St Boniface Down is a
chalkChalk 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. It is common to find flint and chert...
downA 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....
on the
Isle of WightThe Isle of Wight is an English island and a county, located 3-5 miles from the south coast of the mainland, in the English Channel. It is separated from mainland England by the Solent and is situated south of the county of Hampshire...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It is located close to the town of
VentnorVentnor is a seaside resort and civil parish established in the Victorian era on the south coast of the Isle of Wight, England. It lies underneath St Boniface Down , and is built on steep slopes and cliffs leading down to the sea...
, in the southeast of the island, and rises to , the island's highest point, north of the town. There is reputed to be a wishing well on its southern slope, which requires the wisher to climb up from the south without looking back.
In 1545 a French invasion force attempted this against a force of the Isle of Wight Militia commanded by Sir John Fyssher- which allegedly included several women archers- and were routed.
In 1940 the radar station was bombed by Ju-87 Stuka dive bombers, which is reconstructed in the film "
The Battle of BritainThe Battle of Britain was the fourth of Frank Capra's Why We Fight series. It was released in and concentrated on the German bombardment of the United Kingdom in anticipation of Operation Sealion during the Second World War.- See also :...
".
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St Boniface Down is a
chalkChalk 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. It is common to find flint and chert...
downA 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....
on the
Isle of WightThe Isle of Wight is an English island and a county, located 3-5 miles from the south coast of the mainland, in the English Channel. It is separated from mainland England by the Solent and is situated south of the county of Hampshire...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It is located close to the town of
VentnorVentnor is a seaside resort and civil parish established in the Victorian era on the south coast of the Isle of Wight, England. It lies underneath St Boniface Down , and is built on steep slopes and cliffs leading down to the sea...
, in the southeast of the island, and rises to , the island's highest point, north of the town. There is reputed to be a wishing well on its southern slope, which requires the wisher to climb up from the south without looking back.
In 1545 a French invasion force attempted this against a force of the Isle of Wight Militia commanded by Sir John Fyssher- which allegedly included several women archers- and were routed.
In 1940 the radar station was bombed by Ju-87 Stuka dive bombers, which is reconstructed in the film "
The Battle of BritainThe Battle of Britain was the fourth of Frank Capra's Why We Fight series. It was released in and concentrated on the German bombardment of the United Kingdom in anticipation of Operation Sealion during the Second World War.- See also :...
". The top is surmounted by a round barrow.
St Boniface Down is also the name and was the inspiration of a 1956 work by the English composer,
Trevor DuncanTrevor Duncan was an English composer, particularly noted for his light music compositions.-Life:Trevor Duncan was born Leonard Charles Trebilcock in Camberwell, London, England. By twelve he could play the piano by ear, but wanted to learn to read and compose music properly...
.
Wildlife
St Boniface Down is home to the largest
cricketCrickets, family Gryllidae , are insects somewhat related to grasshoppers and more closely related to katydids or bush crickets . They have somewhat flattened bodies and long antennae. There are about 900 species of crickets...
within the
British IslesThe British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include Great Britain, Ireland and numerous smaller islands. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and Ireland...
, the great green bush cricket.
The area's
faunaFauna is all of the animal life of any particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is flora.Zoologists and paleontologists use fauna to refer to a typical collection of animals found in a specific time or place, e.g...
is also important, resulting in parts of the Down being designated as a
Site of Special Scientific InterestA Site of Special Scientific Interest or SSSI is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based...
.