Each month we turn our focus upon a different county, highlighting some key ancient tree sites and identifying some other places of general interest for tree-lovers. Other than Woodland Trust properties, admission or parking charges apply for many sites, and as access may be prohibited or limited to certain dates or times, it’s always advisable to check with the site owner or with the local Tourist Information Office before making a visit.

This month we turn our attention to Cambridgeshire, located in the south-east of England. Its relatively unspoilt countryside offers an interesting mixture of natural habitats. The peat-black of the fens, areas of former marshland dissected by numerous rivers and dykes, contrasts splendidly with the gold of its many cereal fields and the green of its rolling hills, which run along the Ouse and Nene Valleys. Far reaching views across the fertile arable farmland will eventually lead you to the few remaining areas of ancient woodland and to the newer plantations often of beech. The fens and wetlands make this county just perfect for specialist nature reserves, and the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust at Welney is undoubtedly the pick of the bunch.

History is never far away in this county. Some indicator to a point in the last 3,000 years or so becomes evident around every corner. Flag Fen near Peterborough is a great place to start, as here you’ll find out how our ancestors lived during the Bronze Age.

Cambridgeshire’s cities and towns offer a wealth of historical interest too: the county town of Cambridge is of course a medieval university city, with a fascinating network of old streets, fine bridges (over the River Cam) and ancient colleges; Ely boasts a quite superb Norman cathedral with its lantern tower dominating the skyline for miles around, and this city also houses a fascinating stained glass museum and (the apparently haunted) Oliver Cromwell’s House; Peterborough has a splendid cathedral too and is best-known these days for its agricultural showground; Godmanchester is home to two wonderful bridges over the Great Ouse, one dating back some 700 years and the other constructed in the early 19th century in a quaint Chinese style; March is famed for its church adorned with 120 carved wooden angels; Wisbech, located in the Fens, stands out for its impressively elegant Georgian buildings and has been home to Elgood’s Brewery since 1795; St Neots is worth a visit just to see its 12th century market square; Huntingdon is not just renowned for its ancient, creamy-looking stone buildings but for providing Oliver Cromwell’s birthplace, home and former grammar school (now a museum); St Ives – with more of those cream houses – has one of only four remaining bridge chapels in England on its 15th century bridge; and finally, Duxford houses the Imperial War Museum.

If villages are more to your taste, then why not meander along the riversides and through the hills of the Ouse and Nene Valleys amongst the honey-coloured stone hamlets there. Be sure to take in Fenstanton, where the famous landscape gardener Capability Brown lived and was finally laid to rest (in the village churchyard). Brown’s name crops up more than most in our county-by-county search for ancient trees, as he was responsible for the landscape designs and creations at numerous English country estates, many of which were medieval deer-parks or hunting chases.

Now, where might you go to enjoy a fabulous woodland experience? Well, Cambridgeshire’s the least wooded county in England, but careful research will still lead you to some superb examples of ancient trees, ancient woodlands and other great treescapes.

Take Wimpole Hall (TL3351) at Arrington, built in the 18th century and managed today by the National Trust. This grand house, with fine interiors by Gibbs, Soane and Flitcroft, is set in extensive wooded parkland, with thousands of daffodils in spring and a blaze of colour in the formal gardens in the summer months. The parkland, which was landscaped by a combination of Repton, Brown and Bridgement, includes a Gothic folly and serpentine lakes, and provides way-marked walks and breathtaking views. This was a deer-park in the Middle Ages, and today a number of ancient trees remain, including oak, field maple and horse chestnut. The estate hosts a national collection of walnut trees (juglans), plus other specimen trees in the pleasure grounds.

Wicken Fen (TL5670) is reputedly Britain’s oldest nature reserve and is again under the stewardship of the National Trust. This habitat once covered the whole of East Anglia and today still provides a haven for wide variety of plants, birds, insects and mammals. Here you can explore the green pathways and the traditional droves, and there’s a boardwalk trail to the nature hides. Look out for ancient pollarded willow trees - around 50 remain here – and be sure to take in the informative William Thorpe Visitor Centre during your visit. The National Trust also preserves Anglesey Abbey (TL5362), an Elizabethan manor house which is based upon the remains of an Augustinian priory and stands in 100 acres of landscaped grounds. Sadly, despite the fact that the original religious building was founded in the 12th century, there are no ancient trees remaining here but you’ll find a woodland walk, an arboretum and some pleasing avenues of trees in the gardens, which were created during the last century. The house is known for the Fairhaven collection of furniture and paintings, and the site includes a working water mill.

English Nature manages a number of important sites in Cambridgeshire, including the following five National Nature Reserves. Woodwalton Fen (TL2385), located in the lowest section of the East Anglian Fens, is another of Britain’s oldest nature reserves. As well as two meres, swamp, mire and grassland, there’s a substantial area of woodland, including sallow carr. Visit in the summer to see a wide variety of butterflies, dragonflies, flowers and birds, and be sure to seek out the remaining ancient willow pollards. Monks Wood (TL28) is undoubtedly one of the finest examples of ancient ash and oak woodland in the region. A quite remarkable number of tree and shrub species can be found here, including spindle, wayfaring trees, aspen and wild service trees. There are some very old trees here too, and the flora also provides a number of ancient woodland indicators. Be sure to look out for false oxlip and crested cow-wheat, and in the summer months you may see black and white-letter hairstreak butterflies. The ancient woodland site of Bedford Purlieus is in this county despite its name. This woodland, managed by Forest Enterprise, is dominated by oak and ash but there are fine examples of coppiced small-leaved lime, hazel, wych elm and field maple. Castor Hanglands provides an interesting mixture of woodland, grassland, scrub and wetland. A wide range of species of tree and shrub are present, though the woodland is predominantly ash, field maple, oak and hazel. This is an excellent site for wild flowers too. Look for ancient woodland indicators including wild garlic, yellow archangel and wood melick, and away from the woodland you may well spot marsh and pyramidal orchids. Holme Fen, located to the western extremities of the fens on the shores of Whittlesey Mere, is believed to be the lowest point in Britain. This is also considered to be Britain’s largest area of pure birch woodland. Keep a sharp eye out here for fen woodrush.
 
Now, let’s turn to the region’s Wildlife Trust (for Beds, Cambs, Northants & Peterborough), which manages a number of excellent woodland sites, many of which have ancient origins. Thorpe Wood (TL1597) offers a pleasant circular walk through ancient oak-ash woodland, where wild garlic, bluebells and wood anemone grow freely. Hazel coppice is in evidence throughout. Grimeshaw Wood (TF1601) is a haven of ancient woodland in a very built-up area. The Bretton Way dissects the wood, pipistrelle bats reside here and nettle-leaved bellflowers are particularly evident in the summer. Little Wood (TF2102) is part of a SSSI called Dogsthorne Star Pit and is the last remaining patch of an area of ancient woodland. Hayley Wood (TL1467), a SSSI, dates back at least 700 years, possibly 1,000 years, and is still encircled by the original wood-bank. Look for some splendid oak standards, for muntjac and fallow deer, and for traces of the ridge and furrow ploughing which once took place here. This location is believed to have one of the largest oxlip populations in the UK and provides a home for glow-worms and Daubenton’s bats. Brampton Wood (TL1869), another designated SSSI, is the second largest wood in the county and dates from 1086 or earlier. The woodland is mainly ash, field maple and hazel coppice. Watch out for wild pear trees, grasshopper warblers, three types of hairstreak butterfly and ancient woodland indicators like yellow archangel, wood spurge and yellow rattle. Visit this wood too to witness a superb display of bluebells in the spring and an array of woodland fungi in the autumn. This is the only known site in the county for dormice, and both muntjac and fallow deer are known to live here. Gamsey Wood (TL2281) and Raveley Wood (TL2481) are remnants of the ancient forest which covered this area in Saxon times. The former is oak/ash coppiced woodland and is known for the large oaks which stand at its edge. The latter contains part of a Saxon wood-bank and a square moat, once part of a medieval manor house. Both woods shelter small-leaved elm trees which have survived the ravages of Dutch Elm disease and both provide splendid displays of bluebells in the spring. Look amongst the ground flora for the quaintly named goldilocks buttercup too. Lady’s Wood (TL2482) is another ancient woodland site, once coppiced for its wood. There's a number of interesting ash trees growing from old coppice stools, and this location is known locally for its plentiful wild garlic.

Gamlingay Wood (TL2453), another SSSI, is ash and maple woodland which dates back to the 13th century. Check out the pedunculate oak standards in particular, and see how many different species of mosses, liverworts, fungi and flora you can spot which provide good indicators of ancient woodland. Bluebells and common spotted orchids grow in abundance, and you’ll also find wild service trees in a wood, which also provides archaeological interest through its wood-banks and double ring ditch. Waresley & Gransden Woods (TL2654), again designated as a SSSI, provide excellent examples of the ancient woodland which covered the area’s uplands and feature in the Domesday Book as coppice woods. Wistow Wood (TL2982) is another patch of ancient wet woodland designated as a SSSI, whilst Overhall Grove (TL3363) is thought to be the county’s biggest surviving elm wood and features quite possibly the largest oaks in the county, as well as the “red well”, a natural spring. Overhall Manor is known to have stood in the northern end of the wood during the Middle Ages. Beechwood (TL4854) is a designated Local Nature Reserve. Its beech woodland dates from 1840 and is known locally for its white helleborines, an orchid characteristic of beech woods. Lower Wood (TL6252) is wet woodland dominated by ash and field maple. Clearly visible are pollarded oaks on the wood-bank at the western boundary, and this is a good site for ancient woodland indicators such as water avens and early purple orchids. Fordham Woods (TL6370) comprise Hall Yard Wood and Brackland Rough, both of which comprise damp valley alder carr woodland, a relative rarity in the county. This SSSI, home to a herd of roe deer, was once used by villagers for reed-cutting.
 
Before we leave the woodland managed by this Wildlife Trust, a quick mention for Hardwick Wood. It is particularly noteworthy because it’s an incredibly well-documented wood, with references in the Domesday Book, the Ely Coucher Book of 1251, the Hundred Rolls of 1279 and a survey of lands belonging to the Bishops of Ely compiled in 1356. Further historical records survive from the 14th century through to the 17th century, and there’s plenty of information from the 19th and 20th centuries too, if you’ve the time and inclination to read it! Access to this ancient woodland site is, however, very limited but the Wimpole Way does skirt its boundary.

Now, let’s turn to the Woodland Trust and three of its most notable Cambridgeshire locations. Firstly, Aversley Wood (TL1581) is one of the county’s largest ancient woodland sites. It’s thought to date back to the Ice Age and is mentioned in the Domesday Book. Once you’ve tackled the steep approach to this SSSI, you’ll find a wonderful wood of ash and oak with lots of wide rides, butterflies, wild flowers and shrubs, not to mention a medieval boundary bank to the southern end. There’s an “armed” pond here, so-called because of its shape, which is thought to have been created to allow many cattle to drink simultaneously. Look too for the ridges and furrows which remain from ancient times. This wood is also well known for its wild service trees, and you may spot an occasional wayfaring tree. Secondly, Archer’s Wood (TL1781) is understood to be a remnant of original British wildwood and is believed to have been a sanctuary for 13th century highwaymen. The ditch and bank at the northern end is a scheduled ancient monument. If you look northwards from the central viewpoint in the wood, you can also make out the site of a 13th century Cistercian monastery, part of Sawtry Abbey. You’ll find also wild service trees here and a great display of bluebells in the spring. Thirdly, there’s Longueville Wood (TL1696) which was created in the grounds of Orton Longueville Hall in the 19th century.

A number of fine historic houses and gardens in the county are worthy of a visit too, most notably Burghley House (TF0405). It’s set in gardens and parkland, designed by Capability Brown in the 18th century. The first Lord Burghley purchased the estate in 1526, which once consisted of a deer park and a collection of buildings owned by the 11th century Monastery of St Michael. The interior of the current house was transformed in the 17th and 18th centuries, not just in respect of its fittings but through its collections of art and tapestries too. From the house there are wonderful views across to the spires of Stamford. In the grounds you’ll find some very large old trees, including a lime tree which is believed to have its origins in a tree planted by Queen Elizabeth I, and a huge oriental plain tree which dates back at least 200 years. Whilst Brown was responsible for many of the avenues of trees which populate the park, there are a few remaining ancient oak and lime trees. Today the park is best known for its Horse Trials which are held each year in September, but you’ll also see an ancient pure bred herd of fallow deer, dating from the 16th century.

Elton Hall has been home to the Proby family for some 350 years and is renowned for its paintings (including works by Gainsborough, Reynolds and Constable) and its collections of books (including Henry VIII’s prayer book). There are some fine trees here and a relatively recent arboretum. The Manor at Hemingford Grey is a 12th century house surrounded by a lovely garden, moat and the river Great Ouse. This location gave Lucy Boston her settings for the classic Green Knowe books. Look for the impressive copper beech in the densely wooded area of the garden and also for the yew trees cut into crowns and orbs to commemorate Queen Elizabeth’s coronation in 1953. Peckover House in Wisbech is an 18th century merchant’s residence located on the banks of the River Nene with a unique Victorian garden and orangery with 300-year old orange trees, whilst Elgood’s Brewery Gardens near Wisbech still includes its original specimen trees, now more than 200 years old.

Finally, be sure to pay a visit to Hinchingbrooke Country Park (TL2271), which includes grassland and woodland, and is managed by the local district council. The woodland is mainly hornbeam, ash, oak and beech, and you’ll find a reconstructed Iron Age Farm near the lake.

If you know of other ancient trees in Cambridgeshire or if you wish to suggest a site for inclusion in next month’s article, Focus on Hertfordshire, we’d love to hear from you!
 
Please email us, providing as much information as possible and preferably including an Ordnance Survey map reference. We’re also very keen to build up a library of photographs of ancient trees and ancient tree sites. Can you help? If you’re willing to share your treescapes and tree portraits, please email them to us, remembering to provide location details for each photo, with an Ordnance Survey map reference if possible. We’d love to include them in a future article!