Bedford Purlieus is a ancient woodland in Cambridgeshire, in the United Kingdom. It is a national nature reserve and Site of Special Scientific Interest owned and managed by the Forestry Commission. In Thornhaugh civil parish, south of Stamford and west of Peterborough, the wood is within the Peterborough unitary authority area of Cambridgeshire, and borders Northamptonshire. In Roman times it was an iron smelting centre, during the medieval period it was in the Royal Forest of Rockingham, and later it became part of the estates of the Duke of Bedford. Bedford Purlieus appears to have been continuously wooded at least from Roman times, and probably since the ice receded. The woodland may have the richest range of vascular plants of any English lowland wood. It acquired particular significance in the 1970s as an early subject for the historical approach to ecology and woodland management.
National nature reserve Bedford Purlieus was declared a national nature reserve (NNR) in 2000. Most of England's 224 NNRs are managed by Natural England, but 88 are wholly or partly managed by other approved bodies. Bedford Purlieus is managed by the Forestry Commission, and is open to the public during daylight hours. It is notable for having a wider variety of herbaceous woodland plants than almost any other English woodland. The of ancient woodland was declared a Site of Special Scientific Interest in 1969, and it is a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I. The abundance and variety of the woodland flora and fauna is outstanding. The range of woodland flowers are especially notable. There were 462 species of vascular plants listed as present in the woods in 1975,Rixen, P, and Peterken, G F, Vascular Plants in Peterken & Welch, 1975, p. 101 and the whole range of flora associated with ancient woodland is exceptionally rich. A principal reason for this is the variety of soil types, resulting from a geology that ranges from highly calcareous limestone and tufa through to highly acidic sands and silts.Stevens, P, Soils and Geology in Peterken & Welch, 1975, p. 60 The variety of coppice woodland types, the management history, the wide grassland rides, and even the periodic disturbances caused by coppicing, felling and other interventions such as the wartime installations have all added habitats that maintain the diversity of species within the woods.Peterken, G F, Management Considerations: Ecologist's Viewpoint, in Peterken & Welch, 1975, pp. 204–5
Forestry Commission Wood Bedford Purlieus has been owned by the Forestry Commission since 1933.Penistan, A J, A Management Plan, in Peterken & Welch, 1975, pp.189 Throughout the war and post-war years the emphasis was on maximising timber production. The 1970s saw a new interest in the ecological value of the woods, and the possibilities for both leisure and conservation.
Commercial management The Forestry Commission acquired the Bedford Purlieus from a timber merchant who had removed the most saleable timber,Rixen, P, History and Former woodland Management, in Peterken & Welch, 1975, p. 35 and soon after 1933 almost all of the remaining wood was cut, and a replanting programme was begun, which continued until the 1950s. By then the policy of planting both broadleaved and conifer trees within the wood had been standard practice for 100 years, and the practice continued and expanded under Forestry Commission ownership. Although there is now no doubt that the non-native conifers damage and diminish the conservation value of the woodland, it appears that in this instance they also secured its survival.Peterken, G. F. Management Considerations: Ecologist's Viewpoint, in Peterken & Welch, 1975, pp.202
The planting programme of the 1940s was principally of oak, but also larch, Scots pine and Corsican pine.Penistan, A J, A Management Plan, in Peterken & Welch, 1975, pp.190 Unlike in a coppice-with-standards rotation, Bedford Purlieus woodland is much more even in age. However, when an ancient woodland is cleared and planted the result is not just a monoculture of the newly planted trees. The canopy is now a mix of the planted trees, self-sown trees and shrubs, and regrowth of coppice stools, some probably of more recent origin, other stools clearly dating back to antiquity.Peterken, G F, Trees and Shrubs, in Peterken & Welch, 1975, p. 85 The species diversity that characterises the woods was thus retained, and oak, lime, large-leaved elm, hazel, ash, field maple, English elm, sycamore, chestnut and birch are all to be found in substantial quantities.Peterken, G F, Trees and Shrubs, in Peterken & Welch, 1975, pp. 87–92
An exception to all this is the northern end of the present wood, known as The Bedlams. This is not ancient wood, but a 19th-century conifer plantation, which was replanted in the 1950s with beech, Norway spruce, Western hemlock and Grand fir. Also, a re-instated open-cast ironstone quarry on the eastern side was planted with Corsican pine.
Conservation and public access In 1975 a major symposium was held to consider the management of Bedford Purlieus. Instigated by G.F. Peterken of the Nature Conservancy Council, it included contributions from the Forestry Commission, the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology and the local Naturalist Trusts.List of Participants, in Peterken & Welch, 1975, pp. 208–9 Acknowledging the role commercial demands had played in enabling the continued existence of the woods, Peterken states:
During the 1970s the Forestry Commission had begun a shift in focus to conservation and amenity value of their woods. The 1975 symposium considered the history and ecology of Bedford Purlieus and discussed how to retain and enhance the elements of the woods of greatest ecological value. The resulting publication, edited by G.F. Peterken and R.C. Welch,Peterken & Welch, 1975. See bibliography below. produced a detailed management plan. Among its recommendations were the restoration of areas of coppicing, and the reduction of conifers. The plan provided a basis for an ecological management of Bedford Purlieus within commercial constraints. Its designation as a national nature reserve in 2000 is a recognition of the extent to which the policy shift had been made. In 2005 it received an injection of funding from landfill tax credits arising from the nearby Augean landfill. This has facilitated the Forestry Commission to re-instate areas of coppicing, open up grassland glades and remove conifers and other introduced species.
As well as the shift from commercial to conservation forestry, the Forestry Commission have embraced the desire for public access. The emphasis at Bedford Purlieus is on 'quiet recreation' to minimise the impact on the woodland flora and fauna. A car park is available, accessed from the A47. There is a network of rides and paths within the wood, and it is open every day during daylight hours.
The Wansford Estate For 400 years the woods were part of the Wansford Estate, itself a part of the vast land holdings of the Russell family, Earls, and later Dukes of Bedford. It is this connection that is responsible for the name, and under their management, profound changes have taken place to both the size and character of the woods.
Thornhaugh Woods Until the years following 1639 these woods were known as Thornhaugh Woods (also called 'the High Woods of Thornhaw'),Rixen, P, History and Former Woodland Management, in Peterken & Welch, 1975, p.14-15 being the principal woodland of the parish of Thornhaugh. The name Bedford Purlieus resulted from its association with the Earls and Dukes of Bedford, but it also reveals its more ancient history as a part of a Royal Forest. The woods came into the Russell family almost at the start of their rise to landed wealth. In 1526 John Russell married Anne Sapcote,Burke, Sir Bernard, (1938 ed) Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage. Shaw, London. p. 266 an heiress whose property included the Thornhaugh Woods. He went on to be created Earl of Bedford by Henry VIII and was granted a vast estate at Woburn Abbey by Edward VI. Baron Russell of Thornhaugh in the County of Northampton (1603) is one of the subsidiary titles of the Dukes of Bedford.
The Duke of Bedford's Purlieus Six generations later, William Russell, the 5th Earl (who would later become Duke of Bedford) was required by Charles I to pay £200 to 'Dissaforest' (sic) his woods at Thornhaugh. Never mind that they had been excluded from Forest Law some 350 years before. The King needed money to fight the English Civil War, and this was one of many ways the Treasury found to raise it.Rixen, P, History and Former Woodland Management, in Peterken & Welch, 1975, p.23-4 The Charter of 8 August 1639 sets out definitively that the woods are now purlieus, that is, land that was once part of a Royal Forest but has been legally disafforested. It names the various compartments (or sales) that make up the woods, and affirms that, "for £200 of lawful money of England well and truly paid" the 1,648 acres are "altogether dissaforested". It goes on to explain:
After Charles II made the Earl a Duke in 1694, Thornhaugh Woods were to be known in the estate records as 'the Duke of Bedford's Purlieus'.Rixen, P, History and Former Woodland Management, in Peterken & Welch, 1975, p. 24
Grubbing up
The woods remained in the Russell family through a further nine generations, though not all of it remained as woodland. Of the described in the charter of 1639, around was woodland. Now only half of that remains. Between 1862 and 1868 the western half of the wood was grubbed up and converted to agricultural land.Rixen, P, History and Former Woodland Management, in Peterken & Welch, 1975, p. 33 The Peterborough Advertiser of 7 December 1912, looking back 50 years, describes how
The article describes the 'Centre Tree', the site of which is now on the western edge of the wood, but was in the middle of the original wood.
The woodland compartments These straight radiating rides had been cut through from 1733 onwards. Before that time the rides followed roughly rectangular compartment boundaries, which date back to medieval times. Although the new rides caused some shifts in boundaries, the names used for the compartments have been very enduring (see table below). The continuity of compartment names is a useful proof that the same wood is being described through the change from Thornhaugh Woods to Bedford Purlieus.