Durdham Down

Durdham Down
Only three of Durdham Down's "Seven Sisters" now remain
Type	public open space
Location	Bristol, England
Coordinates	51°28′24″N 2°37′05″W / 51.47338°N 2.61806°W / 51.47338; -2.61806Coordinates: 51°28′24″N 2°37′05″W / 51.47338°N 2.61806°W / 51.47338; -2.61806
Area	400 acres (160 ha)
Open	All year

Durdham Down is an area of public open space in Bristol, England. With its neighbour Clifton Down to the southwest, it constitutes a 400-acre (1.6 km²) area known as The Downs, much used for leisure including walking, jogging and team sports. Its exposed position makes it particularly suitable for kite flying. Durdham Down is the part of the Downs north of Stoke Road..

Durdham Down was long used as grazing land. An Anglo-Saxon charter of 883 grants grazing rights over part of Durdham Down. The down was the commons of pasture for the manor of Henbury during the Middle Ages. In 1643 and 1645, during the English Civil War, Royalist and Parliamentarian armies assembled on the down.

In 1857, concerned by Victorian-built houses encroaching on the open space as the city expanded, the Bristol Corporation acquired commoners' rights on the downs, and exercised them the following year by grazing sheep. In 1861 Durdham Down itself was bought by the City from the Lords of the Manor of Henbury for £15,000 via an Act of Parliament. Grazing on the down declined during the 19th century, and finally ceased in 1925.

Since 1861 Durdham Down has been managed, with Clifton Down, by the Downs Committee, a joint committee of the corporation and the Society of Merchant Venturers, which owns Clifton Down. The committee appoints a Downs Ranger to oversee the Downs.

The Down features clumps of scrubby hawthorns, the avenues of massive horse-chestnuts, the flat swathes of grass and the elegant bordering of Victorian houses.