St. Catherine's Hill, Hampshire

Infobox UK place
official_name= St. Catherine's Hill
static_

static_image_caption=Remains of iron age ramparts
shire_district= City of Winchester
shire_county = Hampshire
region= South East England
constituency_westminster= Winchester
country= England
latitude= 51.04562
longitude= -1.308782
constituency_westminster= Winchester
post_town= WINCHESTER
postcode_area= SO
postcode_district= SO23
os_grid_reference= SU484276

St. Catherine's Hill is a small but dramatic chalk hill to the south east of Winchester in Hampshire, England. Rising steeply some convert|67|m|ft|0 from the water meadows of the River Itchen, the summit of the hill at convert|97|m|ft|0 provides a fine view over Winchester.

The hill is owned by Winchester College, and largely managed as a nature reserve by the Hampshire Wildlife Trust. The hill is expected to be included as the western extremity of the proposed South Downs National Park. Much of the hill and adjoining Plague Pits dry valley is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) due to its chalk downland flora, including 'practically the full range of downland orchids' [ [http://www.english-nature.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/1003267.pdf SSSI citation (PDF)] ] , with chalkhill blue and other butterflies. The hill is also part of the East Hampshire AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) [ [http://www.vic.org.uk/pro/pdfs/Ehantslflt01.pdf East Hampshire AONB Joint Advisory Committee leaflet - P2 includes a map (PDF)] ] , though largely cut off from the main part by the M3 motorway cutting in the 1990s. Recently St. Catherine's Hill has been the location of several local college parties that have resulted in police intervention.

History

The top of the hill is ringed by the ramparts of an Iron Age hill fort, which is a scheduled ancient monument. In the centre a copse of beech trees contains the site of the 12th Century chapel of St. Catherine. There is also a mizmaze, probably cut between 1647 and 1710. [ [http://www.hants.gov.uk/hampshiretreasures/vol04/page083.html Hampshire Treasures Vol. 4 P.83, Hampshire County Council] ]

The hill was cut off from the Itchen water meadows for over a hundred years by the construction of the Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway in the 1890s and the Winchester By-pass (A33) in the 1930s. The railway closed in the 1960s and the road was removed following construction of the M3 motorway to the east through Twyford Down in the 1990s. Whilst this reunited the hill with its historic setting to the west, it is now largely cut off from the hills to the east. The routing of the original by-pass to the east of Winchester had been controversial [Cite newspaper The Times |articlename=A by-pass road at Winchester: Opposition to proposed route |author=uncredited |section=news |day_of_week=Wed |date=Sep 25 1929 |page_number=9 |issue=45317 |column=C ] and its replacement by the M3 led to a large scale protest (see main article Twyford Down protest).

Geology

Structurally, St. Catherine's Hill is part of the Winchester anticline. This is an upfold in the chalk at the western end of the South Downs. In the Winchester area the core of the anticline has eroded to expose older rocks in Chilcomb, Bar End and Winchester itself, leaving a near complete ring of inward-facing chalk scarp slopes including Magdalen (Morn) Hill to the north, Chilcomb Down and Telegraph Hill to the east, Deacon Hill, Twyford Down and St. Catherine's to the south and Oliver's Battery to the west. Whilst the highest part of the main ring of hills (which reaches up to convert|167|m|ft|0 at Cheesefoot Head) is of the 'Lewes Nodular Chalk Formation', St. Catherine's is of the slightly older 'New Pit Chalk Formation'. Both date from the Turonian stage of the Upper Cretaceous. St. Catherine's Hill is separated from the higher Twyford Down by the dramatic dry valley known as Plague Pits Valley to the east and south, and truncated by the valley of the River Itchen to the west. [Booth K.A., 2002, "Geology of the Winchester district", British Geological Survey, ISBN 0-85-272429-2 (booklet to accompany BGS 1:50,000 map sheet 299)] ["Winchester", British Geological Survey 1:50,000 Map Series, Sheet 299, NERC, 2002, ISBN 0-7518-3340-1]

References

External links

* [http://www.hwt.org.uk/places-to-go/we-recommend-visiting/st-catherines-hill.htm HWT St Catherine's Hill Wildlife Reserve]
* [http://www.hwt.org.uk/files/stcath.pdf HWT Fact sheet (PDF)]
* [http://www.natureonthemap.org.uk/map.aspx?
]