Middleton Woods

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Quick description

What’s there?

A well-loved and much visited rare ancient semi-natural woodland noted for its spectacular bluebell displays each spring.  What we refer today as “Middleton Wood” is a wooded area to the east and west of Curly Hill now covering 38.04 hectares.

Nell Bank Centre

Nell Bank is an outdoor education centre on the edge of Middleton Woods designed to deliver outdoor learning, adventure, and play. To find out more, visit: https://www.nellbank.org/

History

Social History 

Middleton Wood (East and West of Curly Hill) is a collection of smaller woods known by a variety of names over its long history: Coppice (later Coppy) Wood at the western end through Stubbings (1851) and Stubham Wood (1892), straddling Curly Hill to Middleton or Hudson Wood and Nell Bank Wood at the eastern limit. Coppice and Stubbing (Anglo-Saxon for clearing) attest to the length of the wooded area and its function as a productive woodland. Coppice and “stubbing” indicate that the trees were being actively managed to produce sticks, poles, timber and possibly charcoal by periodic cutting.

Middleton Wood in 1892.

Hentzens Mausoleum 

In 1937, Arthur Hentzen – a Bradford wool merchant living in Ilkley – bequeathed 28 acres of woodland, including Coppy and Stubham Woods, to the local community as a homage to the coronation of King George VI. He had constructed a Mausoleum as a ‘Shrine of Rest’ on the Coppy Wood land he once owned.

Hentzen Mausoleum.

Natural history

Trees and flowers

The dominant tree species are oak (Quercus robur and Quercus petraea); however, in some wet areas, alder is prevalent, and ash, beech, birch, rowan, sycamore, hawthorn, copper beech, holly, Norway spruce and white poplar are also present.

Early spring is a beautiful time to enjoy the woodland, as wildflowers are at their most abundant and bluebells, wood anemones, wood sorrel, and lesser celandine cover the ground. In addition, the woodland edge, open glades and path edges are also important for plants and butterflies, which can be seen flying in these sunny spots during the summer months.​​​​

Wildlife

However, it is not just living trees that are essential – old, dying and dead trees, rotting, fallen timber, and decomposing leaves all provide food and shelter for a wealth of invertebrates, particularly woodlice, spiders, millipedes and beetles. In turn, these are eaten by mammals and birds, including bats, mice and voles, and woodpeckers and treecreepers.

A wide range of insects are attracted to the flowers throughout the woods. Many fly species are important pollinators in many shapes and colours.