This Land Was Ravaged By:
This slab of concrete is a memorial to the destruction of Twyford Down by the construction of the M3 motorway and an indictment of those responsible.
Twyford Down is a small area of ancient chalk downland lying directly to the southeast of Winchester, Hampshire. The down's 144-metre (472 ft) summit, known as Deacon Hill, is towards the north-eastern edge of the area which is renowned for its dramatic rolling scenery, ecologically rich grassland and as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). It is situated at the western extremity of the South Downs National Park, having previously been designated as part of the East Hampshire AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty).
In 1994 a highly controversial road building project was—despite vigorous objection from many quarters—completed and a new 2-mile (3.2 km) stretch of the M3 motorway was created, running through a significant section of the down, which was excavated and removed to create a deep cutting.
In December 1991, Twyford Down became the site of the UK's first road protest camp when environmentalists, including members of Dongas and Earth First!, gathered to hinder work. After a year this first camp was evicted on Yellow Wednesday, named after the uniforms of the security guards who performed the eviction in December 1992.
Resistance to the road intensified and Earth First! set up a new protest camp nearby in Plague Pits Valley and continued to obstruct the work both on the water meadows and up on the Down itself. In addition to many direct actions, there was a mass trespass in which over 5000 people attended the protests and occupations, and six people were sent to prison for some weeks for defying an earlier injunction not to enter the site.
The motorway section that was eventually constructed through Twyford Down completed the route of the M3 motorway. Prior to its completion, traffic travelling from nearby Southampton and Portsmouth (major ferry ports) and from farther west to London and the north had to exit the truncated M3 and travel on the heavily congested 1930s Winchester Bypass. Once round this bypass, traffic could either rejoin the M3 in order to proceed toward London or join the A34 road. Completion of the link in 1994 removed the traffic from the existing Winchester Bypass, allowing its closure and significantly reduced heavy traffic volumes from the village of Twyford. To redress the loss of 1.91 hectares (4.7 acres) of SSSI land, the old route of the A33 road was planted with 7.2 hectares (18 acres) of species-rich grassland under the supervision and monitoring of The Institute of Terrestrial Ecology.
In 1994, a government committee concluded that building more roads encourages more traffic and that the way to ease congestion and pollution was to take measures to control car use rather than accommodate more. When Labour came to power in 1997, most of the road schemes were suspended.
The South Downs National Park is England's newest National Park, having become fully operational on 1 April 2011. The park, covering an area of 1,627 square kilometres (628 sq mi) in southern England, stretches for 140 kilometres (87 mi) from Winchester in the west to Eastbourne in the east through the counties of Hampshire, West Sussex and East Sussex. The national park covers not only the chalk ridge of the South Downs, with its celebrated chalk downland landscape that culminates in the iconic chalky white cliffs of Beachy Head, but also a substantial part of a separate physiographic region, the western Weald, with its heavily wooded sandstone and clay hills and vales. The South Downs Way spans the entire length of the park and is the only National Trail that lies wholly within a national park.
Photoshop Elements was used here to alter the colour of the grass to make it look dead.
This Land Was Ravaged By:
This slab of concrete is a memorial to the destruction of Twyford Down by the construction of the M3 motorway and an indictment of those responsible.
Twyford Down is a small area of ancient chalk downland lying directly to the southeast of Winchester, Hampshire. The down's 144-metre (472 ft) summit, known as Deacon Hill, is towards the north-eastern edge of the area which is renowned for its dramatic rolling scenery, ecologically rich grassland and as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). It is situated at the western extremity of the South Downs National Park, having previously been designated as part of the East Hampshire AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty).
In 1994 a highly controversial road building project was—despite vigorous objection from many quarters—completed and a new 2-mile (3.2 km) stretch of the M3 motorway was created, running through a significant section of the down, which was excavated and removed to create a deep cutting.
In December 1991, Twyford Down became the site of the UK's first road protest camp when environmentalists, including members of Dongas and Earth First!, gathered to hinder work. After a year this first camp was evicted on Yellow Wednesday, named after the uniforms of the security guards who performed the eviction in December 1992.
Resistance to the road intensified and Earth First! set up a new protest camp nearby in Plague Pits Valley and continued to obstruct the work both on the water meadows and up on the Down itself. In addition to many direct actions, there was a mass trespass in which over 5000 people attended the protests and occupations, and six people were sent to prison for some weeks for defying an earlier injunction not to enter the site.
The motorway section that was eventually constructed through Twyford Down completed the route of the M3 motorway. Prior to its completion, traffic travelling from nearby Southampton and Portsmouth (major ferry ports) and from farther west to London and the north had to exit the truncated M3 and travel on the heavily congested 1930s Winchester Bypass. Once round this bypass, traffic could either rejoin the M3 in order to proceed toward London or join the A34 road. Completion of the link in 1994 removed the traffic from the existing Winchester Bypass, allowing its closure and significantly reduced heavy traffic volumes from the village of Twyford. To redress the loss of 1.91 hectares (4.7 acres) of SSSI land, the old route of the A33 road was planted with 7.2 hectares (18 acres) of species-rich grassland under the supervision and monitoring of The Institute of Terrestrial Ecology.
In 1994, a government committee concluded that building more roads encourages more traffic and that the way to ease congestion and pollution was to take measures to control car use rather than accommodate more. When Labour came to power in 1997, most of the road schemes were suspended.
The South Downs National Park is England's newest National Park, having become fully operational on 1 April 2011. The park, covering an area of 1,627 square kilometres (628 sq mi) in southern England, stretches for 140 kilometres (87 mi) from Winchester in the west to Eastbourne in the east through the counties of Hampshire, West Sussex and East Sussex. The national park covers not only the chalk ridge of the South Downs, with its celebrated chalk downland landscape that culminates in the iconic chalky white cliffs of Beachy Head, but also a substantial part of a separate physiographic region, the western Weald, with its heavily wooded sandstone and clay hills and vales. The South Downs Way spans the entire length of the park and is the only National Trail that lies wholly within a national park.
Photoshop Elements was used here to alter the colour of the grass to make it look dead.