Dorset Downs

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Dorset Downs

The Dorset Downs are an area of Chalk

Chalk

Chalk is a soft, white, porous sedimentary rock, a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite. It forms under relatively deep marine conditions from the gradual accumulation of minute calcite plates shed from micro-organisms called coccolithophores....
downland

Downland

A downland is an area of open chalk hills. This term is especially used to describe the chalk countryside in southern England. Areas of downland are often referred to as Downs....
in the centre of the county Dorset

Dorset

Dorset , is a Counties of England in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester, Dorset, situated in the south of the county at ....
in south west England

England

Chalk Formation

The Chalk Group is a lithostratigraphy in the northwestern part of Europe. It is characterised by thick deposits of chalk, a soft porous white limestone, deposited in a marine environment during the Upper Cretaceous period ....
which includes (from West to East) Cranborne Chase

Cranborne Chase

Cranborne Chase is a Chalk plateau in central southern England, straddling the counties Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire. The plateau is part of the English Chalk Formation and is adjacent to Salisbury Plain and the West Wiltshire Downs in the north, the Dorset Downs to the south west and the South Downs running south east....
, Salisbury Plain

Salisbury Plain

Salisbury Plain is a chalk plateau in central southern England covering . It is part of the Southern England Chalk Formation and largely lies within the county of Wiltshire, with a little in Hampshire....
, Hampshire Downs, Chiltern Hills

Chiltern Hills

The Chiltern Hills are a chalk escarpment in southeast England. They are known locally as "the Chilterns". A large portion of the hills was designated officially as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in 1965....
, North Downs

North Downs

The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch for 120 miles from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent....
and South Downs

South Downs

The South Downs is one of the four areas of Southern England Chalk Formation downland in southern England. They extend from the eastern side of Hampshire through Sussex, culminating in the cliffs at Beachy Head....
.

The Dorset Downs are bounded on the north, along the steep scarp

Scarp

Scarp may mean:* Scarp, Scotland, an island in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland* Scarp with a counterscarp, the inner and outer sides of a ditch...
face, by the Blackmore Vale

Blackmore Vale

The Blackmore Vale is a vale, or wide valley, in North Dorset, and to a lesser extent South Somerset and southwest Wiltshire in southern England....
, a large clay

Clay

Clay is a naturally occurring material composed primarily of fine-grained minerals, which show plasticity through a variable range of water content, and which can be hardened when dried and/or fired....
and limestone

Limestone

File:Limestone Formation In Waitomo.jpgLimestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the mineral calcite . The deposition of limestone strata is often a by-product and indicator of biological activity in the geology record....
valley

Valley

In geology, a valley is a Depression with predominant extent in one direction. A very deep river valley may be called a canyon or gorge....
. On the east the Downs would once, thousands of years ago, have been continuous with Cranborne Chase, but the River Stour

River Stour, Dorset

The River Stour is a 60.5 mile long river which flows through Wiltshire and Dorset in southern England, and drains into the English Channel. It is sometimes called the Dorset Stour to distinguish it from rivers of the same name....
now cuts a valley between them, which is the location of Blandford Forum

Blandford Forum

Blandford Forum is a small historic market town on the River Stour, Dorset in the North Dorset district of Dorset, England noted for its Georgian architecture....
and the eastern boundary of the downs.

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The Dorset Downs are an area of Chalk

Chalk

Downland

Dorset

Dorset , is a Counties of England in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester, Dorset, situated in the south of the county at ....
in south west England

England

Chalk Formation

Cranborne Chase

Salisbury Plain

Chiltern Hills

North Downs

The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch for 120 miles from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent....
and South Downs

South Downs

Scarp

Scarp may mean:* Scarp, Scotland, an island in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland* Scarp with a counterscarp, the inner and outer sides of a ditch...
face, by the Blackmore Vale

Blackmore Vale

The Blackmore Vale is a vale, or wide valley, in North Dorset, and to a lesser extent South Somerset and southwest Wiltshire in southern England....
, a large clay

Clay

Limestone

Valley

River Stour, Dorset

Blandford Forum

River Frome, Dorset

The River Frome is a river in Dorset in the south of England. At 30 miles long it is the major chalkstream in southwest England. It is navigable upstream from Poole Harbour as far as the town of Wareham, Dorset....
at Dorchester, south of which is a narrow band of Purbeck Limestone along the English Channel

English Channel

The English Channel is an Arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest, to only in the Strait of Dover....
coast

Coast

The coast is defined as that part of the land adjoining or near the ocean or its saltwater arms. A precise line that can be called a coastline cannot be determined due to the process of tides....
. In the west the chalk dips down under Marl

Marl

Marl or Marlstone is a calcium carbonate or lime-rich mud or mudstone which contains variable amounts of clays and aragonite. Marl is originally an old term loosely applied to a variety of materials, most of which occur as loose, earthy deposits consisting chiefly of an intimate mixture of clay and calcium carbonate, formed under...
.

The main land uses on the downs are as arable

Arable land

In geography, arable land is an agriculture term, meaning land that can be used for growing agriculture. Arable land is currently being lost at the rate of over 200,000 km? per year....
agriculture

Agriculture

Agriculture refers to the production of food and goods through farming and forestry. Agriculture was the key development that led to the rise of civilization, with the animal husbandry of domestication animals and plants creating food surpluses that enabled the development of more Population density and Social stratification societies....
, woodland

Woodland

Ecologically, a woodland is an area covered in trees, usually at low density, forming an open habitat, allowing sunlight to penetrate between the trees, and limiting shade....
and calcareous grassland

Calcareous grassland

Calcareous grassland is an ecosystem associated with thin Basic_ soil, such as that on chalk and limestone downland. Plants on calcareous grassland are typically short and hardy, and include grasses and herbs such as trefoil....
, a habitat

Habitat (ecology)

A habitat is an ecological or Natural_environment area that is inhabited by a particular animal or plant species. It is the natural environment in which an organism lives, or the physical environment that surrounds a species population....
which is growing as farmers are encouraged with set-aside

Set-aside

Set-aside as a political measure was introduced by the European Union in 1988 to help reduce the large and costly surpluses produced in Europe under the guaranteed price system of the Common Agricultural Policy; and to deliver some environmental benefits following considerable damage to agricultural ecosystems and wildlife as a result of t...
subsidies

Agricultural subsidy

An agricultural subsidy is a governmental subsidy paid to farmers and agribusinesses to supplement their income, manage the supply of agricultural commodity, and influence the cost and supply of such commodities....
. Chalk is a rough rock and the Dorset Downs hold a large water table

Water table

The water table is the level at which the ground water pressure is equal to atmospheric pressure. It may be conveniently visualized as the 'surface' of the Groundwater in a given vicinity....
which acts as a reservoir of drinking water for much of the county. This property of chalk also means there are many seasonal rivers, called winterbourne

Winterbourne (stream)

A winterbourne is a stream or river that is dry through the summer months. A winterbourne is sometimes simply called a bourne, from the Old English language for a stream flowing from a spring, although this term can also be used for all-year water courses....
s, that flows depending upon the level of the water table.

Places of interest

Allsaints school
Blandford Forest
Bulbarrow Hill
Bulbarrow Hill

Bulbarrow Hill is a 274 metre hill near Woolland, five miles west of Blandford Forum and ten miles north of Dorchester, Dorset in Dorset, England....
, including Rawlsbury camp.
Dorsetshire Gap, a steep valley.
Cerne valley
River Cerne

The River Cerne is a ten mile long river in Dorset, England, which rises in the Chalk hills of the Dorset Downs at Minterne Magna, flows down a valley through Cerne Abbas and Charminster, and flows into the River Frome, Dorset in Dorchester, Dorset....
, including Cerne Abbas Giant
Cerne Abbas giant

The Cerne Abbas giant, also referred to as the Rude Man or the Rude Giant, is a hill figure of a giant naked man on a hillside near the village of Cerne Abbas, to the north of Dorchester, Dorset, in Dorset, England....
.
Hambledon Hill
Hambledon Hill

Hambledon Hill is a prehistoric hill fort in Dorset, England, situated in the Blackmore Vale five miles north of Blandford Forum. The hill is a Chalk outcrop separated from the Dorset Downs and Cranborne Chase ridge by the River Stour, Dorset....
and Hod Hill
Hod Hill

Hod Hill is a large hill fort in the Blackmore Vale, 3 miles north-west of Blandford Forum, Dorset, England.The fort sits on a chalk hill that is detached from the Dorset Downs and Cranborne Chase....
, two hills cut off from the downs in the Blackmore Vale.
Nettlecombe Tout hill fort.
Ringmoor
Ringmoor

The Ringmoor Settlement is an Iron Age/Romano-British farming settlement in Dorset, to the north of Turnworth and the south of Belchalwell in the Blackmore Vale....
settlement and field system.
Shillingstone Hill, a densely wooded scarp face with a large quarry.

Dorset Downs

Places of interest

See also

External links