Cherry Tree Wood is a 5.3-hectare park in

East Finchley East Finchley is an area in North London, immediately north of Hampstead Heath. Like neighbouring Muswell Hill it straddles the London Boroughs of Barnet and Haringey, with most of East Finchley falling into the London Borough of Barnet. It ha ...

in the

London Borough of Barnet The London Borough of Barnet () is a suburban London boroughs, London borough in North London. The borough was formed in 1965 from parts of the ceremonial counties of Middlesex and Hertfordshire. It forms part of Outer London and is the largest ...

. It is a

Site of Local Importance for Nature Conservation Site of Nature Conservation Interest (SNCI), Site of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINC) and regionally important geological site (RIGS) are designations used by local authorities in the United Kingdom for sites of substantive local nature ...

. Located opposite East Finchley Underground station, it contains woodland and grassland, a playground, tennis courts, a cafe and toilets. The history of the wood may date back to prehistoric times. The wood in this area likely served as a source to fire nearby Roman

kiln A kiln is a thermally insulated chamber, a type of oven, that produces temperatures sufficient to complete some process, such as hardening, drying, or chemical changes. Kilns have been used for millennia to turn objects made from clay int ...

s around AD50-AD160.History of Cherry Tree Wood
by The Friends of Cherry Tree Wood The first mention of the park is from the 13th century as the hunting grounds of the Bishop of London. It is a remnant of the large medieval wood called Finchley Wood, which was shown in Great Hornsey Park in

John Rocque John Rocque (originally Jean; c. 1704–1762) was a French-born British surveyor and cartographer, best known for his detailed map of London published in 1746. Life and career Rocque was born in France in about 1704, one of four children of a ...

's map of 1754. It was later known as Dirthouse Wood because the

night soil Night soil is a historically used euphemism for human excreta collected from cesspools, privies, pail closets, pit latrines, privy middens, septic tanks, etc. This material was removed from the immediate area, usually at night, by workers em ...

and horse manure from London's streets was brought to the Dirthouse, now the White Lion pub next to East Finchley Station, as fertiliser for hay meadows.Cherry Tree Wood, Barnet Online
In 1914 it was purchased by Finchley Council from the

Ecclesiastical Commissioners The Ecclesiastical Commissioners were, in England and Wales, a body corporate, whose full title was Ecclesiastical and Church Estates Commissioners for England. The commissioners were authorized to determine the distribution of revenues of the Chu ...

to create a public park.Cherry Tree Wood, London Gardens Online
/ref> Until it became a public park, hornbeam trees were cut back every few years to provide wood for charcoal, while oaks were allowed to grow to their full height for timber. Now that coppicing has ceased the hornbeams have grown tall and rangy, and the wood has grown shaded.

Wood anemone The phrase wood anemone is used in common names for several closely related species of flowering plants in genus ''Anemonoides'', including: * ''Anemonoides nemorosa ''Anemonoides nemorosa'' (syn. ''Anemone nemorosa''), the wood anemone, is an e ...

and other ancient plants can be found in the spring, and

Eurasian nuthatch The Eurasian nuthatch or wood nuthatch (''Sitta europaea'') is a small passerine bird found throughout the Palearctic and in Europe. Like other nuthatches, it is a short-tailed bird with a long bill, blue-gray upperparts and a black eye-strip ...

and great spotted woodpecker are often seen.

Mutton Brook __NOTOC__ Mutton Brook is a stream which runs between East Finchley and Hendon in the London Borough of Barnet. It is a tributary of the River Brent, which is itself a tributary of the River Thames. The brook rises in Cherry Tree Wood and flo ...

rises in Cherry Tree Wood, and the

Capital Ring The Capital Ring is a strategic walking route promoted by London's 33 local councils, led by the City of London Corporation in partnership with the Greater London Authority and its functional body for regional transport, Transport for London, ...

between

Hendon Hendon is an urban area in the Borough of Barnet, North-West London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has been part of Great ...

and

Highgate Highgate ( ) is a suburban area of north London at the northeastern corner of Hampstead Heath, north-northwest of Charing Cross. Highgate is one of the most expensive London suburbs in which to live. It has two active conservation organisati ...

passes through it.Capital Ring, Walk 11, Hendon to Highgate

References

External links

The Friends of Cherry Tree Wood website

Cherry Tree Wood
on the VisitWoods website
Cherry Tree Wood
on the GoParks.London website {{Nature reserves in Barnet Ancient woods of London Nature reserves in the London Borough of Barnet Parks and open spaces in the London Borough of Barnet

See also

References

Further reading

External links