Westings Meadow
People have walked, worked and shaped this area of land, just north-west of Peterborough, UK, for millennia. The earth itself holds traces of Neolithic enclosures, Bronze-Age burial mounds and Medieval farming. In Tudor times, these 500 acres was a common shared between five villages, and known as Westings Meadow.
Since the 1980s though, gravel extraction has steadily marched across this place. The earth is peeled open to reach the rich seams of precious gravels beneath. Afterwards, the land is 'restored' - returned to farming or given to nature. Wet meadows are being recreated and restored, by Langdyke Countryside Trust and others. And biodiversity is often higher than when this land was intensively farmed, and there are hopes for more nature reserves.... but the layers of history held in the soil are gone for ever.
It is complex.
Since the 1980s though, gravel extraction has steadily marched across this place. The earth is peeled open to reach the rich seams of precious gravels beneath. Afterwards, the land is 'restored' - returned to farming or given to nature. Wet meadows are being recreated and restored, by Langdyke Countryside Trust and others. And biodiversity is often higher than when this land was intensively farmed, and there are hopes for more nature reserves.... but the layers of history held in the soil are gone for ever.
It is complex.
