manor of Cookham, was sold off in 1818. In the 1920s, the Maidenhead and Cookham Commons Conservation Committee protected the land, which was later donated to the National Trust. Today, Pinkneys Green is mostly grassland managed by local farmers with areas of trees and thicket for wildlife, and its open meadows are filled with wildflowers during the summer.

Robin Hood's Arbour There are no known connections linking the legend of the outlaw, Robin Hood with Robin Hood’s Arbour. Indeed Robin Hood’s Arbour dates from much earlier times. The feature is an Iron Age rectilinear enclosure which is thought to have been a farmstead. An archaeological excavation in 1890 revealed ‘samian ware’, a type of Roman pottery produced mainly in Gaul. Further excavations in 1960 recovered some Iron Age pottery and some wattle marked daub. Other finds comprised flint implements including a Palaeolithic hand axe. These finds can be seen in the Reading Museum.

The Brick & Tile Works The Brick and Tile Works was established by Charles Cooper in the early 1800s, exploiting a local deposit of Reading Clay. At its peak, the Works employed about 150 people, and cottages were built in Golden Ball Lane for the skilled craftsmen. In 1950, the Cooper family sold the Works to the Maidenhead Brick and Tile Company, and the site eventually closed in 1967. In addition to bricks and tiles, the works produced gargoyles and pinnacles, many of which can be seen in the locality today. The National Trust acquired the site in 1989. The industrial activity left a legacy of lowland ponds, inhabited by an impressive range of aquatic invertebrate fauna, including several species of dragonfly. There are also three species of newt and a wide range of woodland birds and other aquatic or semi-aquatic plants and animals.

Pinkneys Green derives its name from the Norman Knight, Ghilo de Pinkney, who was granted lands in the Maidenhead area as a reward for supporting William the Conqueror. Along with other areas of common land in the Cookham and Maidenhead area, Pinkneys Green was originally part of the Royal Manor of Cookham, but they were sold off by the Crown in 1818 and passed into private ownership. In the 1920s, for fear that the common land would be enclosed or developed, the Maidenhead and Cookham Commons Conservation Committee was established, which raised £2800 to buy the land, which was donated to the National Trust in 1934. Today, Pinkneys Green consists largely of grassland, which is managed by local ‘commoner’ farmers as a hay crop for livestock; although some mature trees and areas of thicket provide valuable refuges for wildlife. The grasses in these open, unfenced meadows are left to grow tall all summer long so you’ll find a wealth of wildflowers

The wetland meadows of Cock Marsh are very important for rare plant species, breeding waders and overwintering birds. Part of the site is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). The steep chalk grassland swiftly changing into marshy, acid meadows has created an ecosystem of rare and interesting species. As part of the historic channel of the Thames, the ponds here support specialist plants like water violet, marsh arrowgrass, marsh stitchwort, marsh pennywort and water hemlock. The rare sedge Cyperus fuscus (brown galingale) is found here and in only a handful of other sites in Great Britain. It relies on cattle to tread or poach the ground on the pond edges to create the perfect habitat to grow. The cattle here work hard to help to maintain a rich botanical diversity of grassland habitat. https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/maidenhead-and-cookham-commons/trails/cookham-and-cock-marsh-walk