PMP2000 > Places > Charnwood History

FORESTS AND WOODS

SWITHLAND WOODS:
SWITHLAND WOODS is situated halfway between LOUGHBOROUGH and LEICESTER and lies across the parish boundaries of SWITHLAND and NEWTOWN LINFORD. Its 146 acres are one of CHARNWOOD's most popular public open spaces with a huge variety of trees, mostly oak with some alder, ash, birch and lime.

The variety of soils here account for the abundant plant life, including betony, saw-wort and adder's tongue. The woods are also noted for their birds, butterflies and moths. The site also contains marshes, bracken and meadows rich in flowers. In the past, they were well known as bluebell woods and a "Bluebell service" was held here every May.

The influence of humanity is seen in two abandoned slate quarries, both now flooded and fenced off. These have now been almost completely reclaimed by nature as spectacular waterscapes. In fact, there are about two dozen much smaller slate pits all over the woods but many are no longer recognisable as such.

Such disturbances in the natural woodland account at least in part for the unusual richness and diversity of the flowers and plants in SWITHLAND WOODS. The abandoned quarries have provided habitats for a far greater range of plants than would have been possible without them. Such "disturbances" as the quarries, horse-riding, coppicing, grazing, mowing, tree felling and now large numbers of visitors mean that SWITHLAND WOODS are far from being "natural" woods at all. Diversity like this just could not happen in an forest which has been left entirely to it's own devices for centuries.

The woods are currently owned by BRADGATE PARK TRUST. This had been established in 1929 to look after nearby BRADGATE PARK, which had been given to the people of the County by the then owner CHARLES BENNION. SWITHLAND WOODS were added to this gift in 1931 when they were bought for the County by Leicester Rotary Club. On March 1st 1970, 998 acres of BRADGATE PARK and SWITHLAND WOODS became a Country Park and therefore eligible for Countryside Commission grants. That same year, it achieved national recognition by winning a Countryside Award.

HISTORY:
It is difficult to give a history of a wood that is anywhere near complete, mainly due to the scarcity of written evidence. There is nothing to tell us how and when SWITHLAND WOOD originated but it seems most likely that it would have begun as primeval woodland with changes occurring slowly throughout it's life. Some of the present woods may be primary, primeval woodland but this is impossible to prove.

Some authorities maintain that the comparatively high numbers of LIME trees indicate that parts of SWITHLAND may well be truly ancient woodland. The reason for this argument is that LIME trees were abundant in Britain between about 5,500 and 3,000 BC and seeded freely, becoming probably the most widespread component of the country's primeval forest. However, as the climate temperature fell, LIME found it more and more difficult to reproduce by seed. This meant that the species was particularly vulnerable to clearances, and all but disappeared in many parts of the country.

As a result of this, large concentrations of LIME TREES have often been taken as an indication of woodland which has never been completely cleared. LIMES have always been abundant in the SWITHLAND area, as is seen in local place names. The names of some parts of the wood itself, such as GREAT LYNNS, are derived from "LIME": the name NEWTOWN LINFORD itself is similarly derived from "NIWE TUN LIND FORD" (THE NEW TOWN BY THE FORD WHERE THE LIME TREES GROW). So there is certainly an argument that at least some parts of SWITHLAND WOODS are primeval, uncleared woodland dating back as far as 5,500 BC. However, that does not alter the fact that the great majority of what we see today is of a much later date.

It would seem that the original, natural woodland of SWITHLAND consisted mostly of small leaved LIME, oak and hazel with some holly, birch and alder. The land was a very poor prospect for cultivation, so woodland persisted for longer here than in the more fertile areas. Few, if any, people would be living close to the present wood at the time of DOMESDAY BOOK in 1086. But felling would be common, along with the use of the wood for common grazing by surrounding settlements. Except in deliberately enclosed woods, the land would tend to degenerate into heathland with a falling number fo trees.

At the start of the 14th century, food shortages meant local farmers had to try to cultivate more and more of the available land, regardless of its quality, and this certainly happened to parts of SWITHLAND WOODS. But, just 50 years later, PLAGUE saw the population of the country - and CHARNWOOD - slashed dramatically. With fewer people to feed - and fewer to work the land - the newly cultivated areas quickly dropped out of cultivation and began to revert to woodland. By 1512, the part of the wood known as GREAT LYNNS had become woodland and was managed as a coppice. In all probability, this also happened to other parts of the wood until, by the mid 1700s, only WOOD MEADOWS remained as grassland.

SWITHLAND WOODS as a commercial venture began early. Evidence of bark sales in the 1540s suggests oak pollarding was already taking place then. Certainly there was widespread pollarding around the slate quarries in the mid to late 18th century. Coppicing seems to have been happening by 1660 at the latest and continued until 1859, when the focus seems to shift to full scale timber selling. The loss of coppicing also meant that the old established names for different parts of the woods fell into disuse and many are now forgotten. The cultivation of full sized trees for timber sale necessitated the end of coppicing, as mature trees would have shaded and suppressed the smaller coppices, along with the rest of the forest floor.

Major timber felling continued into the 20th century but information on sales is scarce. Replanting does not seem to have been a part of the wood's management as the lack of "blocks" of similarly aged trees seems to indicate. Restocking seems to have happened naturally and differently aged trees are now scattered all over the woods.

SWITHLAND's life as a commercial forest ended in around 1925. Had it not done so, it is almost certain that the broad leaved trees would by now have been replaced by conifers.

THE WILDLIFE OF SWITHLAND WOODS:
SWITHLAND is regarded as the best remaining example of original oakwood in CHARNWOOD with flora typical of woodland which has never been completely cleared of tree cover. Over 250 species of flowering plants and ferns have been recorded here - almost a sixth of the total species in Britain - and at least fifty species of bird breed in the woods. A specimen of the Yellow Necked Field Mouse was found here some years in the early 1970s, one of only two recorded sightings in the country. 200 species of butterfly and moth have been recorded here, making it one of the best sites in the Midlands.