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Oakfrith Wood
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Keen on the countryside, conservation, woodland? If so, you would enjoy walking through Oakfrith Wood with its idyllic woodland atmosphere. Be able to enjoy the trees, bluebells, orchids, deer, butterflies, fungi, birds, plus much more flora and fauna. Enjoy the peace and tranquillity this delightful wood offers. You may also like to get actively involved in undertaking practical conservation tasks and woodland management at one of our regular working parties either on the first Saturday of the month for conservation tasks or during the week with the woodland management cooperative (but numbers for the latter are limited). New volunteers are warmly welcome to join us whatever your interests or experience. We are a very mixed group of people sharing one thing in common – a deep love of the Wood. Our work programme is set to minimise disturbance during the nesting season, so we do not meet every month. There is no need to worry about being able to handle the tools as training is provided. Whatever your interests, the Friends of Oakfrith Wood hope that you will join them in sharing the vision and sentiments of Hamilton and Eveline Rivers Pollock, the one time owners of the Urchfont Manor Estate, which are perfectly expressed on the plaque in the centre of the Wood: ‘The greater part of this Wood was cleared, re-planted and maintained by Rivers and Eveline Pollock of Erchfont Manor between the years 1928 -1938 without profit from the previous felling in 1917 nor expectation of profit from the next felling. It is their hope that those who come after them will maintain this ancient Wood in accordance with the rules of good forestry so that the oak trees will reach maturity in due course’. All work is undertaken to an approved Management Plan which has been agreed with the Forestry Commission and is regularly updated. If you would like to join us or have further information, please contact Bob Organ, Chair (Tel: 01380 848233, Email fourbowdens@btinternet.com)
Oakfrith Wood History Oakfrith Wood is semi natural ancient woodland and is almost certainly a remnant of a much larger Pewsey Vale forest. The earliest reference to the Wood is in the 1784 Duke of Queensbury map of Urchfont where it is referred to as ‘Oakfrith Coppice’ (oak-frith meaning oak wood). Oakfrith Wood extends to some 14.1 hectares (34 acres) including 0.8 hectares acquired in 2000 as the County Millennium Project. Much of the Wood was clear felled for the War effort in 1917, leaving little of the original ancient woodland. The Wood appears to have been neglected until 1928 when the Pollock family undertook a major re-planting programme with a mixture of broadleaf and conifer and one area of pure conifer (known as ‘Witches Wood’). Local woodsmen, Jesse Fidler and William Hale, undertook most of this work. The area of conifer was clear felled in 1996-97 and re-planted with broadleaf trees. The Friends of Oakfrith Wood The Friends of Oakfrith Wood were formed in 1994 as the result of concerns that the Wood had been neglected for many years, with only intermittent interventions. The then County Forestry Officer and the Director of Urchfont Manor College took the initiative to work with local residents and the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust to develop a coordinated approach to the future management of the Wood. The Friends of Oakfrith Wood were born! The objectives of the Friends are to manage Oakfrith Wood in line with its designation as a Local Nature Reserve with a view to conserving, protecting and improving the physical and natural environment of the Wood and conserving and enhancing its biodiversity value as an educational resource and to encourage an appreciation of the natural world and local environment by local people and visitors alike. The Friends were re-constituted as a charitable trust in 2006. |