An immediate consequence of the sale which split the Wales' enterpride in two was that Parsonage Bank, an important site for the rare Early Gentian, had now become a dead end in the grazing pattern of both sheep and cattle, which formerly zizaged their way up to a strip of flatter 'buttercup and daisy pasture' adjacent to Scotland Lodge. Their trampling and grazing had provided a habitat suitable for the low growing Gentian. A year after Robert Wales' death, twelve hundred plants were counted on the Bank and by the mid 1980s these had been reduced to about half a dozen by the mid 1980s. Satellite maps show that scrub is now developing along the fence line of the SSSI boundary (Fig 1) . The Early Gentian (Gentianella anglica) is only endemic to the south of England and has an international importance occuring in only 36 10x10 kn squares (Fig 2).  

Fig 1 Parsonage Bank (Google Maps 2013)

Fig 2 Distribution of Gentianella anglica