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26/2/2024 0 Comments

Tree of the month: March 2024 - Goat Willow

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The Goat Willow is more commonly known as the Pussy Willow because of the furry, silver-grey male catkins that appear (before the leaves) in late February and March. It is one of several species of willow native to the UK. There are over 300 species of Willow worldwide but many hybridise with each other so it isn’t always easy to tell one willow species from another.

Because it tolerates dry, poor soils as well as damper conditions the Goat Willow is the Willow that appears in several parts of Parkwood Springs.

Goat Willow, growing up to 10 metres, can live for 300 years. It is a ‘pioneer species’ and can be found in open ground, woodland scrub and along water-courses.

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Goat Willow is ‘dioecious’, meaning male and female flowers are carried on different trees. The soft grey male catkins are the most easily recognised. As pollen develops they become covered in yellow pollen. The long, green female catkins appear woolly once seeds develop.

Wildlife value of the Goat Willow: Goat Willow is the food plant for the caterpillars of many Moths including the Sallow Kitten and Puss Moth, and the beautiful Purple Emperor Butterfly. Some Clearwing species also feed on Goat Willow. The whole plant is rich in vitamins and minerals, making it a favourite for grazing by Deer, Rabbits, Beavers and Squirrels. Several small birds nest in Goat Willow, including the spring migrants Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff, both of which we have nesting on Parkwood Springs.
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Early pollen and nectar source: Perhaps the most valuable wildlife contribution Goat Willow makes is from the mass of early pollen and nectar produced by the male-flowering trees. Dozens of insects that emerge in early spring feed on the rich nectar and pollen. These include Hoverflies, Flies, Beetles, Honey Bees, Queen Wasps and the early Bumblebee such as Buff-tailed and Tree Bumblebee Queens. Only the Queen Bumblebees overwinter, going through diapause, a form of dormancy where development is suspended. This process uses a great deal of energy and only the heaviest may survive, especially through extreme winters. Early, protein-rich sources of food like the Goat Willow are crucial as the Queens feed up in preparation for nest building and egglaying.

Overwintering Butterflies: The five UK butterflies that overwinter as adults - the Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell, Comma, Red Admiral and, perhaps my favourite of all Butterflies, the Brimstone also benefit from male Goat Willow flowers.
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As well as providing nest-sites for small birds some, including the Blue Tit, feed on the rich pollen and nectar of male Goat Willow flowers.

The attraction of Goat Willow to many insects means, coincidentally, insecteating birds including Tits and Wrens can easily find food by picking off the many insects they find feeding on the ‘Pussy Willow’ flowers.

Goat Willow buds stand out a little from the twigs. The leaves, unlike several other UK Willow species, are oval in shape. The tips of the leaves usually appear bent over, a useful way to aid identification in summer. Once the female flowers are pollinated they gradually become woolly. When mature these woolly hairs enable the masses of seeds to be wind-blown over long distances. The leaves of Goat Willow, rich in carbon and nitrogen, break down more easily than Oak or Beech, quickly improving the humus and fertility of nearby soils. The bark, smooth and grey when young, develops rough, diamond fissures with age.
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Human Uses for Goat Willow: Goat Willow wood, unlike some other willows, is too brittle to weave. Growing quickly, it has been used for fuel and charcoal, and for the ‘wattle’ of wattle and daub found in old buildings. The timber has also been pulped for paper. The bark produces a yellow dye, while the sap has been used as an insecticide. Nutritious, the Goat Willow is is good fodder for domestic animals, especially Goats- hence the name.

Herbal Uses: The bark has long been chewed to treat headaches and toothaches. In 19th Century it was found to contain Salicylic Acid from which the first synthetic drug to be produced- aspirin- was developed.

Infusions from the bark have been used to reduce inflammation of joints, treat sore throats and fevers.

OTHER WILLOWS:
Grey Willow hybridises with Goat and is another of the “Pussy Willows”. The other native Willows have long, thin leaves (lanceolate) and grow more readily near water. As they also hybridise it is not always easy to identify individual trees but they are all valuable for wildlife.

White Willow is large and silvery-leaved, hard to distinguish from Crack Willow, both growing by water or fenland areas and reaching heights of 25 metres. Crack Willow is named from the cracking sound made by the breaking branches.

The timber of Cricket Willow (a hybrid of White and Crack willow,) can absorb shock without splintering, hence its long use for Cricket bats and stumps.

Osier is the most pliant and the Willow most frequently used for basket and other weaving and art projects, modern coffins etc. Pliant willows have been used to make shelters, furniture, and domestic implements from early times. Weeping Willow is a native of northern China cultivated for millennia.

The Dutch traditionally used Willow wood to make their clogs and the Celts their chariot wheels and harps.
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The Willow in art and literature: The link with grief and death appears in Shakespeare where, in Hamlet, he describes Ophelia as drowned among the Willows. Pre-Raphaelite painters took up this theme with both John Everett Millais and John William Waterhouse painting ‘Ophelia among Willows’.

John Keats, in ‘To Autumn’ uses another common
name for the Willow- Sallow:
‘Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn,
Among the river sallows, borne aloft’

Willows in myth and legend: Willows’ close link with water led to an association with the powerful Greek goddess Hecate, of the Underworld. Orpheus was said to carry Willow on his ventures into the Underworld. Willow was also used for witchcraft and sorcery in many cultures. In Christianity Willow came to symbolise grief, willow twigs being traditionally carried in Britain as palms on Palm Sunday. In the 17th Century the bereft would wear a cap made from Willow sprigs to mark their grief.
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2/2/2024 0 Comments

Tree of the month: February 2024 - Gorse and Broom

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Gorse and Broom are both members of the pea family. These bushes can survive and spread quickly on poor soils aided, as with all members of the pea family, by their ability to fix nitrogen in the soil. Growing 2-3 metres high and forming dense thickets if left, they are important parts of a mosaic of different ecosystems but, if not managed, can spread to invade other valuable habitats. On Parkwood Springs we have an important inner city heathland, mixed stands of woodland, meadow and grassland. To maintain a balance we control the spread of Gorse and Broom through our conservation sessions. Volunteers are always welcome to join us doing this or other conservation work.
The glorious flowers of Gorse and Broom provide a long-lasting source of pollen for many bees and other insects. The flowers are typical of the pea family- a top ‘standard petal’, two ‘wings’ and two petals fused to make the ‘keel’ below. When a bee lands on the keel its weight opens the flower. The stamens (male parts) and the stigma (female), which have been coiled inside the closed flowers, spring open. The stamens dust pollen on the bee and the stigma picks up pollen carried by the bee from a different flower, so enabling cross pollination.
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Value for wildlife:
As well as Gorse flowers providing pollen for insects the Gorse Shieldbug can be found feeding on the bushes. The dense thickets of prickly, tough evergreen growth provide great cover for small mammals and many small birds. Birds like Long-tailed Tit, Stonechat, Whinchat, Linnet and Dartford Warbler will all nest in Gorse. The Long tailed Tit builds a stunning, intricate nest of four materials - moss, spider-egg cocoons/webs, lichen and feathers. The leaves of the moss act as hooks and the spider silk as loops to form a ‘velcro’ effect which holds the small nest together and allows it to expand as the 8-12 eggs hatch and the young grow. The lichen acts as camouflage and up to 2,500 feathers are gathered to line the nest.

Human uses of gorse:
Gorse burns fiercely when dry and was much used to heat homes as well as bread ovens where its speed of burning and the fact that it leaves little ash were important qualities. In some counties limits were imposed on gorse gathering. Edward Hulme, in the 1905 ‘Familiar Wild Flowers’ writes: “few things throw out a fiercer heat. Anyone at all familiar with country life will have seen the furze faggots being cut on the heath, (one year in three)… while its upper shoots being bruised with a mallet form a valuable fodder for cattle and horses”. Highly nutritious, recent research for the Scottish Government found Gorse to have 17% and broom 21% protein As it can be toxic for humans in quantity. it would need processing to make it possible as a future human food. The flammable nature of Gorse also makes it a fire hazard on Heathland. It is thought that fire increases the germination of gorse seeds.
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Further uses: The fragrant, coconutscented flowers can be used to make wine, sauces, steeped to flavour tea or be added to salads. They have also been used to colour cheese and butter. The flowers can be used as a yellow or green dye while the dye from the bark is dark green. Bach flower remedies use Gorse to treat anxiety and increase confidence.

The dense wood, light-weight and durable though hard to work, is used for walking sticks, craft-work, and furniture. Gorse branches were once used for chimney-sweeping.

Symbols and myths of Gorse:
A saying, repeated to me as a child and in existence at least from medieval times goes “When gorse is out of bloom, kissing is out of fashion”. A wise saying because, of course, you can always find a gorse flower out throughout the year, if you look hard enough. Another saying drawing on the ever-present nature of the blooms was “while the gorse is in flower, Britain will not be conquered”. The rich gold of the flowers meant it symbolised wealth (“where there’s gorse there’s silver”) and its prolific flowering also meant it was associated with fertilitya sprig of Gorse was commonly placed in every bride’s bouquet and a ritual gorse torch was carried round cattle to encourage successful breeding.

Gorse spines. Gorse was sometimes planted near cottages where the spiky leaves helped to secure washing laid out over the bushes to dry. The spiny nature of the leaves help in the reduction of water loss- one reason why Gorse survives so well in dry soils.
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The Gorse in literature:
The characteristics of Gorse have led to it being used often in both poetry and prose. Cowper refers to “the prickly gorse…shapeless and deformed and dangerous to the touch”, while Samuel Taylor Coleridge in “Fears in Solitude” writes, as he meditated on a hill, how he was brought back to the present by the “fruit-like perfume of the golden furze”. In Wuthering Heights Heathcliff is described as “an arid wilderness of furze”.

Thomas Hardy, in Return of the Native, describes the local people working hard in a “heathy, furzy, briary wilderness”.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning, in “Lessons from the Gorse” notes:
“Mountain gorses, ever golden,
Cankered not the whole year long!
Do ye teach us to be strong, Howsoever pricked and holden
Like your thorny blooms, and so Trodden on by rain and snow,
Up the hillside of this life, as bleak as where ye grow?
Mountain blossoms, shining blossoms,
Do ye teach us to be glad
When no summer can be had?”

Uses of Broom: The name Broom (sometimes also called Besom) reflects its main use. Fronds were tied together to make brooms. Culpepper, 17th century botanist and herbalist, wrote: “To spend time in writing a description hereof is altogether needless, it being so generally used by all the good housewives almost throughout the land to sweep their houses with”. Also used for basket making it was  used for thatching if better materials weren’t available. Spreading and growing rapidly, and burning well, Broom is being researched as a potential biofuel.

The Symbolism of Broom: In the  Bible, Broom is the only shelter for Elijah in the desert. It also became a  symbol of the Plantagenets, part of the Great Seal of Richard 1st. It appears in the stained glass in Westminster in the Chapel of Henry 7th. In the earliest Welsh prose stories comprising ‘The Mabinogion’ Broom, along with Oak and Meadowsweet are the flowers from which the wizards Math and Gwydion fashioned the beautiful, beguiling Welsh Goddess Blodeuwedd.

Further uses: The tips of the shoots were one plant form used to create bitterness in beer. The flowers, smelling  of vanilla, can be used raw or pickled and yield green and yellow dyes. Broom was extensively used medicinally but it contains sparteine which can cause gastric problems and its toxicity, to animals and humans, means it is used  much less now.
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17/1/2024 1 Comment

Parkwood Springs – a Mediaeval Deerpark

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In October 2023 Ian Rotherham (Emeritus Professor at Sheffield Hallam University) at Graves Park gave a talk about mediaeval deer parks in Sheffield. It prompted a closer look at Parkwood Springs, which had been a deer park in mediaeval times.
 
Why were deer parks established?
 
Early days
 
John Fletcher (Landscape Archaeology and Ecology, September 2007), a vet working in a Scottish deer park, has written about the ways in which early humans throughout Europe and Asia hunted deer in groups, setting a cultural tradition which seems to have lasted for centuries. Deer roamed wild over wide geographical areas. They were relatively difficult to hunt to provide sufficient food to feed a tribe, therefore, probably since prehistoric times, communities would come together to herd deer by encircling them over a wide area and driving the animals into an enclosure.

Archaeologists studying the Mesolithic era have discovered the use of deer antlers both as tools, but also possibly worn on the head for ceremonial purposes. Deer hunting was therefore prevalent, valued and revered in very early times. There are still some traditional dances currently performed using a head dress of deer antlers.

Archers on horseback, are thought to have demonstrated their prowess with a bow by riding through enclosed deer herds often engaging in a frenzy of mass slaughter. Apart from effecting a cull of the larger animals and providing food to feed a tribe through the winter, such a enormous collaborative event probably also served to promote community coherence - people hunting and feasting together. There may also have been a ceremonial function.

Such an event would have celebrated the power and status of the leader of the tribe and the strength and accomplishment of participating individuals. The more competent marksmen would be better fed, therefore fitter and stronger and ranking higher in their society - although by herding deer, the deer would have provided less of a challenge.

Archaeologists in Orkney have discovered the remains of large numbers of an ancient breed of cattle which they consider were all slaughtered at the same time and must have provided meat far in excess of the needs of the local population. The animal bones were found close to a religious site of considerable proportions, which suggests that Neolithic people from far and wide must have travelled to events or ceremonies where large numbers of animals were slaughtered.
 
Anglo Saxon Britain
 
Fletcher describes how in Anglo-Saxon times, deer were driven by beaters and dogs into areas enclosed by thickets or hedges of impenetrable shrubs such as holly – known as hags or holly hags (haiaes) or Hollins. Many of these still persist in place names, such as Hagg Lane, Hagg Hill and Holly Haggs at Crosspool in Sheffield.

Roe deer, which were indigenous to Britain and most common in Yorkshire, were smaller than red or fallow deer, did not roam in larger herds, therefore were harder to corral. They mainly fed by browsing in woodland rather than grazing open grassland, so were less in evidence although they were still able to be herded by beaters and killed by skilled hunters. Herding the deer provided a much easier target for the hunters. Some used canvas fencing to channel the deer into the hags as deer would run along clear pathways. In Scotland deer would follow streams or rivers when frightened, therefore they could be channelled through river valleys.

Following the ancient cultural tradition, the herded deer would be sorted and culled, younger deer over-wintered, meat hung to provide food for the Lord of the Manor’s table or to be given as gifts to ensure the allegiance of local nobility or the clergy.

Venison was a high status meat – the preserve of the wealthy. There were strict laws to protect deer from poachers. People who could keep deer on their land were able to use the activity of hunting, and the venison produced, both as a status symbol and as a means of maintaining power in their community.

There seemed to have been problems of ownership if wild deer wandered or were enticed from one estate to another, therefore Anglo-Saxon noble families began to fence off areas to keep deer on their estates - and villagers out. It clearly became fashionable for wealthy families to have an enclosed area of land as a deer park.

Typically a deer park would consist of an area of open grassland with mature trees and copses of trees and bushes where deer could browse and graze often alongside cattle. There would also be the areas of holly hags to feed the deer and cattle in winter.
 
Normans in South Yorkshire
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After the Norman Conquest and the audit of land recorded in the Domesday Book, large estates were gifted by King William 1 to Norman noblemen who had fought with him. The de Louvetots were such a family who came to own vast areas of what is now South Yorkshire displacing Anglo-Saxon nobility and taking over their estates.

William de Louvetot was an Anglo-Norman from Huntingdonshire who inherited the Yorkshire estates. From early in the 12th Century – a relatively short time after the Norman conquest during the reign of Henry 1st – he already owned: Hallam, Attercliffe, Sheffield, Grimesthorpe, Greaseborough and Worksop and had interests in Handsworth, Treeton and Whiston.

As the Norman incomer, he would have needed to ingratiate himself with the displaced local Anglo-Saxon aristocracy and protect himself and his family from attack. He would also have needed to seek the support of the church, who held considerable political power. Building Sheffield castle gave him prestige, status and protection against attack. Building religious centres and civic amenities would have promoted his reputation with the community and the church.

His achievements included founding the priory at Worksop, building St. Mary’s Church at Handsworth, the parish church in Sheffield (now the cathedral), Sheffield castle, St. Leonard’s hospital outside the castle, which gave its name to Spital Hill. He built a mill on the river Don and Lady’s Bridge, where there had been little more than a river crossing previously.

He established Sheffield as the main town in Hallamshire and has a stained glass window in Sheffield Cathedral dedicated to his memory. He is considered the founder of Sheffield as the most prominent town in the area.

In the same way that William the Conqueror gave land and assets to his Barons to establish and maintain power and superiority in the country, so William de Louvetot also gifted estates to his relatives to ensure support in the area.

Cowley Estate in Chapeltown, which would have already been established as an estate in Anglo Saxon times was owned by the de Louvetots. They gifted the estate to relatives, the De Mounteney family. The De Mounteneys lived at Cowley Manor – ‘a large castellated manor house’. (Hunter’s Hallamshire) The Cowley estate held lands stretching from Chapeltown through Ecclesfield and along the east side of the river Don as far as Sheffield.

The family were influential in the Ecclesfield area where they worshipped at Ecclesfield Church, the oldest and most influential church in the diocese which was effectively the Cathedral of the South Yorkshire region. It predated Sheffield parish church which only later became Sheffield Cathedral.

The De Mounteneys have a chapel area in Ecclesfield church where their name and a dedication is carved into a wainscoting close to pews dated 1564. The ancient mediaeval stained glass windows were replaced many years ago, but one window has been reconstructed with a collage made from fragments of the mediaeval glass. A fragment of the glass contains a portrait thought to be of the last female heir to the estate. Because she was a woman she was unable to inherit and there followed disputes over subsequent ownership, the estate returning to the ownership of the family, but ultimately to the wealthiest landowners in Sheffield, the Shrewsburys and the Dukes of Norfolk.

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De Mounteney relics in Ecclesfield Church.

The de Mounteneys - Mediaeval Landowners at Shirecliffe

Shirecliffe - and Parkwood Springs as we know it today – was a sub-manor of the Cowley Estate. From the end of the 15th Century some de Mounteneys were described as coming from Shiercliffe (Shirecliffe).

William de Mounteney of Cowley Manor applied for license to establish a deer park at Shirecliffe. The licence was granted by Richard II in 1392 and a deer park was established with Shirecliffe Hall, the ‘hunting lodge’ or sub-manor house, on the park.

Although the senior family lived at Cowley Manor, it appears that some members of the family were based at Shirecliffe. According to their family history, William’s son was named ‘Nicholas Mounteney of Shiercliffe’ (died in 1499), succeeded by his son, Robert Mounteney of Shiercliffe and subsequently by his grandson, ‘John Mounteney of Shiercliffe’ who is mentioned in Hunter’s Hallamshire.
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John, married to Joan, had two daughters, Dorothy (1527 – 1552) and Barbara (1530 – 1585). Barbara married Thomas Thwaites, who later contested the inheritance of the Shirecliffe estate, whilst ‘John de Mounteney of Creswick in Ecclesfield’ (1513 – 1573) – presumably from a different branch of the family - had a son Nicholas who married Ellen Burroughs, daughter of Richard Burroughs, a later tenant at Shirecliffe Hall.

The estate of Shirecliffe was therefore very much kept within branches of the de Mounteney family and their descendants for centuries.

Mediaeval deer hunting and the fashion for deer parks

From the 12th century landowners could be granted the ‘right to free warren’ :

‘Hunting certain animals: pheasant, partridge, hare, rabbit, badger, polecat and pinemarten within a prescribed area. This was often the forerunner to the fencing of demesne land to create a deer park.… more than 80 grants of free warren were given in South Yorkshire and in nearly a third of these a deer park was subsequently created.’ Mel Jones

Herding deer into enclosed areas was the prerogative of the wealthy and demonstrated their power and status within their community. Some wealthy families had already begun to enclose areas for deer to graze. Norman landowners wishing to prevent their deer from escaping onto neighbouring properties began to enclose, in some cases, vast areas of their parkland. They dug ditches and fenced with palings woodland and open farmland to create ‘parks’. Because of the difficulty of ditching and fencing corners, the shape of parks was typically rectangular with rounded corners.

The Normans continued to enforce strict laws governing access to land and hunting rights. Villagers were heavily punished if they were found to have hunted - all but badgers - on land owned by the gentry. Badger meat didn’t taste good therefore was left for the peasantry. Wild deer were deemed to be the property of the King and landed estates within a short distance of a Royal Forest needed a licence to enclose land - without the right to entice the King’s deer onto it. (Mel Jones 1996).

Families who had already established a deer park were able to retain their park without a licence from the king. Royal forests at Conisbrough, Sherwood and later, Kiverton Park, were close to Sheffield, therefore landowners in the Sheffield area were required to apply for a licence.

Robin Hood is purported to have fallen foul of the law by killing one of the king’s deer – i.e. a wild deer on a Royal estate.​
 
Mediaeval Shirecliffe
 
As opposed to the deer we see today elegantly grazing the grounds of stately homes such as Chatsworth, mediaeval deer parks were often established at a distance from the manor house of an estate probably to keep deer and farm animals away from the country house. In 1392, when Sir Thomas de Mounteney was granted a licence to create the deer park at Shirecliffe, it was towards the later years for applications. Shirecliffe was a substantial distance from the family’s main residence of Cowley Hall.
         
According to Hunter’s Hallamshire:
 
‘Sir John Mounteney had a license from the Crown to inclose 200 acres of land, 300 acres of wood and 20 acres of his demesne land in Shirecliffe and to make a park of the same.’ They had ‘great woods and abundance of redd deare, and a stately castle-like house moated about.’ (Dodsworth).
 
The stately house would have been Cowley Hall, Chapeltown.

By the 15th century most country houses in the Sheffield area had enclosed a deer park. Sheffield Park, home to the Earls of Shrewsbury, stretched from Sheffield Castle out to the east of the town centre with a circumference of 8 miles. Sheffield manor was situated on part of the land enclosed by the park, which was the largest in the area covering 2,462 acres. (Mel Jones).

The Shirecliffe estate, then, already had red deer on their land. The indigenous roe deer were more numerous. They were less profitable than the larger breeds, therefore by the 12th century the Normans had brought fallow deer to Britain. Red deer were more commonly bought in to augment the herds with the most profitable breed.

The Normans had introduced rabbits to their wealthy estates as an additional food source. There are still wild rabbits and rabbit warrens on Parkwood Springs.

Cattle, sheep, pigs, game birds and other animals were frequently also kept in deer parks, which
were not primarily created for hunting although hunting did take place in the larger parks. Most were
deer farms to provide food for the table. (
Mel Jones).

Wharncliffe ‘Chase’ for example would have been a park where hunting took place.

The old Shirecliffe Hall which would have stood approximately across the junction of Cooks Wood Road and Shirecliffe Lane may have been the home of the de Mounteneys of Shiercliffe, although it was also said to have been a hunting lodge. There is no painting or description of the hall. It may have had a tower to view both the estate deer and to take in the views we see today of the Don and Loxley valleys and hills as far as Derwent Edge. The family at Cowley may have entertained guests and hunting parties at Shirecliffe Hall, although it is not clear whether hunting took place here.

As was typical of deer parks, the shape of Parkwood Springs is more or less rectangular - with rounded corners at Scraith wood in the north and following a curve in the river Don to the south. The original park was larger than Parkwood Springs today, as the area from 1637 to the present day is about 300 acres compared with 520 acres enclosed by licence in 1392. However the shape is still recognisably the same as it was in the 1600s.

The bank and ditch close to the car park at Shirecliffe Road might be part of an enclosure fence, perhaps to keep the deer away from the hall.

Boundary fences were originally intended to keep deer in and intruders out, but as deer parks developed and evolved over the years, they were also used to divide sections of the woodland.

Whilst initially the deer park was fenced only round the perimeter, both cattle and deer preferred to browse in woodland rather than grazing on grass. Whole areas of woodland could be decimated by the animals. To protect young shoots and the foliage of the older trees areas of woodland would be fenced off to allow young trees and shrubs to grow and older trees to be protected for their timber. Holly hags would be allowed to grow to provide winter fodder. On the map of 1637 a number of separate areas of woodland were demarcated. ‘Scraith Banke, Shirtcliffe Park Wood, The Lords Wood, Oaken Banke Wood and Cooke Wood.’ Each area might be designated to a different function.

Coppicing – cutting trees to the ground to allow new multiple stems to grow - was a way of increasing the yield. The new shoots from the base of the coppiced tree would be left for 10 years to grow tall, straight new trunks before being cropped again. By coppicing areas of woodland in rotation, a constant supply of wood could be achieved. ‘Spring woods’ or coppiced woods were created in some of the fenced woodland. Increasing use of coppicing gave the name to Parkwood Springs. However, not all of Parkwood Springs contained spring woods – at least in earlier times. Old Park Wood appeared to be mainly left for deer to graze where there were ancient standard trees growing on areas of open grassland.

The mature trees became valuable for their timber. Sticks for kindling and dead wood were used to keep fires in the Hall and Manor burning for heat and cooking. Coppicing produced wood suitable for fence posts and tool handles etc. Therefore the land was productive and increasingly used as a source of wealth as well as self sufficiency of food, building materials and fuel production.

To the northern end of the current site lies the pond at Oxspring bank fed by a stream which flows into the Don. The pond may have been developed as a fishing lake – a purpose it currently serves. These were common in other deer parks to provide fish for times when meat was not to be eaten for religious reasons.

In winter the deer would be taken to lower grassland – a lawn, ‘laund’ or ‘lound’ – as in Chapeltown’s Loundside – to graze and be fed with cut holly and hay grown for winter fodder. Holly was grown in the ‘hags’ or ‘Hollins’ which may have been used both for herding the deer into the dense, prickly lower holly thickets and for cutting the higher smooth leaves for fodder. It was probable that deer from Parkwood Springs would be herded, culled for meat and younger deer taken to the ‘Lound’ at Chapeltown for overwintering, closer to the stately home.

Ian Rotherham showed an engraving of Queen Elizabeth 1st engaged in shooting deer by standing on a raised platform in front of which deer were driven to provide her with an easy a target – proving that by the 1600s deer hunting was still an aristocratic sport - made easier by herding. At that time, however, changes were taking place which signalled the beginning of the end for deer parks.

It is interesting to note that the boundary plan of Parkwood Springs as it appeared on the map of 1637 is not dissimilar to the area of Parkwood Springs seen today. The estate has therefore remained more or less intact through the centuries, the outer boundary and the boundaries of the smaller areas of woodland firmly demarcated.

17th Century Changes in Land Use

In mediaeval times and pre-industrial ages wealth had been generated for the landowner by the use of their estate land and by enclosing land for the sole use of the wealthy families who lived on their estates. It is said that more land was enclosed in mediaeval times than as a result of the 18th century enclosure acts.
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Livestock and woodland provided food, fuel and timber which were profitable. They maintained the high status of the landowner by demonstrating his power and wealth. Gifts of high status meat or timber to other nobles assured their allegiance and enhanced the landowner’s position with the church when gifts were given to charity or to the clergy. The gifts were probably necessary for Norman incomers to be able to integrate into the Anglo-Saxon nobility and for wider reasons during mediaeval times of political and religious turbulence.

The De Mounteneys lived at Cowley and Shirecliffe throughout the mediaeval period as the deer park gradually changed and evolved. The last member of the family to reside there was John de Mounteney who in 1536 was assaulted in the porch of the Parish church in Sheffield (Sheffield cathedral) and died from his injuries.

The estate was sold in 1572 as ‘a very valuable acquisition’ to the 6th Earl of Shrewsbury who took it into the manor of Sheffield, but was not resident as landowner. Before 1616 an undated document written for the 7th Earl of Shrewsbury listed:

‘Oken Bank Springe’, ‘Shercliffe Parke’ containing 80 acres of coppice and ‘Skreathe Wood.’ (Mel Jones).

This document suggested a transition to greater areas of parkland becoming devoted to coppicing rather than grazing, but describing the land as a valuable asset. The de Mounteney heirs contested the sale regaining the property and land, but leasing it to tenant occupants. It appears that the land at Shirecliffe was separated from Cowley Manor and leased as a separate entity, some of which was divided into smaller fields and areas of woodland.
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The map of 1637 shows sections at Neepsend which were leased to local people such as the Rawsons, who managed Rawson Spring Wood. ‘Great Ox Close’ and ‘Ox Dell’ are also marked, presumably fields for cattle. Many deer parks by that time were beginning to be divided into fields and some let as local farms.

Social changes meant that wealthy landowners rarely lived in their country residences, and those who did were beginning to gain income from other sources. The fashion was to develop parks close to their country houses where the gentry could ride out for pleasure and view their estate when they visited their country mansions from their town houses.

Mining ironstone and coal was providing income which meant the landowners were less dependent on agriculture. Business and financial interests – mainly investments abroad - for example trading in slavery, tobacco, tea etc were extremely lucrative, replacing the need for farming. Business interests brought the gentry to build fine houses in towns where they could enjoy greater and advantageous business and social contact. Iron smelting was also paving the way for monumental industrial change leaving more of the countryside spoiled by greater industrial use.

Mel Jones noted that by the end of the 16th Century the land at Parkwood Springs had been formally ‘disparked’ and mainly turned into large coppiced woods, although during the 1600s deer were still present.
 
By 1637 when John Harrison completed his survey of the Manor of Sheffield, Shirtcliffe Parke Wood (Old Park Wood) was recorded as coppiced wood covering 143 acres.
 
The hall – ‘Shirtcliffe Hall farme’ -  was tenanted by Richard Burrowes/ or Brough, a ‘gentleman’  (meaning he had a private income) at a rent of 8 Marks per year to be paid at ‘the Feast of Pentecost ‘(Whitsun) ‘and St. Martin in winter’ (November) – so in six monthly instalments. The property was described as:
 
‘a dwelling house, and ancient Chappell , one Barne, one Oxhouse, one Orchard and yard ‘’containing 1 a (acre), 3r (roods) 14p (perches)’.
 
For information: A football pitch is 2 acres – 2 ½ acres or a football pitch with the surrounding green space makes up a hectare. A rood is a quarter of an acre and there are 40 perches to a rood – so a perch is 25 square metres.
 
The land leased to Richard Burrowes was listed:
 
‘Ye Peare tree field (pasture) and next (to) a wood called Shirtcliffe Parke and great field north and containing11a 3r 23 p.
 
The Pond Mead (pasture and arable) lying betweene the last piece north (Pear Tree Field) and Cooke Wood south, and next (to) Kitching greave east,and a wood called Oaken Banke west and containing 16a. 2r. 32p.
 
A spring wood called Crooke Wood, wherein they get Punchwood for the use of the coalpits, some part thereof is above 32 years’ growth and some part newly cut downe, and every year cut as occasion serveth. This wood lyeth next unto the last piece in part and Charles Clayton in part south-east, and Oaken banke west, and containing 33a. 1r. 15 2-5p.
 
A spring wood of 25 yeares growth called Oaken banke, lying between the last two pieces and the Lord’s wood in part west, and abutting upon Shirtcliffe Parke north, and the Lord’s lands in the use of Christopher Capper south and containing 24a. 0r. 27 3-5p.
 
Pease field (arable) lying next the last piece west and Crooke Wood north and containing 0a. 2r. 27 3-5p.’

 
Presumably Charles Clayton and Christopher Capper were renting the lower parts of the original estate.
 
In 1638 the lease expired on Shirecliffe Hall (Shirtcliffe Hall Farm). The tenancy of the Hall taken by Mr. Rowland Hancock - a former vicar of Ecclesfield Church (where the de Monteney family worshipped). He set up an independent church with a few neighbours but was banished to Penistone under the Act of Uniformity. The Act enforced the use of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer and anyone refusing to adhere to that form of church service was banished from the County. When the law was relaxed in 1672, Mr. Hancock returned to Shirecliffe and continued his church ‘on the independent model’ – presumably using the ‘ancient chappell’ on the estate. It may have been Rowland Hancock who in 1675 was granted the right to hunt deer in the park.
 
Rowland Hancock’s daughter married a Sheffield lawyer named Joseph Banks and they remained at Shirecliffe Hall until they retired to Lincolnshire. Their grandson, Joseph Banks, was the scientist and botanist who set sail from Whitby in 1768 on the ship, the Endeavour, with Captain James Cook to survey the transit of Venus from Tahiti. They also mapped the coast of Australia and named Botany Bay where Joseph Banks collected many plant specimens. He ultimately became President of the Royal Society in London.
 
Around 1800 detailed botanical records of Parkwood Springs were made by Jonathan Salt, a local table knife manufacturer of Wardsend (now in Weston Park Museum). We can only speculate as to whether Joseph Banks (Sr) had been interested in botany at Parkwood Springs and left information or passed his interest to his grandson.
 
From the late 1600s there was evidence of charcoal burning in Parkwood. This may have been the ‘coalpits’ mentioned in Harrison’s survey. Wood was laid into a pit and covered with soil or turves leaving a space for lighting a fire under the wood. It had to be carefully watched to restrict the amount of air entering the pit so that the wood did not burn quickly but slowly charred. Sweet chestnut wood was often used as it did not burn easily. There are a lot of sweet chestnut trees at Parkwood Springs. Charcoal burners built their conical shaped huts close to the pits so that they could keep watch night and day. They used branches of trees built into a wigwam shape and covered with turves. In our History leaflet there is a reproduced photograph taken at Parkwood Springs in the 19th century of a charcoal burner standing beside his hut. Jason Thomson used the image in his sculpture ‘The Spirit of Parkwood’.
 
18th Century Parkwood Springs
 
Whilst originally estate owners lived and worked on their estates, more landowners moved into their town houses, only visiting their country estates from time to time. Although deer grazing on the open parkland outside their stately homes gave an air of tranquil country living and prosperity,  absentee landowners were keen to maximise the profitability of their land. They were less interested in the area or local communities, employing estate managers to manage the work on the estate, employ a local work force and collect rents from tenants. Deer were gradually abandoned in favour of more functional use of the land and its assets.
 
Therefore by the 18th century, as industry began to demand timber for building, stone from quarrying and charcoal for steel making, the woodland at Parkwood Springs became more diversified to profit from use in industrial development along the Don valley. The Dukes of Norfolk, who eventually took ownership of the land, would have expected maximum returns on their investment whilst having little personal interest in the area.
 
Land and properties owned by the Dukes of Norfolk were managed by an agent who lived at ‘The Farm’ - a grand house on the lower edge of Norfolk Park – now the site occupied by Granville College. The Dukes of Norfolk, whose stately home is Arundel Castle in Sussex,  were obliged to stay at the Farm for a time annually. During the time of Henry Fitzalan Howard, 15th Duke of Norfolk and Sheffield’s first Lord Mayor, over half of the £100,000 gross income from Sheffield came from rents, mineral rights and markets.
 
Profits to be made from areas such as Parkwood Springs benefited the wealthy landowner who was based elsewhere and were not used to maintain or improve the area locally. In many rural areas people complained of wealth being created locally whilst the landowners impoverished the countryside and its people by taking its wealth to the cities.
 
Like other disparked deer parks some of the land at Parkwood Springs was divided into smaller areas and let to tenant farmers. By the end of the 18th Century the Lords Wood was completely divided into fields. Old Park Wood remained as managed woodland whilst Oaken Bank Wood was mined and quarried for clay for making bricks and for ganister for use as fire clay for the furnaces.
 
Rawson Dam was recorded in 1783 as ‘the pond on a tributary of the river Don’. It had been marked on the 1637 map to the north of Scraith Wood. A water powered mill, known as Rawson’s Mill or Bark Mill, was used by the company of Rawson and Oxpring for their tanning business, which used bark stripped from oak trees to produce tannic acid for tanning leather. Rawson Spring Wood, a section at the northern end of Old Park Wood, would have produced a sustainable supply of oak trees from which bark could be taken. By stripping vertical strips of bark from a living tree the bark would repair for further use, or by stripping and felling coppiced trees, new areas of growth would also provide a constant supply.
 
The tanning process
 
Oak Bark: The solution used for tanning was traditionally made from oak bark.
L A Clarkson has estimated that 90% of all leather was tanned with oak bark. The best bark came from the young trees of twenty years growth, cultivated in coppices.
Stripping was mainly done in the spring when the sap was rising. The bark was levered off, and then stacked in the dry before being ground at a local mill.

 
Sawyers, Carpenters and Peelers were hired to fell and remove the bark. The easiest way of peeling was to take the bark from trees that were still standing. The peelers used an iron ‘spud’, consisting of a rod about two feet long, with a handle at one end and a point shaped like the ace of spades at the other.
Strips of bark were propped up to dry in the sun and the wind. Drying was usually complete in about a fortnight then carted to the tan-yard.

The bark was ground into pieces, two to three inches long, and packed into sacks.
Barkgrinding mills were introduced in the eighteenth century. The grindstone had a toothed rim.
In their simplest form the grindstone was propelled by horse power around a circular trough.
 
Oak bark was highly prized by tanners because of its high tannin content. Much of it was grown in the traditional iron-making districts, where it was used for manufacturing charcoal. The combination of the tannic acid of the oak bark with the gelatine of the hide slowly tanned the hide. J T Kelsey soaked his hides in oak bark solution for up to two years. (The Weald Community Group).
 
To produce supplies of wood for timber, bark for tanning and wood and bark for charcoal burning, the woodland on Parkwood Springs was increasingly coppiced to increase the yield, and areas of woodland felled for timber. The boundary fences, instead of keep deer inside the park, would then have been used to keep deer out to protect the trees.
 
Mel Jones suggests that through the 18th Century in some areas of Old Park Wood were reduced to a few standard trees, whilst most other areas of woodland were coppiced. The Lords Wood was completely cleared and divided into fields rented as farmland.
 
Ganister mining and some coal mining took place into the steep escarpment of Parkwood Springs. Ganister dust, moreso than coal dust, in the confined space of the mines was lethal when breathed in by miners. Life expectancy for the workers - as for steel workers - was extremely poor.
 
The 1790 Map shows Shirecliffe Hall on Shirecliffe Lane, Little Pear Tree field, Great Pear Tree Field, Cook Wood, Oaken Bank Wood, Mire Acre Hill, Savage Spring, The Old Park and Scraith Wood – the only remaining area of ancient woodland.
 
​Field plans included Far Field, which may have given its name to the old public house near to Hillfoot bridge, which was originally part of a larger country house.
 
A corn mill and rolling mill on the river Don were signs that industry was using water power along the Don Valley requiring timber to build water wheels, coal and wood for the furnaces.

Through the 18th Century Shirecliffe Hall was let to a succession of tenants until it cameinto the possession of the Watson family in 1775. The family remained at Shirecliffe for over 100 years.
 
19th Century
 
In 1803 The Watson family demolished the old Shirecliffe Hall and built ‘a good modern house near the site’. It was probable that the Watsons may have held a ‘copy lease’ where the landowner retained the freehold on the land, but the tenant retained rights on the property. This was a system that began in mediaeval times and continued until the 1920s.
 
The Watson’s would have needed planning permission from the Duke of Norfolk’s Estates, but were at liberty to build a new house, which was on the site of the car park at the Shirecliffe Road entrance to Parkwood Springs.
 
The site of the ‘Kitchings’ or kitchen gardens for the old hall is still evident as ‘Shirecliffe Grove’ on Shirecliffe Lane. The drive to the new hall crossed the top of what is now Cooks Wood Road from the gates and Lodge which are still on Shirecliffe Lane.
 
The 19th Century saw heavy industrialisation of the Upper Don Valley, requiring ganister, charcoal and timber from Parkwood Springs and sandstone for building quarried from Old Park Wood.
 
The fields of the Lords Wood were bought by one of the first Freehold Land Societies for building houses for the ‘40 shilling landowners’. This was an early form of building society where people contributed their 40 shillings for the right to vote as a landowner, and to have the opportunity to build a house on the land.

The larger houses built under this scheme were soon accompanied by rows of terraces and back to back houses built for steel and railway workers. This created Parkwood Springs Village, housing an isolated but close knit community, finally demolished in clearances of the 1970s. People still remember as children playing and picnicking on the hills which were covered in orchards and they valued having lived in Parkwood Springs Village. The bowling green was the envy of the city.
 
By 1845 the Duke of Norfolk’s Estates had sold land on the lower parts of Old Park Wood for the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway. Neepsend station was built below the village, which was reached only under a narrow railway bridge (See our History Trail article and Barbara Warsop’s book for details of Parkwood Springs Village).
 
Wardsend cemetery, the cemetery for St. Phillip’s Church at Neepsend, was developed alongside the River Don also on part of Old Park Wood. The Friends of Wardsend Cemetery have a wealth of historical information from the cemetery and lead walks and information days for visitors.

The name ‘Wardsend’ originated from ‘Worlds End’ - the ancient boundary between Sheffield and Ecclesfield. In the cemetery, memorials can be found to soldiers who were based at Hillsborough Barracks. Their gravestones can be seen alongside victims of the Sheffield Flood of 1864, when Dale Dyke Dam burst, flooding the Loxley and Don Valleys.

Scandal was recorded at Wardsend Cemetery during the nineteenth century, when the Sexton at the cemetery was accused with the curate of robbing graves to sell bodies to the Infirmary (on Infirmary Road). The practice was discovered by a workman employed by the Oxspring family (at Oxspring Bank) who found lodgings for his family in the upper rooms of a barn at the cemetery. Hearing noises in the night, he found a knot hole in the floor through which he observed the sexton and curate removing bodies from coffins.

Many of the bodies were of children or young people. Their families were distraught and angry because they had scrimped and saved for a headstone for their child, only to find that there was no grave. A mob tried to lynch the guilty parties, but forewarned they escaped. The sexton was found guilty in court, but served a relatively short sentence. The curate was moved from the area.


Carol Schofield – Friends of Parkwood Springs History Trail

By the end of the 19th Century Shirecliffe Hall was occupied by H.E. Watson JP, ‘who worthily upholds the historic character of his mansion.’

Pitsmoor was developing as a suburb of wealthy professionals – doctors, lawyers, mill owners and managers. Therefore rather than Shirecliffe Hall being firmly in command of Parkwood Springs, it was now focused more upon Pitsmoor Village. One of the Watsons found the drive in his carriage too steep coming up Shirecliffe Lane, therefore he had a more gentle route created across Parkwood Springs to Herries Road and into the city from there.

During the 18th and 19th centuries life expectancy was short for children and industrial workers; file makers, grinders, cutlery workers, miners, who worked for low wages and lived in poverty. In the late 19th century Pitsmoor Church Parish magazine described the philanthropy of the local gentry – rather than landowners - who held church ‘teas’ for the poor of the parish. Sir Henry Watson donated gifts of half a pound of tea to the aged poor who attended the ‘teas’.

‘Mr. Watson is the Chairman of the Borough Conservative and Constitutional Association, a Justice of the Peace for the West Riding, a Town Trustee, a Church Burgess, a director of Chas. Cammell and Co. Limited, and to put it shortly one of the most prominent and popular of local gentlemen.’ (Dodsworth).
 
20th Century
 
The 20th Century saw the most devastating changes to the Shirecliffe Estate and the grounds of Parkwood Springs reducing it to a blot on the landscape for Sheffield.

The 1926 General Strike and the 1947 exceptionally cold winter saw the final trees in the woodland felled completely by impoverished local people for firewood.

In the 1930s/40s the area was used as a military base to protect the Don Valley and ammunition stores at Oughtibridge from enemy aircraft. Disaster struck with the bombing of much of Parkwood Springs Village and Shirecliffe Hall when enemy aircraft dropped fire bombs in a circle to target the city centre. Both the entire village and the hall were demolished by the 1970s.

The Duke of Rutland sold land for quarrying, mining and subsequently for the landfill site, and areas for gas holders and the electricity power station with cooling towers alongside the river Don.

By the 1950s ownership of much of the original woodland reverted to the City Council and by the 1960s the whole area appeared to be devastated as one huge industrial site. Landfill and industrial works reduced the area to a bare hillside with little natural growth, whilst the only surviving area of ancient woodland remained - and still remains - at Scraith Wood.

The connection of Shirecliffe Lane with Rutland Road was completed by the 1950s with the building of Cooks Wood Road - through Cooks Wood. The upper part of Shirecliffe Lane was renamed as Shirecliffe Road.

In the 1970s a youth job creation scheme replanted trees and restored footpaths installing the stone edging to the paths. They built the platform at the viewpoint which held a brass direction plaque. But the area was mainly deserted. People feared antisocial behaviour if they set foot onto the site, which was subject to vandalism, the direction plaque was stolen. and the whole area regarded as a rubbish tip. Young men were known to collect the brightly coloured clinker deposited from the furnaces to give to their girlfriends as ‘jewels’.

During the 1980s, while the ski village flourished on the steep terrain leased from the Council, local people protested about the landfill site which brought plagues of rats and flies to people’s homes and filled the air with noxious odours and red dust. A Landfill Action Group was formed by local people anxious to have the landfill site closed. They focused on the negative health effects of the site. Eventually some members of the group accepted compensation from the waste management company, Viridor, for the detriment they had suffered.

Nevertheless, as others pressed for improvements, nature flourished in areas outside the landfill site and gradually wildlife returned re-vegetating with acid grassland, woodland and heather moorland. Through neglect over half a century, areas were beginning to recover the natural beauty they had once been.

The paths installed in the 1970s had eroded and the viewpoint vandalised, but there was much to appreciate and aim to restore. Skiers who had enjoyed cheap access to the ski slopes did well in Olympic Games and many school children and beginners learned to ski there. The ski village became a clearly recognisable Sheffield landmark and secured a positive image of Parkwood Springs in the hearts and minds of many Sheffielders.
 
21st Century - From Deer Park to Country Park
 
In 2002 the City Council began a community consultation and project to look positively at Parkwood Springs and promote responsible community use.

The Council’s Parks and Countryside Department, led by Jon Dallow, began to restore the area – a wild space for local people to enjoy, where they could come to see wild life and take exercise. Footpaths were repaired, fences and gates installed to deter fly tippers and motor vehicles, low key management put in place and the area regularly cleared of the worst of the litter. Ecological and archaeological surveys were carried out by the City Council.

By 2005 Little Pear Tree Field – an area named on an early map – was developed as an educational resource. The community planted snowdrops, wild daffodils, primroses and four small pear trees. The Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife trust took over management for a limited period and the Council Ranger Service worked with school groups. Sessile oak trees were growing there, but it was an open field of brambles and rosebay willow herb. More native trees were planted and in less than 20 years the field has reverted to woodland.

In 2008 the ‘Bird and the Boy’ sculpture by Jason Thomson was installed at the Rutland Road entrance, followed in 2011 by the ‘Spirit of Parkwood’ sculpture, also by Jason, at the Shirecliffe / Cooks Wood Road entrance marking the two main entrances. These aimed to encourage people to regard Parkwood Springs as a valuable community space to be visited and explored.

Following the 2007 river Don flood, the Beacons Project brought children and families to walk the paths and see the views in an exciting event, with the aim of changing people’s perception of the area to that of a safe and interesting place to bring children to play.

In 2009 the Forest Garden was developed on a former allotment site as a self- sustaining community fruit garden. It still needs much attention and is maintained by the Friends of Parkwood Springs, a group which began as a formally constituted Community Group in 2010 attracting funding for small scale improvements, meeting for conservation work and leading walks.

Jon Dallow has been instrumental in managing the work at Parkwood Springs throughout, and has successfully attracted large scale funding which installed the Mountain bike trail in 2012, updated the track and made way for the Places to Ride developments for 2024 which have extended the tracks through the north of the site. The Council attracted further ‘Levelling Up’ funding to clear and access the land vacated by the Ski Village in order to be able to offer a lease for new development - in keeping with the Country Park - to bring a regular income to Parkwood Springs for ongoing maintenance and provide employment for local people.

Following the closure and restoration of the landfill site in 2016, the restored site has become accessible with the installation of the new cycle / walking trails, extending the scope of the whole site for wider public use. Skylarks are now nesting in grassland on the old landfill site and roe deer have been seen roaming there.

In 2015 after the Tour de Yorkshire/France passed Parkwood Springs, the annual Beacons Festival was replaced by the Lantern Festival, which has grown to attract around 1,000 visitors who come to experience the woodland illuminations and enjoy the views lit up by the sunset and the lights of the many varied lanterns in the procession.

2015 saw Watercliffe Meadow School host the Primary Schools Cross Country Event at Parkwood Springs attracting school teams from across the city. The event is now held annually at Parkwood Springs. The first Mountain biking festival, Nutcracker, attracted mountain bikers from across the country.

The 2020 Covid pandemic brought many more people to Parkwood Springs for exercise and fresh air during the lockdowns, which made Parkwood Springs inclusive to many more cultural groups who now feel comfortable to enjoy the benefit of the outdoors on their doorstep.

In 2023 the Places to Ride project installed additional cycle routes along with services for toilets and a cafe kiosk to be opened in 2024. The car park at Shirecliffe Road was extended and resurfaced and close by a young children’s riding area completed.

From the deer park fenced to keep deer in and locals out, from an area stigmatised by industrial use and a wasteland of waste, Parkwood Springs has returned to a vibrant wild life reserve of woodland, heath and heather moor - but now well used by cyclists, walkers, runners, people who live nearby and open to the City as a City-wide resource.

The area and boundaries of the original estate are still intact. Encroachment on the site has been discouraged and contested by the City Council who own most of it. Use has been made of the steep terrain by leasing areas for extreme sports, and will possibly be used this way again.

In the past the deer park evolved gradually over the years, but it excluded the local community. Whilst it was the landowner’s aim for the land to provide a productive and lucrative asset for himself and his wealthy family, industrial use eventually destroyed the natural asset of the area for local people. We now have the opportunity for Parkwood Springs to be of benefit to people’s health and wellbeing by providing a natural environment with a wealth of wild life for the whole community. Instead of damaging people’s health through the effects of industrialisation, pollution and poverty, there are now health enhancing opportunities freely available by using again the land as the asset, managed to promote wildlife for people to see and a tranquil, wild open space for exercise, reflection and renewal.

Trees have restored the woodland, but may now need some management to ensure a true diversity of habitats to recreate a balanced environment and provide suitable habitats for rare and depleted species. Many of the trees currently found in the woodland are non-native species planted in the 1970s to quickly reforest the space. Some have been planted in circles creating small glades, but not large enough to allow a gradation of foliage and border areas so necessary to pollinators, small mammals and birds. However, in addition to those planted trees, there are many multi-stemmed trees growing. We suggest these may be trees that were felled firstly in 1926 for firewood, but then grew as coppiced stems to be cut again in 1947. We wonder if these were original trees from the woodland of the deer park: sweet chestnut, oak, holly, alder which have survived in coppiced form. It would be reassuring to think that the deer park has resurrected itself – especially now that the deer have returned.

A ‘Tree of the Month’ project includes interesting information about the trees found on site, their uses, their history and folklore. The aim is to develop a tree trail which will take paths through the woodland marking specific trees with a code to reach details for each tree. Look out for this as it comes on stream. Several new indigenous ‘species trees’ have been planted on the heliport field to complement the urban wild life area on the hillside where the grass has been left unmown. These will provide shade and add interest to the area.

Bird life and small mammals are regularly monitored through the RSPB dawn chorus walk in early May and the small mammal live trapping exercise by the Sorby Natural History Society. The Friends Group has established wild flower meadows which are spreading along the ridge in the area of the top viewpoint. In addition to heritage walks, the Friends Group leads interesting wild flower walks explaining historical and medicinal uses for the wealth of wild flowers and plants we may not otherwise notice. Many insects, butterflies and moths rely on such plants for shelter and a food source.

There are tadpoles to see in the ponds and in some of the new water features along the new tracks, while birds of prey, resident and migrant birds nest and fly overhead. The fungi walk has discovered a wide range of fungi growing over the meadows and woodland including some rare species and delightful ‘Scarlet Elf Cups.’

From waste land to the rich natural environment it is today, Parkwood Springs has come full circle. This time it can be the province of the community and not just the reserve for the privileged and wealthy.

But it is now the responsibility of the whole community to ensure that as a Country Park it meets the needs of the community and can be protected to provide a welcoming green space so close to the city centre, conserving wildlife for everyone to enjoy - encouraging people to value and be proud of ‘Our Country Park in the City.’
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Whether people walk, cycle or run, use prams or wheel chairs, come for guided walks, picnics or a coffee, we hope Parkwood Springs will work the magic of centuries to inspire and refresh, restore, reinvigorate and offer a sense of wellbeing and good health to all who visit.

But please take your litter home, refrain from barbecues and lighting fires and leave only your footsteps!
 
Carol Schofield
Updated September 2024
Friends of Parkwood Springs
1 Comment

7/1/2024 1 Comment

Tree of the month: January 2024 - Ivy

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Ivy grows prolifically in shaded areas and in poor soils, be they wet, dry or acidic. Our native common Ivy changes form depending on where it is growing. As ground-cover and when adhering to tree-trunks, walls and other structures the leaves are 3 or 5 lobed on short stems. In this form, Ivy has no flowers or fruits but the dense cover, while capable of crowding out other plants, can provide valuable nesting sites and protection for insects, birds and small mammals, including bats.

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As the stems grow higher and stronger (it can grow up to 30m and become a tree in itself) the aerial roots thicken and are more self-supporting. The stems branch out, the leaves change shape becoming ‘entire’ with no lobes, and can produce flowers in late autumn. The clusters of flowers (‘umbels’) support a wide range of insects, especially those like Red Admiral that feed up to overwinter as adults. Flowers ripen into fruits in winter, food for many birds.

Contrary to common belief, Ivy does not damage trees. Research by Oxford University for Kew Gardens in 2017 showed that, unless there are crevices into which the aerial roots and stems penetrate, Ivy can protect some buildings. It can buffer structures and habitats against temperature extremes and humidity, reducing frost damage, while also protecting from damage by small-particle pollution.
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Insects benefitting from Ivy: Many of the 50+ species supported by Ivy are insects, which feed on the very valuable nectar and pollen rich flowers that appear in late autumn and early winter, when there are few other flowers out. The Ivy Bee has only been recorded in the UK since 2001 and is quickly spreading north but many bees, flies, hoverflies, wasps, and the Hornet all take advantage of this late food-source.

All the Butterflies that overwinter in the UK as adults - the Comma, Small Tortoiseshell, Red Admiral, Peacock and Brimstone - can be seen feeding-up on Ivy flowers ready for winter. Insects don’t actually hibernate but they go into dormancy when it falls below 10°C, some emerging in warm weather to feed up again.

The second brood of the Holly Blue butterfly caterpillars feed on Ivy flowers and the caterpillars of moths like Angle-shades, Small Dusty Wave and the Swallowtail moth feed on Ivy leaves.
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The value of the Ivy to birds: Blackbirds, other members of the thrush family, the Starling, Woodpigeon and Blackcap all benefit from Ivy berries which are ripe over winter when there are fewer other high-energy high-fat berries around. Other birds shelter or nest in dense Ivy cover on trees and buildings. Insect-eating birds like the Wren benefit from the insulating effect of dense Ivy growth. During cold periods, insects are more likely to survive under Ivy than elsewhere.

Other invertebrates, such as Ladybirds and spiders feed on the tiny insects attracted to Ivy flowers. A patch of Ivy flowers in the autumn sun is ofter buzzing with many species of wildlife.
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Myths and symbolism of Ivy: There are many, sometimes contradictory, claims made for Ivy by early cultures. Some link to its evergreen (‘immortal’) character. For ancient Egyptians the Ivy is sacred to Osiris who was believed to have been resurrected after death. The ‘everlasting’ quality has represented fidelity and some echo this ancient belief by including a spray of Ivy in their wedding bouquets.

Romans celebrated special achievement with this plant, presenting successful poets and athletes with a wreath of Ivy.

Ivy and alcohol: For the ancient Greeks, more from hope than experience we assume, the longlasting and ‘cooling’ properties of Ivy led to the belief that wearing a wreath of Ivy would prevent intoxication from the ‘fleeting’ impact of wine. The Greek god Dionysus, renamed Bacchus by the Romans, is the god of wine and ecstasy. He was represented in images and sculptures adorned with a wreath of Ivy and Grapes. The Ivy wreath was believed to be sufficient to prevent intoxication! This representation was also very popular in the 15th and 16th century, used by artists including Caravaggio and Michelangelo. Pliny the Elder (AD 23-79), an early nature recorder, (the writer of ‘Nature History’) who also believed trees to be earth’s richest bounty, the temples for the gods, wrote “a vessel made of this (Ivy) wood will let wine pass through it, while water will remain” indicating that Ivy was used at this time to authenticate the purity of wine.
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Ivy in traditional medicine: Ivy, a member of the ginseng family, has long been used to treat medical conditions, and is still in use by some for respiratory tract infection, catarrh and coughs. It contains saponins and anti-inflammatory substances and is available in over-the-counter form in many European countries. It is thought to purify the air in homes, especially from mould spores and allergens, and is listed by NASA as one of the 18 most useful indoor air purifiers.

The Ivy in literature: Although Ivy wood is a fine-grained and lightcoloured wood it does not have many uses as timber, although thicker stems and trunks can be used for carving of small items like chesspieces and ornaments, or for whittling. However Ivy has been drawn on by many writers and poets due to its character and symbolism. As in the myths associated with Ivy, what it symbolises varies considerably. Shakespeare uses it in different ways. In The Tempest it represents a parasite, sucking out life, clearly a myth prevailing at that time as well as today. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream it represents encircling love- the enchanted Titania says to Bottom “the female Ivy so enrings the barky fingers of the elm. Oh how I love thee, how I dote on thee”. The elm as male and the female as Ivy, clinging round the elm was a common metaphor for a loving relationship in Shakespeare’s time.
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James Joyce, in his short story “Ivy Day in the Committee Room” is drawing on the custom of wearing an Ivy leaf in recognition of the Irish Nationalist politician Charles Stewart Parnell.

There was a tradition of wearing an Ivy leaf in the lapel on Ivy Day (6th October). Joyce is referencing the wearing of an ivy leaf is to represent striving for the ideals represented by Parnell. In the story he is clear that, in his view, contemporary politicians, fell short of these ideals.

John Clare in “To the Ivy” writes:
“Dark creeping ivy with thy berries brown
That fondly twist on ruins all their own,
Old spire-points studding with a leafy crown
Which every minute threatens to dethrone,
Wreathes picturesque around some ancient tree
That bows his branches by some fountain-side:
Then sweet it is from summer suns to be,
With thy green darkness overshadowing me”
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3/12/2023 0 Comments

Tree of the month: December 2023 - Holly

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Perhaps the most easily recognised of all our native trees the Holly grows in most soils except those that are very wet. The native form, slow growing, can reach a height of 20 metres and live for 300 years. Holly often occurs as a tree in old hedgerows because, in the past, it was considered bad luck to cut it down. There are many decorative forms which are often planted in gardens and parks- they can have the classic prickly leaves or be smooth, have the dark-green glossy leaves of our native trees or be variegated silver or gold.

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The Holly has small, slightly scented four-petalled flowers in spring. Male and female flowers grow on different trees. Bees are the main pollinators. Feeding on the nectar and pollen on a male tree they inadvertently carry the pollen onto the female tree, pollinating the flowers which then produce the iconic red berries of winter.

Place-names: The old names for Holly include Holm and Hollin (Old English ‘holegn’- to prick), names which live on in several Sheffield place-names.
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Wildlife value of Holly: Although poisonous to us, the bright berries of Holly are a great source of food for our birds, especially the Thrush family which includes the Blackbird, Song and Mistle Thrush, and the winter visitors, Redwing and Fieldfare. Mistle Thrushes will often guard a laden tree, protecting the berries for themselves and chasing off all-comers. Small mammals also feed on the berries.

You may see evidence, on the leaves, of the Holly leaf-miner fly, but the best known wildlife of Holly is the beautiful, tiny Holly Blue Butterfly. The butterfly itself is our most widespread Blue butterfly and flies rapidly, usually a few feet off the ground, seeking flowers rich in nectar. It is the first brood of caterpillars which feed on the Holly flowers - the later brood feeds on the flowers of the Ivy.
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Holly leaves as fodder: Holly leaves are highly nutritious and used to be cut for animal fodder, especially for sheep but also for cattle and deer.

Holly and Parkwood Springs: Parkwood Springs was once part of a Deer Park so it is very likely that Holly growed in groves for fodder (hollins), which would have been a feature of our ‘country park in the city’. Holly was also grown in dense hedges or enclosures (‘hags’ or ‘hags of hollins’) in deer-parks to aid the round-up of deer for herd-management, for hunting or just for food.

Holly leaves are very prickly but it is usually the lower branches of our native trees that have the prickliest leaves, evolved specifically to deter such grazing. Mostly, in the wild, the upper branches have much smoother leaves and it is from these higher parts that holly branches were cut to supplement fodder, especially when grass was too frozen for grazing.
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Other Human Uses for Holly: Holly wood is hard, fine-grained, and white. It has been used in cabinet-work, marquetry and engraving. It is also commonly used to make walking sticks and broom-handles, for wood-turning and in Lancashire it was prized for making bobbins for the cotton-mills. Such stable wood, it was used to make mathematical instruments. Bird-lime was prepared from the inner bark and as fire-wood it burns with a high heat. The leaves have been used to treat colds and fevers, and as a diuretic.

Symbols and Myths: In Norse mythology Holly was associated with thunder and the God Thor. It was planted near dwellings as a protection against lightening.

The Druids and Celts viewed the evergreen leaves and long-lasting berries as magical, signifying eternity and ensuring the arrival of spring. Celts believed the ‘twins’ Holly and Oak were engaged in a battle to rule the woods - mighty Oak ruled the summer but, when oak leaves dropped, Holly won the battle for winter. Druids believed that Holly protected from evil spirits, goblins and witches so bringing Holly indoors would protect the residents while also sheltering fairies from the cold. It was hoped the fairies would then be kind to the householders. Bathing young babies in water from the leaves was believed to protect them from harm.
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Christianity adapted pre-existing beliefs, interpreting the red berries and prickly leaves as the blood of Jesus in a crown of thorns. Holly has been used to decorate houses and churches in winter for millennia - as children we walked the woods collecting holly to decorate the house every year. Wreaths still adorn many homes and front doors over the 12 days of Christmas.

In Stowe’s ‘Survey of London” 1598 it states:
‘every man’s house…..the corners of every street were decorated with holme (holly)’.

The carol ‘The Holly and the Ivy’ is still a favourite. People also still claim that a heavy crop of holly berries means a cold winter ahead although it is actually due to conditions prevailing the previous summer.

The Holly in poetry:
Perhaps it is no surprise that the Holly appears in many poems, a few extracts of which are included here:
Robert Burns: The Vision -
‘Green, slender, leaf-clad holly boughs
Were twisted, gracefu’, round her brows;
I took her for some Scottish Muse,
By that same token;
And come to stop those reckless vows,
Would soon be broken….’.
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Thomas Hardy: Birds at Winter Nightfall
‘…around the house the flakes fly faster,
And all the berries now are gone
From holly and cotoneaster
Around the house.
The flakes fly! - faster’

John Betjeman: Christmas
‘…The holly in the windy hedge
And round the Manor House the yew
Will soon be stripped to deck the ledge,
The altar, font and arch and pew,
So that the villagers can say
‘the church looks nice’ on Christmas day..’
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30/10/2023 1 Comment

Tree of the month: November 2023 - Whitebeam

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The native Whitebeam is seldom found in the wild but there are several species grown for ornamental planting, especially the Swedish Whitebeam common on Parkwood Springs. Related to the Rowan, the Whitebeam is a tough, easy-to-grow tree whose leaves and berries often linger on into early winter. A small, domed tree that grows up to 15 metres and lives to about 50 years, with dense clusters of white 5-petalled flowers in spring, deep red berries in autumn, and deep-green, glossy leaves it is easy to see why it is so popular for planting along our streets and in our parks. In some parts of the country Whitebeam goes by the name ‘Chess Apple Tree’.
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​The Whitebeam gets its name from the Anglo-Saxon - beam meaning wood and white from the thick white felting of hairs on the back of the leaves. These hairs give it a silvery appearance, especially in spring or when the breeze moves its branches. The white hairs also help explain its widespread planting - the hairs both conserve moisture and help the tree grow well in areas of high pollution, such as roadsides, carparks and industrial estates.

​Wildlife value of Whitebeam: The mass of Whitebeam flowers in spring are an important source of food for many pollinators while the berries, which stay on the tree until early winter, are food for deer, small mammals and many birds.

The leaves are home to several invertebrates, including the larvae of the Hawthorn Red Midget and the Short-cloaked Moth, several Butterfly caterpillars and leaf-miners.
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​Human uses of the Whitebeam: The density and longevity of the wood led to it being used to make frictionresistant machine parts before the common use of iron, including wheels, and cogs. More recently it is valued for wood-turning, axe handles and furnituremaking.

The fruit is fairly tart and can be eaten raw or made into a jelly or juice. The seeds are rich in fats.

In Germany the Whitebeam is known as Mehlberre - ‘meal-berry’ - and the fruit was ground for use as a substitute for grain or flour when grain harvests were poor. The dried fruit was also used as a substitute for raisins.

​Medicinal Use: As well as a food source the Whitebeam has been used in traditional medicines. An antioxidant, it was used to treat kidney disorders and constipation among other conditions. It is the subject of ongoing phytochemical research.
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​Symbolism and mythology of the Whitebeam: Due to the resilience of the Whitebeam it symbolised strength, endurance and tenacity, especially in Sweden.

The Anglo-Saxons used it as a boundary marker in hedgerows. It was also seen as magical, with staffs and wands from the Whitebeam used to conjure spells.

​The Whitebeam in literature:
The felted, white hairs of the undersides on the leaves inspired one of our greatest Victorian poets, Gerard Manley Hopkins (b. 1844).
In “The Starlight Night” he writes:
“Look at the stars! Look, look up at the skies!
O look at all the fire-folk sitting in the air!
The bright boroughs, the circle-citadels there!
Down in dim woods the diamond delves, the elves’ eyes!
The grey lawns cold where gold, where quick-gold lies!
Wind-beat Whitebeam!”
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​Another Victorian poet and novelist, George Meredith, (b1828), in “Love in the Valley” referenced this silver-white colouring, especially obvious in young leaves, writing: “Flashing as in gusts, the sudden-lighted whitebeam”.

Richard Mabey, in his wonderful book “Flora Britannica”, thinks that John Evelyn, writing of the Service tree in 1670, may actually have been writing of the Whitebeam which didn’t get this name until the 18th century. Evelyn wrote: “The Service gives the Husbandman an early presage of the approaching spring, by extending his adorned Buds for a peculiar entertainment, and dares peep out in the severest Winters”. The tree was often known as the Service tree in the past.
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6/10/2023 0 Comments

Tree of the month: October 2023 - Sweet Chestnut

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The Sweet Chestnut, thought to be introduced to England by the Romans from its native home in the Mediterranean, can live to 700 years and reach a height of 35 metres. After about 25 years it starts to produce the distinctive prickly burrs which contain the edible Chestnut. Most of our Chestnuts are imported but going chestnutting in October is a great foraging activity. Young trees have a smooth, grey bark while on veterans it becomes deeply fissured and twisted.

​The tree can grow well on poor soils and in many areas, including on Parkwood Springs, it has been coppiced to produce a multi-stemmed tree. Sweet Chestnut is important for wildlife and has been a valuable wood for many centuries. Sweet Chestnut leaves are glossy, and deeply serrated. Both male and female flowers grow on the same tree.
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​The Wildlife value of Sweet Chestnut:
Many insects benefit from the pollen on the long, male flowers of Sweet Chestnut but the leaves are of even more value to other invertebrates - the caterpillars of over 70 of our 2,500 species of Moths feed on Chestnut leaves. This includes species like Green Silver-lines and the Yellow-tail, the Bordered Sallow, Clay Fan-foot and Yellow-legged Clearwing. Worryingly the Oriental Chestnut gall-wasp is proving a threat to the trees in the UK and in 10 secret locations parasitic wasps have been released and are being monitored to see if they can reduce the risk.

​The nutritious Chestnuts provide a valuable food source for Jays, Wild Boar, Deer, Squirrels, Badgers and Mice among many other birds and animals, including the newly - and noisily - arrived colonisers in our area - Ring-necked Parakeets.
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​Roe Deer are increasingly seen on Parkwood Springs, especially at dawn and dusk. They will benefit from food like Chestnuts and young leaves and twigs but also could prove problematic for our planned new young trees and hedges.

​Uses of Sweet Chestnut as a food:
The Romans used Sweet Chestnuts as a staple food and, although there is no definitive evidence they brought it to England, they are believed to have done so. Chestnuts are the nuts with the highest level of vitamin C, and are gluten-free and low in cholesterol. As well as eating Chestnuts whole, the Romans ground them into flour and meal, and gave chestnut porridge to their soldiers before they went into battle. Corsican polenta was made with chestnut flour.

We still use chestnuts in many recipes - for stuffing, soups, nut-roasts as well as roasted, boiled and eaten raw whole. Roasted Chestnuts were a common, nutritious food sold on Victorian streets.
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Chestnut Coppicing:
Chestnut is one of the main trees, along with Hazel and Hornbeam, that has been coppiced for centuries. Many old coppices are now ancient woodlands. In coppicing, trees are cut at their base, producing multiple-stems.

A chestnut is coppiced by cutting stands of woods in sequence every 7-14 years, producing a completely renewable source of timber. As biodiversity is also higher on woodland edges and glades, where the light enters, coppices are also one of the best ecosystems for diverse woodland, birds, flowers and insects. Many unmanaged woodlands are, by contrast, becoming too dense and shaded for many species to thrive.

​This renewable chestnut wood crop has had many uses over the centuries.

Charcoal made from sweet chestnut fractures with many facets so heats really well. The charcoal was valuable for activities like iron-smelting and hopdrying.

Chestnut timber is light, strong and straight-grained, and was used extensively for pit-props, hop-poles etc in the past. Being weather-resistant it is still in demand for fence-posts, railwaysleepers, furniture and roofing, and in children’s playgrounds.
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​Herbal uses and symbolism:
The bark, leaves, flowers and nuts have been used as a strengthening and calming herb, and to treat stiff joints. The nuts have antioxidant properties and are high in fibre.

The tree symbolises strength, abundance and longevity. To the ancient Greek it was known as the ‘acorn of Zeus’.

Harvesting English Sweet Chestnuts:
Here’s a tip if you want to forage for English Chestnuts - wait until the spiky burrs fall and are bursting open. Open carefully with gloves or boots to avoid getting the spines in your hands, or search in the leaves for those that have already fallen out of their prickly casing. Take off the outer skin of the nut, visible in the photo. The inner skins are astringent so I prefer foraging for those that still have white bases, as the soft inner skins peel easily from these. Peel off the outer skin and scrape off the inner skin for a delicious snack- or roast or boil at home.
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​John Clare: The Winter’s Come
Sweet chestnuts brown, like coming leather turn;
The larch trees, like the colour of the sun;
That paled sky in the Autumn seemed to burn,
What a strange scene before us now does run
Red, brown and yellow, russet, black and dun;
White thorn, wild cherry, and the poplar bare;
The sycamore all withered in the sun.
No leaves are now upon the birch tree there:
All now is stript to the cold wintry air.

Shakespeare has the first witch in Macbeth say:
“A sailor’s wife had chestnuts in her lap
And munched and munched and munched…”
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4/9/2023 0 Comments

Tree of the month: September 2023 - Elder

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The Elder can grow to a height of 15 metres and live up to 60 years. The bark is greybrown and deeply ridged. Elder grows particularly well where nitrogen levels in the soil are high from the presence of organic matter - farmyards, churchyards, badger sets and rabbit warrens for example.

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​It is a quick coloniser, often spreading from seeds ejected by small and large mammals and birds that have been feasting on its autumn berries.

​All parts - the wood, leaves, flowers and berries -have a very distinctive scent. There are some more decorative varieties that can be grown in gardens or parks. Sambucus ‘Black Lace’ is one with deep purple leaves.
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Wildlife value of Elder:
Some rodents, including Bank-voles, Dormice, Badgers and Squirrels will eat both the flowers and berries of the Elder tree.

The large, flat flower-heads of early summer provide pollen and nectar for many insects and the rich autumn berries are a great food for many birds through autumn, including Thrush, Blackbird, Warblers and Wood Pigeons.

Animals and birds eating the berries then scatter the hard seeds far and wide through their droppings, which helps to spread this common tree around new sites.

Often unnoticed by us one of the great wildlife values of Elder, as with many other plants and trees, is the food they provide for the caterpillars of several species of moths. The Elder is a host tree for the Dot, the beautiful Buff Ermine and the Swallowtail among others.

Food and drink:
Elderflowers have long been gathered to make cordial or the ‘country champagne’ sparkling Elderflower. The natural yeasts on the flowers produce the ‘fizz’. Commonly available in shops these are also easy to make using just a few, fresh heads of flowers.

The berries, rich in vitamin C, can be used to make a syrup called ‘Elderberry Rob’ which can also be diluted for a nutritious, tasty, healthy drink, hot or cold. The fruit can also be used to make jelly, jam, chutney, wine, or be put in pies.

NOTE: All green parts of the plant are toxic, as are the unripe fruits which can be metabolised by our bodies to produce small quantities of cyanide so make sure they are ripe - they are safe when cooked.

Insect repellent: The strong scent meant it was used as a strewing herb on floors, hung on horses manes and planted outside dairies to deter flies and fleas.

Herbal uses: Known as the “medicine chest of the people” the elder has long been used to treat many conditions, especially coughs and chest complaints, from a tea made of the flowers. Juice from the berries has microbial properties. Elder has been made into a cream to treat chilblains, bruises and wounds.

John Evelyn, the 17th century diarist, claimed it worked “against all infirmities” which may have been rather overstating the case!
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Other uses for Elder Wood:
Elder wood is creamy-white and hard and has been used to make small toys, combs, wooden spoons, pegs, skewers and several sorts of musical instruments, including chanters, whistles and pipes. The ancient Greek, Pliny the Elder, talks of elder wood being used to make the sackbut - an early instrument whose name derives from Sambucus, now the scientific name for Elder. Both Pliny (AD 77) and Culpeper (17th century) refer to the frequent use of Elder by children to make pop-guns and peashooters and the twigs are also easily made into straws.

The common name for Elder was Bore-wood from to the soft pith that runs through Elder twigs and branches. The ease with which this pith can be removed, to hollow out a straight length of elder twig or branch, has led to many of the above uses. It’s fun to do with children, though needs careful use of a skewer, pointed stick or piece of metal so it’s best to help young children do this or first let them watch while you learn how to do it!

Use of Elder pith: The soft pith has been used to hold botanical specimens while they are being sectioned and to make fishing floats.

Elder pith was also used to remove oil from the tips of tools to prevent contamination of watch movements.

Dyeing with Elder: Elder is a valuable source of dyes. Traditional Harris Tweed was dyed using a range of parts of the tree. The berries create a bluepurple range of colours, the leaves yield yellow and green and the bark, dark browns and black.

The symbolism of Elder: Because it can grow readily from dropped seeds the Elder is associated with regeneration, birth and death, transformations and also the crossing of thresholds. Countryfolk thought you should plant Rowan by your front door and Elder by your back door to provide maximum protection from harmful spirits. The fact that the wood spits when burnt also led it to be associated with the devil. There was a taboo on burning Elder.
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Myths and Legends of Elder:
White flowers were often associated with ‘Faeries’ and the Elder is no exception. One of the best places to encounter a fairy was believed to be beneath an Elder tree on Midsummers-Eve. That was the time the King and Queen of the Faeries were thought to process-by but falling asleep under an Elder was felt to bring bad luck, maybe because the smell can be slightly toxic. And the taboo against burning Elder wood may be because a little cyanide gas could be released from the burning wood.

The Anglo-Saxons and Druids held Elder to be a sacred tree - the tree of the thirteenth month, associated with Samhain, or Halloween. This was symbolically the end of the agricultural year and when the veil between the living and the dead was believed to be at its thinnest.

The Elder in literature:
Hans Christian Anderson’s story “The Elder-tree Mother” begins with a boy drinking elderflower tea, when an Elder tree grows out of the teapot.

Ancient legend links the Elder with the tree on which Jesus was hanged. An anonymous classic poem goes:
“Bourtree, bourtree, crookit rung,
Never straight and never strong,
Ever bush and never tree
Since our Lord was nailed to thee”
Subsequently Shakespeare, in Love’s Labours Lost, popularised this association of the Elder with the tree on which Jesus was hanged. However, in Cymbeline he associates the “stinking elder” with grief:
“And let the stinking elder, grief, untwine,
His perishing root with the increasing vine”.
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Wordsworth, in The Kitten, was rather more whimsical:
“See the kitten on the wall, sporting with the leaves that fall
Withered leaves - one, two and three, from the lofty elder tree
Through the calm and frosty air, of this morning bright & fair”.
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30/7/2023 0 Comments

Tree of the month: August 2023 - Rowan/Mountain Ash

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The Rowan Tree is a quick-growing, widespread tree of the Sorbus family, that can survive in many different conditions including wasteland, scree, and on cliffs. Its common name - Mountain Ash - derives from its ability to grow up to 1,000 metres above sea level, even surviving in crevices and cracks in rocks.

The Rowan can live up to 200 years and grow to a height of 15 metres, though on scree and rock-faces it may be much smaller.

Many species other than the native Rowan can be seen in parks, estates, gardens and planted along roadsides.
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​In spring the Rowan has masses of creamywhite flowers, very valuable food sources for pollinators, while the orange-red berries, ripening in autumn, are rich in vitamins, providing important food-sources for many species of birds and animals. Its distinctive, serrated leaves grow in five to eight pairs along a slender stem, and are a food source for several moth caterpillars.

Wildlife value of the Rowan:
The mass of sweet-scented, creamy flowers in spring provide food for many insects. Bees, flies and especially beetle species feed on the flowers, including Longhorn, Click, Sap and Scarab Beetles. Not having pollen sacs these insects inadvertently gather the pollen on their bodies. Moving from flower to flower and tree to tree they then pollinate them as they feed.

The caterpillars of several species of moths feed on the leaves, including the Welsh Wave Moth and the Green Carpet Moth.

When the mass of berries ripen in autumn a range of birds, especially those of the Thrush family (which includes Blackbirds and our overwintering visitors - Redwing and Fieldfare), gorge on the berries. The indigestible seeds inside are then deposited much further afield, helping to spread the Rowan widely.

A range of animals feed on the young shoots and seedlings of Rowan, including deer, hares, voles and slugs. The fact that it is a fast growing tree helps many seedlings survive grazing.
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Human uses of Rowan: The wood is hard and has an elastic quality which made it useful for baskets, crates, cartwheels, divining rods, spinning wheels and spindles. It is also popular for walking sticks and was used as a threshing tool in the Scottish Highlands, where it was especially valued for threshing grain for rituals, due to its folklore associations (see below). It is good for carving and its durability meant it was often used for tool handles. The berries are still used for a strong alcoholic drink in the Highlands, while the Irish used them to flavour mead and the Welsh used them in ale. A black dye can be made from berries and bark.

Rowan Jelly:
Gather 1.5 kg of Rowan Berries (best after frost or when fully ripe)
1.5kg of crab apple or Bramley apple cores
450 g of white sugar for every 600ml of strained liquid.
Juice of 1 lemon.
Roughly chop apples and put in large pan with rowan berries. Just cover with water.
Bring to boil and simmer until soft (around 20 minutes).
Lay muslin or soft cloth over a large bowl and tip the contents of the pan into the cloth. Tie the cloth ends and hang it over the now empty pan for at least four hours, or overnight, so it slowly drips in. (To do this secure the cloth on string from a, chair or piece of wood etc so the tied cloth hangs free over the pan).
For every 600 ml of strained liquid, add 450g of sugar and the juice of the lemon. Boil rapidly for around 10 minutes or until setting point is reached. Put in sterilised jars. Seal.
The berries can also be used for pies, vinegar and ketchup. The flowers can be infused in drinks and the sap is edible.
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Herbal uses include:
Treating stomach disorders and bleeding, and to treat asthma. The leaves have been used to treat sore eyes.

The Rowan in mythology and folklore:
In Norse mythology the first woman was fashioned from Rowan, the first man from Ash. The life of the god Thor is said to have been saved by a Rowan. When he was swept away in the Underworld by a fast-flowing river, he was able to grab a Rowan tree that was growing bent over the river and so save himself. Rowans that grow out of crevices in rocks were known as ‘flying Rowan’ and thought to be especially magical and the Rowan was the tree on which runes were inscribed for the purposes of divination.

It has a long association with witches and magic. Each berry has a five-pointed star at its tip (the sepal remnants) and pentagons were a protective symbol. The red of the berries also led to its association with protection from evil spirits. The white blossom meant it was seen as the ‘faerie tree’.
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Rowan myths:
Old rhyme: “Rowan tree and red thread
Make the witches tine (lose) their speed”.
In some Celtic cultures it was taboo to use a knife on a Rowan. On the Isle of Man crosses made from Rowan twigs, made without using a knife, were fastened to cattle for protection from evil spirits and on Mayday Eve, hung on door lintels for protection. It was taboo in Scotland to cut down a Rowan and sprigs were worn as protection from enchantments. Milk was stirred with Rowan twigs to prevent it curdling.

Some Scottish place names derive from the Gaelic name for Rowan- Caorunn, as in Beinn Chaorunn. The clan badge of the Malcom’s and McLachan’s includes a Rowan.

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Thrushes in the Rowan Tree by Maureen Boyle
The very day the rowan berries ripen, thrushes fly in, stately and speckled, as if summoned there… Acrobats in motley, they swing making lithe lines of branches, stretching - somersaulting out to reach the berries - each red drop held in the beak before it falls to add to the marbled bags of their bellies.

Carolina Oliphant: Scottish song-writer, 1766-1845
Oh Rowan tree, oh Rowan tree thou’ll aye be dear to me
Intwin’d thou art wi’ many ties o’ hame and infancy
Thy leaves were aye the first o’ spring,
Thy flow’rs the simmer’s pride;
There was nae sic a bonny tree, in a’ the countryside.
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Of the many cultivated species of Rowan those with orange and yellow berries keep their berries longer so are good as a later food for birds and animals. Some, like Joseph Rock, also have leaves with rich autumn colours.
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13/7/2023 0 Comments

Insects on the Meadow

Some insects (and spiders) you can see on the new meadows by the viewpoint and around the Parkwood Springs site in the summer.

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