Great Hormead Park is a 15 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest near Great Hormead in Hertfordshire. The local planning authority is East Hertfordshire District Council. [1] [2]
A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of Man. SSSI/ASSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in the United Kingdom are based upon them, including national nature reserves, Ramsar sites, Special Protection Areas, and Special Areas of Conservation. The acronym "SSSI" is often pronounced "triple-S I".
Great Hormead is a small village in Hertfordshire, England. It stands near the River Quin. It is on the B1038 road. The village of Little Hormead is nearby. Together they form the civil parish of Hormead, whose population at the 2011 Census was 743.
Hertfordshire is one of the home counties in England. It is bordered by Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For government statistical purposes, it is placed in the East of England region.
The site is coppiced ancient woodland on boulder clay. It has diverse tree species, including wych elm and hornbeam, resulting in a rich ground flora. Dog's mercury is dominant over most of the woodland floor, with plants such as angelica sylvestris and tufted hair grass in wetter areas. [1]
Boulder clay is a geological deposit of clay, often full of boulders, which is formed out of the ground moraine material of glaciers and ice-sheets. It was the typical deposit of the Glacial Period in northern Europe and North America.
Carpinus betulus, commonly known as the European or common hornbeam, is a hornbeam native to Western Asia and central, eastern, and southern Europe, including southern England. It requires a warm climate for good growth, and occurs only at elevations up to 600 metres (1,969 ft). It grows in mixed stands with oak, and in some areas beech, and is also a common tree in scree forests. Hornbeam was also known as 'Yoke Elm'.
Angelica sylvestris or wild angelica is a species of flowering plant, native to Europe and central Asia. An annual or short-lived perennial growing to a maximum of 2.5 metres (8.2 ft), it has erect purplish stems and rounded umbels of minuscule white or pale pink flowers in late summer.
There is access by footpaths from Great Hormead, Little Hormead and Furneux Pelham.
Little Hormead is a hamlet in the county of Hertfordshire. It is a few miles away from the small town of Buntingford and near the village of Great Hormead. At the 2011 Census population details for the hamlet where included in the civil parish of Furneaux Pelham.
Furneux Pelham or Furneaux Pelham is a village and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England. The village is one of the Pelhams, part of an early medieval larger swathe of land known as Pelham including Brent Pelham to the north and Stocking Pelham to the east and north-east.
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