Roughdown Common

It was formerly the site of a large chalk quarry featuring a pillar and stall mine,{{cite web|url=https://www.aditnow.co.uk/Mines/Roughdown-Common-Chalk-Mine_9680/ |title=Roughdown Common Chalk Mine|accessdate=May 16, 2017 |language=English}} an entrance to which still exists, however, it is sealed off for human entry.

During the construction of the Grand Union Canal where it flows through Boxmoor, the navvies who carried out the work lived on an encampment at Roughdown Common.{{cite web|url=http://www.chilternsaonb.org/ccbmaps/1579/137/roughdown-common.html |title=The Chilterns AONB:: Roughdown Common |accessdate=May 16, 2017 |language=English}} The navvies where not the only group that made use of the Common; in 1809 a Good Friday funfair was held in the chalk pit, Joan and Roger Hands (2004). [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33376731-royalty-to-commoners Royalty to Commoners - Four Hundred years of the Box Moor Trust] page 59. pub. Alpine Press. Kings Langely. while 1939 saw the first recorded football match on the site, played by young evacuees from London. Joan and Roger Hands (2004). [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33376731-royalty-to-commoners Royalty to Commoners - Four Hundred years of the Box Moor Trust], pages 88. pub. Alpine Press. Kings Langely. The war theme continued in 1946 when prisoners of war - who were based in a P.O.W. camp at nearby Howes Retreat - cleared scrub at the site.Joan and Roger Hands (2004). [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33376731-royalty-to-commoners Royalty to Commoners - Four Hundred years of the Box Moor Trust], pages 136. pub. Alpine Press. Kings Langely.

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It is one of the few examples of unimproved calcareous grassland in Hertfordshire. The dominant grasses are meadow fescue and meadow oat-grass, and other flora includes colonies of orchids, including Common Spotted,{{cite web|url=http://www.sssi.naturalengland.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/1001729.pdf |title=Roughdown Common citation|series= Sites of Special Scientific Interest|publisher=Natural England|accessdate=May 16, 2017}}{{cite web|url=http://www.boxmoortrust.org.uk/the-estate// |title=The Estate - The Box Moor Trust|accessdate=May 16, 2017 |language=English}} Fly{{cite web|url=http://www.sssi.naturalengland.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/1001729.pdf |title=Roughdown Common citation|series= Sites of Special Scientific Interest|publisher=Natural England|accessdate=May 16, 2017}} and Pyramid{{cite web|url=http://www.boxmoortrust.org.uk/the-estate// |title=The Estate - The Box Moor Trust|accessdate=May 16, 2017 |language=English}} varieties, as well as common juniper. Roughdown Common is the only known site in Hertfordshire in which Juniper regenerates naturally.{{cite web|url=http://www.sssi.naturalengland.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/1001729.pdf |title=Roughdown Common citation|series= Sites of Special Scientific Interest|publisher=Natural England|accessdate=May 16, 2017}}

The grassland habitat is maintained by sheep grazing. In September, 2016 the first recorded sighting of the Jersey Mocha moth in the county occurred on the Common.{{cite web|url=http://www.boxmoortrust.org.uk/2016/09/13/exciting-moth-news/ |title= Exciting Moth news! |accessdate=May 8, 2017 |language=English}}

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The entrance points to the mine were sealed to human access in 1994, and the site instead became a bat hibernaculum, and is the home of a small colony of Brown long-eared bats. Joan and Roger Hands (2004). [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33376731-royalty-to-commoners Royalty to Commoners - Four Hundred years of the Box Moor Trust], pages 155. Kings Langley: Alpine Press

The site is always open and there is access from footpaths starting at the junction of Roughdown Road and Roughdown Avenue. An explanatory panel, placed by the Box Moor Trust, stands by the quarry entrance near the Roughdown Avenue railway bridge.

Starting in September 2017, the Box Moor Trust, working in conjunction with Natural England will begin felling self-seeded trees and clearing scrub at the site in order to encourage the reestablishment of calcareous species originally found there.{{cite web|url=http://www.boxmoortrust.org.uk/the-estate/projects/roughdown-common// |title= Roughdown Common |accessdate=September 27, 2017 |language=English}}

In October 2019, Juniper picked on Roughdown Common was used by Puddingstone Distillery to create a gin. The distillery had teamed up with the Box Moor Trust and released the beverage in order to celebrate the Trust's 425th Anniversary. It was the first gin to be made in Hertfordshire using natural Juniper.{{cite web |title=Introducing....1594 The Spirit of Box Moor|url=https://www.boxmoortrust.org.uk/2019/09/27/introducing-1594-the-spirit-of-box-moor/|publisher=Box Moor Trust|language=english|date=September 27, 2019|access-date=October 18, 2019}}

• List of Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Hertfordshire
• Box Moor Trust

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Category:Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Hertfordshire

Category:Hemel Hempstead

Category:Common land in England