|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Common Landscape
 Landscape and Geology
|
|
|
| |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
| |
Common Landscape
Landscape and Geology
|
Coltsfoot on Greenham Common |
|
Greenham and Crookham Commons stretch for some five kilometres south east of Newbury, between the valleys of the rivers Kennet and Enborne. A Royal Commission on Common Lands set up in 1955 reported the extent of the Commons as: Crookham – 415 acres; Greenham – 855 acres. Rising to a height of 121 metres above sea level, these gravel terraces were laid down when the Kennet was a much mightier river than it is today. Formed from “Plateau Gravels”, they consist mainly of flints washed out from the chalk subsoil by this once great river, overlying sands and clays laid down between 30 and 60 million years ago.
|
| |
|
|
|
Since then, rain and streams have carved out the steep sided little valleys which radiate from the commons, particularly on the north and south sides. Here, the underlying Bagshot Beds are exposed and they are wooded with birch and alder. Some of the streams disappear into “swallow holes” to emerge further downstream and eventually, their action will erode the very common itself.
|
|
Brushwood Gully |
|
|
|
Gorse blossom on Greenham Common |
|
Today, Greenham and Crookham Commons are mostly heathland, supporting gorse, heather and bracken, together with a range of small and sometimes rare plants and lichens. There are far reaching views to Watership Down and the North Wessex Downs.
|
| |
|
|
|
To find out more about the landscape and geology of Greenham Common, read:
|
| |
|
* Geological Survey of Great Britain and Northern Ireland – Sheet 267 – Hungerford. 4th. Impression, 1971
|
| |
|
* Lewis, L.R. ‘An Introduction to Landscape in West Berkshire’ – 1998. ISBN 0 9533874 0 2
|
| |
Transactions of the Newbury District Field Club |
|
* Walter Money’s ‘History of Newbury’ (1905, reprinted 1972 – ISBN 0 90020 405 1) contains this table which shows the various strata encountered during the digging of a well at Greenham Lodge. The chalk bedrock was reached 196 feet from the surface.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
