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Swinley Forest is a large expanse of Crown Estate woodland mainly within the civil parishes of Windlesham in Surrey and Winkfield and Crowthorne in Berkshire, England.
| | This article needs additional citations for verification .(August 2012) |
Swinley Forest is a large expanse of Crown Estate woodland mainly within the civil parishes of Windlesham in Surrey and Winkfield and Crowthorne in Berkshire, England.
Situated to the south-west of Windsor Great Park, the forest stretches from Bracknell, in the north, to Bagshot, in the south. It is owned and managed by the Crown Estate and comprises over 2,600 acres (11 km2) of woodland across gently undulating hills. Although now mostly a modern plantation of Scots Pines, the area was once part of Windsor Forest. Swinley Forest includes Crowthorne Woods around Caesar's Camp between the Nine Mile Ride and Crowthorne; Swinley Park between Forest Park and the B3017; Bagshot Heath just west of Bagshot; and Swinley Woods around Kings Ride between the B3017 and South Ascot. Much of the woods cover what used to be moorland as indicated by the names of some of the hills, such as Broadmoor, Owlsmoor, Wishmoor, Gormoor, Whitmoor and Englemoor (now Englemere).
Swinley Park once surrounded Swinley Lodge where the King kept the Royal Staghounds in Georgian times. It was at the centre of Swinley Walke, one of the sub-divisions of Windsor Forest.
In the 18th century Daniel Defoe - writing in the fashion of the time of regarding uncultivated land as wild and forbidding - described Bagshot Heath as
"a vast tract of land [...] which is not only poor, but even quite steril [ sic ], given up to barrenness, horrid and frightful to look on [...] much of it is a sandy desert [...] This sand indeed is checked by the heath, or heather, which grows in it [...] but the ground is otherwise so poor and barren that the product of it feeds no creatures, but some very small sheep, who feed chiefly on the said heather [...] nor are there any villages, worth mentioning, and but few houses or people for many miles far and wide". [1]
There are a number of late 18th century redoubts scattered throughout the forest. These defensive earth fortifications were built here not as working defences but as training grounds to carry out military exercises in the buildup to the Napoleonic Wars.
In May 2011 forest fires broke out throughout the forest; the cause is believed to be a mixture of the unseasonably dry conditions and arson. Although the fires were stated at the time by the Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service to have been the most extensive fires ever tackled by the service, the extent of the damage to the forest was relatively limited. [ citation needed ]
The woods provide some of the best mountain biking [2] in South-East England, with many off-road 'single-track' trails available as well as plenty of fire roads. Mountain biking no longer requires a permit since the introduction of the three marked trails (Green, Blue and Red) and walking is free. Swinley Woods was originally submitted as the proposed venue for the mountain biking event of the 2012 Summer Olympics,[ citation needed ] however, the distance from the main Olympic Park was considered too great and the heavy forestation along most of the suggested routes would have resulted in poor camera access and views. The event was instead located at Hadleigh Farm near Hadleigh, Essex.
At Gormoor on the Nine Mile Ride, on the northern edge of Crowthorne Woods, is The Look Out Discovery Centre, operated by Bracknell Forest Borough Council. This is a hands-on science exhibition and nature discovery centre, which also acts as a visitor centre for the forest, providing maps, car parking and bike hire. Most of the self-guided walks and bike trails start and end at the centre.
Adjoining the Look Out is an Iron Age hill fort known as Caesar's Camp . It is the only one in East Berkshire. It has not been excavated but Iron Age coins have been found there. The name only dates from the 18th century. Caesar's Camp appears to have fallen under the rule of Cunobelin, king of the Catuvellauni tribe in the first century AD from a coin discovered in the interior. Soon after, the Romans invaded England; after this time, there is no evidence that Caesar's Camp continued to exist as an inhabited community. A road from its south entrance was later built, connecting it to the Devil's Highway (Roman Britain). There is a small Roman settlement about halfway along this road, known as Wickham Bushes, which has yielded pottery and other Roman artifacts.
A redoubt roughly 40 m across in the fort is thought to be part of a defence line built in 1792 in preparation for the Napoleonic Wars.
In 2007, a Go Ape facility was opened to the public, featuring a series of tree-top rope bridges and climbs.
Swinley Park and Brick Pits is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and has protected areas for the birds that live there. Some parts of Swinley Forest are also covered by the Broadmoor to Bagshot Woods and Heaths SSI, one of the largest SSIs in Berkshire. As well as the extensive commercial conifer plantations and mixed woodland the nationally rare lowland heath present means Swinley Forest forms part of the Thames Basin Heaths, [3] a designated Special Protection Area (SPA), due to the rare ground nesting birds including wood lark, Dartford warbler and European nightjar which nest in open parts of the forest. The area also includes some marshy areas where reptiles and marshland plants such as cotton grass are common.
Bracknell Forest is a unitary authority area in Berkshire, southern England. It covers the two towns of Bracknell and Sandhurst and the village of Crowthorne and also includes the areas of North Ascot, Warfield and Winkfield. Parts of the borough border neighbouring boroughs such as Wokingham Borough Council and the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead. The south of the borough also borders parts of Surrey and Hampshire.
Sandhurst is a town and civil parish in the Bracknell Forest borough in Berkshire, England. It is in the south eastern corner of Berkshire, and is situated 32 miles (51 km) west-southwest of central London, 2.5 miles (4.0 km) north west of Camberley and 5 miles (8.0 km) south of Bracknell. Sandhurst is known worldwide as the location of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Despite its close proximity to Camberley, Sandhurst is also home to a large and well-known out-of-town mercantile development. The site is named "The Meadows" and has a Tesco Extra hypermarket and a Marks & Spencer, two of the largest in the country. A large Next clothing and homeware store is open on the site of the old Homebase.
Camberley is a town in the Borough of Surrey Heath in Surrey, England, approximately 31 miles (50 km) southwest of Central London. The town is in the far west of the county, close to the borders of Hampshire and Berkshire. Once part of Windsor Forest, Camberley grew up around the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and the associated Army Staff College. Known originally as Cambridge Town, it was assigned its current name by the General Post Office in 1877.
Bracknell is a large town and civil parish in Berkshire, England, the westernmost area within the Greater London Urban Area and the administrative centre of the Borough of Bracknell Forest. It lies 11 miles (18 km) to the east of Reading, 9 miles (14 km) south of Maidenhead, 10 miles (16 km) southwest of Windsor and 25 miles (40 km) west of central London.
The Borough of Wokingham is a local government district in Berkshire, United Kingdom. It is named after its main town, Wokingham. Other places in the district include Arborfield, Barkham, Charvil, Earley, Finchampstead, Hurst, Sonning, Remenham, Ruscombe, Shinfield, Twyford, Wargrave, Three Mile Cross, Winnersh, Spencers Wood and Woodley.
Crowthorne is a large village and civil parish in the Bracknell Forest district of south-eastern Berkshire, England. It had a population of 6,711 at the 2001 census, which rose to 6,902 at the 2011 census. A 2020 estimate put it at 7,808. Crowthorne is the venue of Wellington College, a large co-educational boarding and day independent school, which opened in 1859, and of Broadmoor Hospital, one of England's three maximum-security psychiatric hospitals, which lies on the eastern edge of the village.
Bagshot is a village in the Surrey Heath borough of Surrey, England, approximately 26 miles (42 km) southwest of central London. In the past, Bagshot served as an important staging post between London, Southampton and the West Country, evidenced by the original coaching inns still present in the town today.
Easthampstead is a former village and now a southern suburb of the town of Bracknell in the English county of Berkshire, although the old village can still be easily identified around the Church of St Michael and St Mary Magdalene. This building houses some of the finest stained glass works of Sir Edward Burne-Jones.
Birch Hill is a southern suburb of Bracknell, originally part of the now-defunct civil parish of Easthampstead, in the English county of Berkshire. Although Birch Hill is a separate ward in Bracknell Town Council it is combined with Hanworth to form Hanworth ward in Bracknell Forest Council. The Birch Hill estate was built in the 1970s on the slightly higher ground above South Hill Park, a Georgian and Victorian country house in beautiful parkland with two lakes, now an arts centre. Birch Hill is bounded by Hanworth to the west, Crown Wood and Forest Park to the north-east, Easthampstead to the north and Nine Mile Ride and the Crown plantations of Swinley Forest to the south.
Hanworth is a southern suburb of Bracknell, originally part of the now-defunct civil parish of Easthampstead, in the English county of Berkshire. The Hanworth estate was built in the 1970s upon the site of the wooded Hanworth Plantation. It is bounded by Birch Hill to the east, Great Hollands to the north-west, Easthampstead and the Church Hill estate to the north and the Nine Mile Ride and Crown plantations at Crowthorne Woods to the south. The Iron Age hill fort of Caesar's Camp is basically at Hanworth, although it has been transferred to the parish of Crowthorne.
Broadmoor to Bagshot Woods and Heaths is a 1,696.3-hectare (4,192-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Berkshire and Surrey that extend from a minority of the parish of Crowthorne including around Broadmoor Hospital in the west to Bagshot south-east, Bracknell north-east, and Sandhurst, south. It is part of the Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area. Two nature reserves which are managed by the Surrey Wildlife Trust are in the SSSI, Barossa nature reserve and Poors Allotment. Broadmoor Bottom, which is part of Wildmoor Heath, also falls within the SSSI; this reserve is managed by the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust.
Crown Wood is a south-eastern estate of Bracknell in the English county of Berkshire, and formerly part of the parish of Winkfield.
The Warren is a suburban area in Berkshire, England, and a conurbation of Bracknell, adjacent to the large expanses of Swinley Forest, part of the Crown Estate. The Warren and the neighbouring suburb Martins Heron are after a Parliamentary Boundary review in the Bracknell constituency - until 2010 they were in the Windsor Constituency. It is in Harmans Water ward, which also includes parts of Bullbrook, and The Parks.
Nine Mile Ride is a length of the B3430 road in the English county of Berkshire, running from the south of Bracknell to Finchampstead, in the Borough of Wokingham. Despite its name, the road is 6.7 miles (10.8 km) long.
Caesar's Camp is an Iron Age hill fort around 2400 years old. It is located just in Crowthorne civil parish to the south of Bracknell in the English county of Berkshire. It falls within the Windsor Forest and is well wooded, although parts of the fort have now been cleared of some trees. The area is managed by the Forestry Commission but owned by Crown Estate, and is open and accessible to the public. The hill fort covers an area of about 17.2 acres and is surrounded by a mile-long ditch, making it one of the largest in southern England.
The Thames Basin Heaths are a natural region in southern England in Berkshire, Hampshire and Surrey, a slightly mottled east-west belt of ecologically recognised and protected land.
The Devil's Highway was a Roman road in Britain connecting Londinium (London) to Calleva Atrebatum (Silchester) via Pontes (Staines). The road was the principal route to the west of Britain during the Roman period but whilst maintained for its easternmost section, was replaced by other routes after the demise of Roman Britain.
Wildmoor Heath is a 91-hectare (220-acre) nature reserve south of Crowthorne in Berkshire. It is managed by the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust. The reserve is part of two Sites of Special Scientific Interest: Wildmoor Heath itself is part of Sandhurst to Owlsmoor Bogs and Heaths and a separate area called Broadmoor Bottom is part of Broadmoor to Bagshot Woods and Heaths.
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