Highgate Wood is a 28 hectare (70 acre) area of

ancient woodland In the United Kingdom, an ancient woodland is a woodland that has existed continuously since 1600 or before in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (or 1750 in Scotland). Planting of woodland was uncommon before those dates, so a wood present in 16 ...

North London North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshire. The term ''nort ...

, lying between

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 has ...

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 ...

and

Muswell Hill Muswell Hill is a suburban district of the London Borough of Haringey, north London. The hill, which reaches over above sea level, is situated north of Charing Cross. Neighbouring areas include Highgate, Hampstead Garden Suburb, East Finchl ...

. It was originally part of the ancient

Forest of Middlesex The Forest of Middlesex was an ancient woodland covering much of the county of Middlesex, England, that was north of the City of London and now forms the northern part of Greater London. A path was cut through the forest for the creation of Watling ...

which covered much of London,

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

and

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

and was mentioned in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

. It lies in the

London Borough of Haringey The London Borough of Haringey (pronounced , same as Harringay) is a London borough in North London, classified by some definitions as part of Inner London, and by others as part of Outer London. It was created in 1965 by the amalgamation of t ...

, but is owned and managed by the

City of London Corporation The City of London Corporation, officially and legally the Mayor and Commonalty and Citizens of the City of London, is the municipal governing body of the City of London, the historic centre of London and the location of much of the United King ...

. The London Borough of Haringey contains four ancient woods: Highgate Wood,

Queen's Wood Queen's Wood is a 52-acre (21 hectare) area of ancient woodland in the London Borough of Haringey, abutting Highgate Wood and lying between East Finchley, Highgate, Muswell Hill and Crouch End. It was originally part of the ancient Forest of Mi ...

Coldfall Wood Coldfall Wood is an ancient woodland in Muswell Hill, North London. It covers an area of approximately and is surrounded by St Pancras and Islington Cemetery, the East Finchley public allotments, and the residential streets Creighton Avenue and B ...

and

Bluebell Wood A bluebell wood is a woodland that in springtime has a carpet of flowering bluebells ('' Hyacinthoides non-scripta'') underneath a newly forming leaf canopy. The thicker the summer canopy, the more the competitive ground-cover is suppressed, encou ...

. Highgate Wood is shown on the Ordnance Survey map of Middlesex in 1886 more or less in its present formation, but known by the name "Gravelpit Wood".

Flora and fauna

The flora and fauna in the wood have been managed to varying degrees by humans through the ages. Predominantly an

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

hornbeam Hornbeams are hardwood trees in the flowering plant genus ''Carpinus'' in the birch family Betulaceae. The 30–40 species occur across much of the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Origin of names The common English name ''hornbeam' ...

and

holly ''Ilex'' (), or holly, is a genus of over 570 species of flowering plants in the family Aquifoliaceae, and the only living genus in that family. ''Ilex'' has the most species of any woody dioecious angiosperm genus. The species are evergreen o ...

wood, Highgate Wood is also home to more than 50 other tree and shrub species which have self-seeded there. The

wild service tree ''Sorbus torminalis'', with common names wild service tree, chequers, and checker tree, is a species of tree in the mountain ash or rowan genus (''Sorbus'') of the rose family (Rosaceae), that is native to Europe, parts of northern Africa and we ...

, a rare

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

tree with brown berries, can be found in Highgate Wood. Presence of the wild service tree is commonly taken as an indicator of ancient woodland. 71 different species of bird have been recorded, alongside

foxes Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

grey squirrels Gray squirrel or grey squirrel may refer to several species of squirrel indigenous to North America: *The eastern gray squirrel (''Sciurus carolinensis''), from the eastern United States and southeastern Canada; introduced into the United Kingdom, I ...

bat Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera.''cheir'', "hand" and πτερόν''pteron'', "wing". With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most bi ...

species including

pipistrelle ''Pipistrellus'' is a genus of bats in the family Vespertilionidae and subfamily Vespertilioninae. The name of the genus is derived from the Italian language, Italian word , meaning "bat" (from Latin "bird of evening, bat"). The size of the ge ...

Natterer's bat Natterer's bat (''Myotis nattereri'') is a European vespertilionid bat with pale wings. It has brown fur tending to greyish-white on its underside. It is found across most of the continent of Europe, parts of the Near East and North Africa. It fee ...

common noctule The common noctule (''Nyctalus noctula'') is a species of insectivorous bat common throughout Europe, Asia, and North Africa. Description The common noctule's short fur is dark brown after moulting in June (males) or July/August (females); lat ...

and the rare

Leisler's bat The lesser noctule, Leisler's bat or the Irish bat (''Nyctalus leisleri''), is a species of insectivorous bat belonging to the vesper bat family, Vespertilionidae. The species was named to honour the naturalist Johann Philipp Achilles Leisler ...

, 180 species of

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

, 12 species of

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

and 80 species of

spider Spiders ( order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species ...

History

Human artefacts

Prehistoric flints have been found in the wood. Excavations on the ridge at the northern end of the wood established that

Romano-Britons The Romano-British culture arose in Britain under the Roman Empire following the Roman conquest in AD 43 and the creation of the province of Britannia. It arose as a fusion of the imported Roman culture with that of the indigenous Britons, a ...

were producing pottery from local materials between AD 50–100. An ancient earthwork runs across the wood. This may have formed part of an enclosure for deer during the

Medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

period, when the

Bishop of London A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

owned the wood; however, it could also be a prehistoric boundary or defensive work. During the

period, the wood formed part of the

’s hunting estate. Between the 16th and 18th centuries, the wood, known then as "Brewer's Fell", was leased to various tenants who managed it by 'coppicing with standards'. This involved regularly cutting down areas of Hornbeams to a stump ('

coppicing Coppicing is a traditional method of woodland management Forest management is a branch of forestry concerned with overall administrative, legal, economic, and social aspects, as well as scientific and technical aspects, such as silviculture, pro ...

') to encourage new growth which could be used for fuel or fencing, whilst allowing oak and other tree species to grow to maturity ('standards'). Remnants of wood banks dividing these areas can still be seen. Many of these oaks were then used by the Crown to construct ships and by the Church to construct buildings. In the 1880s, the last tenant gave up his lease. In 1886, the

acquired what was by then known as Gravelpit Wood (so named in 1863 on account of a gravel pit used to source gravel for roads in the district) 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 ...

at no charge on condition that it was "maintained in perpetuity for the benefit of Londoners". It was renamed Highgate Wood; it has been owned and managed by the Corporation ever since.

Care and management

The City of London Corporation's maintenance of the wood was not always sympathetic to its historical origins. On acquisition,

asphalt Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...

paths were laid, ornamental trees were planted and dead wood was assiduously removed and burned. Highgate Wood was managed more as an urban park than ancient woodland. In 1968 the Conservation Committee of the London Natural History Society expressed its concern at the planting of exotic

conifers Conifers are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All extan ...

as being inappropriate for ancient woodland. As a consequence of this protest the planting programme was halted and has not been continued. More recently management practices have been much more sympathetic to the Wood's indigenous flora and fauna. Certain areas have been fenced to allow the regeneration of the vegetation free of trampling, and

dead wood ''Dead Wood'' is a 2007 British horror film, written, produced and directed by Richard Stiles and David Bryant and starring Emily Juniper, Fergus March, Rebecca Craven, Nina Kwok and John Samuel Worsey with Bryant appearing in a small role. ''D ...

is allowed to decay ‘’in situ’’ — to the great benefit of

saprotrophic Saprotrophic nutrition or lysotrophic nutrition is a process of chemoheterotrophic extracellular digestion involved in the processing of decayed (dead or waste) organic matter. It occurs in saprotrophs, and is most often associated with fungi (f ...

fungi A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from ...

and a wide range of invertebrates.

Nature reserve

Highgate Wood is a

Site of Metropolitan 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 ...

. It is also listed as one of only eight Green Heritage Sites in London.English Heritage - Green Heritage Microsite
/ref>

Facilities and access

Highgate Wood can be reached easily from

Highgate station Highgate is a London Underground station and former railway station in Archway Road, in the London Borough of Haringey in north London. The station takes its name from nearby Highgate Village. It is on the High Barnet branch of the Norther ...

on the

Northern line The Northern line is a London Underground line that runs from North London to South London. It is printed in black on the Tube map. The Northern line is unique on the Underground network in having two different routes through central London, two ...

of the

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...

. It is adjacent to the A1 road and is situated approximately 6 miles (10 km) north of

Charing Cross Charing Cross ( ) is a junction in Westminster, London, England, where six routes meet. Clockwise from north these are: the east side of Trafalgar Square leading to St Martin's Place and then Charing Cross Road; the Strand leading to the City; ...

, well inside London's metropolitan area. As well as a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

pitch and a

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

field, Highgate Wood has a children’s playground, a café and an information centre.

References

Sources

City of London website on Highgate WoodThe Natural History of Haringey's Ancient Woodlands, by David Bevan
*"Distribution and Status of Bats in the London Area", Mickleburgh (1987)
''Middlesex: 012'' Ordnance Survey 1:10,560: Epoch 1

External links

Highgate Wood pages
on the City of London website
Highgate Wood
on the VisitWoods website {{coord, 51.583, -0.150, type:landmark_region:GB-BNE, display=title Parks and open spaces in the London Borough of Haringey Parks and open spaces of the City of London Corporation Ancient woods of London Nature reserves in the London Borough of Haringey