A unique but largely forgotten and neglected piece of Kent that most historians agree was the site of Caesar’s first battle with the ancient Britons on English soil in 55 BC is set to become a flourishing nature reserve
Kent Wildlife Trust has launched a major appeal to its members and supporters to raise vital additional funding to help it restore Bigbury Hill Fort - an area of ancient woodland and a former Iron Age settlement and Roman encampment near Chartham Hatch, Canterbury.
Last year, the Trust, with the support of Canterbury City Council and the Heritage Lottery Fund, was able to purchase the 24 acres of Bigbury and the adjoining Howfield Woods.
Since then, the Trust has been drawing up ambitious habitat management plans to fill yet another gap in the 7,400 acre Blean woodland conservation jigsaw and further extend its boundaries as a haven for wildlife.
The Hill fort area, marked by a clearing John McAllister, the Trust’s Reserves Officer for East Kent, says: “Careful management of Bigbury Hill will restore many of its native broadleaved trees and encourage the return of birds like the nightingale and nightjar, the purple emperor and white admiral butterflies and flowers such as bluebells and wood anemones that were once commonplace here.”
Plans include the protection and enhancement of the Iron Age fort – a Scheduled Ancient Monument – and the woods themselves are designated as a Site of Nature Conservation Interest (SNCI) and part of the nationally important Blean complex of woodland.
There are also proposals to introduce hardy sheep and goats on a rotational grazing basis – a highly effective way of controlling the invasive scrub.
It is thought that the hill-fort site was occupied by the Belgic people before being overrun by the Romans in 54 BC. Archaeological finds have included the remains of a chariot and slave chains.
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