BARNBOW ESTATE

Description : During the late 1990s, an underground fire was detected in a coal seam that is situated beneath part of the wood. To allow access for the emergency services a proportion of the wood had to be felled. Once the fire had been successfully extinguished this area of the woodland was replanted with a mixture of species, including sessile oak, ash, silver birch and Corsican pine. Barnbow Wood borders an area of rough grassland that has been designated a Site of Ecological and Geological Importance (SEGI).

Barnbow Hall Wood was planted in 1970, following a period of open cast coal mining. It consists of a mixture of broadleaf trees and conifers, which include sessile oak, ash, sycamore, beech, Scots pine, lodgepole pine, European larch and Norway spruce. The woodland received its first thinning in 2000.

Immediately to the east of Barnbow Hall Wood are the medieval earthworks of Barnbow Hall, which was demolished between 1721 and 1722. The remains include the area of the garden and possible 'Ridge and Furrow' (a relic of an earlier system of agriculture showing clear plough lines).

Shippen Plantation is essentially a wet woodland with hybrid poplar.

Access and facilities : There is a public footpath through part of Barnbow Hall Wood, linking Barnbow Lane and Taylor Lane. At present no formal public access exists to Barnbow Wood and Shippen Plantation.

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