Sheep on the Cotswold Way. Image Credit Jo Rayner
Sheep & cattle
The Common has been an important resource for local people to graze their animals since the earliest historical times and, over the centuries, regulation was needed to prevent over-grazing. By contrast, in recent history under-grazing as a result of a decline in stock farming has been the biggest threat to the survival of this wildflower-rich grassland.
Without grazing (aided by human conservation) coarse grasses, gorse and hawthorn scrub would take over. These would out-compete the wild flowers, some of which are critically endangered nationally, so greatly reducing the wildlife diversity and the value of the Common for recreation.
Lawnmowers on four legs
Sheep are good for grazing over a wide area, especially the slopes and shorter grass. There are typically up to 1500 sheep on the Common at the height of the grazing season. But sheep are selective grazers, favouring sweet, lush grass and flowers first. They graze with a mowing effect, nibbling the grass off close to the ground layer.
To tackle the taller and coarser grassland and to introduce variation in the structure of the grassland sward, we need cattle too. They wrap their long tongues around tall, rough grass and pull. Cattle are much less fussy, and graze even the steepest of banks. Due to their size, some beasts weighing close to 1 tonne, they are very good at trampling the scrub that we are trying to manage. Their weight helps break up gorse and thorn, and so slows regeneration of this scrub.
Cattle were reintroduced to the Common in 1993 for the summer months, following many years of under-grazing. The aim was to improve the ‘condition’ of the SSSI; this is measured by such factors as diversity of flower species, herb to grass ratio and variation in sward height.
The seasonal cattle grazing led to some improvement to the condition of the grassland but meeting Natural England’s targets called for year-round grazing. Therefore in 2006, the Board of Conservators took the major step of purchasing its own herd of cattle, in effect to be ‘lawnmowers on four legs’. We now have a herd of Belted Galloways. They were bred in the hills of Dumfries and are a hardy, native, rare breed with thick coats that protect them whatever the weather. This makes them perfect for over-wintering on the Common; in fact this breed actively dislikes being shut indoors. They are just right for a public place such as Cleeve Common as by nature they are placid – and do not have intimidating horns! They are however semi-feral and have not been hand reared. So please do not call to them or try to touch them.
The cattle are contained in large temporary fenceless paddocks to focus the grazing on the areas that most need it. Each animal wears a GPS collar to allow us to have a no-fence system in place. You can see the cattle by visiting this website, you have to be within 20km of the site to pick up our animals on the map. The results have been very encouraging and grassland quality has improved considerably.
For more information about visiting a place with grazing cattle please see this helpful guide
The lone beech at sunset. Image Credit Jo Rayner
High points and view points
Cleeve Common is famous for wonderful views over Cheltenham, the Vale of Evesham, the Malverns and as far as the Black Mountains in Wales and the Shropshire hills. To the east stretch the gently undulating slopes of the Cotswolds dipping towards the low vales of Oxfordshire. The Common covers an area of 405 hectares (1000 acres) including the highest point of the Cotswold Hills.
The trig point on the edge of the escarpment. At 317m (just over 1000ft) above sea level, this is a great spot to survey the valley stretching out below. But it comes as a surprise to many that this is not the highest spot on Cleeve Hill.
There is a second trig point, beyond the radio masts, that is 13m higher and is officially the 'top of the Cotswolds' at 330 metres (1083 feet) above sea level. However it does not offer much of a view, though it is very easy to find from the Pylons car park.
'The Twins' are two wind-swept beech trees on the southern end of the Common, overlooking Cheltenham and Gloucester. Whatever the weather, this is a spectacular spot. Our new memorial wall is near this location.
'The Single Beech' also know as the lone, or lonely beech, is the highest tree in the Cotswolds also at 317m. There is a fine 360 degree view from here and you can really appreciate the open aspects of this hilltop landscape. The Memorial Wall surrounds the tree, with plaques in memory of those who have been particularly fond of Cleeve Common.
Cleeve Common Iron Age Settlement. Image Credit Cleeve Common Trust.
Cleeve Common’s past
Archaeology
People first cleared the dense primeval forests to develop farming in this area around 6000 years ago. Excavations in the early part of the 20th century discovered prehistoric and Romano-British settlements.
You can still see the shape of the Iron Age hill fort (left) above the small settlement of Nutterswood.
This is one of some 35 hillforts spread along the Cotswold escarpment. It dates from around 500 BC and was probably built initially as a single bank and ditch, with the second ring added some two centuries later.
Why was it built? Like many castles that followed centuries later, it was probably a symbol of power and wealth as much as a defensive construction. Sitting on the edge of the escarpment, it would be visible for miles around and was perhaps the seat of a local chieftain.
Much of the hillfort has been destroyed through quarrying in the last 300 years. Today it encloses some 3 acres and is approximately one third of a circle. We simply do not know whether it was once a complete circle, or stopped along the original natural edge of the scarp.
Work in 2011 to stabilise the edges of the hillfort mounds required removal and replacement of some of the topsoil. Interestingly, this revealed a stone structure forming the core of these banks: they are not simply mounds of earth (this stonework is no longer visible).
Aerial view of Cleeve Common hill fort. Image credit Historic England
There is also an ancient boundary in the form of a long, linear earthwork crossing the hill called the Cross Dyke.
Probably the oldest archaeological feature of the Common, the Cross Dyke is a long ditch and bank earthwork. It runs from near the top of Rising Sun Lane diagonally up the escarpment, over the edge and then swings left into Dry Bottom and Postlip Quarries.
This linear earthwork was built as a territorial boundary and is thought to date from the Bronze Age (before 700 BC), hence it pre-dates the Iron Age hillfort. It provides evidence that even this long ago, dwellers in the vale at the foot of the scarp had staked their claim to a large part of the hilltop. Many centuries later, it became the manorial boundary between Southam and Cleeve. Today's parish boundary between Southam and Woodmancote still follows this historic line.
Cross dyke section. Image Credit Michael Bates
Our third feature is a curious circular earthwork known as 'The Ring'. It is a circular earthwork on the upper part of the scarp slope, some 50 metres in diameter. It is believed to have been built as an enclosure for animals in the Romano-British period (the early centuries AD) and provides clear evidence of the use of the Common as pasture at the time.
Aerial View of The Ring. Image Credit Historic England
These 3 features are Cleeve’s Scheduled Monuments, but there are many other earthworks that provide clues to the past.
History
At the foot of the cliff below 'The Twins' (a prominent pair of trees at the top of the escarpment) there is a square stone block known as ‘Huddlestone’s Table’.
Huddlestone’s Table. Image credit Michael Bates
Legend has it that this marks the spot where Kenulf, the Saxon king of Mercia, bade farewell to several important guests, including the king of Kent, after dedicating the great Benedictine Abbey in Winchcombe in 811. Although a fine spot for such a parting, it does not lie on tracks in use at that time and, in any case, the Huddlestone family did not move to Southam until the 1520’s!
Built in 1897, the Washpool or Sheep Wash is a deep, keyhole-shaped trough with stone sides. It is a reminder of the importance of Cleeve Common to sheep farming in the past. Photographs from the 1920’s and 30’s show temporary pens containing hundreds of sheep, gathered for dipping. They were herded into the round well and, once thoroughly soaked, allowed to scramble out up the narrow ramp (the fence in the photograph is a recent addition for safety).
The sheep wash was fed with water from the pool immediately above it, formed by damming the stream that flows down from a spring about 200 metres up the valley which is known, appropriately, as 'Watery Bottom'. Cleeve Common Trust undertook a renovation project of the area between 2018-2020.
The newly restored (2019) Washpool (sheep dip). Image Credit Michael Bates
Sheep dip in use during the inter-war period. Image Credit V Gardner
The practice of villagers grazing livestock on wasteland had been developed well before the Norman Conquest and by the 11th century the pattern of grazing on the Common was well established. The Common was divided between the manorial estates of Southam and Bishops Cleeve and old boundary stones can still be seen today. Competition for summer grazing as long ago as the 14th century led to community disputes. Records from 1389 show that the Hill was heavily stocked with over 5000 animals, not only sheep and cattle, but also pigs, horses and donkeys.
The dewpond is a historic watering hole on the hilltop part of the Common, near the radio masts. It was restored in 2000 as an experiment in a traditional way of providing drinking water for grazing stock.
The Dewpond. Image credit Michael Bates
The pond is some 20 metres across and 2 metres deep (although the maximum water depth is only about 1 metre). It collects rainwater and run-off from the surrounding land. Traditionally a lining of clay prevented the water from soaking away, but in this modern restoration a butyl sheet liner is used instead. The dewpond has provided a source of water not only for sheep, but also for wildlife on the Hill and is visited by a wide range of birds. Cattle have been kept out for fear of damaging the lining. So far, it has never dried up, even in dry summers. More information can be found here.
The agricultural way of life continued largely unchanged for hundreds of years. However, Cheltenham’s boom as a fashionable spa resort in the 19th century meant that the open spaces of the nearby Common became attractive for recreation. Horse racing and training began in 1818 and lasted until 1855, when it moved to its current home, Prestbury Pak. There was a figure-of-eight race track and grandstand close to where the radio masts are today. The first golf course opened in 1891 and the first club house dates from 1895.
The problem of balancing agriculture against recreation led to the need for more formal management structures. Following a public parliamentary enquiry, a board of Conservators came into being under the Commons Regulation (Cleeve) Provisional Order Confirmation Act of 1890.
The Bylaws include many references to leisure activities, some quaint by today’s standards, such as the prohibition on “gambling, betting, or playing with cards or dice at any time on the Common”. Nevertheless, the need to reconcile recreation with agriculture and conservation was clearly evident then and has grown into a significant challenge for today.
The Halifax Memorial honours the crew of a Halifax bomber which crashed on Cleeve Common in August 1944, while returning from a mission off the west coast of France. It was unveiled in December 2022 by Air Marshal Sir Dusty Miller KBE, President of the Royal Air Forces Association Cheltenham Branch and High Sheriff of Gloucestershire.
The monument is a naturally shaped piece of stone from one of the quarries on the Common. It is located not far from the trig point and topograph at the summit of Cleeve Hill escarpment, close to the Cotswold Way.
Read a full account of the incident, the subsequent investigations and the work to piece this story together.
The Halifax Memorial on Cleeve Common Image credit Michael Bates
Fossil hunting in Rolling Bank quarry. Image credit Shara Spragg
Geology
This dramatic landscape started out as the bed of a shallow tropical sea in the Middle Jurassic period, 180 million years ago. This sea was teeming with shellfish and corals, now preserved as fossils in the rocks. As time passed, the sea bed turned to layers of sedimentary rock, which have since been forced upward by geological movement to form the Cotswold Hills. The landscape we see today was formed by the erosion of these rocks by wind, water and ice, mainly at the end of the last Ice Age.
At Rolling Bank Quarry, you will find an information board telling you about the underlying geology of Cleeve Hill. This was installed by the Gloucestershire Geology Trust, who have also produced an illustrated geology trail guide. Rolling Bank Quarry is situated near the top of the escarpment, along from the Golf Clubhouse and directly behind the 18th tee.
The bedrock of the upper reaches of the Common is oolitic limestone. However, the majority of the height of the Cotswold Escarpment is made up of Early Jurassic (liassic) clays and silts. Cleeve is the only area of the Cotswolds where the full sequence of Inferior Oolite rocks can be seen. Two layers, the Philipsiama and the Bourguetia beds, are unique to Cleeve Hill and not visible anywhere else in Britain.
For centuries the limestone has been quarried for building. Different quarries give access to different layers of rock with varying uses. Smooth-grained blocks with few imperfections, such as Lower Freestone, made good building stone. Coarser, rubbly rocks containing many fossils, like Gryphite or Trigonia Grit, were suitable for roads and field walls. These rocks are named after the main fossil found in them, Gryphaea (or devil's toenail) and Trigonia, two distinctive species of bivalves.
One of the more unusual geological features of the Common is the presence at the surface of sands and sandstone of the Harford Member. In the 18th and 19th centuries, this fine sand was taken off by donkey for use in the Staffordshire potteries.
Basking Adders. Image Credit Giles Alder
Wildlife
The range of habitats and diversity of the grassland across the Common makes it a fine home for many species.
Most of the Common is unimproved limestone grassland but unusually for the Cotswolds there is acidic soil in some areas where Harford Sands outcrop at the surface giving rise to acid grassland and small patches of heath. Scrub of all different ages adds to the diversity and is vital for birds and reptiles. Scattered trees make good perches for hunting raptors and woodland areas around the edges of the Common support a completely different range of species. Running and standing water in the Washpool valley and several ponds provide yet another habitat for amphibians, freshwater invertebrates and aquatic plants and provides drinking and bathing opportunities for birds and mammals.
Limestone grassland is a harsh environment with thin soil, poor in nutrients and so all types of plants face a struggle to survive. This battle for survival makes room for great diversity – no single species can become dominant leading to a great variety of wildflowers and grasses.
Purple milk vetch. Image Credit Nicole Daw
In spring and summer, lime-loving flowers are widespread, including bright yellow bird’s-foot trefoil, wild thyme, common rock-rose, fairy flax, burnet-saxifrage, dropwort, milkwort, small scabious, carline thistles and harebells. The endangered purple milk-vetch is found in short turf on the Common and conservation efforts are underway to secure its range on the Common. Several types of orchid can be seen, particularly early purple orchid, bee orchid, common spotted orchid, pyramidal orchid and the rare frog and musk orchids. Many different grasses can be found, including quaking grass, short turf of fescues and bents and taller tor-grass, upright brome and meadow oat-grass. On the steep slopes of the Washpool Valley are rare plants associated with the thin and fragile scree, including red hemp-nettle and limestone fern.
In areas where soils are acid you will see heather, tormentil, heath-grass, heath milkwort, heath bedstraw and several species of moss that are only found on acid soil.
In the marshy fringes of the Washpool are bristle club-rush, whorl-grass and the nationally vulnerable flat-sedge.
In some of the woodlands around the edges of the Common you can find bluebells, wood anemone, primroses and opposite-leaved golden saxifrage.
There is an exceptional range of bryophytes (mosses and liverworts) on the Common including some national rarities. Click here for further information on our efforts to conserve these important species.
The Common has a tremendous variety of fungi and is particularly rich in colourful waxcap species which are found in the grasslands in summer and autumn. You might also see “fairy rings” of fungi in the grass. These get bigger each year and can be seen even without the fruiting fungi due to the fungal mycelium in the soil beneath the ring affecting nutrient levels and grass growth.
With such a variety of habitats it comes as no surprise that there is also a great diversity of invertebrate life. Butterflies such as the dark green fritillary, dingy skipper and common blue thrive on limestone grassland whilst the green hairstreak likes some scrub for shelter. Burnet moths with their vivid red and black colouring are easy to see during the day, and you might see the much rarer cistus forester, a metallic-green day-flying moth. There are snails to be found too, such as the heath snail Helicella itala, and spiders such as the funnel-web spider Agelena labyrinthica and, just off the Common, the very rare purseweb spider Atypus affinis. A particularly notable find in the summer of 2010 was the small bug Hallodapus montadoni, which had not been seen in Gloucestershire since 1944!
Bird life is plentiful. Skylarks nest on the ground in rough grass and can be heard singing in spring and early summer. Meadow pipits might look similar at first glance, but during their display flight they sing as they “parachute” to the ground whereas skylarks stay high up whilst singing continuously. Stonechat, linnet and yellowhammer can be seen all year round, perched conspicuously on gorse and scrub.
Returning to the Common after wintering in warmer climes, willow warbler, blackcap, chiffchaff and cuckoo can be heard singing from scrub in spring and early summer. With luck, you might also see scarcer species like wheatear, redstart, whinchat and tree pipit.
Most years, ring ouzels drop in for a week or two on their migration between their breeding grounds in northern England, Scotland or Scandinavia and their wintering grounds in the Atlas mountains of North Africa.
In winter, watch out for large flocks of redwing and fieldfare feeding on hawthorn berries. Perhaps with a bit of luck you may spot a short-eared owl.
A local ornithologist carries out monthly bird surveys and produces a comprehensive annual report of his findings. The most recent version is here and previous survey results are available on request.
The Common is home to four species of reptile: adder (upper left), grass snake, common lizard and slow-worm. All these species are protected, and we are working to monitor their numbers and conserve their habitat. Adders begin to emerge from winter hibernation once the weather warms up in the spring. On sunny days (especially in the mornings), they like to bask in the sun on rocks and in tussocky grass.
Many species of mammal make the Common their home. There are rabbits in abundance, especially in the sandy areas on the hilltop, and a few hares. Increasing numbers of deer forage in the fringes of the Common: most are roe deer or the small but noisy muntjac. Grey squirrels are abundant in the woodlands. There are four badger setts on the Common itself and two more a short distance away. You might also catch sight of the occasional fox, stoat, weasel, shrew or mole. Colonies of bats (lesser horseshoe and Myotis species) inhabit some of the rock faces.
All this wildlife ultimately depends on the diversity of the grassland. Without grazing and other forms of management, natural succession would proceed: rough grass varieties such as tor grass would take over, stifling other types of grass, herbs and flowers. Gorse and hawthorn scrub would spread, and the rich variety of wildlife would be gone - and very difficult to restore.
To find out more about our Conservation work please look at the Our Work section or send our Conservation Officer an email.