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St Boniface Down is a chalk down on the Isle of Wight, England. It is located close to the town of Ventnor, in the southeast of the Island, and rises to , the Island's highest point, north of the town. There is reputed to be a wishing well on its southern slope, which requires the wisher to climb up from the south without looking back. In 1545 a French invasion force attempted this against a force of the Isle of Wight Militia commanded by Sir John Fyssher- which allegedly included several women archers- and were routed. In 1940 the radar station was bombed by Ju-87 Stuka dive bombers, which is reconstructed in the film "The Battle of Britain". The top is surmounted by a round barrow. At the eastern foot of the down, on the A3055 road between Bonchurch and Luccombe, a path descends into Bonchurch Landslips via a scenic rock cleft, the Devil's Chimney. == Wildlife == ''St Boniface Down'' is home to the largest cricket within the British Isles, the great green bush cricket. The area includes some unusual plant communities including acid grassland and heathland, resulting in parts of the Down being designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The gravel capping supports extensive tracts of gorse ''Ulex europaeus'' with intervening areas of heathland and acid grassland dominated by heather ''Calluna vulgaris'', bell heather ''Erica cinerea'', purple moor-grass ''Molinia caerulea'', bristle bent ''Agrostis curtisii'' and locally bilberry ''Vaccinium myrtillus''. The occurrence of heathland on deep gravel overlying chalk, the naturalised holm oak woodland and the juxtaposition of heath and chalkland vegetation are all unusual biological features in Britain.〔(Natural England citation sheet for Ventnor Downs SSSI )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「St Boniface Down」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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