U3A WTT Ulverscroft Stuart Galloway Route Summary A circular walk taking in Copt Oak, Ulverscroft nature reserve and Priory and Stoneywell National Trust. Route Overview Category: Walking Length: 7.430 km / 4.64 mi Last Modified: 5th April 2016 Difficulty: Medium Rating: Unrated Surface: Average Date Published: 5th April 2016 Description The route starts and finishes at Ulverscroft Grange, Whitwick Road, Ulverscroft LE67 9QB Waypoints Ulverscroft Grange (52.70144; -1.28507) In 2011 the Grange opened to the public as Ulverscroft Grange, Wellbeing and Community Centre. It is the home of the Shuttlewood Clarke Foundation a registered charity. Copt Oak (52.71050; -1.28511) In its name, "cop" is an old Eng-lish word for "head", i.e. "[be] headed oak" = "pollarded oak". Copt Oak is the highest point of the M1, and the site of BBC Radio Leicester's only trans-mitter on 104.9FM. 1 / 5 Saint Peter?s church (52.71162; -1.28624) This is an Anglican Church consecrated in 1837 and was de-signed by William Railton, who later de-signed Nelson's Column in London Ulverscroft Nature Reserve (52.71271; -1.27264) Ulverscroft Nature Reserve covers 56 ha. Much of within the Ulverscroft Valley Site of Special Scientific Interest. Poultney Wood, Fox Covert, the Valley Marshes and Herbert's Meadow are owned by the Wildlife Trust. The rest of the reserve is owned by the National Trust and has been managed by the Trust under a Deed of Management since 1966. The southern part of the reserve was left to the National Trust by the late Charles Cliffe Jones. In 1966, the National Trust declared the area a nature reserve under a deed of management with the Wildlife Trust. This part of the reserve consists of four habitats: mature, planted wood-land mostly of oak with some beech and a few conifers; a 1960s plantation with a similar mix of species; an area of 'heathland' with bracken but with also a variety of invasive shrubs; and two fields now also partly colonised by scrub. 2 / 5 The heathland and fields were grazed until the 1950s but when grazing ceased the vegeta-tion changed rapidly, with the loss of many spe-cies associated with dry heathland. The Trust has recently embarked on a major management programme to restore both the heathland and the two fields to their former state by selective scrub control. Cattle grazing was re-introduced in 2002. The bracken is being actively controlled with the aim of increasing the amounts of heather and bil-berry. Poultney Wood and Fox Covert were pur-chased freehold by the Trust in 1968. Poultney Wood is known to be of ancient origin, one indication of this being the bank and ditch on its boundary. Both woods were planted with a mixture of co-nifers and hardwoods in the 1920s. The trees in these areas were mostly alien species and large sections were felled and replanted with oak and other local native species in the early 1990s. A phased programme of felling and replanting of Poultney Wood was introduced in 2005. In the late 1960s the Trust exchanged part of its holding in Poultney Wood for the two nearby fields in the valley bottom. They exhibit a wide range of marshland habitats from alder carr to open marsh. The Trust purchased Herbert's Meadow in 1981. This is one of the most species-rich fields in Leicestershire, partly as a consequence of the complex of soil conditions found within its 4 ha but also because it has not received any agri- cultural 'improvement' (ploughing, fertilising or spraying with herbicides) for many decades. In 1986, the adjacent field together with a small area of wet woodland were purchased by the Trust, thereby increasing the diversity of the reserve. Herbert's Meadow is managed by cattle graz-ing and occasional cutting for hay. The National Trust woodlands consist largely of native trees and are left as sanctuary are-as with very little access or management. Ulverscroft Priory (52.71040; -1.25928) Ulverscroft Priory - was founded in the mid-13th century, probably by Robert le Bossu, 2nd Earl of Leicester. It was an Augustinian house. The number of canons ranged from 3 to 10. In 1536 when it was spared dissolution, there were the prior, 8 canons and a corrodiary. There were also 20 yeoman servants, 14 children for the chapel and three women for the dairy. It was dissolved on 15 Septem-ber 1539. It passed to the Earl of Rutland then through a number of hands. It never seems to have been converted into a tenant-ed farm and the priory buildings were never cleared, but mostly re-used. The church was consolidated by William Keay around 1930. The guest hall functioned as a barn and the prior?s lodging as the farmhouse, while the refectory?s south wall was retained as a farmyard boundary. The cloister is, therefore, still easily discovered. 3 / 5 Stoneywell (52.70061; -1.26551) Stoneywell is a National Trust property in Ulverscroft, Leicestershire. Stoneywell is the largest of a small group of cottages designed in the Arts and Crafts style by Ernest Gimson. It was built by Detmar Blow in 1899 for Ernest?s brother Sydney Gimson as a summer residence, and along with much original furniture, it remained in the Gimson family for over a century. It has become well known within Arts and Crafts circles. It was opened to the public in February 2015. Built between 1897 and 1899 out of the stones found in the immediate locality, and constructed directly onto outcrops of exposed Charnwood bedrock. Ernest Gimson was born in Leicester in 1864, the son of Josiah Gimson, engineer, founder of Gimson and Company, owner of the Vulcan Works. Having worked as an architect in London during the 1880s, he moved to the Cotswolds to found an Arts and Crafts community 4 / 5 5 / 5.