Swithland Wood
Encyclopedia
Swithland Wood is a public woodland in Charnwood Forest
, in Leicestershire
. Although close to the village of Swithland
, it is almost entirely within the parish of Newtown Linford
. It is just north of Bradgate Park
and also near Woodhouse Eaves
and Cropston
. The wood is part of the Swithland Wood and The Brand SSSI, noted for both its biological and geological interest, and is Leicestershire's most important ancient woodland for nature conservation. Quarries within the wood were a source of the distinctive Swithland Slate roofs found on many local buildings as well as the slate gravestones common in Leicestershire churchyards. Swithland Wood has been a public woodland since the 1920s, having previously been part of the estate of the manor of Groby
.
shows that most of the area was once cleared of trees, and used for growing crops. Documentary evidence of its use as woodland dates back to 1512 by which time at least part of the site was established woodland. It was probably not 'planted', but simply recolonised the soon-abandoned farmland. However it has been woodland continuously since then, primarily managed through coppicing
. It was subdivided into compartments known by various names: Great Lynds, Little Lynds, Dunham Lynns, Hollgates Wood, Slate Pit Hey and Slate Pit Hill. The woodland was part of the Grey family's Bradgate Estate throughout their time as earls of Stamford. In 1880 they had 26 woodlands on the Bradgate Estate and these were an integrated part of the Grey estates throughout the 17th to 19th centuries. The earliest known use of the name 'Swithland Wood' is in a schedule of 1772. The name now covers all of the Grey estate woodlands on this site. Adjoining the woods on the east are two areas of woodland in Swithland
Parish, historically known as Stocking Wood and Whites Wood. These were part of the estates of the Danvers family, and then the earls of Lanesborough. These two woods remain private, and are not part of the Swithland Wood public woodland, although they are part of the designated SSSI.
, from Hallgates and Little John, through Swithland Wood and The Brand, up to Woodhouse Eaves
. All these locations have old slate quarry pits, as does a corresponding outcrop on the other side of the Charnwood anticline
at Groby
. Swithland Wood had been quarried for many centuries for small-scale slate production. Many of the 24 small pits in Swithland Wood may relate to early slate quarrying. Unlike the management of the woodland, the quarries were leased to local quarrymen. Two industrial scale quarries developed within the woods, one in the 'Great Pit' in the centre of the woods, and the other near the road at the northern end. Similar scales of activity also developed on the other side of Swithland Road, in The Brand, where four more water-filled pits remain.
By the mid-19th century under the management of John Ellis of Leicester, among other things Chairman of the Midland Railway, slate in the Great Pit was being extracted from a depth of more than 180 ft (55 m). Swithland Slate began being used on vernacular roofs from around 1750 and is still very common on older buildings throughout Charnwood and beyond. Unlike the thinner, lighter Welsh Slates, which are used with fixed sized slates, Swithland Slate roofs are graded from small slates along the ridge to largest sizes at the base. Notable buildings on which the slates were used included the Midland Railway's London terminus at St Pancras railway station
and the Leicester houses designed by Ernest Gimson
. Headstone
s for graves have been made from Swithland Slate since the 17th century and are found in graveyards throughout Leicestershire. They could be engraved with detailed letterings and patterns, which prove to be much more durable than on many other types of stone. Other uses included kerbstones, windowsills and sinks. Once the canals and railways could transport Welsh slate in large quantities at low prices, the demand for local slates diminished. Quarrying in the northern pit ended in 1838, and then in 1887 the Great Pit ceased production. Both pits now have deep water and are fenced off for safety reasons, but paths around the quarries afford good views of the pools and rock faces. The Great Pit is used occasionally for scuba diving
.
The area is notable in spring for its bluebell
s and other spring flowering bulbs which cover large areas of the woodland floor. In 1927 the Rotary Club, in partnership with Swithland Parish Church, initiated an annual Bluebell Service by the Great Pit, and this tradition continues, with the Bluebell Service being held on the afternoon of the third or fourth Sunday of April.
In 1928 a leading Leicester businessman, Charles Bennion, similarly bought the adjacent and larger Bradgate Park
for preservation and the public benefit, vested in a Charitable Trust supported by the Leicester and Leicestershire City and County Councils and the National Trust
. In 1931, with the Bradgate Park Trust fully established, the Rotary Club offered to merge Swithland Wood with Bradgate Park. This was readily agreed by all parties and the two Trusts were combined as the Bradgate Park and Swithland Wood Trust. Since then Swithland Woods has been managed by the Trust rather than the Rotary Club, open to the public, and greatly appreciated for its conservation and leisure value.
, ash
, lime
and holly
. These have been the predominant species for many hundred years, and on the rockiest places have probably always been there. This provides the continuity that has enabled such richness to develop. The result is a woodland with a Flora Score = 147, the highest score of any of the Leicestershire and Rutland woodlands., ahead of Owston Woods (132) and Burley Wood (125).
are an eroded anticline
- the layers of sediment built up on a sea floor were uplifted some 420 million years ago, at the end of the Silurian period. This created a dome, the top of which was eroded to expose successively more ancient rocks. The oldest rocks are found at the northern core, at Blackbrook Reservoir
, while Swithland Wood lies on the south-eastern edge of the anticline. The Swithland Slates and other rocks of the 'Brand Group' are the most recent of the Charnian rocks. For most of the 20th century they had been classified as Precambrian
rocks along with the more central Charnwood outcrops. This would have dated them to around 545 million years ago. However, recent discoveries of trace fossil
s, evidence of animals burrowing in the soft mud that became the Swithland Slate, have reclassed all of the Brand Group rocks as Cambrian
, formed around 530 million years ago. Although the Charnwood Precambrian rocks have the internationally significant fossils of the frond-like lifeforms of Charnia
species, clear evidence of trace fossils of burrowing animal life places the Swithland Formation firmly in the Cambrian era. Some of these trace fossils can be seen on Swithland Slate headstones, such as those in Ratby
churchyard.
The mud that became Swithland Slate was deposited in great quantity on the sea bed, after the more dramatic Precambrian
volcanic activity had subsided. It was very fine sediment resulting in fine-grained evenly bedded material. Subsequent deposits above it, combined with the uplifting of the anticline, produced the heat and pressure which turned the mud into hard rock (Lithification
). The tensions created during uplift are what created the cleavage plane
in the slates, and it is along these cleavage joints (rather than the bedding planes) that the slates are split to create roof slates. With the Charnwood area uplifted into a high mountain range, the processes of erosion
began.
By the Triassic
period, (240 million years ago) the mountains were eroded down to something like their current height. There then began a new deposition, this time of desert sand and fine dust, that produced a new layer of soft red marl, creating the gentler rolling appearance of the land, with just the tips of the older rocks reaching the surface. Over most of Swithland Wood the marl is the surface rock type (although the slate beds will occur underneath that).
Finally, during the ice age, glacial erosion stripped back the Triassic material (plus whatever had accumulated above that), to re-expose the eroded peaks of the older rocks. At the end of the ice age, patches of boulder clay were deposited over much of the local area, including parts of Swithland Wood.
Charnwood Forest
Charnwood Forest is an upland tract in north-western Leicestershire, England, bounded by Leicester, Loughborough, and Coalville. The area is undulating, rocky and picturesque, with barren areas. It also has some extensive tracts of woodland; its elevation is generally 600 ft and upwards, the area...
, in Leicestershire
Leicestershire
Leicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands. It takes its name from the heavily populated City of Leicester, traditionally its administrative centre, although the City of Leicester unitary authority is today administered separately from the rest of Leicestershire...
. Although close to the village of Swithland
Swithland
Swithland is a linear village in the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England. It is in the old Charnwood Forest, between Cropston and Woodhouse and Woodhouse Eaves. Although small, it has a village hall, a parish church, and a pub. The village is known for the slate that was quarried in the...
, it is almost entirely within the parish of Newtown Linford
Newtown Linford
Newtown Linford is a linear village in Leicestershire, England.It is located in a valley in the Charnwood Forest area, and has four access roads. The first is from Anstey, then there are roads which lead to the A50 at Groby and at Markfield...
. It is just north of Bradgate Park
Bradgate Park
Bradgate Park is a public park in Charnwood Forest, in Leicestershire, England, just northwest of Leicester. It covers 850 acres . The park lies between the villages of Newtown Linford, Anstey, Cropston, Woodhouse Eaves and Swithland. The River Lin runs through the park, flowing into Cropston...
and also near Woodhouse Eaves
Woodhouse Eaves
Woodhouse Eaves is a village located on the side of Beacon Hill, in the Charnwood Forest area of Leicestershire, England.It is a sizeable rural village, having several pubs and a few shops...
and Cropston
Cropston
Cropston is a village within the civil parish of Thurcaston & Cropston, part of the Charnwood Borough of Leicestershire, England. It is on the edge of Charnwood Forest, and lies close to Bradgate Park. The village itself is small, with the older properties close to the crossroads of Reservoir and...
. The wood is part of the Swithland Wood and The Brand SSSI, noted for both its biological and geological interest, and is Leicestershire's most important ancient woodland for nature conservation. Quarries within the wood were a source of the distinctive Swithland Slate roofs found on many local buildings as well as the slate gravestones common in Leicestershire churchyards. Swithland Wood has been a public woodland since the 1920s, having previously been part of the estate of the manor of Groby
Groby
Groby is a large English village in the county of Leicestershire, to the north west of the city of Leicester. The population at the time of the 2001 census was 7,301.-Description:...
.
Ancient Woodland
Swithland Wood is classed as Ancient semi-natural woodland. Medieval ridge and furrowRidge and furrow
Ridge and furrow is an archaeological pattern of ridges and troughs created by a system of ploughing used in Europe during the Middle Ages. The earliest examples date to the immediate post-Roman period and the system was used until the 17th century in some areas. Ridge and furrow topography is...
shows that most of the area was once cleared of trees, and used for growing crops. Documentary evidence of its use as woodland dates back to 1512 by which time at least part of the site was established woodland. It was probably not 'planted', but simply recolonised the soon-abandoned farmland. However it has been woodland continuously since then, primarily managed through coppicing
Coppicing
Coppicing is a traditional method of woodland management which takes advantage of the fact that many trees make new growth from the stump or roots if cut down. In a coppiced wood, young tree stems are repeatedly cut down to near ground level...
. It was subdivided into compartments known by various names: Great Lynds, Little Lynds, Dunham Lynns, Hollgates Wood, Slate Pit Hey and Slate Pit Hill. The woodland was part of the Grey family's Bradgate Estate throughout their time as earls of Stamford. In 1880 they had 26 woodlands on the Bradgate Estate and these were an integrated part of the Grey estates throughout the 17th to 19th centuries. The earliest known use of the name 'Swithland Wood' is in a schedule of 1772. The name now covers all of the Grey estate woodlands on this site. Adjoining the woods on the east are two areas of woodland in Swithland
Swithland
Swithland is a linear village in the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England. It is in the old Charnwood Forest, between Cropston and Woodhouse and Woodhouse Eaves. Although small, it has a village hall, a parish church, and a pub. The village is known for the slate that was quarried in the...
Parish, historically known as Stocking Wood and Whites Wood. These were part of the estates of the Danvers family, and then the earls of Lanesborough. These two woods remain private, and are not part of the Swithland Wood public woodland, although they are part of the designated SSSI.
Slate Quarrying
Swithland Slate has been a traditional local roofing material since Roman times. Swithland gives its name to a line of 'slate' outcrops found along the east side of CharnwoodCharnwood
Charnwood may refer to:* Charnwood , a local government district in the county of Leicestershire, England* Charnwood , an electoral ward and administrative division of the city of Leicester, England...
, from Hallgates and Little John, through Swithland Wood and The Brand, up to Woodhouse Eaves
Woodhouse Eaves
Woodhouse Eaves is a village located on the side of Beacon Hill, in the Charnwood Forest area of Leicestershire, England.It is a sizeable rural village, having several pubs and a few shops...
. All these locations have old slate quarry pits, as does a corresponding outcrop on the other side of the Charnwood anticline
Anticline
In structural geology, an anticline is a fold that is convex up and has its oldest beds at its core. The term is not to be confused with antiform, which is a purely descriptive term for any fold that is convex up. Therefore if age relationships In structural geology, an anticline is a fold that is...
at Groby
Groby
Groby is a large English village in the county of Leicestershire, to the north west of the city of Leicester. The population at the time of the 2001 census was 7,301.-Description:...
. Swithland Wood had been quarried for many centuries for small-scale slate production. Many of the 24 small pits in Swithland Wood may relate to early slate quarrying. Unlike the management of the woodland, the quarries were leased to local quarrymen. Two industrial scale quarries developed within the woods, one in the 'Great Pit' in the centre of the woods, and the other near the road at the northern end. Similar scales of activity also developed on the other side of Swithland Road, in The Brand, where four more water-filled pits remain.
By the mid-19th century under the management of John Ellis of Leicester, among other things Chairman of the Midland Railway, slate in the Great Pit was being extracted from a depth of more than 180 ft (55 m). Swithland Slate began being used on vernacular roofs from around 1750 and is still very common on older buildings throughout Charnwood and beyond. Unlike the thinner, lighter Welsh Slates, which are used with fixed sized slates, Swithland Slate roofs are graded from small slates along the ridge to largest sizes at the base. Notable buildings on which the slates were used included the Midland Railway's London terminus at St Pancras railway station
St Pancras railway station
St Pancras railway station, also known as London St Pancras and since 2007 as St Pancras International, is a central London railway terminus celebrated for its Victorian architecture. The Grade I listed building stands on Euston Road in St Pancras, London Borough of Camden, between the...
and the Leicester houses designed by Ernest Gimson
Ernest Gimson
Ernest William Gimson was an English furniture designer and architect. Gimson was described by the art critic Nikolaus Pevsner as "the greatest of the English architect-designers"...
. Headstone
Headstone
A headstone, tombstone, or gravestone is a marker, usually stone, that is placed over a grave. In most cases they have the deceased's name, date of birth, and date of death inscribed on them, along with a personal message, or prayer.- Use :...
s for graves have been made from Swithland Slate since the 17th century and are found in graveyards throughout Leicestershire. They could be engraved with detailed letterings and patterns, which prove to be much more durable than on many other types of stone. Other uses included kerbstones, windowsills and sinks. Once the canals and railways could transport Welsh slate in large quantities at low prices, the demand for local slates diminished. Quarrying in the northern pit ended in 1838, and then in 1887 the Great Pit ceased production. Both pits now have deep water and are fenced off for safety reasons, but paths around the quarries afford good views of the pools and rock faces. The Great Pit is used occasionally for scuba diving
Scuba diving
Scuba diving is a form of underwater diving in which a diver uses a scuba set to breathe underwater....
.
Public Woodland
After the closing of the quarries the area continued to be an important woodland resource, with active timber management and planting by the Grey Estate. However in 1921, as part of a wholesale disposal of the Bradgate Estate lands, the woods, along with two local farms, were bought by William Gimson. Two adjacent areas of woodland totalling 137 acres (554,000 m²) were offered to the Rotary Club of Leicester in order to preserve these important ancient woodlands and provide public access for the benefit of the people of Leicester and Leicestershire in perpetuity. A Charitable Trust was established and a fund-raising appeal raised £6,000 (more than half of it from members of the Rotary Club itself) which covered not only the £3,000 purchase price but also renewed fencing, woodland management works and public access facilities. The Rotary Club employed rangers and managed the country park directly for seven years. On the rock face of the great pit is an inscription recording the Rotary Club's donation which reads "The Leicester Rotary Club Secured Swithland Wood For A National Heritage".The area is notable in spring for its bluebell
Common Bluebell
Hyacinthoides non-scripta, commonly known as the common bluebell, is a spring-flowering bulbous perennial plant. -Taxonomy:...
s and other spring flowering bulbs which cover large areas of the woodland floor. In 1927 the Rotary Club, in partnership with Swithland Parish Church, initiated an annual Bluebell Service by the Great Pit, and this tradition continues, with the Bluebell Service being held on the afternoon of the third or fourth Sunday of April.
In 1928 a leading Leicester businessman, Charles Bennion, similarly bought the adjacent and larger Bradgate Park
Bradgate Park
Bradgate Park is a public park in Charnwood Forest, in Leicestershire, England, just northwest of Leicester. It covers 850 acres . The park lies between the villages of Newtown Linford, Anstey, Cropston, Woodhouse Eaves and Swithland. The River Lin runs through the park, flowing into Cropston...
for preservation and the public benefit, vested in a Charitable Trust supported by the Leicester and Leicestershire City and County Councils and the National Trust
National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty
The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
. In 1931, with the Bradgate Park Trust fully established, the Rotary Club offered to merge Swithland Wood with Bradgate Park. This was readily agreed by all parties and the two Trusts were combined as the Bradgate Park and Swithland Wood Trust. Since then Swithland Woods has been managed by the Trust rather than the Rotary Club, open to the public, and greatly appreciated for its conservation and leisure value.
Site of Special Scientific Interest
Swithland Wood has received a blend of continuity and disruption in its management that has stimulated its diversity of plantlife, whilst allowing complex ecosystems to survive and develop. The disruptions include the quarries, substantial periods of felling in the 19th century, construction of a water main across the site, clearing back of rides and paths, and the arrival of countless tramping feet. Each of these has impacted on some of the trees and plants, but created additional habitats, allowing other species to become established. But as a whole, Swithland Wood has had great continuity, at least since the medieval ploughing ceased. The woods themselves are mixed, principally mature oakOak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
, ash
Ash tree
Fraxinus is a genus flowering plants in the olive and lilac family, Oleaceae. It contains 45-65 species of usually medium to large trees, mostly deciduous though a few subtropical species are evergreen. The tree's common English name, ash, goes back to the Old English æsc, while the generic name...
, lime
Tilia
Tilia is a genus of about 30 species of trees native throughout most of the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The greatest species diversity is found in Asia, and the genus also occurs in Europe and eastern North America, but not western North America...
and holly
Holly
Ilex) is a genus of 400 to 600 species of flowering plants in the family Aquifoliaceae, and the only living genus in that family. The species are evergreen and deciduous trees, shrubs, and climbers from tropics to temperate zones world wide....
. These have been the predominant species for many hundred years, and on the rockiest places have probably always been there. This provides the continuity that has enabled such richness to develop. The result is a woodland with a Flora Score = 147, the highest score of any of the Leicestershire and Rutland woodlands., ahead of Owston Woods (132) and Burley Wood (125).
Geology
The ancient rocks that characterise Charnwood ForestCharnwood Forest
Charnwood Forest is an upland tract in north-western Leicestershire, England, bounded by Leicester, Loughborough, and Coalville. The area is undulating, rocky and picturesque, with barren areas. It also has some extensive tracts of woodland; its elevation is generally 600 ft and upwards, the area...
are an eroded anticline
Anticline
In structural geology, an anticline is a fold that is convex up and has its oldest beds at its core. The term is not to be confused with antiform, which is a purely descriptive term for any fold that is convex up. Therefore if age relationships In structural geology, an anticline is a fold that is...
- the layers of sediment built up on a sea floor were uplifted some 420 million years ago, at the end of the Silurian period. This created a dome, the top of which was eroded to expose successively more ancient rocks. The oldest rocks are found at the northern core, at Blackbrook Reservoir
Blackbrook Reservoir
Blackbrook Reservoir is a large body of water near Shepshed, Leicestershire, in England. The reservoir was constructed in 1796 in order to feed the Charnwood Forest Canal, which has long since vanished. The first dam constructed was an earthworks one, and this failed on February 20 of 1799...
, while Swithland Wood lies on the south-eastern edge of the anticline. The Swithland Slates and other rocks of the 'Brand Group' are the most recent of the Charnian rocks. For most of the 20th century they had been classified as Precambrian
Precambrian
The Precambrian is the name which describes the large span of time in Earth's history before the current Phanerozoic Eon, and is a Supereon divided into several eons of the geologic time scale...
rocks along with the more central Charnwood outcrops. This would have dated them to around 545 million years ago. However, recent discoveries of trace fossil
Trace fossil
Trace fossils, also called ichnofossils , are geological records of biological activity. Trace fossils may be impressions made on the substrate by an organism: for example, burrows, borings , urolites , footprints and feeding marks, and root cavities...
s, evidence of animals burrowing in the soft mud that became the Swithland Slate, have reclassed all of the Brand Group rocks as Cambrian
Cambrian
The Cambrian is the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, lasting from Mya ; it is succeeded by the Ordovician. Its subdivisions, and indeed its base, are somewhat in flux. The period was established by Adam Sedgwick, who named it after Cambria, the Latin name for Wales, where Britain's...
, formed around 530 million years ago. Although the Charnwood Precambrian rocks have the internationally significant fossils of the frond-like lifeforms of Charnia
Charnia
Charnia is the genus name given to a frond-like Ediacaran lifeform with segmented ridges branching alternately to the right and left from a zig-zag medial suture. The genus Charnia was named after Charnwood Forest in Leicestershire, England, where the first fossilised specimen was found.- Diversity...
species, clear evidence of trace fossils of burrowing animal life places the Swithland Formation firmly in the Cambrian era. Some of these trace fossils can be seen on Swithland Slate headstones, such as those in Ratby
Ratby
Ratby is a commuter village and civil parish in the Hinckley and Bosworth district of Leicestershire. It is situated to the west of Leicester, and just south of the motorway. It has a population of about 4,000. The Roman name for Leicester was Ratae Corieltauvorum...
churchyard.
The mud that became Swithland Slate was deposited in great quantity on the sea bed, after the more dramatic Precambrian
Precambrian
The Precambrian is the name which describes the large span of time in Earth's history before the current Phanerozoic Eon, and is a Supereon divided into several eons of the geologic time scale...
volcanic activity had subsided. It was very fine sediment resulting in fine-grained evenly bedded material. Subsequent deposits above it, combined with the uplifting of the anticline, produced the heat and pressure which turned the mud into hard rock (Lithification
Diagenesis
In geology and oceanography, diagenesis is any chemical, physical, or biological change undergone by a sediment after its initial deposition and during and after its lithification, exclusive of surface alteration and metamorphism. These changes happen at relatively low temperatures and pressures...
). The tensions created during uplift are what created the cleavage plane
Cleavage (geology)
This article is about rock cleavage, for cleavage in minerals see Cleavage Cleavage, in structural geology and petrology, describes a type of planar rock feature that develops as a result of deformation and metamorphism. The degree of deformation and metamorphism along with rock type determines the...
in the slates, and it is along these cleavage joints (rather than the bedding planes) that the slates are split to create roof slates. With the Charnwood area uplifted into a high mountain range, the processes of erosion
Erosion
Erosion is when materials are removed from the surface and changed into something else. It only works by hydraulic actions and transport of solids in the natural environment, and leads to the deposition of these materials elsewhere...
began.
By the Triassic
Triassic
The Triassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about 250 to 200 Mya . As the first period of the Mesozoic Era, the Triassic follows the Permian and is followed by the Jurassic. Both the start and end of the Triassic are marked by major extinction events...
period, (240 million years ago) the mountains were eroded down to something like their current height. There then began a new deposition, this time of desert sand and fine dust, that produced a new layer of soft red marl, creating the gentler rolling appearance of the land, with just the tips of the older rocks reaching the surface. Over most of Swithland Wood the marl is the surface rock type (although the slate beds will occur underneath that).
Finally, during the ice age, glacial erosion stripped back the Triassic material (plus whatever had accumulated above that), to re-expose the eroded peaks of the older rocks. At the end of the ice age, patches of boulder clay were deposited over much of the local area, including parts of Swithland Wood.
Access
Swithland Wood is open to the public during daylight hours. There are pay and display car parks on Roecliffe Road at and on Swithland Road at . There is also access via a very good footpath from near the Hallgates entrance to Bradgate Park . There are several bridleways within the wood for horse-riding, and a network of marked cycle routes.See also
- List of Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Leicestershire,
- List of Ancient Woods in England,
- Slate industrySlate industryThe slate industry is the industry related to the extraction and processing of slate. Slate is either quarried from a slate quarry or reached by tunneling in a slate mine. Common uses for slate include as a roofing material, a flooring material, gravestones and memorial tablets, and for electrical...
.