Month: July 2018

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Heritage Open Day Event 9 September 2018, Exploring Beech Bottom Dyke and Bernards Heath

Beech Bottom Dyke is a striking mile long Iron Age earthwork, linked to Shakespeare’s King Cymbeline, and set in an ancient area of commons called “Bernards Heath”. It is unpublicised and lacks interpretation – except for this guided walk.

This walk forms one of St Albans Heritage Open Days events and will take place on Sunday, 9th September 2018. More details can be found here

The local 19th century water colourist Henry Buckingham depicted this scene at Beech Bottom Dyke in 1859 when rifle training was given. At that time there was a threat of a possible invasion from France.
(by kind permission of St Albans Museum).

The Dyke is St Albans’ least known heritage asset. It is a huge Scheduled Ancient Monument running round the north of the city. Rendezvous at St Saviour’s Church Hall (Sandpit Lane, St Albans, AL1 4DF) at 2.00pm for a short talk followed by a guided circular walk across Bernards Heath, along the Dyke and back to the church hall for refreshments (to be paid for).

Google aerial view of the Dyke, which follows the diagonal line of trees in the image

We will interpret the setting of the Dyke and explain what is known about it, including its roles in the Wars of the Roses and defending us against the French in the 19th century. Literature and local experts will be on hand on the walk and in the church hall. Free parking is available at or near the church hall. Stout footwear is recommended. Dogs on leads welcome. The Dyke itself is not wheel-chair or buggy accessible. A reasonable level of fitness is needed to walk along the Dyke. The event will end by 5.00pm.

Please note that the the joining instructions below are the right ones and supersede those in the Friends of Bernards Heath newsletter.

Whole event up to three hours, walk approx. one hour.

Numbers are being requested to help the caterers and to ensure we do not exceed the capacity of the hall. Booking will be first come, first served.

Find out more by emailing admin@bernardsheath.org or call 07811 393694

There are no access restrictions for the Church Hall, but the Dyke itself can be rough under foot, especially after wet weather. The barriers there against motor cycles effectively prevent wheelchairs or buggies gaining access to the Dyke.

This sort of event is the only opportunity to enjoy interpretation of this Scheduled Ancient Monument.

Peter Burley

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Friends of Bernards Heath Tree Walk

The first Friends of Bernards Heath Tree Walk on Sunday 1st July was led by Roger Miles and as you can see from the photo attracted a group of over 20 people.

We explored several areas of woodland to the East and West of Harpenden Road finding examples of the trees in the list, (probably not exhaustive).  Sadly, there appear to be a few examples of Ash dieback on young trees in the area.

Below are two examples of trees you might like to look out for. On the left there are a few Hornbeams with their characteristic ribbed trunks near Heath Farm Lane (there are many more in Beech Bottom Dyke). On the right, Aspen, the tree with its fluttering leaves, on a path closer to the old Fire Station.

Many thanks to Roger Miles of the Friends of Bernards Heath Committee for giving us the benefit of his exhaustive knowledge of the flora on the Heath.

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Dumped Bikes

There has been something of a spate of abandoned bikes on the Heath of late and this one was dumped on the Lower Field sometime last night, 1st July. The gear change cable was broken.

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Rainfall – or the lack of it

If you have a garden, then you’re probably getting anxious about the lack of rain – well the Heath could do with rain too.  Just one look at the grass above tells all.  We record rainfall and temperature very close to the Heath and the table above shows that only 1 mm fell during the month of June. There was a similar rainfall of just 1.5 mm in April last year.