Welcome Wood HIGHGATE WOOD HIGHGATE
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to HighgateWelcome Wood HIGHGATE WOOD HIGHGATE Highgate Wood is a 28 hectare (70 acre) area of Highgate Wood is one of a number of open spaces, ancient woodland in North London. It was originally parks and gardens in and around London owned and WOOD part of the Ancient Forest of Middlesex which covered managed by the Corporation of London as part of its much of London, Hertfordshire and Essex and was commitment to sustaining a world class city. Each mentioned in the Domesday Book. The plant and open space is a unique resource managed for the use animal species found here today have evolved and enjoyment of the public and for the conservation naturally since the last ice age and have been of wildlife and historic landscape. A full list of sites managed to varying degrees by humans through the and visitor information can be found on our website ages. at www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/openspaces or by contacting the Open Spaces Directorate on Activities and events 020 7606 3030. Throughout the year, we run seasonal and species- specific walks and events and invite schools to visit. You can obtain a copy of our events diary and our bi- annual newsletter free from our information centre, which also provides trail guide leaflets and more information on wildlife and history. You can also enjoy lunch or a snack at the café, have fun in our award winning children’s playground, play or sunbathe on the playing field, or watch organised cricket or football matches. There is a small car-park for disabled drivers and a disabled toilet next to the café, and the paths are suitable for wheelchairs and pushchairs. Other vehicles are not allowed into the wood. Open spaces allow lazy summer enjoyment Story telling tree eve For further info please contact: nt The Manager (or any of the woodkeepers) Highgate Wood, Muswell Hill Rd, London N10 3JN Tel: 0208 444 6129 FAX 0208 883 9815. Picture credits: Cindy Blaney, Gilbert Chung, Mike Hammerson Leisler’s Bat illustration by Tom McOwat, courtesy of the Bat Conservation Trust. PRINTED ON PAPER FROM SUSTAINABLY MANAGED FORESTS Leisler’s Bat, Wood Anemone Nyctalus leisleri development. As a result of a local campaign headed of an Ancient by the chairman of the Hornsey School and Local History Board, Henry Reader Williams, and given much space Woodland in The Times newspaper, The Ecclesiastical Com- Conservation missioners offered the wood to the Corporation of Prehistoric flints have been found in the wood. London as a gift in February, 1885. This offer was Today, with the high, dense canopy of mostly mature Excavations on the ridge at the northern end of the accepted in 1886 and the wood was declared “open Areas trees and the ever-increasing numbers of visitors, the wood established that Romano-Britons were produc- for the use and recreation of the public for ever” on ground flora and undergrowth has suffered. We ing pottery from local materials between AD 50-100. October 30. Since that time the costs of managing the wood have been met from the Corporation’s own continue to remedy this situation by creating small During the Medieval Period, the wood was part of the private resources, at no cost to the public. conservation areas (up to one acre in size) Bishop of London’s hunting estate. It is possible that every five years, so that each one has a an ancient earthwork that runs across the wood different age range of developing trees. You Veter formed part of an enclosure for deer during that can find them on the map. They are fenced an O ak time. However it could also be a prehistoric an oasis for for ten years to stop accesss so that the boundary or defensive work. woodland has the opportunity to regenerate itself, and this is supplemented by planting a Between the 16th and 18th centuries variety of wild flowers and bulbs. the wood was leased to various Snake’s Head ildlife Importance of age and decay tenants who managed it as Highgate Wood is anW important oasis for wildlife in a Fritillary ‘coppice with standards’. This busy area of London. Its importance was recognised in It is the Corporation of London’s policy to encourage involved regularly cutting down October 1990 when it was designated as a site of wildlife by protecting older trees and leaving branches areas of Hornbeams to a stump Bluebells Metropolitan Importance. It is visited by a large and logs lying in the wood to provide food and (which is ‘coppicing’) to en- number of birds, and at least 30 different species habitat. Research into the variety of invertebrate courage new growth which breed here regularly. Seven species of bat have been species has identified 978 different species so far, and could be harvested for use as fuel recorded and there are roosts in many of the oaks. Bat the wood ranks 26th in the country for dead-wood or fencing, whilst allowing Oak and bird boxes are put up as well to provide additional invertebrate importance. and other tree species to grow to roosting/nesting places and to An Elephant Hawk Moth There is a wide variety of fungi, many of which are maturity (known as ‘standards’). in the wood in 2002 monitor bat populations. associated with old trees and some of which area Remnants of wood banks dividing Regular moth surveys have nted epla are quite rare. They all contribute to ly r these areas can still be seen. Many of identified 263 different species ew a n the wood’s ecology and visitors in these oaks were then used by the Crown to between 1985 and 2002. There ts ta are asked not to pick any bi construct ships and by the Church to construct are more than 50 species of ha Jay al fungus as over-picking ti n buildings. trees and shrubs in Highgate e ss could damage some e wood. Oak, Hornbeam and e id An open space for ever populations. v Holly are the most common. Mycena ro p In the 1880s the last tenant Hornbeam regrowing Pura s You can also find the wild g from a coppiced stump lo gave up his lease. By that time, n service tree (Sorbus torminalis), e ll a railway development skirted f which is considered to be an d n the area. The local community a indicator of the Wood’s ancient t u feared that the wood might origin. C be sold off for building Great spotted woodpecker at its nest hole Based upon the Ordnance Survey mapping with permission of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. ©Crown copyright. Unauthorised reproduction infringes crown copyright and may lead to prosecution or civil proceedings. Corporation of London 087254 - 2003. This mapping is provided by the Corporation of London under licence from the Ordnance Survey in order to fulfil its function to maintain and promote its open spaces for the recreation and enjoyment of the public. Persons viewing this map should contact Ordnance Survey Copyright for advice where they wish to licence Ordnance Survey mapping for their own use. S N O S South Close ns um W oodland Gardens l WE o m W w ersb Wood Lane Parkland walk to oodland Rise Lodge G Gate Finsbury Park a y R ardens r d e o n ad Parkland walk s Highgate to Alexandra Park Onslow Underground and Palace ranley G New C Gate Muswell Hill Road Gate Station Cranley Musw 43 ell H Gate ill R Gypsy 134 oad Gate 43 To Keeper's 134 Muswell Cottage To Highgate Hill Village and Cemetery Coppiced Wood bank Coppiced 2002 Footpath 1997 263 Cleared k r o 1992 w h t r a e t n ie Drinking c n fountain Keeper's A Cottage Wood bank Bird School feeders hung in k n trees a b d o oad o Keeper's Bishops R W Cottages Wildlife Café and information hut Cleared Changing rooms Archway 1981 Gate Keeper's Cottages Church Road W o o d SPORTS s i GROUND d Bridge Cleared e Gate 1987 A The v e Hollies n u (bird sanctuary) e Holt Close oad A1 Archway Road Talbot R Capital Ring route Disabled parking Footpath To Refreshments London Underground storage line Cleared Cricket Hampstead 1977 practice Heath Toilet/disabled toilet D nets isu se 43 d r Bus route ailw 134 ay line - n London Underground station o p ubl ic ac cess Holly, Woodland and scrub Lanchester Road 263 The café in Highgate Wood Area where wild bluebells thrive Made footpaths Site of ancient pottery kilns AD 50-150 To East Finchley To East Finchley Fenced-off conservation areas and the years they were enclosed* Cricket pitch Parents and children’s area Wildlife information hut Football pitch Playground * In all but the 1987 area, which is a permanent reserve, fences are removed after 10 years, to allow tree regeneration. 0 200 metres Highgate Wood.