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Carpenters Wood lies within the Chiltern Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and, along with other woodlands within the Chilterns, forms a unique landscape characterised by its Beech woods which is very different in character from other chalk or woodland regions of England. The Chiltern Hills consist of a southwest to northeast aligned ridge of chalk from the Cretaceous Period (65 - 95million years ago). At the time of the Doomsday survey in 1086 AD one third of the Chilterns was thought to be wooded, it is now about 21% which still makes it one of the more wooded parts of the country (England has an average of just 9% woodland).

Carpenters Wood, which is at least 400 years old, contains many features of historical and archaeological interest which give it its particular character and make it special. Clearly, it is important for these features to be identified, mapped and appreciated by local people in order to help preserve them for future generations, and this was the purpose of this walk.

During the walk John was able to point out a number of features, some of which were more obvious such as the quarries, and some which were entirely new to us such as the saw pits.


John uses the permanent notice-map to show the proposed route ...	... and to answer our initial questions.

This Bridleway goes all the way along the farm track from Farm Road and Blacketts Wood Drive, into the Wood at the farm gate, down through the Wood to the Barrel Arch, and on up the hill to the A404 and to Chenies. This path probably dates back to the 1600’s and would have been the path linking Chenies Manor with Shire Lane and beyond, used to bring live-stock or wood-fuel up and down the hills and providing a historic link between Chenies and Churlswood (Chorleywood) villages.

Carpenters Wood has a number of banks and ditches which cross the Woods at various points. These almost certainly demarcated ownership of different sections of the Wood and some probably go back to Saxon Charter boundaries. These would have had legal significance and often lasted for hundreds of years as boundaries between different parcels of land. Marker stones are also often found on these boundary banks, and in fact a sample of puddingstone was identified in Carpenters Wood on a previous walk. These banks and ditches are best seen in early Spring when the fallen leaves have died down and before new vegetation has grown up to obscure their lines, but they can be seen in many places quite easily as hard raised areas with soft, sometimes quite deep, ditches running alongside them. They are usually most visible on the boundary of woods with a deep ditch running alongside the outside of the bank, probably to keep animals out of the wood. Part of one of these banks and ditches can be seen as you enter Carpenters Wood at the Whitelands Avenue entrance. It was recently discovered by the Friends Group during a holly removal session and runs parallel to the main footpath and the line of houses on Whitelands Avenue just behind the information board. Ancient Woods almost always had sinuous boundaries whilst straight fences and hedges are more likely to be a feature of planned enclosures after 1700AD. The boundaries of many woods became fixed during medieval times when the small scale clearance of woodland to create fields for agriculture was at its height. John was able to identify a number of these banks and ditches for us during our walk, some of which have been marked on the map.

Saw pits are a characteristic feature of the ancient woods of the Chilterns where tall trees were felled and cut into planks and beams in situ, rather than being transported out of the wood whole. These saw pits are usually oval in shape, about 4 metres long by 2 metres wide, and normally lie along the contour, with all the excavated material from the pit piled on the downhill side to make a level platform. A wooden frame would then have been constructed over the pit to hold the log and two men would saw up the log, one standing above the pit and one standing down in the pit and using a two handled saw. These saw pits are quite rare in other parts of the country, and probably occur particularly in the Chilterns because the chalk allows rain water to drain away keeping the pits dry. There are relatively few saw pits in Carpenters Wood but two possible sites are marked on the map.

The Beech trees of the Chilterns were often more valuable than the surrounding agricultural land, and for 250 years skilled woodsmen or Bodgers turned chairlegs, spindles and other products on simple but effective pole lathes out in the woods. This was a cottage industry at the start of the 18^th century but by the 19^th century many factories existed around High Wycombe which relied on these products from the bodgers. In 1920 Ercol set up its factory in High Wycombe and bought most of its Beech from the Chilterns. When the Ercol factory closed the price of Chiltern Beech dropped by two-thirds. Now few of the Beech trees are good enough for quality furniture-making due to extensive squirrel damage!

There are two large quarries in Carpenters Wood both at least 200 years old. One is situated along the footpath from the Whitelands Avenue entrance to the barrel arch, and the other can be found at the top end of Hillas Wood. Both quarries are substantial and deep with steep sides although they are now covered with vegetation and trees have grown up from their depths. However, these can still be easily seen and boundary ditches and banks can be identified around their perimeters. These quarries were almost certainly used to extract chalk for liming the local fields to improve the soil. There is a long history in the Chilterns of digging holes for clay, chalk, pebbles and sand. These materials were used for brick and tile making in the area – brickworks and decorative tile works have existed in the Chilterns for hundreds of years.

Hornbeam Stub Hedges are a special feature of many woodland edges in the Chilterns and are rare elsewhere. In Carpenters Wood we have some of the best examples of these hornbeam hedges particularly along the edge of the horse fields down from the farm gate entrance. These are probably at least 200 years old but require very special management. At present some of these hedges may be threatened by being too close to the horses and being subject to ‘nibbling’. However, removal of dense holly from around these hedges by the Friends Group will have improved their light and helped them to grow.

Charcoal production was not very important in the Chilterns, however there is evidence in the area of some charcoal platforms where burning of charcoal may have taken place. These platforms are usually 6 -7 metres wide, circular in shape with hard edges and flat bases. However, they are difficult to spot – blackened soil or lumps of remaining charcoal around the base of the depression may be the only way of identifying them.

Although we were unable to identify any bomb craters in Carpenters Wood, clearly these wartime features do exist across the Chilterns. Many woods were used for military purposes during the two world wars and practice trenches as well as bomb craters have been found.

Above, I have outlined a number of historic features which we managed to identify during our morning walk with John Morris. These features can be seen both in our woodland as well as many other woods across the Chiltern area. However, let us not forget the fantastic old Beech trees themselves which make up much of Carpenters Wood. Many of these magnificent Beech trees are probably 150 years old and give the wood its special character, its stunning autumn colours, the bluebell carpets in the spring and the fresh lime-green canopies in the summer. We are very blessed to have such a wonderful resource so close to home. I hope that walks such as this will both raise awareness of the uniqueness of our woods as well as add to people’s enjoyment of this very special place.

Lastly, I would like to thank John Morris for giving so freely of his time and expertise. His knowledge and enthusiasm inspired us all. It was a fantastic morning, and the sun shone throughout!