England's National Nature Reserves

As I have just carried out my last guided walk at Downton Gorge I thought it would be a good idea to get this site’s page written up.

Downton Gorge, like a lot of National Nature Reserves has quite a history behind it. Apart from its rich geology (outcrops of the Ludlow bone bed important for its record of the movement of life out of the sea and onto land), its status as part of the mediaeval royal hunting grounds of Mortimer Forest and the location of one of the largest iron smelting enterprises in the mid 1700s, this was where one of the first picturesque designed landscapes using the natural features of the site, was created by Richard Payne Knight. This was very different from the usual heavily designed landscapes of Capability Brown and its creation using the natural features of the gorge is one of the reasons why Downton Gorge has remained relatively unchanged since the 18th century.

As a relic of an ancient forest, Downton Gorge is full of ancient woodland indicator plants such as wild garlic, lily of the valley, wood anemones, dog violets, woodland ferns and toothwort to name a few.

Downton Gorge is only accessible by the public on a guided walk.