Stinchcombe Hill Recreation Trust tells the story of 'The Hill'

Special because it provides a superb 'breathing space' for the community as a result of one of the largest benefactions ever made in Gloucestershire; special in that it is home to one of the most attractive golf courses in the West of England; special in that it represents one of the largest remaining areas of untreated Cotswold grassland, where a wide range of wild orchids grow; and special in that it provides the ideal environment for various species of butterflies, and wild birds, notably skylarks; and special because parts are registered as Sites of Special Scientific Interest.

The management is also special in that Stinchcombe Hill Recreation Trust has always had a member of Penley's, the Dursley based solicitors, as its clerk.

In recent years Stinchcombe Hill has been changing as efforts are being made to return large areas of the 185 acres back to their original form. Shortage of funds in the past has meant that little could be done but with support of English Nature, and a hard-working group of local volunteers a start was made. More recently a five-year programme of improvement work has been agreed with the Gloucestershire Environmental Trust.

Originally Stinchcombe Hill had been sheep-grazed in various ownerships but this started to change in 1889 with the formation of Stinchcombe Hill Golf Club, first with a nine hole course and later with a full 18 holes. At that time the Club rented the land, but in the 1920s there was a threat of housing being built over the hill.

Fortunately this never materialised thanks to the generosity of businessman Sir Stanley Tubbs, of Wotton-under-Edge, whose family owned the prosperous Tubbs, Lewis and Co at Kingswood.

Sir Stanley, who was a former president of Stinchcombe Hill Golf Club, persuaded the owners to sell him the land in order to secure the long-term future of the Hill and the golf club. He completed the purchases at a cost of £1,217 in 1928, and on January 6, 1929, granted a 99 year lease to the golf club at an annual rental of £20; shortly afterwards setting up the charity known as the Stinchcombe Hill Recreation Ground Trust, to administer the hill.

The area covered, not only includes the 135 acres of golf course, but a further 50 acres of woodlands given to the then Dursley Rural District Council, and also the Drakestone area, together with grassland tracts outside the course.

In giving the club their lease Sir Stanley was mindful of the needs of the local population (residents of the parishes of Dursley, Cam, Stinchcombe and North Nibley and neighbourhood), and specified that, while the priority on the course lay with the golfers, save on the public footpaths, bridleways, and permissive rides, local residents had "the right to use the lands for air and recreation, but only at such times and in such manner as shall not impede or interfere with the use thereof as a golf course".

By and large golfers and walkers respect Sir Stanley's wishes, but where problems arise these generally centre on the mistaken belief that the land was given to the public to use at will. Plainly this is not the case.

Another misunderstanding concerns whether the area has Common Land status. While parts of the hill are registered as Common Land, no commoners rights, ie grazing, were ever registered, so these rights have expired. Some early maps show parts of the Hill being used as a rifle range for the local militia. This was given up when they were issued with new rifles which had extended ranges and they moved to Cam Peak and Longdown.

Similarly, while horse riders may use the bridleways, under the terms of the lease they should get written permission to use the various permissive rides which were built into the lease to allow riders to reach different parts of the Hill. At that time it was possible to ride around the upper slopes of the Hill, but the invasion of scrub has made this more difficult in places. Horse-racing is strictly forbidden.

Sir Stanley served as the first chairman of the trust, being followed by Lady Tubbs, who became Lady Durand on remarriage following Sir Stanley's death. She held office for a number of years, before Sir Stanley's nephew, Vincent Tubbs, took over.

The current chairman is Michael Bailey, with Christopher Tubbs (Vincent's son) as vice-chairman. Six of the 17-member trust are foundation trustees, originally appointed by Lady Durand, but now elected to serve with representatives of local councils, and the county council. The original clerk was R H Penley, who was followed by his son Francis (now serving as a trustee), and now his son John is the current clerk.

The trust meets twice a year, and has a set of bylaws governing what may take place on the hill. These include specific sections on horse-racing, and the use of vehicles, together with "brawling, fighting, use of indecent, insulting or threatening language".

Lack of funds has always been a major problem for trustees an, although grants have been available for some woodland work, little money has been available for general conservation work, and to fight off the invasion of trees and scrub. Once the area at the back of the golf course 15th tee was open ground, but now it is virtually impenetrable. Similar takeovers have occurred in other areas, notably at Drakestone.

Now this is gradually changing with more areas of Hill being returned to their former state. Matters started to improved in 1992 with the formation, under the leadership of John Smallwood of Woodmancote, Dursley, of the Stinchcombe Hill Conservation Group with volunteers from the four parishes adjoining the Hill.

John is the county council's representative on the trust. He and his colleagues have put in many hours working within the three large areas of Special Scientific Interest, under specialist advice from English Nature. They started clearing the almost completely overgrown summit and upper hillsides at Drakestone, to regain the grassland reputedly once used as an upland village green by Stinchcombe Parish. Improved views and access here and at other reserve sites culminated in agreement that the new national Cotswold Trail should circuit the upper slopes.

Mr Smallwood says: "Unfortunately many decades of abandonment since the loss of sheep grazing now requires expensive and frequent machinery cutting to regain the Cotswold Limestone grassland on most of the slopes and significant areas. Recent very wet winters and the Foot and Mouth closure also compounded rank 'growth'.

"The aim of the group is to restore and maintain the nationally important limestone grassland for flora and wildlife while improving leisure access and views. Some of their work has seen the use of special low centre of gravity tractors to cut some of the steep slopes in order to improve the grassland.

"But photographic evidence shows that the total scrub and tree encroachment has continued to increase in recent years, and is well beyond the resource and finance applied to date."

Included in the group is Chris Wiltshire who lives on the hill, and who is a professional entomologist. Already various butterfly glades have been established, together with the clearance of large areas of previous scrub land, notably on the Cam spur, Drakestone, and below the Tubbs Memorial Shelter. The habitat of the hill is rich and varied with many different types of orchid and a wide variety of butterflies and moths.

Linked to the work of volunteers has been the formation of a conservation sub-committee of the trust, on which the golf club is represented. They have backed up the volunteers by working in liaison with English Nature, to clear and improve areas like the steep hillside running below the sixth tee, the Shakespeare Glade near the Stepping Stone and large areas north-west of Stinchcombe Hill House.

They have recently provided access to a previously hitherto unreachable area of grassland overlooking the Severn. In addition the club have started to replace Leylandi trees previously used as safety barriers, at the rear of the third and fifth tees, with indigenous species.

In order to increase the amount of conservation work, the Trust has approached the Gloucestershire Environment Trust, who secure their monies from Landfill Tax. This has required the preparation of five-year conservation programme for the hill.

Assisting in the plan's preparation has been John Connell of Classic Landscapes, Stinchcombe, who has recently been appointed by trust to supervise the scheme, which has seen an initial grant of £3760 from the Environment Trust.

Some of the work has already been put in hand by the volunteers, with further work from the golf club likely before the end of the year.

Mr Connell says: "The work will be done by carefully timed operations to minimise the disturbance to the local wildlife, with mowing and raking work carried out using specialist machinery.

"The second aim is to expand the cleared areas by pushing back the scrub and woodland edge to give greater areas of ecological stability. There will also be some targeted removal of scrub and trees to re-establish certain views and vistas, especially around the Topograph near Drakestone.

With the prospect of more and more housing in the attractive local area, Stinchcombe Hill will continue to play a vitally important role for all members of the public, be they walkers, riders, or golfers. The club has always maintained that there is plenty of room for all to enjoy the special beauty of Stinchcombe Hill, providing that sensible co-operation exists.

For their part the trustees are hoping that the Hill is being further recognised as environmentally vitally important to the Cotswolds and Gloucestershire and at long last are receiving funds to improve it.

Pictured: A view over towards North Nibley provides a good spot for a walker to rest a while GJA757H02