Kent Ramblers: Walk 87

Points of Interest

Sevenoaks Greensand Commons

					Project

The hatched areas on the map are common land. The Greensand ridge has a long history of human activity. The poor, acid soils meant that the post-glacial woodland was easy to clear but the cleared land very difficult to farm.
Instead lowland heath developed and was prevented by grazing animals from reverting to scrub and then woodland. However, in recent times grazing has reduced considerably and scrub was becoming widespread (picture above), putting at risk the rare lowland heath habitat. The Sevenoaks Greensand Commons Project was started in 2018 with lottery funding and has significantly increased local awareness and understanding of the history and ecology of the commons.
However, apart from some clearance of rhododendron and birch and some turning over of soil to expose seeds, it is not very clear what has actually been achieved on the ground. It seems that early aspirations of reintroducing grazing have come to nothing.

The Greensand ridge has been a useful route for communication since the Stone Age, providing dry ground in stark contrast with the muddy Wealden clays to the south and the Gault clay to the north. Bitchet Common lies between two iron age forts, Squerryes to the west (walk 12 in our 2022 Annual Review) and Oldbury Hill to the east (walk 10).

Public Transport

This walk is not conveniently accessible by public transport.

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