Farthing Downs and New Hill is a 95 hectare (235 acre) area of chalk grassland lying within the London green belt.
Farthing Downs was designated in 1975 as part of the Farthing Downs and Happy Valley Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) for having the ‘most extensive area of semi-natural downland habitats remaining in Greater London… in particular the species-rich chalk and neutral grasslands…’
A long history of human activity has been recorded on the site with archaeological finds and features dating from the Neolithic, Iron Age and Roman periods. Farthing Downs was cultivated up to the 2nd century AD and afterwards used as pasture for grazing animals.
Apart from grassland, the site contains a diversity of other habitats including scrub, old hedgerows and pockets of ancient woodland which support a wide variety of species of plants and animals.
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