At Dorset History Centre we are fortunate to be able to work with a large cross-section of different groups. One of these groups is Cranborne Chase and Chalke Valley Landscape Partnership. In this blog, as part of Local and Community History Month, they explain a little more about what this partnership does…
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In 2003 two work colleagues at Cranborne Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) had a conversation that would set in train a long series of events, consultations and planning that would develop in to a diverse programme of landscape-scale initiatives we now know as the Cranborne Chase and Chalke Valley Landscape Partnership Scheme, or Chase & Chalke LP for short.
Cranborne Chase is one of 46 AONBs in the UK, covering almost 1000 sq km of countryside overlapping the boundaries of Wiltshire, Dorset, Hampshire and Somerset. This landscape designation, under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 is famous for its beautiful views, precious wildlife, stunning protected habitats, distinctive landforms and cherished heritage, and is on the doorstep of approximately 1.9 million people.
Creating stronger connections between people and their landscape is one of the underlying aims of the Cranborne Chase and Chalke Valley Landscape Partnership Scheme. https://cranbornechase.org.uk/landscape-partnership-scheme/
Chase & Chalke Vision
Funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, and other partners, the vision is to ensure this distinctive landscape survives through modern day pressures and future change. Through community and partner consultation we have designed a total of twenty projects which will help to:
- improve habitats;
- develop woodland skills;
- uncover new archaeology;
- protect ancient monuments;
- capture stories for future generations, and;
- create dozens of opportunities for volunteering.
The key aim is to connect the people that live within it and on the doorstep, to the landscape and inspire them to play a role in caring for it.
The Chase & Chalke LP area covers part of the AONB and nestles between the markets towns of Shaftesbury and Blandford Forum on the western edge and, and the city of Salisbury on the east. This is a diverse landscape with areas of rolling chalk grassland, ancient woodlands, chalk escarpments, downland hillsides and chalk river valleys; each with a distinct and recognisable character.
Chase & Chalke Projects
In natural, historic and cultural terms, this landscape is extraordinarily important. The wonderful mix of important habitats includes some of best, last remaining and unimproved chalk grassland and scrub in Europe at Martin Down Natural Nature Reserve, large tracts of ancient woodland and the crystal clear River Ebble which trickles, then flows through the Chalke Valley. Iconic species such as dormouse, chalkhill blue butterflies, dozens of orchids, harvest mouse, polecat, otters, yellowhammers, whitethroats, cuckoo, skylarks and the turtle dove are all found in our area.
These form the inspiration for our Natural Landscape projects, including the protection, restoration, and improvement of our Crystal Clear Ebble, bringing our woodlands back to life by developing new skills, providing training and education to support new jobs and businesses in our Wonderful Woodlands project, and our extensive biodiversity programme where we will be engaging communities, training volunteers and providing landowner grants through our Nurturing Nature project. As an International Dark Sky Reserve (IDSR), one of only 17 dark sky reserves in the world, we have also developed a training programme for Dark Sky Champions and workshops for local tourism businesses to promote the quality of our dark skies in the area.
Evidence of successive eras of human activity and settlements is evident across the landscape, carved out over the last 8,000 years. Prehistoric monuments of national importance, historic borderlands, ancient field systems, droves and route create patterns across this landscape with the area’s history as a medieval hunting ground still very evident. These aspects form the inspiration for our Historic Landscape projects, allowing you to become a time traveller on Cranborne Chase with augmented reality app, Cranborne Chase AR, or get free training as a teacher through the Heritage Schools Cluster initiative with Historic England. Over the years the area has been the subject of research by influential archaeologists and antiquarians including John Aubrey, Dr William Stukeley, Sir Richard Colt Hoare and General Pitt Rivers and we aim to continue this tradition with the use of transformative technology to look beneath the surface. A recent Lidar (Light Ranging and Detection) survey forms the basis for the Champions of the Past project where volunteers will identify and explore hundreds of new archaeological sites and features across the landscape.
As a place of interest for artists during the 20th century including Augustus John, Henry Lamb, Ben Nicholson, John Craxton, Lucian Freud and Elisabeth Frink the Scheme also has an extensive programme of community arts-based projects including artists’ residencies, collecting oral histories of rural skills and crafts through Memories Captured, creative writing in Words in the Landscape and a community theatre project Characters of the Chase.
We need your help…..Join us
The Scheme has been designed by communities for communities, so we are recruiting an army of volunteers to help deliver on the Scheme’s aspirations. So please do get in touch to find out how you can get involved and how you can help shape the future of this amazing landscape. https://cranbornechase.org.uk/landscape-partnership-scheme/volunteering/
Through local communities nurturing and embracing a healthier and better functioning landscape for people and wildlife, this area will continue to be a place where everyone can make a true connection with their environment, fostering a living landscape where opportunities exist for everyone to appreciate and enjoy our shared natural, historic and cultural heritage.