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Projects

Local people, landowners, community groups and partner organisations have come together to deliver a wide range of environmental, heritage, access and interpretation projects on the Sandstone Ridge over recent years. Summaries of a selection of them are provided below.

Contact us if you have exciting ideas for future projects. We would love to hear from you!

Sandstone Ridge Cheshire

The Sandstone Ridge Trust has been awarded Heritage Lottery Transition funding to lay the foundations for the long-term management of Cheshire's Sandstone Ridge for the benefit and enjoyment of present and future generations.This new funding awarded to the Trust and supported by Cheshire West and Chester Council presents a wonderful opportunity to create a strong partnership and....

Delamere Day_Tom Marshall-2

Over a period of three years from July 2014 to July 2017 the Sandstone Ridge Trust conducted a Heritage Lottery Funded project working with local volunteers to understand how the distinctive physical features of the Ridge have shaped the cultural heritage of the area, and specifically, how sandstone and water supplies, have enabled settlers, farmers and industrialists through the ages to....

Grazing cow

Bickerton is a fine example of lowland heath, which is one of the rarest, most threatened, yet ecologically diverse habitat types. Bickerton comprises in excess of half the remaining heathland in Cheshire and is designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). Restoration of lowland heath is an international, national and a Cheshire Biodiversity Action Plan priority habitat. Some 40%....

Flaxmere green hairstreak  Natalie Webb

The Meres & Mosses of Shropshire and Cheshire are an ancient mosaic of wetlands, important for some of the rarest wildlife in the UK. Delamere, in the northern part of the Sandstone Ridge area includes a particularly important concentration of over 130 meres and mosses, hidden amongst the trees and woodland. The Cheshire Wildlife Trust has been working with partner agencies, landowners....

The ghostly silhouette of a barn owl, silently hunting along a field margin or meadow is a sight that many people treasure. Twenty years ago, however, you would have been hard pushed to see this iconic bird, as it was all but extinct in Cheshire due to the loss of traditional nesting sites and suitable habitat to support its favoured prey of voles, mice and shrews.Then, help was at hand from....

The sight of peregrine falcons gracing the skies over the Sandstone Ridge is an unforgettable experience. These are the fasting creatures on the planet, reaching speeds of up to 200 mph (320km/hr) as they dive after woodpigeons and other prey.These spectacular birds have been nesting on a rocky outcrop on Beeston Castle's clifftop for over 25 years, with the support and protection....

Archaeological excavation

The Habitats and Hillforts Landscape Partnership Scheme ran between 2008-12, and focused on the chain of historically important hill top Iron Age forts that lines the Sandstone Ridge, including Helsby Hill, Woodhouse Hill, Eddisbury, Kelsborrow, Beeston Castle and Maiden Castle.It was led by Cheshire West and Chester Council, with the generous support of the Heritage Lottery Fund and....

The Dovecote Peckforton completed

The Sandstone Ridge ECOnet Partnership supported over 162 local projects between 2005-09 through an annual grant aid programme. The main focus of enhancing wildlife at a landscape scale also helped to restore historic features, improve access for local people and visitors, raise the appreciation of the area, support traditional rural skills and encourage active participation in the....

Life ECOnet Nantwich Show

The Life ECOnet Project (1999-2004) was supported by the Life-Environment Programme of the European Commission to demonstrate in Cheshire and Emilia-Romagna and Abruzzo (Italy) how to expand and connect areas for wildlife, and use these ecological networks both as a tool to help achieve more sustainable land use planning and management, as well as to overcome the problems of habitat....