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Greenham and Crookham Commons

Site of Special Scientific Interest
Crookham Common
Location within Berkshire
Location	Berkshire
Grid reference	SU 501 644
Coordinates	51°22′34″N 1°16′55″W / 51.376°N 1.282°W / 51.376; -1.282
Interest	Biological
Area	280.5 hectares (693 acres)
Notification	1994
Location map	Magic Map

Greenham and Crookham Commons are two adjoining public park areas of 280.5-hectare (693-acre) common land designated as a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in the civil parishes of Greenham and Thatcham, on the southern outskirts of Newbury in the English county of Berkshire.

Public park

In 1997, Greenham and Crookham Commons were designated as public parkland. Cattle from local farms are permitted to graze the Commons and often stray onto the adjacent Burys Bank Road.

Site of Special Scientific Interest

The SSSI is in several areas and it is part of the 444-hectare (1,100-acre) Greenham and Crookham Commons nature reserve, which is owned by West Berkshire Council and managed by the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust.

The two commons have the largest area of heathland and acid grassland in the county and other habitats are gorse scrub, broadleaved woodland and water-logged alder valleys. There is a rich variety of invertebrates, such as the white admiral, purple emperor and silver-washed fritillary woodland butterflies.

History

Pre-20th century

The area has been common grazing land for the parishes since Norman times. Besides the grazing of local animals, the commons were used for troop movements during the English Civil War and in the eighteen and nineteenth centuries.

World War II and Cold War

The area became a Royal Air Force station called RAF Greenham Common in 1942; it was used by both the Royal Air Force and United States Army Air Forces during the Second World War and the United States Air Force during the Cold War, also as a base for nuclear weapons. In the 1980s, the commons therefore became the location of the Women's Peace Camp, but following the closure of the base in September 1992, it was opened to the public as a nature reserve in April 2000.

References

1. ^ "Designated Sites View: Greenham and Crookham Commons". Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
2. "Drivers urged to slow down and be vigilant for cattle in Greenham". inyourarea.co.uk. 22 December 2017. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
3. "Map of Greenham and Crookham Commons". Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
4. ^ "Greenham and Crookham Commons". Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
5. "Greenham and Crookham Commons citation" (PDF). Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
6. Ford, David Nash (2020). West Berkshire Town and Village Histories. Wokingham: Nash Ford Publishing. pp. 125–133. ISBN 9781905191031.

v t e Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Berkshire
Biological	Aldermaston Gravel Pits Ashridge Wood Avery's Pightle Bisham Woods Blackwater Valley Bowdown and Chamberhouse Woods Boxford Water Meadows Bray Meadows Bray Pennyroyal Field Briff Lane Meadows Broadmoor to Bagshot Woods and Heaths Catmore and Winterly Copses Chawridge Bourne Cleeve Hill Cock Marsh Combe Wood and Linkenholt Hanging Coombe Wood, Frilsham Croker's Hole Decoy Pit, Pools and Woods Easton Farm Meadow Enborne Copse Englemere Pond Freeman's Marsh Great Thrift Wood Greenham and Crookham Commons Heath Lake Hog's Hole Holies Down Inkpen and Walbury Hills Inkpen Common Inkpen Crocus Field Irish Hill Copse Kennet and Lambourn Floodplain Kennet Valley Alderwoods King's Copse Lardon Chase Lodge Wood and Sandford Mill Longmoor Bog Old Copse, Beenham Park Farm Down Redhill Wood River Kennet River Lambourn Sandhurst to Owlsmoor Bogs and Heaths Seven Barrows Snelsmore Common Stanford End Mill and River Loddon Streatley Warren Sulham and Tidmarsh Woods and Meadows Swinley Park and Brick Pits Thatcham Reed Beds Wasing Wood Ponds Wellington College Bog West Woodhay Down West's Meadow, Aldermaston Westfield Farm Chalk Bank White Shute Windsor Forest and Great Park Woolhampton Reed Bed Wraysbury and Hythe End Gravel Pits Wraysbury No 1 Gravel Pit Wykery Copse
Geological	Boxford Chalk Pit Brimpton Pit Cannoncourt Farm Pit Cold Ash Quarry Fognam Chalk Quarry Hamstead Marshall Pit Pincent's Kiln Winterbourne Chalk Pit

• Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust
• Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Berkshire
• Thatcham