Durham Wildlife Trust has been assisting the City of Sunderland with the management of Hylton Dene for over 10 years, helping to encourage wildlife to the area and make it more accessible for the people of Sunderland. If you’d like to get involved call the Trust on 0191 5843112.
Hylton Dene was declared a Local Nature Reserve in August 2003. It includes Hylton Castle, the Main Dene, Tilesheds, Bunny Hill and Colliery Pond. Hylton Castle was built in the early 15th Century to replace a wooden castle built in 1072. English heritage is the current owner of the Castle and the adjacent Chapel.
The main feature of the Dene is its mature woodlands dominated by ash, beech and sycamore with a shrub understorey and a diverse ground flora of ramsons, wood sorrel, bluebell and lesser celandine. Part of the woodland is designated Ancient Semi-Natural woodland.
Part of Bunny Hill is a geological SSSI. A roadside rock exposure provides a good cross section of reef limestone belonging to the Late Permian Ford Formation reef complex (240 million years old).
This type of rock is know as Magnesian Limestone. The rest of Bunny Hill is managed as a meadow to help sustain Magnesian Limestone grassland plants such as quaking grass, cowslip and field scabious, and as a breeding site for small birds such as meadow pipit, skylark and linnet. The latter two species are Durham Biodiversity Action Plan (DBAP) priority species. The main access point is off Craigavon Road NZ357585 (follow brown heritage road signs for Hylton Castle). You can also access the Tilesheds (NZ350583 and Bunny Hill NZ358589. Car parking is available off Craigavon Road, next to the play area. Local buses from Sunderland stop on Craigavon Road, Hylton Castle
