Whitehall Meadows and Bingley Island

  

This area dates back to the Domesday period. Today, it is one of few areas of riverside grassland that has not been treated with weedkillers or fertilisers, which means that a wide variety of species can thrive. The meadows are characterised by damp loving grassland plant species, and bats, snails, common reptiles, dragonflies, damselflies and butterflies are just some of the wildlife that has been seen in the meadows. The wet riverside meadows grow on peat on shingle, and are cut annually or grazed as part of a maintenance regime. In the long term, we hope to graze the meadows to improve the grassland species and provide a more interesting and active historic landscape. We are working closely with the neighbouring landowners to graze the area effectively and hope to see the reapperance of species such as marsh orchid and ragged robin.

In Victorian times, Canterbury born Thomas Sidney Cooper painted traditional English landscapes of cattle and sheep grazing in this area, on the north bank of the River Stour immediately upstream from Westgate Gardens, Canterbury.

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Free entry

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