Inkpen Common or Inkpen Great Common is a biological

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...

east of

Inkpen Inkpen is a village and civil parish in West Berkshire southeast of Hungerford, most of the land of which is cultivated fields with scattered woodland was once part of a former forest of Savernake. Inkpen has boundaries with Wiltshire and Ha ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

. It is managed as a nature reserve by the

Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust The Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (BBOWT), is a wildlife trust covering the counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire in England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It sh ...

. This is a surviving fragment of the former Inkpen Common is located between the hamlets of

Hell Corner Hell Corner is a hamlet in the civil parish of Inkpen in the English county of Berkshire. It is situated in the West Berkshire district, south of the River Kennet, between Newbury and Hungerford and close to the Hampshire border. Although wholly ...

and Inkpen Common. It is mainly damp heathland, with small areas of marsh, woods and bracken. Flora on the heath include

purple moor grass ''Molinia caerulea'', known by the common name purple moor-grass, is a species of grass that is native to Europe, west Asia, and north Africa. It grows in locations from the lowlands up to in the Alps. Like most grasses, it grows best in acid so ...

common gorse ''Ulex europaeus'', the gorse, common gorse, furze or whin, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae, native to the British Isles and Western Europe. Description Growing to tall, it is an evergreen shrub. The young stems are g ...

lousewort ''Pedicularis'' is a genus of perennial green root parasite plants currently placed in the family Orobanchaceae (the genus previously having been placed in Scrophulariaceae ''sensu lato''). Description Between 350 and 600 species are accep ...

, lesser dodder and the only surviving colony in Berkshire of pale heath violet.

References

{{Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Berkshire