Blow's Downs Heritage Trail - Post 5
Alongside the poem below, written by a Beech Hill Primary School student, you will find the fifth letter of the anagram, continue along the trail to find and collect the other letters and see if you can rearrange them to reveal the mystery word.
Poem by a Beech Hill Primary School student
Now you have collected all of the letters, see if you can unscramble the anagram!
Clue: This is a word that links Common, Kidney and Horseshoe...
Heritage Trail Map
You are now at post 5 on the map below and have reached the end of the trail!
Scroll down to find some more information about Oakwood Avenue.
Oakwood Avenue
Standing here look up and you will see what look like steps carved into the side of the slope. These are known as Strip Lynchets and were created on this site pre-1300. At that time the local population was expanding and there was a pressure to increase the arable land to grow food. This led to woodland clearance and the creation of terraces on the hillside. This is a technique still used across the world today to increase the area of ‘farmable’ land on slopes. Due to the Black Death population decreased and these Strip Lynchets were no longer required for growing food.
These slopes were then used by the tenant farmers, like John Blow, for grazing sheep. The cows and ponies that graze the slopes of Blow’s Downs today are very important in looking after the rare chalk grassland.
Having them graze the slopes means that the scrubby bushes don’t grow too much leaving lots of space for the beautiful chalk grassland wildflowers to grow. Having a wide variety of wildflowers means an abundance of bugs and insects live here which in turn attracts a healthy mix of birds and other creatures.
Well done for completing the trail!
We hope you have enjoyed the activities along the way!
