We invite you to come and enjoy Chipping Norton’s Fitzalan Wood, at the top of Station Road, whether as a volunteer or a visitor.
Please note that firewood in the log store near the entrance is free to take away; typically there will be a mixture of seasoned and unseasoned wood. We ask users to consider making a donation to a favourite charity or other good cause, in return for any wood taken.
A welcome tea-break in the Wood, on a warm summer’s day.
Scroll down to see the Wood’s timeline in words and pictures ….
This wood in Chipping Norton was created on a one-acre piece of the common land, through which flows the Common Brook. It is bounded to the north by the Worcester Road (A44) and to the east by Station Road and there were some existing mature trees, mostly near the roadsides. For years it had been a wasteland wilderness and had at different times been proposed as a skateboard park and as a site for office buildings and industrial units.
In 2013 and 2014, Chippy Green Gym cleared the thickly overgrown site and since then has planted upwards of 400 trees, which now form a mixed broad-leaf wood.
The overgrown site in 2013
Clearance work involved removing fallen trees, bramble, dense willow herb and invasive Himalayan balsam. Due to the change in land use, little of the last two has regrown.
September 11, 2013
By early January 2015, several hundred volunteer hours’ work later, planting was well advanced.
Much planting took place in December 2014 and January 2015. One factor influencing the choice of species such as willow was the poor drainage at the lower end of the site.
January 7, 2014, by the Common Brook. Here we planted alder, white willow, red dogwood and the berried viburnum lantana, the wayfaring tree. The trees have thrived in the often damp conditions and the fertile soil in this mainly sheltered site. The willow, in particular, has grown at a very fast rate.
In the main part of the wood, there are hazel, hornbeam, small-leaved lime, and English oak. Unfortunately, ash could not be added to the list due to a government ban on movement of the species, ravaged by Chalara fungal disease (ash dieback) which has now spread throughout the British Isles.
Space was left to form a central glade, which is edged with crab apple, silver birch, dog rose, more red dogwood, and a couple of spindle trees.
Muntjac deer were among the visitors from which the tree guards afforded protection.
“Keep a green tree in your heart and perhaps a singing bird will come.” (Chinese proverb)
To involve younger members of the local community in the project, we invited a group of schoolchildren to get some hands-on experience of tree-planting.
Tree-planters from St Mary’s Primary School
After much hard work on the project, its leader, the late Richard Averill, spent an enjoyable time guiding the children through the process. A good time was had by all!
As can be seen below, the trees grew well in the mainly favourable conditions.
May 2016. The willow was beginning to outgrow the other trees planted.
May 2018 – the trees were growing well …..
…. and by 2021, the town had its new Wood.
One aim is to provide wood for different purposes through rotational pollarding and coppicing, particularly of the willow and hazel. Two of the uses are shown below.
Making a willow hurdle.
The log store
In 2019 we began to introduce selected native wildflowers not present in the wood, and also to boost the population of some that already existed. For a list of the species introduced (with varying degrees of success!) visit the Links page*. [*under reconstruction]
Native wildflowers planted have included the ox-eye daisy, Tenby daffodil and foxglove.
A scyther takes a rest from clearing the paths to see how bulb planting is going.
Fitzalan Wood was created with grants from The Trust for Oxfordshire’s Environment & Grundon Waste Management. 