Selborne Hill is one of the highest points in the county of
Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. It is one of the
East Hampshire Hangers, a line of prominent hills on the eastern scarp slope of the
Hampshire Downs
The Hampshire Downs form a large area of downland in central southern England, mainly in the county of Hampshire but with parts in Berkshire and Wiltshire. They are part of a belt of chalk downland that extends from the South Downs in the southe ...
, and reaches above sea level. Its prominence of 53 metres qualifies it as one of the county's
Tumps.
Selborne Hill lies above the village of
Selborne
Selborne is a village in Hampshire, England, south of Alton, and just within the northern boundary of the South Downs National Park. The village receives visitors because of its links with the naturalist Revd. Gilbert White, a pioneer of birdw ...
on the edge of the Hampshire Downs, its crown playing host to
Selborne Common
Selborne Common is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest west of Selborne in Hampshire. It is a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I, and is part of the East Hampshire Hangers Special Area of Conservation. It is managed by the Nat ...
, an area of woodland and relict wood-pasture. Its summit and steep escarpment are covered by woods, with Selborne Hanger to the northeast dropping abruptly to the fields above Selborne. The Zig-Zag Path runs down the spur towards the east.
Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of 1745. There was a ...
1:50,000 ''Landranger'' series. This is the area where the world famous
naturalist and pioneer of
birdwatching
Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device like binoculars or a telescope, by ...
, Rev.
Gilbert White
Gilbert White FRS (18 July 1720 – 26 June 1793) was a " parson-naturalist", a pioneering English naturalist, ecologist, and ornithologist. He is best known for his ''Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne''.
Life
White was born on ...
, wrote his celebrated ''
Natural History of Selborne''.
Natural History of Selborne
/ref>
References
Hills of Hampshire
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