Downs Bank, also known as Barlaston Downs, is an area of open countryside, located two miles (3 km) north of the town of

Stone In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

, and four miles (6 km) south of the city of

Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement ...

. It is owned and managed by the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

Area and habitats

The property covers about and consists of a

glaciated A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as ...

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between Hill, hills or Mountain, mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers ...

with a

stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream ...

running the length of the property from North to South. Other habitats include woodland and

heathland A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a cooler ...

Management

The heath has been subject to a restoration project by the National Trust, which resulted in the re-introduction of summer-grazing cattle on the hillsides of the property in 2005. The cattle help to keep

bracken Bracken (''Pteridium'') is a genus of large, coarse ferns in the family Dennstaedtiaceae. Ferns (Pteridophyta) are vascular plants that have alternating generations, large plants that produce spores and small plants that produce sex cells (eggs ...

and scrub birch trees under control, and to allow a variety of old grasses, heather, plus

bilberry Bilberries (), or sometimes European blueberries, are a primarily Eurasian species of low-growing shrubs in the genus ''Vaccinium'' (family Ericaceae), bearing edible, dark blue berries. The species most often referred to is ''Vaccinium myrtillus ...

gorse ''Ulex'' (commonly known as gorse, furze, or whin) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. The genus comprises about 20 species of thorny evergreen shrubs in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae. The species are n ...

and

broom A broom (also known in some forms as a broomstick) is a cleaning tool consisting of usually stiff fibers (often made of materials such as plastic, hair, or corn husks) attached to, and roughly parallel to, a cylindrical handle, the broomstick. I ...

to regain habitat. It is hoped that this will encourage species such as viviparous lizards to increase in population. The footpaths and

bridleway A bridle path, also bridleway, equestrian trail, horse riding path, ride, bridle road, or horse trail, is a trail or a thoroughfare that is used by people riding horses, riding on horses. Trails originally created for use by horses often now s ...

suffer from erosion due to their heavy use. Local people help National Trust staff by becoming volunteers, carrying out tasks such as litter clearing, footpath work, fencing and habitat management. The stream through the property was seriously polluted with diesel oil in April 2008, originating upstream from beyond the reserve. Since then it has recovered and has a healthy fish population, including

European bullhead The European bullhead (''Cottus gobio'') is a freshwater fish that is widely distributed in Europe, mainly in rivers. It is a member of the family Cottidae, a type of sculpin. It is also known as the miller's thumb, freshwater sculpin, common bu ...

and

brown trout The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a European species of salmonid fish that has been widely introduced into suitable environments globally. It includes purely freshwater populations, referred to as the riverine ecotype, ''Salmo trutta'' morph ...

. .

Access and activities

There is a small car park at the southern end. there is no rail service to the nearby

Barlaston railway station Barlaston railway station served the village of Barlaston in Staffordshire, England. This station was opened on 17 April 1848 and is on the first line opened by the North Staffordshire Railway on that date. At some times it was called Barlaston ...

, the station having been closed to trains in 2003 though the line remains busy with passenger and goods traffic. A

Crewe Crewe () is a railway town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. The Crewe built-up area had a total population of 75,556 in 2011, which also covers parts of the adjacent civil parishes of Willaston ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

via

Stoke on Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement ...

passenger service now stops at

Stone railway station Stone railway station serves the town of Stone, Staffordshire, England. The station is located on a junction of the Colwich, Staffordshire, Colwich to Manchester spur of the West Coast Main Line, but has platforms only on the branch from Staffo ...

– access to the Downs Banks is then by a two-mile walk along lanes and footpaths. The site is 'open access' on foot to all. As well as footpaths there is also a

waymark Trail blazing or way marking is the practice of marking paths in outdoor recreational areas with signs or markings that follow each other at certain, though not necessarily exactly defined, distances and mark the direction of the trail. A blaz ...

ed bridleway which may be used with care by horse riders and cyclists. The site is popular with dog walkers, both amateur and professional. In the summer of 2008 two bins were erected for dog waste. Local National Trust members raised the funds for these bins. The site is sometimes used by the

Potteries Orienteering Club The Potteries Orienteering Club, often abbreviated to POTOC, is an Orienteering club in the West Midlands of the UK. It is for Orienteers in or around North Staffordshire and South Cheshire. The club is in the West Midlands Orienteering Associ ...

, and before them by the Walton Chasers since the 1950s. The club has made a large-scale map of the site, at 1:5000.

Monuments, history and customs

In the 18th century a farm on Downs Bank grew

hops Hops are the flowers (also called seed cones or strobiles) of the hop plant ''Humulus lupulus'', a member of the Cannabaceae family of flowering plants. They are used primarily as a bittering, flavouring, and stability agent in beer, to whi ...

for Joule's

Brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of be ...

, who rented it from

Viscount Sidmouth Viscount Sidmouth, of Sidmouth in the County of Devon, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 12 January 1805 for the former prime minister, Henry Addington. In May 1804, King George III intended to confer the titl ...

. The area was well known to the author

Mary Renault Eileen Mary Challans (4 September 1905 – 13 December 1983), known by her pen name Mary Renault ("She always pronounced it 'Ren-olt', though almost everyone would come to speak of her as if she were a French car." ), was an English writer best ...

, whose parents moved to live nearby in the early 1930s.

Hops Hops are the flowers (also called seed cones or strobiles) of the hop plant ''Humulus lupulus'', a member of the Cannabaceae family of flowering plants. They are used primarily as a bittering, flavouring, and stability agent in beer, to whi ...

growing on Downs Bank continued until the 1940s, and there was also cattle grazing until 1959. The area was subject to purchase with the help of a public subscription and it was given to the National Trust by John Joule in 1950 as ''"an offering for victory in the 1939-45 War, and as a memorial to those who died"'' – apparently on the grounds that it had originally been

common land Common land is land owned by a person or collectively by a number of persons, over which other persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect Wood fuel, wood, or to cut turf for fuel. A person ...

, and should thus be open again to local people. However, after 1950 the lack of grazing caused its characteristic heathland to decline, as

and

birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech-oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 30 ...

were allowed to invade. Downs Banks - geograph

There is a Millennium Viewpoint stone at one of the highest points, with a

toposcope A toposcope, topograph, or orientation table is a kind of graphic display erected at viewing points on hills, mountains or other high places which indicates the direction, and usually the distance, to notable landscape features which can be seen f ...

(a disc of metal sight-lines/landmarks) embedded in the top of it. The toposcope went missing in November 2015. By March 2017 it has been replaced by a new toposcope. The area was part of the route of the annual New Year's Eve Barlaston

Wassail Wassail (, , most likely from Old Norse ''"ves heill"'') is a beverage made from hot mulled cider, ale, or wine and spices, drunk traditionally as an integral part of wassailing, an ancient English Yuletide drinking ritual and salutation ei ...

, in which a torchlit procession walked from the nearby village to Downs Banks and back again.

References

External links

A large Flickr gallery of Downs Banks
including a map.
National Trust, Downs Banks = Things to see and do, Our work & Get involved
{{coord, 52.930, -2.148, type:landmark_region:GB-STS, display=title Borough of Stafford National Trust properties in Staffordshire Nature reserves in Staffordshire Mountains and hills of the United Kingdom with toposcopes World War II memorials in England