*** Welcome to piglix ***

Hayley Wood

Hayley Wood
Site of Special Scientific Interest
Hayley Wood 7.jpg
Area of Search Cambridgeshire
Grid reference TL 291 529
Interest Biological
Area 51.7 hectares
Notification 1984
Location map Magic Map

Hayley Wood is a 51.7 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest south-east of Great Gransden in Cambridgeshire. It is a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade 1, and it is managed by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire.

A large wood in this area of the parish was mentioned in the 1068 Domesday Book, but by 1251 it had been split into two: Hayley Wood (40 acres) and Littlehound Wood (32 acres). Agriculture in the area declined after 1350 and the wooded area expanded; by 1650, Hayley Wood covered 120 acres (0.49 km2) and Littlehound 40. Around 1655, Littlehound was 'new stubbed' and disappeared under cultivation, although its outline can still be seen in the form of field boundaries. Hayley Wood was confiscated from the Bishop of Ely by Queen Elizabeth in 1579 and became privately owned.

The Varsity Line - a railway between Bedford and Cambridge - ran along the wood's northern edge between 1863-1969. Now disused, its bed hosts a variety of flowers such as hairy violet and clustered bellflower. In 1962, Hayley Wood was the first site to be purchased by the recently formed Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely Naturalists' Trust (now the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire).

Hayley Wood lies in the south-east corner of the civil parish of Little Gransden in Cambridgeshire, 10 miles (17 km) south-west of Cambridge and 45 miles (73 km) north of London. The clay soil is heavy, leading to waterlogged conditions on the flat hilltop.


...
Wikipedia

...