Coronation meadow for Marble Hill park

By Rory Poulter

31st Mar 2023 | Local News

English Heritage has chosen Marble Hill park for one of 100 meadows that will be created across the country to mark the coronation of King Charles III. Credit: English Heritage.
English Heritage has chosen Marble Hill park for one of 100 meadows that will be created across the country to mark the coronation of King Charles III. Credit: English Heritage.

English Heritage has chosen Marble Hill park, East Twickenham, for one of 100 meadows that will be created across the country to mark the coronation of King Charles III.

The charity is establishing flower-rich grasslands right across England, restoring those that have been lost, and enhancing those that already exist.

Marble Hill joins famous locations from Stonehenge to Salisbury Plain along with many castles, abbeys and palaces that will see the meadows created and nurtured over the next 10 years.

Since the 1930s and the advent of post-war modern farming practices, the UK has lost 97 per cent of its meadows.

Prior to this, much of England's grassland – from meadows, road verges and lawns - would have been home to a much more diverse flora than we have today.

English Heritage said the creation and enhancement of wildflower-rich grasslands across England will not only benefit nature, but healthy grasslands are proven to tackle pollution and permanently lock away atmospheric carbon below ground.

Kate Mavor, English Heritage's Chief Executive, said: "The King's coronation is a significant moment in history and we wanted to mark it in a meaningful way, in a way that combines two of His Majesty's passions – nature and heritage.

"We're creating more natural spaces at the heart of our historic properties, ensuring that wildflowers and wildlife can flourish there once again, and helping our visitors to step back into history and experience something with which the sites' historic occupants would have been familiar."

She added: "In a decade's time, our coronation pledge will be an inspiring legacy of established, restored and new meadows at 100 of our historic sites – big and small – right across England.

"We hope that it will encourage local communities to get involved and help transform their local heritage sites into flower-rich meadows, which, in turn, will improve the quality and diversity of other grassland in the local area."

English Heritage is partnering with Plantlife – Europe's largest charity dedicated to saving wild plants and fungi – on this initiative.

Plantlife will support English Heritage by providing resources and expertise, skills development training and knowledge exchange opportunities as the project progresses.

Ian Dunn, Plantlife's Chief Executive, said: "This new and exciting partnership offers a lifeline to a hundred key grassland sites and their associated wildlife, and focuses on a chapter of English natural history lost and all but forgotten.

"Together, we look forward to a future where England's best historic sites boast the highest quality grasslands, supporting a myriad of diverse meadow plants and wildlife. With so many of our grassland wild plant species facing severe risks, this insightful initiative is unquestionably a step in the right direction."

     

New teddington Jobs Section Launched!!
Vacancies updated hourly!!
Click here: teddington jobs

Share:

Related Articles

The Teddington RNLI are featuring at this year's Teddington Christmas Light Up (Credit: Tilly O'Brien)
Local News

Teddington RNLI to feature at Teddington Light Up

Park Lane Stables in Teddington is hosting a winter NHS engagement event next month (Credit: Nub News)
Local News

Teddington’s Park Lane Stables to host winter NHS engagement event

Sign-Up for our FREE Newsletter

We want to provide teddington with more and more clickbait-free local news.
To do that, we need a loyal newsletter following.
Help us survive and sign up to our FREE weekly newsletter.

Already subscribed? Thank you. Just press X or click here.
We won't pass your details on to anyone else.
By clicking the Subscribe button you agree to our Privacy Policy.