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Bignor Hill

Nearest town: Petworth

Site type: estate

Access: Public

Church name: No Data

Diocese: No Data

County: Sussex - West

Country: England

Grid ref: SU9696912669

Lost yew site: Yes

Date visited: 17-Sep-13

Recorded by: Peter Norton

Protection & responsibility: National Trust

Yews recorded at this site: Ancient 4m-5m, Lost

Notes: Bignor Hill was once part of a substantial area of common land stretching along the hill from Whiteways Lodge on the A29 to the A285 at Duncton Hill. It forms part of the National Trusts Slindon Estate in the heart of the South Downs National Park. 42 yews had been recently felled on National Trust land in order to facilitate grazing, first by cattle and later by sheep. This will reduce the scrub and allow for the common to revert back to chalk downland with its associated flora and fauna. Yews were also growing along and close to an important Roman road (Stane Street) and were damaging the archeology. Girths of the yews felled are indicative of the period when extensive sheep farming on the South Downs declined from around 1880 and yews then colonised the area. Parking is available at SU973129.