Totternhoe Knolls is a chalk

Chalk

Chalk is a soft, white, porous sedimentary rock, a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite. Calcite is calcium carbonate or CaCO3. It forms under reasonably deep marine conditions from the gradual accumulation of minute calcite plates shed from micro-organisms called coccolithophores....

 hill, located north-west of Totternhoe

Totternhoe

Totternhoe is a village and civil parish in the Manshead hundred of the county of Bedfordshire, England.-Overview:Totternhoe is an ancient village in southern Bedfordshire, near Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard. Totternhoe Knolls has been a fort for many peoples including Romans and Normans...

 village in the county of Bedfordshire

Bedfordshire

Bedfordshire is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region.It borders Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Northamptonshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the south-east....

, with the remains of a medieval castle. It is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest

Site of Special Scientific Interest

A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...

, as an example of chalk grassland

Calcareous grassland

Calcareous grassland is an ecosystem associated with thin basic soil, such as that on chalk and limestone downland. Plants on calcareous grassland are typically short and hardy, and include grasses and herbs such as clover...

.

At the west end of the hill, there were medieval quarries

Quarry

A quarry is a type of open-pit mine from which rock or minerals are extracted. Quarries are generally used for extracting building materials, such as dimension stone, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, and gravel. They are often collocated with concrete and asphalt plants due to the requirement...

 for Totternhoe Stone

Totternhoe Stone

thumb|250 px|right|The characteristic checkerboard design of many Bedfordshire churches built with alternating chalk and flint blocks: [[St Mary's ]]....

. This area is called the Little Hills, and it is managed as a nature reserve

Nature reserve

A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research...

 by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire and Peterborough

Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire and Peterborough

The Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire and Peterborough is a wildlife trust covering the counties of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire and the City of Peterborough in England....

.

Totternhoe Castle

Totternhoe Castle was an 11th-century Norman

Normans

The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...

 motte and triple bailey

Motte-and-bailey

A motte-and-bailey is a form of castle, with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised earthwork called a motte, accompanied by an enclosed courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade...

 castle

Castle

A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...

. It overlooked the villages of Eaton Bray and Stanbridge

Stanbridge, Bedfordshire

Stanbridge is a village and civil parish in Bedfordshire which lies east of Leighton Buzzard. It also borders the Bedfordshire villages of Hockliffe, Eggington, Tilsworth, Totternhoe and Billington...

. The Norman builders levelled the top of the hill, creating a wide area of chalk grassland. The fort, on top of a raised mound, was surrounded by a wall; at first made from timber and later stone.

The site was excavated between 1921 and 1932, and again in 2001. The 2001 excavation revealed evidence that the castle was built on the site of a prehistoric and Roman

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

 enclosure.

The site is a scheduled monument. Only earthworks

Earthworks (archaeology)

In archaeology, earthwork is a general term to describe artificial changes in land level. Earthworks are often known colloquially as 'lumps and bumps'. Earthworks can themselves be archaeological features or they can show features beneath the surface...

remain of the castle.

External links

• BBC Beds, Herts and Bucks, Totternhoe Knolls.
• Chilterns Conservation Board, Totternhoe Knolls.
• M. Fearon, Totternhoe Knolls Bedfordshire England.
• English Heritage, Record of Scheduled Monuments, Totternhoe Castle.
• GENUKI, Totternhoe.