About the reserve

Chapel Bank’s expanse of dry chalk valley is a great place to find orchids, rare grasses and blankets of bluebells. You’ll find an area of ancient woodland, scrub and chalk grassland, spiked with orchids. In spring and summer swathes of wildflowers which attract many species of butterfly.

History

Chalk grassland develops on shallow lime-rich chalky soils that are nutrient-poor and free-draining, and in London this internationally important habitat is predominantly found in the southern parts of the boroughs of Bromley, Croydon and Sutton.

This part of the North Downs was traditionally grazed by sheep until the 1950s, but changes occurred as new settlements such as New Addington and Forestdale developed. London Wildlife Trust began managing Chapel Bank in 1984 and nearby reserve Hutchinson’s Bank in 1987. Grazing was re-introduced to Hutchinson’s in 1995, and Chapel Bank in 2011, for the first time in half-a-century. Another reserve Threecorner Grove was included into the reserves’ management in 1997, as was the verge alongside Featherbed Lane north of Hutchinson’s Bank.

Status

Part Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation, Metropolitan Green Belt

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