Leigh Woods
Encyclopedia
Avon Gorge
The Avon Gorge is a 1.5-mile long gorge on the River Avon in Bristol, England. The gorge runs south to north through a limestone ridge west of Bristol city centre, and about 3 miles from the mouth of the river at Avonmouth. The gorge forms the boundary between the unitary authorities of...
, opposite the English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
city of Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
and north of the Ashton Court
Ashton Court
Ashton Court is a mansion house and estate to the west of Bristol in England. Although the estate lies mainly in North Somerset, it is owned by the City of Bristol. The estate has been a venue for a variety of leisure activities, including the now-defunct Ashton Court festival, Bristol...
estate. It has been designated as a National Nature Reserve
National Nature Reserve
For details of National nature reserves in the United Kingdom see:*National Nature Reserves in England*National Nature Reserves in Northern Ireland*National Nature Reserves in Scotland*National Nature Reserves in Wales...
. Small mountain biking
Mountain biking
Mountain biking is a sport which consists of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, using specially adapted mountain bikes. Mountain bikes share similarities with other bikes, but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and performance in rough terrain.Mountain biking can...
circuits are present in the woods and the area is a popular walking area for Bristolians. Part of the woodland was donated to the National Trust
National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty
The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
in 1909 by George Alfred Wills
George Alfred Wills
George Alfred Wills was a President of Imperial Tobacco and the head of an eminent Bristol family. He was the son of Henry Overton Wills III and Alice Hopkinson and was educated at Mill Hill School before joining his father’s business, he eventually became the managing director.He was responsible...
, to prevent development of the city beside the gorge. Areas not owned by the National Trust have since been taken over by the Forestry Commission
Forestry Commission
The Forestry Commission is a non-ministerial government department responsible for forestry in Great Britain. Its mission is to protect and expand Britain's forests and woodlands and increase their value to society and the environment....
.
To the south of the woods is an expensive suburb of Bristol also known as Leigh Woods. It is situated at the western end of the Clifton Suspension Bridge
Clifton Suspension Bridge
Brunel died in 1859, without seeing the completion of the bridge. Brunel's colleagues in the Institution of Civil Engineers felt that completion of the Bridge would be a fitting memorial, and started to raise new funds...
, which opened in 1864, making the development of Leigh Woods as an upmarket residential area practicable. Houses in varying styles were built from the mid-1860s until the First World War. Styles adopted included Italian
Italianate architecture
The Italianate style of architecture was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. In the Italianate style, the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian Renaissance architecture, which had served as inspiration for both Palladianism and...
, neo-Jacobean
Jacobean architecture
The Jacobean style is the second phase of Renaissance architecture in England, following the Elizabethan style. It is named after King James I of England, with whose reign it is associated.-Characteristics:...
, Scottish baronial
Scottish baronial style
The Scottish Baronial style is part of the Gothic Revival architecture style, using stylistic elements and forms from castles, tower houses and mansions of the Gothic architecture period in Scotland, such as Craigievar Castle and Newark Castle, Port Glasgow. The revival style was popular from the...
, Swiss chalet, Domestic Revival and Arts and Crafts
Arts and Crafts movement
Arts and Crafts was an international design philosophy that originated in England and flourished between 1860 and 1910 , continuing its influence until the 1930s...
.
At the western end of the bridge is Burwalls House, a Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
mansion owned by the University of Bristol
University of Bristol
The University of Bristol is a public research university located in Bristol, United Kingdom. One of the so-called "red brick" universities, it received its Royal Charter in 1909, although its predecessor institution, University College, Bristol, had been in existence since 1876.The University is...
and currently used as a centre for continuing education. On a bluff overlooking the bridge is Alpenfels, a mock Swiss chalet constructed for the Wills tobacco family.
Topography
At the southern end of the wood is Nightingale Valley (one of several thus named in the area), a dry valleyDry valley
A dry valley is a valley found in either karst or chalk terrain that no longer has a surface flow of water.There are many examples of the latter along the North and South Downs in southern England...
which is cut into the side of the gorge, and is on the Monarch's Way
Monarch's Way
The Monarch's Way is a long-distance footpath in England that approximates the escape route taken by King Charles II in 1651 after being defeated in the Battle of Worcester.Most of the footpath is waymarked...
. It drops from nearly opposite the north gate of Ashton Court
Ashton Court
Ashton Court is a mansion house and estate to the west of Bristol in England. Although the estate lies mainly in North Somerset, it is owned by the City of Bristol. The estate has been a venue for a variety of leisure activities, including the now-defunct Ashton Court festival, Bristol...
to the River Avon beside the Western buttress of the suspension bridge. Stokeleigh Camp
Stokeleigh Camp
Stokeleigh Camp is an Iron Age promontory hillfort in Leigh Woods North Somerset near Bristol, England. It has been designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument.-Background:...
is a hill fort, thought to have been occupied from 3BC to 1AD and also in the Middle Ages, which is on a promontory, bounding the north flank of the valley.
Proceeding north, down the Avon, there are a series of limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
and mineral quarries
Quarries
Quarries - The "Royal Quarries" — not found in Scripture — is the namegiven to the vast caverns stretching far underneath the northern hill, Bezetha, on which Jerusalem is built. Out of these mammoth caverns stones, a hard limestone, have been quarried in ancient times for the buildings in the...
, now disused.
At the northern end of the woods is Paradise Bottom. This is part of the Leigh Court
Leigh Court
Leigh Court is a country house which is a Grade II* listed building in Abbots Leigh, Somerset, England.The manor of Leigh at the time of the Norman Conquest belonged to the lordship of Bedminster but William the Conqueror awarded it to the Bishop of Coutances...
Estate and was part of the ground laid out by Humphrey Repton for Philip John Miles. Some of the first plantings of the Giant Redwood
Sequoiadendron
Sequoiadendron giganteum is the sole living species in the genus Sequoiadendron, and one of three species of coniferous trees known as redwoods, classified in the family Cupressaceae in the subfamily Sequoioideae, together with Sequoia sempervirens and...
and the Weymouth Pine amongst other "exotics" imported to the UK were made here by Sir William Miles
Sir William Miles, 1st Baronet
Sir William Miles, 1st Baronet was an English politician, agriculturalist and landowner. He was educated at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford and was created Baronet on April 19, 1859, of Leigh Court, Somerset....
in the 1860s. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries this had an important celestine quarry and mineral line to a dock on the Avon; both are now derelict. The area has of recent years been restored as an Arboretum
Arboretum
An arboretum in a narrow sense is a collection of trees only. Related collections include a fruticetum , and a viticetum, a collection of vines. More commonly, today, an arboretum is a botanical garden containing living collections of woody plants intended at least partly for scientific study...
.
The Portishead Railway
Portishead Railway
The Portishead Railway was a branch line railway running from Portishead in Somerset to the Great Western Main Line in Bristol, England. It was constructed in the 1860s by the Bristol & Portishead Pier and Railway, which was incorporated to build a pier and a broad gauge link to the Bristol and...
runs along the bottom of the woods. Between 1928 and 1932, the area had its own railway station, Nightingale Valley Halt
Nightingale Valley Halt railway station
Nightingale Valley Halt was a railway station near Bristol, England, on the Portishead Railway. It was situated approximately 190 metres north-west of the Clifton Suspension Bridge, and was for the benefit of visitors to Leigh Woods. No significant traces of the station survive today...
.
Flora and fauna
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...
, and has been designated as a National Nature Reserve
National Nature Reserve
For details of National nature reserves in the United Kingdom see:*National Nature Reserves in England*National Nature Reserves in Northern Ireland*National Nature Reserves in Scotland*National Nature Reserves in Wales...
.
The south part of the woods is an area of former pasture woodland with old pollards, mainly oak and some small-leaved lime. To the north, the area comprises ancient woodland of old coppice with standards and contains a rich variety of trees. Rare trees include Bristol whitebeam
Sorbus bristoliensis
Sorbus bristoliensis is a species of Whitebeam tree in the Rosaceae family. It is endemic to the United Kingdom, growing wild only in the Avon Gorge and in Leigh Woods area of Bristol-References:...
(Sorbus bristoliensis) and Wild Service Tree
Wild Service Tree
Sorbus torminalis , sometimes known as the Chequer Tree or Checker Tree, is a species of Sorbus native to Europe from England and Wales east to Denmark and Poland, south to northwest Africa, and southeast to southwest Asia from Asia Minor to the Caucasus and Alborz mountains.It is a medium-sized...
(Sorbus torminalis). On the steep grassy slopes above the River Avon
River Avon, Bristol
The River Avon is an English river in the south west of the country. To distinguish it from a number of other River Avons in Britain, this river is often also known as the Lower Avon or Bristol Avon...
, Bristol rockcress (Arabis scabra) which is unique to the Avon Gorge can be seen flowering in April; orchids and Western spiked speedwell (Veronica spicata) are common in June and July. In autumn the woodland is home to over 300 species of fungi. Bilberry, a scarce plant in the Bristol area, is found in Leigh Woods, as is the parasitic plant Yellow Bird's-nest. Lady Orchid
Lady orchid
The Lady Orchid is an herbaceous plant belonging to the Genus Orchis of the family Orchidaceae.-Description: Orchis purpurea reaches on average of height. The leaves are broad and oblong-lanceolate, forming a rosette about the base of the plant and surrounding the flower spike. They are fleshy...
was discovered here in 1990, in Nightingale Valley; there is some doubt as to whether this was a wild plant or an introduction.
Birds which live in the woods include the Raven
Raven
Raven is the common name given to several larger-bodied members of the genus Corvus—but in Europe and North America the Common Raven is normally implied...
(Corvus) and Peregrine Falcon
Peregrine Falcon
The Peregrine Falcon , also known as the Peregrine, and historically as the Duck Hawk in North America, is a widespread bird of prey in the family Falconidae. A large, crow-sized falcon, it has a blue-gray back, barred white underparts, and a black head and "moustache"...
(Falco peregrinus). Many butterflies and moths
Moths
Moths may refer to:* Gustav Moths , German rower* The Moths!, an English indie rock band* MOTHS, members of the Memorable Order of Tin Hats...
can be seen in summer including the White-letter Hairstreak
White-letter Hairstreak
The White-letter Hairstreak is a butterfly in the family Lycaenidae.-Appearance, behaviour and distribution:A dark little butterfly that spends the majority of its life in the tree tops, feeding on honeydew, making it best observed through binoculars. The uppersides are a dark brown with a small...
(Satyrium w-album).