Ludshott Common

Ludshott Common

Ludshott Common is a heathland common in eastern Hampshire, and which is a National Trust reserve.

The common is to be found between Grayshott, Bramshott and Headley Down.

At the edge of the common are the Waggoners Wells, a series of man-made ponds with a connecting stream.

Description

Ludshott Common covers 704 acres: it is one of the largest remaining areas of heathland in eastern Hampshire. It lies parallel to and south of the B3002 road between Headley Down to the west and Grayshott to the east.

The common is designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest and Special Protection Area due to the number of endangered species, including woodlark, nightjar and Dartford warbler. There are also a great many spiders and butterflies, including silver-studded blue, grayling and green hairstreak. Adders, grass snakes and sand lizards also inhabit the common. Rabbits are widespread and roe deer may occasionally be seen. The most common trees are Scots pine and silver birch, with some oak.

While much of the common is heather and gorse scrub on a fine sandy soil, there was an elevated stand of mature Scots pine trees with little or no undergrowth known locally as "the cathedral" or "cathedral pines". Many had been removed by the end of 2020, owing to their roots having been damaged by fires.

History

Ludshott Common constituted half of the ancient Manor of Ludshott, in the Hundred of Neatham. It is described as being under the lordship of Hugh de Port in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it was listed as comprising 10 households; in 1066 the overlord had been King Edward the Confessor. Court baron rolls go back to about 1400.

Ludshott Common owes its present state to the traditional use made of common land by local people: to graze their cattle, pigs, sheep, and ponies and to collect gorse, heather, wood, and bracken for fuel, and for animal bedding and winter fodder. Such uses ceased around the beginning of the 20th century. The land was acquired by the National Trust in 1908 in response to the growing pressure from housing development in Headley Down.

During the Second World War in the 1940s, Ludshott Common was used as a tank manoeuvres training ground, and the heather was largely turned to mud. The heather recovered, and was managed from the 1970s onwards. A camp (named Superior Camp) for Canadian troops, one of several in the vicinity, was built at the eastern corner of the common. Evidence of the layout can be seen even though it was demolished in the 1950s/1960s.

Periodically, fires would break out on the common. In 1962, 200 acres were burnt and, in 1965, 400 acres. Further serious fires occurred in 1969 and 1976, the latter being the worst ever known in Hampshire, spreading rapidly and burning 600 acres, lasting eight days. On 12 May 1980, 600 of the 695 acres were burnt by a fire fanned by high winds. Residents of roads in Headley Down which bordered the common were evacuated. Firefighters brought the fire under control in just over seven hours at 19:55. Relief crews remained on site overnight controlling small outbreaks of fire and damping down, with further relief crews taking over at 06:00 the following morning.

Location

• Streetmap: SU852350
• Location map: 51°6’31"N, 0°47’3"W

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Ludshott Common)

• Ludshott Common: National Trust
• "Grayshott Village Archive". http://www.grayshott-archive.org.uk/. 
• "Friends of Ludshott and Passfield Commons". The Ludshott Commons Committee, part of The National Trust. http://www.ntludshott.org.uk. 
• Headley History timeline

References

• "All Tanked Up". BBC Peoples War. http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/42/a2330542.shtml. 
• Highlights and pictures of Waggoners Wells from Travblog