Chequer's Wood and Old Park

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Chequer's Wood and Old Park
Site of Special Scientific Interest
Track across the heath, East of Canterbury - geograph.org.uk - 984520.jpg
Location Kent
Grid reference TR 173 586 [1]
InterestBiological
Geological
Area106.9 hectares (264 acres) [1]
Notification 1985 [1]
Location map Magic Map

Chequer's Wood and Old Park is a 106.9-hectare (264-acre) biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest on the eastern outskirts of Canterbury in Kent. [1] [2] It is a Geological Conservation Review site. [3]

This site includes Fordwich Pit, which has yielded a large collection of early Acheulian handaxes from two periods of the Middle Pleistocene. Some date to 712,000 to 621,000 years ago, while others date to the Anglian glaciation event (c. 437,000 years ago). Making the earlier artefacts the oldest Acheulean handaxes in northern Europe, and the site the earliest excavatable archaeological site in Britain [4] , as two earlier known occurrences - Happisburgh and Pakefield - are located in cliffs. The site is also notable for the discovery of stone tools during the Anglian glaciation, as this represent some of the best available evidence for early human species being able to occupy high latitues during glacial events (ice ages) [5] [6] . Early human stone artefacts have, however, been found widely across the site and are believed to be of a similar age [7] .

Habitats include alder wood in a valley bottom, acidic grassland on dry sandy soil, oak and birch woodland, scrub and a pond. [8] [9]

Access

The site is owned by Canterbury City Council and the Ministry of Defence, and includes a pond (Reed Pond) which is managed by a local environmental organisation. There is a footpath and cycle path through it. The majority of the site, formerly used by the military for training, has no public access.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Designated Sites View: Chequer's Wood and Old Park". Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 31 January 2018.
  2. ↑ "Map of Chequer's Wood and Old Park". Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 31 January 2018.
  3. ↑ "Fordwich Pit (Quaternary of South-East England)". Geological Conservation Review. Joint Nature Conservation Committee. Retrieved 11 January 2018.
  4. ↑ Key, Alastair; Clark, James; Lauer, Tobias; al., et (2025). "Hominin glacial-stage occupation 712,000 to 424,000 years ago at Fordwich Pit, Old Park (Canterbury, UK)". Natuer Ecology and Evolution. doi: 10.1038/s41559-025-02829-x .
  5. ↑ Key, Alastair; Lauer, Tobias; Skinner, Matthew M.; Pope, Matthew; Bridgland, David R.; Noble, Laurie; Proffitt, Tomos (2022). "On the earliest Acheulean in Britain: First dates and in-situ artefacts from the MIS 15 site of Fordwich (Kent, UK)". Royal Society Open Science. 9 (6): 211904. Bibcode:2022RSOS....911904K. doi: 10.1098/rsos.211904 . PMC   9214292 . PMID   35754990. S2CID   249891478.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: article number as page number (link)
  6. ↑ Key, Alastair; Clark, James; Lauer, Tobias; al., et (2025). "Hominin glacial-stage occupation 712,000 to 424,000 years ago at Fordwich Pit, Old Park (Canterbury, UK)". Natuer Ecology and Evolution. doi: 10.1038/s41559-025-02829-x .
  7. ↑ Key, Alastair; Clark, James; Lauer, Tobias; al., et (2025). "Hominin glacial-stage occupation 712,000 to 424,000 years ago at Fordwich Pit, Old Park (Canterbury, UK)". Natuer Ecology and Evolution. doi: 10.1038/s41559-025-02829-x .
  8. ↑ "Chequer's Wood and Old Park citation" (PDF). Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 31 January 2018.
  9. ↑ Pettitt, Paul; White, Mark (2012). The British Palaeolithic: Human Societies at the Edge of the Pleistocene World. Abingdon, UK: Routledge. p. 152. ISBN   978-0-415-67455-3.

51°17′06″N1°06′54″E / 51.285°N 1.115°E / 51.285; 1.115

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