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The Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) covers 379 square miles (980 km²) of Dorset, Hampshire, Somerset and Wiltshire. It is the sixth largest AONB in the country.
The landscape is mainly chalk downland that is farmed. Settlers populated the area thousands of years ago and constructed Ackling Dyke and the Knowlton Circles. Later it was the scene of conflict in the English Civil War which saw the destruction of Old Wardour Castle. Other features include Tollard Royal, once considered the capital of Cranborne Chase and Fovant where soldiers training during the First World War cut regimental badges in to the chalk hillside.
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