Heritage and environment news

What's wrong with my horse chestnut?|

Over the last few years autumn appears to have come quickly for one of our most common trees the Horse Chestnut. Leaves going brown and falling off in June and July has been very noticeable during 2008. There are three main causes for this and many trees have symptoms of all three! 

Sharpenhoe Clappers|

Sharpenhoe Clappers is believed to be the site of a former Iron Age fort later used as a medieval rabbit warren. 

Castle Close, Sharnbrook|

Castle Close is a small wooded area and at its heart are the earthwork remains of a medieval moated site.  In 2006 Sharnbrook Parish Council took ownership of the site, and following work with the Bedfordshire Rural Communities Charity and the Heritage & Environment Service of Bedfordshire County Council the site is now open to the public. 

Heritage & Environment Service Achievements in 2007/08

The Section's achivements during the past year include:

• The launch of the 'Nude Ewe' project
• Improved Highway Tree Management
• Repairs to Someries Castle
• Digitisation of the Historic Environment Record's maps
• Historic Environment Character Assessment of the Chalk Arc completed

10 Years of Excavations at Biddenham Loop|

The building of a new housing estate south of Biddenham village gave archaeologists a chance to look for evidence of past human activity. Cropmarks visible on aerial photographs and the discovery of single finds showed the area could contain important archaeological remains. Amongst the discoveries were a Bronze Age ring ditch, an Iron Age farmstead and Romano-British cremation burials. 

Stewartby Brickworks features in new East of England heritage route

Stewartby Brickworks is one of 30 key sites featured in a new regional route of industrial heritage. Industrious East celebrates the working history of the East of England and its people. It is part of a European Route of Industrial Heritage which stretches across the continent. For more information see Discover the Industrious South East| (opens in new window) and European Route of Industrial Heritage| (opens in new window).

Final version of Bedford Borough and Mid Beds Landscape Character Assessments are published.

Following various stages of consultation the final versions of  Bedford Borough| (pdf document opens in new window) and  Mid Beds| (pdf document opens in new window) Landscape Character Assessments have now been published.  Work is underway on the South Beds final version.

Identification of important geological sites within County

The Bedfordshire and Luton Geology group has undertaken a geodiversity audit of the County and has been assessing the significance of individual sites. Bedfordshire now contains 5 geological Sites of Special Scientific Interest and 21 Regionally Important Geological and Geomorphological Sites (RIGS). Much government guidance on biodiversity also covers geodiversity. RIGS are at least as much about education and interpretation as about conservation and much of the focus at these new sites is on how the rocks and landforms of the County have come to be as they are now. It has been an ambition of the Biodiversity Forum to put geodiversity conservation on a stronger footing and the identification of these RIGS marks a major step forwards.