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Midger

protected area in Gloucestershire, England

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 8, 2026
Entity authorityQ6842209
Source-derived summary

Midger (grid reference ST797895) is a 65.7-hectare (162-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest straddling the border of Gloucestershire and South Gloucestershire, notified in 1966 and renotified in 1984. Since the last revision in 1974, the size has been reduced to a 56-hectare (140-acre) site. It lies east of Hillesley, Gloucestershire and north of Hawkesbury Upton, South Gloucestershire. It is at the head of the Kilcott Valley.

There are six units of assessment.

Part of the site (grid reference ST794892) is part owned (and managed) by the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust.

The Wildlife Trust reserve

Fuller information is available from the Wildlife Trust reserves handbook, the Midger reserve publication and the Nature Reserves Guide for 2011. The reserve comprises Midger Wood which was purchased by the trust in 1965, Back Common, Whitewell Wood, Twizzle Well Piece, Wedgewood and Saddlewood Roughs, which is part of the Badminton Estate.

Woodland

This is ancient woodland and has a canopy comprising mainly ash (including coppiced stools), pedunculate oak and field maple, and some crab apple and holly. There has been some interplanting with beech, Scots pine, spruce and larch.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Midger” is protected area in Gloucestershire, England. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Midger, protected and area, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1966, 1984, 1974, 2011—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. For this dossier, Midger, protected and area is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “protected area in Gloucestershire, England” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6842209. Authority coordinates are 51.604, -2.294. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1966, 1984, 1974 and 2011.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Midger”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Midger primary sources, Midger archive and Midger research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Midger”?
  2. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
  3. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Midger” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.