Harwood Forest is a conifer plantation located to the south of

Rothbury Rothbury is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Northumberland, England, on the River Coquet. It is northwest of Morpeth, Northumberland, Morpeth and of Newcastle upon Tyne. At the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2001 Ce ...

in North Northumberland, England, and managed by

Forestry England Forestry England is a division of the Forestry Commission, responsible for managing and promoting publicly owned forests in England. It was formed as Forest Enterprise in 1996, before devolving to Forest Enterprise England on 31 March 2003 and ...

. The forest occupies moorland north of the east-west

Morpeth Morpeth may refer to: *Morpeth, New South Wales, Australia ** Electoral district of Morpeth, a former electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in New South Wales * Morpeth, Ontario, Canada * Morpeth, Northumberland, England, UK ** Morpeth (UK ...

to Elsdon road, west of the B6342, extending north to the

Simonside Hills The Simonside Hills are a hill range in Northumberland, England near the town of Rothbury. Most of the hills are around high and are popular spots for hikers in the area. The highest point is Tosson Hill at . There are several single pitch roc ...

; it measures some north-to-south and at its widest is east-to-west. The forest was established over the course of the 20th century by the Forestry Commission (now Forestry England), which gradually purchased freehold or leasehold interest in farmland; at the start of the Commission's involvement, only of the current site was forested, with the remaining lands being utilised for sheep and cattle grazing. The initial impetus for its establishment was an offer made in 1929 by

Sir Charles Trevelyan, 3rd Baronet Sir Charles Philips Trevelyan, 3rd Baronet (28 October 1870 – 24 January 1958) was a British Liberal Party, and later Labour Party, politician and landowner. He served as President of the Board of Education in 1924 and between 1929 and 1931 ...

to sell Harwood Farm to the commission at less than market rate. Trevelyan had inherited

Wallington Hall Wallington is a country house and gardens located about west of Morpeth, Northumberland, England, near the village of Cambo. It has been owned by the National Trust since 1942, after it was donated complete with the estate and farms by Sir Char ...

and estate on the death of his father, the 2nd Baronet, in August 1928, and wished to see the estate forested; and although he determined on large-scale planting on other, retained, parts of the estate, he determined that it was reasonable to make arrangements with the commission to expedite his plan by transferring to it. The farm forms the

trapezoid A quadrilateral with at least one pair of parallel sides is called a trapezoid () in American and Canadian English. In British and other forms of English, it is called a trapezium (). A trapezoid is necessarily a Convex polygon, convex quadri ...

southernmost section of the forest. The next major acquisition was in 1950, when the

Cragside Cragside is a Victorian country house near the town of Rothbury in Northumberland, England. It was the home of William Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong, founder of the Armstrong Whitworth armaments firm. An industrial magnate, scientist, philanth ...

estate of

William Watson-Armstrong, 2nd Baron Armstrong William John Montagu Watson-Armstrong, 2nd Baron Armstrong (10 October 1892 – 6 July 1972) was a British and Canadian aristocrat and soldier. Early life Armstrong was born in 1892 as the first child of the businessman William Watson-Armstro ...

, leased to the commission, followed in 1951 by another , to form the Simonside section of the forest. This section is enclosed by the

, Simonside and Tosson Hill constraining the forest to a narrow neck-section, with additional forest to the north of Simonside. In the same year, 1951, the County Borough of Tyneside leased Chartners, a farm to the south of the Simonside section, which covered the high watershed of Fontburn Reservoir, to the commission. Subsequent additions to the forest include Redpath farm, which joined the previously isolated Harwood farm area to Chartners and the Simonside section.

References

External links

Harwood Forest Plan
Forestry England {{coord, 55.2426, -2.0063, type:forest_region:GB, display=title Forests and woodlands of Northumberland