Skipton Wood (also known as Skipton Castle Woods, Castle Wood or Springs Wood) is a

wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin th ...

following the

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between Hill, hills or Mountain, mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers ...

of Eller Beck to the north of

Skipton Skipton (also known as Skipton-in-Craven) is a market town and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. Historically in the East Division of Staincliffe Wapentake in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is on the River Air ...

behind

Skipton Castle Skipton Castle is a Grade I Listed medieval castle in Skipton, North Yorkshire, England. It was built in 1090 by Robert de Romille, a Norman baron, and has been preserved for over 931 years. History The castle was originally a motte and bai ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...

, England. The wood is owned by Skipton Castle but has been leased to the

Woodland Trust The Woodland Trust is the largest woodland conservation charity in the United Kingdom and is concerned with the creation, protection, and restoration of native woodland Natural heritage, heritage. It has planted over 50 million trees since 1972 ...

History

The wood was originally used by Skipton Castle primarily for

hunting Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

and

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

, although during the 18th and 19th centuries, the wood was also used to provide

timber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, wi ...

building stone Building material is material used for construction. Many naturally occurring substances, such as clay, rock (geology), rocks, sand, wood, and even twigs and leaves, have been used to construct buildings. Apart from naturally occurring materia ...

and

water Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a ...

. The timber and stone was moved out of the wood via Springs

Canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow un ...

(a small branch off the Leeds and Liverpool Canal). The water was obtained by damming Eller Beck to form Long Dam, which in turn fed a small

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

called Round Dam, also known as Mill Dam or Mill Pond. The water was used to power the former sawmill and corn mill located by the castle. Public access to the wood was first allowed by the owners of the castle in the late 19th century. When the woods were purchased by a private concern in 1966, they were closed until May 1971, when public access was granted again. The woods were leased to the Woodland Trust in October 1991. The woods have the Eller Beck flowing through them, which connects to the River Aire and are accessible from the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. The woods are also the starting point for

Lady Anne's Way Lady Anne's Way is a hiking route between Skipton and Penrith in Northern England. The trail is punctuated by houses and towers once owned by the Clifford family, but is named after Lady Anne Clifford who renovated and repaired the buildings ...

Flora and fauna

Most of the wood is

native Native may refer to: People * Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Native Americans (disambiguation) In arts and entert ...

broadleaved

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

s such as

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 ...

and

ash Ash or ashes are the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non- gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash ...

and is classed as " ancient semi-natural woodland" by the Woodland Trust. There are also a large number of introduced

beech Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''Engle ...

and sycamore trees with a smaller number of non-native trees such as hornbeam and sweet chestnut. A small four hectare area of the wood to the north-west has been replanted with a mix of oak, Scots pine, larch and

Norway spruce ''Picea abies'', the Norway spruce or European spruce, is a species of spruce native to Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. It has branchlets that typically hang downwards, and the largest cones of any spruce, 9–17 cm long. It is very close ...

. This area has been designated as "replanted ancient woodland". The ground flora consists of dense carpets of

wild garlic Plant species in the genus ''Allium'' known as wild garlic include the following: *''Allium canadense'', wild onion *'' Allium carinatum'', keeled garlic *'' Allium drummondii'', Drummond's onion *''Allium ochotense'', Siberian onion *'' Allium ole ...

, bluebells and

dog's mercury ''Mercurialis perennis'', commonly known as dog's mercury, is a poisonous woodland plant found in much of Europe as well as in Algeria, Iran, Turkey, and the Caucasus, but almost absent from Ireland, Orkney and Shetland.badgers,

roe deer The roe deer (''Capreolus capreolus''), also known as the roe, western roe deer, or European roe, is a species of deer. The male of the species is sometimes referred to as a roebuck. The roe is a small deer, reddish and grey-brown, and well-adapt ...

, kingfishers, spotted flycatchers, sparrowhawks, spotted and green woodpeckers, as well as Natterer's,

noctule ''Nyctalus'' is a genus of vespertilionid bats commonly known as the noctule bats. They are distributed in the temperate and subtropical areas of Europe, Asia and North Africa. There are eight species within this genus: * Birdlike noctule, ''N ...

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 ...

, brown long-eared and Daubenton's

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 ...

References

External links

The Woodland TrustSkipton Castlewww.skiptonweb.co.uk
{{Forests and woodlands of Yorkshire Woodland Trust Skipton Forests and woodlands of North Yorkshire