Top 17 Natural Monuments around Hurley

Clivden is a gem. A glorious stately home converted to a hotel and many an event.

The Brick and Tile Works, established by Charles Cooper in the early 1800s, employed about 150 people and produced bricks, tiles, gargoyles, and pinnacles. The site, which closed in 1967, is now owned by the National Trust and features lowland ponds with diverse aquatic life and a variety of woodland birds and plants.

Pinkneys Green, originally part of the Royal Manor of Cookham, was sold off in 1818. In the 1920s, the Maidenhead and Cookham Commons Conservation Committee protected the land, which was later donated to the National Trust. Today, Pinkneys Green is mostly grassland managed by local farmers with areas of trees and thicket for wildlife, and its open meadows are filled with wildflowers during the summer.

When the First World War broke out, Cliveden was a grand country estate well known for its exclusive parties and famous guests, yet within months it was offering a lifeline to Allied troops injured during the fighting. A helping hand At the beginning of the war, after failing a medical assessment to join the army, Waldorf Astor (later 2nd Viscount Astor) offered part of the Cliveden estate as a hospital to the British Army. They turned down the offer after deciding it would be too difficult to adapt to their needs but, determined to help, he offered the land to the Canadian Red Cross who accepted. As a result, the Duchess of Connaught Red Cross Hospital was opened to treat injured allied troops of the First World War. Bedside manner In 1915 the hospital could hold up to 110 patients at any one time but by the end of the war, this number had risen dramatically to 600. Nancy Astor was often seen helping out in the hospital and it is said that her personality and great vigour worked wonders on the patients. Many ministers and royals also visited the hospital including Winston Churchill in May 1915 and King George V in July 1915. In memory Of the 24,000 troops treated at the hospital only a relatively small number died. In 1918, the 1st Viscount Astor's sunken Italian garden was adapted to create a memorial garden for the deceased. https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/cliveden/features/first-world-war-at-cliveden

Robin Hood's Arbour There are no known connections linking the legend of the outlaw, Robin Hood with Robin Hood’s Arbour. Indeed Robin Hood’s Arbour dates from much earlier times. The feature is an Iron Age rectilinear enclosure which is thought to have been a farmstead. An archaeological excavation in 1890 revealed ‘samian ware’, a type of Roman pottery produced mainly in Gaul. Further excavations in 1960 recovered some Iron Age pottery and some wattle marked daub. Other finds comprised flint implements including a Palaeolithic hand axe. These finds can be seen in the Reading Museum.

The Brick & Tile Works The Brick and Tile Works was established by Charles Cooper in the early 1800s, exploiting a local deposit of Reading Clay. At its peak, the Works employed about 150 people, and cottages were built in Golden Ball Lane for the skilled craftsmen. In 1950, the Cooper family sold the Works to the Maidenhead Brick and Tile Company, and the site eventually closed in 1967. In addition to bricks and tiles, the works produced gargoyles and pinnacles, many of which can be seen in the locality today. The National Trust acquired the site in 1989. The industrial activity left a legacy of lowland ponds, inhabited by an impressive range of aquatic invertebrate fauna, including several species of dragonfly. There are also three species of newt and a wide range of woodland birds and other aquatic or semi-aquatic plants and animals.

Pinkneys Green derives its name from the Norman Knight, Ghilo de Pinkney, who was granted lands in the Maidenhead area as a reward for supporting William the Conqueror. Along with other areas of common land in the Cookham and Maidenhead area, Pinkneys Green was originally part of the Royal Manor of Cookham, but they were sold off by the Crown in 1818 and passed into private ownership. In the 1920s, for fear that the common land would be enclosed or developed, the Maidenhead and Cookham Commons Conservation Committee was established, which raised £2800 to buy the land, which was donated to the National Trust in 1934. Today, Pinkneys Green consists largely of grassland, which is managed by local ‘commoner’ farmers as a hay crop for livestock; although some mature trees and areas of thicket provide valuable refuges for wildlife. The grasses in these open, unfenced meadows are left to grow tall all summer long so you’ll find a wealth of wildflowers

The wetland meadows of Cock Marsh are very important for rare plant species, breeding waders and overwintering birds. Part of the site is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). The steep chalk grassland swiftly changing into marshy, acid meadows has created an ecosystem of rare and interesting species. As part of the historic channel of the Thames, the ponds here support specialist plants like water violet, marsh arrowgrass, marsh stitchwort, marsh pennywort and water hemlock. The rare sedge Cyperus fuscus (brown galingale) is found here and in only a handful of other sites in Great Britain. It relies on cattle to tread or poach the ground on the pond edges to create the perfect habitat to grow. The cattle here work hard to help to maintain a rich botanical diversity of grassland habitat. https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/maidenhead-and-cookham-commons/trails/cookham-and-cock-marsh-walk