Penn Wood

Wildlife and habitats

Animals

The mosaic of habitats at Penn Wood supports a diversity of species adapted to different ecological niches. The butterflies on site are particularly varied and the wood houses plenty of woodland birds, such as the tawny owl, while red kites and buzzards fly overhead.

In the middle ages, wolves and wild boar roamed the wood. The Trust is working on restoring the habitat for some of its more recent residents, such as the skylark, dormouse and woodlark.

Trees, plants and fungi

Penn Wood is ‘old-growth’ woodland, with trees that are over 200 years old. There are at least 50 such trees on the site, most being beech. A section of the wood is conifer-dominated, while the rest is broadleaved woodland and open grassland. We are now working to restore the woodland to its former glory.

Grazing now takes place for most of the year by over a dozen Dexter cows to maintain a wood pasture habitat. These cows are playing an important role in restoring the woods by grazing and trampling some of the young trees and scrub which encourages the species-rich grasslands to return.

Habitats

The varied habitats at Penn Wood play host to a wide range of flora and fauna. Areas of ancient woodland and traditionally managed grassland are particularly rare and valuable.

History of Penn Wood

From a clay-digging site to a Second World War army training camp, Penn Wood has a rich history.

The Enclosure Acts

The Enclosure Acts were a series of Acts of Parliament which changed legal property rights to land that had previously permitted communal use. In 1855, ownership of Penn Wood passed to the 1st Earl Howe and many local people who had relied on the land for grazing livestock were forced off it.

There local anger and for many years there were unlawful protests in the woods, including poaching and vandalism of fences, as local people tried to reclaim the land they had relied on and felt was legitimately theirs to use.

Chair-making at Penn Wood

Chair-making started as a cottage industry in the villages of the Chilterns in the 17th century, but after the Industrial Revolution in the late 18th century, High Wycombe became a centre for chair production. Local woods like Penn Wood were an important source of timber for the industry.

As the industry boomed, large areas of oak trees were felled and replaced with tall, narrow beech trees, which suited handling better.

While much of the work took place in local factories, bodgers (wood turners) went into woods to do their work as it was easier than transporting timber to their workshops. Bodgers would purchase stands of trees and work nearby, and finished pieces would be left to dry out.

Archaeology

The wood is crisscrossed by banks and ditches, some of which may have marked the boundaries of different owners or acted as a means to keep animals away from young trees for woodland management. There is a large woodbank surrounding the perimeter which is a typical feature of ancient woodland; and an earthwork enclosure in the wood which is similar to those found in other Chiltern woods. These enclosures may have been connected to hunting lodges or gamekeepers’ huts.

Things to do in Penn Wood