Ankerwycke Meadow
| Ankerwycke Meadow | |
|
National Trust | |
|---|---|
 Ankerwycke Meadow | |
| Grid reference: | TQ002728 |
| Location: | 51°26’46"N, -0°33’32"W |
| Information | |
Ankerwycke Meadow is a mixed meadowland in the very southernmost stretch of Buckinghamshire, lying along the north bank of the River Thames, opposite Runnymede. Although close by the unforgiving suburban growth reaching from the metropolis to the east, the meadow has been preserved from development by as it is in the care of the National Trust, which also owns Runnymede on the Surrey bank of the river.
The meadow lies to the west of Hythe End (the southernmost hamlet of Buckinghamshire) and south of Wraysbury. The Buckinghamshire Way runs through the meadow.
Ankerwycke Priory
A small priory of Benedictine nuns stood here for almost four hundred years. Ankerwycke Priory was established around 1160 during the reign of Henry II. It was dissolved at the Dissolution of the Monasteries under King Henry VIII in 1536. The ruins of the priory stand within the meadow.
The Ankerwycke Yew
The Ankerwycke Yew grows in the meadow; a tree 2,500 years old, so it was old even when Caesar stood on the Thames bank, sprouting when men were first learning to smelt iron. It is the National Trust's oldest tree. According to popular belief, it was beneath this tree that King Henry VIII courted Anne Boleyn, and some reports suggest that he even proposed in its shadow.
Local pride claims on occasion that Magna Carta was sealed beneath the shade of this yew (though all historic records tell us it was on Runnymede, across the river).
Close to the Ankerwycke Yew lies St Mary's Priory. These crumbling walls were once a nunnery, built during the reign of Henry II and dedicated to St Mary Magdalene. Following the dissolution of the monasteries the priory and its meadows passed into private hands. The building was patched up many times over the years, but during the 19th and 20th centuries much of the surviving building fell into disrepair, and today only a few overgrown walls remain.
Wildlife
Ankerwycke is grazed in part by cattle, wooded in part and rich in wildlife. There are green woodpeckers. The ponds have the emerald and large red dragonflies. The carpets of snowdrops are thought to be planted here in the Victorian period.
Outside links
- Ankerwycke: National Trust
- The Meadows at Runnymede and Ankerwycke: National Trust