Hangman's Wood and Deneholes is a biological

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

in Little Thurrock in

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

. The

denehole A denehole (alternatively dene hole or dene-hole) is an underground structure consisting of a number of small chalk caves entered by a vertical shaft. The name is given to certain caves or excavations in England, which have been popularly suppos ...

s, which were created by medieval chalk mining, are a

Scheduled Monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...

. The name Hangmans Wood dates back to at least the mid-17th century, when it was recorded on an estate map. Trees in the wood include oak, ash, sycamore and wild cherry. left, Investigating a denehole in Hangman's WoodThe wood contains a number of

s which were investigated by the Essex Field Club at the end of the 19th century.Tony Benton, ''Boldly from the Marshes'' There is normally no access to the deneholes, but permission can be obtained from the council. The deneholes are the most important underground hibernation sites for bats in Essex, with three species;

brown long-eared bat The brown long-eared bat or common long-eared bat (''Plecotus auritus'') is a small Eurasian insectivorous bat. It has distinctive ears, long and with a distinctive fold. It is extremely similar to the much rarer grey long-eared bat which was ...

Natterer's bat Natterer's bat (''Myotis nattereri'') is a European Vespertilionidae, 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 No ...

and

Daubenton's bat Daubenton's bat or Daubenton's myotis (''Myotis daubentonii'') is a Eurasian bat with rather short ears. It occurs across Eurasia, from Ireland in the west to Hokkaido in the east, and is believed to be increasing its numbers in many areas of it ...

. The oak woodland is ancient, and it provides a feeding habitat for the bats. The deneholes in the wood, which were sometimes known as Cunobeline's

gold mine Gold mining is the extraction of gold by mining. Historically, mining gold from alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning. The expansion of gold mining to ores that are not on the surface has led to more comple ...

s, are described by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

as medieval or post-medieval and were used for chalk or flint mining. The origin of these deneholes is discussed by Tony Benton. There appears to have been more than 70 holes in the wood at one time, concentrated to the north of the wood. Most only survive now as shallow dips in the ground. The bridlepath which crosses Grangewood Avenue and runs beside Woodside School to connect Hangman's Wood with nearby Terrel's Heath is part of an ancient route from Coalhouse Point in

East Tilbury East Tilbury is a village and former civil parish in the unitary authority of Thurrock borough, Essex, England, and one of the traditional List of traditional (Church of England) parish churches in Thurrock, Church of England parishes in Thurro ...

to the bridge or causeway at

Aveley Aveley is a village and former civil parish in the unitary authority of Thurrock in Essex, England, and forms one of the traditional Church of England parishes. Aveley is 16 miles (26.2 km) east of Charing Cross. In the 2021 United King ...

Notes

{{SSSIs Essex Thurrock Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Essex Scheduled monuments in Essex Forests and woodlands of Essex