The Chalk Downs
Ancient downland maintained by shepherds and graziers. The thin chalk soil, the skylarks, the sheep - a landscape that exists only because someone keeps it.
2Subjects identified
3Traditions mapped
3000+Years of continuous grazing
Ancient downland maintained by shepherds and graziers. The thin chalk soil, the skylarks, the sheep - a landscape that exists only because someone keeps it.
Chalk downland is one of the most species-rich habitats in Europe - richer per square metre than tropical rainforest. It exists entirely because of grazing. Without sheep, the thin chalk soil is colonised by scrub within a decade and forest within a generation. The downland shepherds of the South Downs are therefore not simply farmers but stewards of an ecosystem that depends on their continued presence.
The Archive documents the remaining downland shepherds as Stewards whose daily work maintains a landscape of extraordinary ecological and cultural value. The hill figures cut into the chalk - the Long Man of Wilmington, the Litlington White Horse - are themselves maintained by volunteers whose annual scouring keeps the turf clear. The downland is a landscape of maintenance, and its survival depends on the specific people who do the maintaining.
The chalk downs were made by sheep. The shepherds who tend them are maintaining a landscape as much as a flock.