Ellenborough Park, Weston-super-Mare


Ellenborough Park is a park situated in the centre of Weston-super-Mare, North Somerset, England.
The western half of the park, an area of , is of significant biodiversity interest, due to its plant communities, and was notified as a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in 1989. The eastern half of the park contains a play area for local children, which was opened in 2005.
Ellenborough Park was also the subject of a significant legal case Re Ellenborough Park in 1955 which determined criteria for easements in English property law.

Site description

The park is situated inland from Weston-super-Mare beach, on a site which was formerly part of a sand dune system of the Bristol Channel. The soil here is calcareous and sandy, and the short-turf grassland which is supports is believed to be remnant dune grassland from this dune system, which was enclosed in the 19th century.

Vegetation

The species composition of this grassland includes the following grasses:
Sand Cat's-tail, Red Fescue, Sea Fern-grass and Cock's-foot. Herb species present include Sea Stork's-bill, Buck's-horn Plantain, Rough Clover, all of which are indicative of a maritime influence, plus Wild Clary, Smooth Hawk's-beard and Pink-sorrel.
Ellenborough Park supports two Red Data Book plants, Branched Horsetail and Smooth Rupturewort. Branched Horsetail is only found in one other locality in Great Britain, in Lincolnshire. Smooth Rupturewort is found in eight other localities in Britain, all in East Anglia.