Two dense broadleaved woodlands with mature, even-age canopies, mature coppicing and open glades.
They formed the largest semi-natural area of northern calcareous Ash-Wych Elm woodland found in the NCC survey in 1986, though heavily modified by plantation forestry and naturalised Sycamore.
Hawks Wood & Old Meadow Wood were purchased by South Yorkshire County Council from the Forestry Commission shortly before its abolition in 1986, at which time they were transferred to RMBC. They form a valuable landscape feature, recreational resource and wildlife haven.
Description
Along the streamsides and up the shallow valleys, below the crags, the woods are dominated by Ramsons and Dog's Mercury while other zones are more herb-rich. Towards the south of Old Meadow Wood are rich areas dominated by Tor Grass. Smaller patches of scrub woodland inside the 'dog-leg' formed by the two woods have a generally poorer field layer and perhaps represent woodland which has overgrown old paths and tracks. The crags which mark the SE margin of Old Meadow Wood hold well-developed lime woodland with old woodland indicators. The geographically transitional nature is demonstrated by the plants - the rich ground flora shows a northern bias.
Pudding Dike originates from springs within Old Meadow Wood
History
Important indicators which confirms their age include boundary banks, stone boundary walls and earthworks indicating early Romano-British settlement. The 1851 Ordnance Survey map shows the woods in their present shape except for an area just east of Thorpe Hall, which was not wooded at that time.. They have been affected in the past by the building of the adjacent Chesterfield Canal and by small-scale quarrying; a lime kiln still remains.
During the Duke of Leeds's ownership, 4 hectares of Hawks Wood were planted with Sycamore in the 1920s and underplanted with Beech in the 1930s. 3 further hectares were planted with Sycamore, Beech and Ash with trial shelterbelts of Corsican and Scots Pines during the 1940s. Beech and Sycamore plantations in Old Meadow Wood were planted in early 1950s. Both woods were conveyed from the 11th Duke of Leeds to the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries in 1952.
Management aims are to conserve and enhance the semi-natural characteristics, wildlife interest and landscape value by encouraging a more uneven-aged and diverse woodland structure; to provide safe public access; to protect and promote features of archaeological and historic interest; to widen existing paths and to reinstate neglected ones to allow machinery access for management; to involve the local community in management and educational use; and to maximise income.
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