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Transcript from leaflet published by Coventry City Council published July 2003
The ancient woodlands of Park Wood and Ten Shilling Wood, both situated in Canley, are only fifteen minutes by bus from the city centre, yet have survived unchanged for at least the last 200 years (the earliest map of the area dates from 1776).
With a rich and varied history of ownership they are at present under the control of Coventry City Council who make these interesting woodlands available to the public for recreational use.They are now both designated Local Nature Reserves.
The woods differ greatly in size,Ten Shilling being a wood of 12 acres, while Park Wood covers an area of 48 acres. They provide an urban refuge for plants and wildlife and, due to increasing environmental pressures, it is important that they are treated with respect in order to maintain their rural character.
Management of this woodland is aimed at creating a
woodland consisting of trees of various ages. This is achieved by selectively
felling and coppicing a small area at periodic intervals. This will, in turn,
allow more light to the woodland floor and encourage natural regeneration of native tree species, wild flowering plants
and insects.
The survival of many wild plants and insects depends on the existence of open areas within a wood land. To achieve this, many of the rides have been widened and in some places bays or glades have been created to encourage wild flowers and butterflies.
In 1153 an order of monks swapped their lands in Radmore, Staffordshire, for the Stoneleigh estate, situated in the heart of 'Arden' (the ancient word means high forest) woodlands. The estate had been the property of the Crown since the days of the Norman conquest, but passed to the hands of the newly founded Cistercian Abbey at Stoneleigh (or Stanely as it was then).
The estate and the woodland it encompassed remained the property of the church until the Dissolution of the Monasteries, between 1536 and 1539, when King Henry VIII seized all the lands of the church.
The King granted the estate to the Duke of Suffolk and, in 1561, it was sold in part to the then Lord Mayor of London, Sir Thomas Leigh.
By the year 1800 the Leigh family had amassed over 20,000 acres of land in the Stoneleigh estate and it remained their property until, in 1926, almost two and a half thousand acres were purchased by Coventry Corporation, including approximately 350 acres of woodland.
In considering the past uses of these woods, it is interesting to learn how they were named whilst under private ownership.
Ten Shilling Wood derives its name from Ten Shilling Field; the reference relating to the cost of a shooting permit per gun per season. We also find local reference to Park Wood as Fifty Shilling Wood and at £2 per licence we can see why only the wealthy could afford such pastimes.
Pheasants, brightly coloured game birds from Central
Asia and China, which were introduced into Britain by the Romans, would have
been reared in the woods until the start of the season (1 October) when they would be driven towards the shooters in adjoining
fields.
Although this practice no longer continues in these woods, pheasants can still be seen here around the field boundaries where they feed during the day, entering the wood to roost at dusk.
On a more economic note the Doomsday Book tells us that Arden woodlands, including those in Canley, provided Pannage for 2000 swine. Pannage refers to the grazing of pigs within a pasture woodland and in this case they would be feeding on acorns and beech seed or mast. During this period large trees (mainly oak) were used for building work, with the smaller pieces being utilised as firewood.
Under the ownership of Lord Leigh, the woods were managed under a coppice with standards regime, and this practice continued until the 1920s, when they passed into Corporate ownership. Since then there has been occasional use of timber, especially during the 1939-45 war when an area of conifers (mainly Larch and Scots Pine), planted in Park Wood at the turn of the century, was felled for pit-props in the mines. Recently the woods have been managed for recreational use with only selected felling of individual trees.
A new strip of woodland was planted along the west boundary of the woodland in 2002. This belt of trees is about 15 metres wide and comprises of a mixture of native broadleaved trees and shrubs. There is also a component of Scots Pine. These trees form part of a 40 metre wide buffer strip between the mature woods and the Westwood Heath Housing Development. The remainder of the buffer strip was sown with wildflowers in 2001.
This tree is known to all due to its massive crown and great height. The English Oak can be recognised by both its acorns (which are its seeds) and by the wavy outline of its leaves. Prized for the quality and durability of its timber, the Oak has been used for everything from ship building to coffins. One of our commonest and most useful trees, it also provides a staple food (the acorn) to many woodland birds and animals.
The Sweet Chestnut is aptly named as its seed is a delicious nut, several of which are found enclosed in a prickly 4-lobed shell. This nut was used to make polenta by the Romans, who introduced this species to Britain. Polenta was a ground up form of the fruit which, when baked, produced a nutritious biscuit. Widely coppiced, it is also notable for the frequency with which it attracts lightning strikes, the scars of which can clearly be seen. It is identified by its large saw toothed leaves which are often as long as 9" and by the spiralling bark on large trees.
The white bark and slender twigs of this graceful tree preclude confusion with any other. The first tree to spread over Britain after the Ice Age, it is extremely hardy and is often regarded by foresters as a nurse - that is a provider of shelter to slower growing, more valuable trees. In the centre of Park Wood a fine Birch Avenue can be seen which was planted in the 1930s.
Larches are remarkable in that they are both coniferous and deciduous trees. They bear cones but also shed their needles in the autumn, making them easily distinguishable from other conifers in the cold months. In summer they are attractive with featherlike, light green foliage.
The Scots Pine first arrived in this country in about 10,000 BC. Immediately recognisable by its blue-green foliage and flaky orange upper bark, this tree is one of the world's major timbers, being used extensively in modern house building as joists and rafters.
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Canley Wood provides pleasant and easy walking with a good system of rides and footpaths.
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Park Wood slopes gently to the south. A path for people with disabilities was constructed in 1995 in the west side of the wood and this was extended in 2002 to link with the open space on the west edge of the wood. Access to Park Wood is from Charter Avenue (on the main Canley bus route) and also via the public footpath from Westwood Heath Road.
When walking in Park Wood evidence of previous coppicing can be seen in abundance, most notably the large Sweet Chestnuts. When a tree is coppiced (the word comes from the French 'couper' - to cut), it is referred to as a coppiced stool and is easily recognised by its many shoots originating from the one stool. When a tree is felled it sends up new shoots from the old stump and these are generally left for between 7 to 15 years before being cut again. This coppicing process ensures a regular supply of small timber for a variety of uses.
Coppicing with standards refers to the practice of allowing some trees to grow to maturity, thus providing timber and shelter for the young coppice growth. This results in a graduation from open glades to closed canopy woodland. As the coppicing cycle progresses it provides a varied environment, especially suited to herbaceous plants, butterflies and other animals living in the woodland edge and to thicket nesting birds. When coppicing is discontinued, as is the case here, the wood closes in, seriously affecting the open and grassland environments with a noticeable loss of woodland plants. The advantages are equally noticeable with the increase in dead and dying wood amongst the standards, so the increase of hole-nesting birds - the nuthatch, woodpeckers and tree creepers - becomes apparent.
Coppice produces the following items;
besoms, bobbins etc. (A) brush heads (B)
walking sticks (A) fencing (B)
A = wood up to 12 years old
B = wood between 12
and 15 years old
18 or 28 from Pool Meadow or Broadgate to Charter Ave
46 from Pool Meadow
to Westwood Heath Road
Travel West Midlands 024 7652 5689
See Information common to all Woodland leaflets
See also:
| Tile Hill Woods and Canley Woods Description and Photos |  |
Woodlands Index and Information common to all Woodland leaflets |
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Coventry Walks |
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