Celebrating Trafalgar
Victory Wood sits in the North Kent Plain Natural Area just to the north of the North Downs AONB and south of the Thames Estuary. It has spectacular views towards the Isle of Sheppey and is the largest of a “fleet” of 33 new woods created by the Woodland Trust to mark the 200th anniversary of Admiral Lord Nelson’s victory at the Battle of Trafalgar.
A contribution of £416,640 from GrantScape in 2005 has supported the creation of this new wood, which is named after Nelson’s flagship HMS Victory and is part of the larger Trafalgar Woods Project.
Thousands of trees have been planted with the help of local people and school children. Visitors to the new wood will also see the massive life-size “footprint” of HMS Victory (a series of oak posts forming a dot-to-dot outline of the 100 gun battleship), follow a discovery trail leading to “enemy ships” each represented by a single oak tree and see the fantastic views from the chain-link sculpture at the top of the site.
A Hunting History
Wentwood is the largest Planted Ancient Woodland (PAWS) site in Wales, the remnant of a vast forest that once stretched from the River Usk to the Wye Valley. Mentioned in the Dark Age’s texts, it was once a hunting forest for Chepstow Castle.
Ancient Woodland is one of the richest of habitats in the UK and our own equivalent to the rainforest. Protecting this precious resource is vitally important. In 2005 the Woodland Trust launched the Save Wentwood Forest campaign in an effort to save 352 hectares of this beautiful and historic forest from being lost forever.
The public response to the campaign was unprecedented. Together with the support from GrantScape, charitable trusts, in particular The Tubney Charitable Trust and other national and local organisations, we raised enough money to acquire Wentwood Forest in January 2006.
Work is now well underway to restore Wentwood Forest to its former glory.