Stockbridge Down

{{Short description|Protected area in Hampshire, England}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Infobox SSSI

|image= Stockbridge Down - geograph.org.uk - 100417.jpg

|image_caption =

|name= Stockbridge Down

|aos= Hampshire

|interest=Biological

|gridref={{gbmappingsmall|SU 379 349}}

|area= {{convert|69.8|ha|acre|abbr=off}}

|notifydate= 1985

|map=[https://magic.defra.gov.uk/MagicMap.aspx?startTopic=Designations&activelayer=sssiIndex&query=HYPERLINK%3D%271003407%27 Magic Map]

}}

Stockbridge Down is a {{convert| 69.8 |ha|acre|abbr=off|adj=on}} biological Site of Special Scientific Interest east of Stockbridge in Hampshire.{{cite web|url= https://designatedsites.naturalengland.org.uk/SiteDetail.aspx?SiteCode=S1003407&SiteName=&countyCode=19&responsiblePerson=&SeaArea=&IFCAArea= |title=Designated Sites View: Stockbridge Down | series= Sites of Special Scientific Interest|publisher=Natural England|accessdate = 19 May 2020}}{{cite web|url=https://magic.defra.gov.uk/MagicMap.aspx?startTopic=Designations&activelayer=sssiIndex&query=HYPERLINK%3D%271003407%27 |title=Map of Stockbridge Down|series= Sites of Special Scientific Interest|publisher=Natural England|accessdate= 19 May 2020}} It is a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade 2.{{cite book|editor-first=Derek |editor-last=Ratcliffe |title=A Nature Conservation Review|volume=2 |page= 130|authorlink=Derek Ratcliffe |publisher= Cambridge University Press|location =Cambridge, UK |year=1977|isbn= 0521-21403-3 }} It is owned by the National Trust and parts of it are designated as scheduled monuments, including an Iron Age hillfort (Woolbury) and fourteen Bronze Age burial mounds.{{cite web|url= https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/mottisfont/features/stockbridge-down |title= Stockbridge Down |publisher=National Trust| accessdate= 24 April 2020}}{{NHLE |num=1003531 |desc=Woolbury Ring, Stockbridge |grade=scheduled|access-date=22 December 2024}}

This site has a variety of scrub and grassland habitats on a north-west facing slope of chalk and a clay-with-flints plateau. There is a diverse range of butterflies, such as chalk-hill blue, marbled white and dark green fritillary, while moths include the oblique striped.{{cite web|url= https://designatedsites.naturalengland.org.uk/PDFsForWeb/Citation/1003407.pdf |title=Stockbridge Down |type=SSSI citation|series= Sites of Special Scientific Interest|publisher=Natural England|accessdate=19 May 2020}}