The majority of this rather irregularly shaped area, the result of considerable landscape reorganisation during the last 30 years, is now well wooded. However, at the start of the 19th century very little woodland existed here: those parts to the north west and north were then portions of several agricultural closes in Soulbury and Great Brickhill parishes, Buckinghamshire, the tongue to the south east was part of an area of open common heathland known as The Bomes in Heath and Reach township, Bedfordshire, and the core area (now Oak Wood) was then part of The Warren, an area of private open heathland in Soulbury parish (Map 1).
In 1806 The Warren amounted to 240 acres 3 roods 21 perches, of which 100 acres were stated to be in Heath and Reach (CRO: KK 786). The majority lay in Soulbury parish extending from the Oak Wood area south eastwards as far as the county boundary near Rushmere. That part in Heath and Reach was probably the adjoining area know as The Park or Lord's Hill, an area of heath ground usually stated in documents to be 100 acres in extent and first separately enclosed from common heathland in Heath and Reach (The Heath) by Sir Christopher Hoddesdon, then lord of Leighton Buzzard Manor, in the late 16th century (Map 2). After the final settlement in 1630-1 of several early 17th century disputes relating to enclosure and rabbits on The Heath, The Park was retained by the lords of Leighton Buzzard Manor, by this time the Leigh family, as private heathland for their own use, including the keeping of rabbits. However, this was subject to it being separately ditched, banked and fenced from the common heathland in Heath and Reach (CRO: KK 29, 1630; BO 1335, 1631; Coleman, 1981, unpublished, p. 68).
At this time the heathland across the county boundary in Soulbury did not belong to the Leigh estate. However, in 1720 Charles Leigh bought "Gleadley alias Ledley Wood, then converted into Arable or Pasture Ground" as part of the "Warren there" together with a "messuage and brick-kiln standing on some part thereof from William Gumey, a total of 240 acres in Soulbury (CRO: KK 330-1, 530-1, 534, 957). Gleadley or Gladley Wood, still present in 1630-1, had occupied the area of the kink in the county boundary near Rushmere and the whole property described was to become known as Bragenham Kiln Farm focussed on a farmstead, still remaining at SP 9066 2870,the probable site of the messuage (dwelling house) mentioned in the sale (Map 2). The fact that this house was described as standing on The Warren in 1720 and the lack of reference to agricultural land accompanying it, apart from Gladley Wood, suggests that The Warren then extended further west to Bragenham Lane in the south and to the stream north of Kiln Farm (Map 2). This would explain the acreage of The Warren in Soulbury being given as 240 acres, coincidentally similar to the figure given in 1806, although the latter was for the surviving Warren in Soulbury together with that in Heath and Reach. Evidently by 1806 around 100 acres of The Warren in Soulbury had been enclosed and converted to arable for Kiln Farm, though it appears that the cleared Gladley Wood had been allowed to revert to heathland.
Further enclosure and conversion of The Warren, including the Oak Wood portion, was under active consideration in 1806. A survey of most of the Leigh estate by W. and S. Black, including recommendations for improving its management and husbandry, suggests that for Kiln Farm "Some parts of the Warren may be greatly improved by being inclosed, and the use of lime... Previous to any Inclosure or Improvement, it will be advisable to keep the Heath open for the Flock until the Farm is got into a proper State of Husbandry, which in general it is now very far from; and we are inclined to recommend that Thirty Pounds be allowed out of the first Year's Rent towards its improvement. After this is effected, we recommend that the Tenant be permitted to take up by degrees Fifty Acres ... the Landlord finding Quick for the Fences and the Tenant bound to protect them" (CRO: KK 786). Whether this was acted upon is not known.
The Warren had presumably been utilised at some time for keeping rabbits: the natural, undulating, heathland terrain was ideal for this with no requirement for pillow mounds to be constructed for the rabbits to burrow in and plentiful grazing available. Rabbit warrens were a typical use of such marginal land and several of medieval origin are known across the Greensand Ridge in Bedfordshire. However, by 1806, the vegetation on The Warren was being utilised in other ways: it had for some time "been used as a Sheep Walk which is beneficial for the use of the Farm and the Heath [i.e. turf] and Furze have produced Fuel for the Brick Kiln". It was recommended that the "Heath and Furze on the Warren ... be cut under a regular succession to supply the Kiln". Kiln Farm had a "Brick Kiln Shed for making and drying Bricks" together with a "Limehouse" but the kiln itself stood a little apart because of the fire risk. In 1863 the kiln stood on The Warren at SP 9096 2870, east of Kiln Farm, just over 200m south and outside of the Oak Wood purchase area (CRO: KK 383). It had previously stood somewhere in the close at SP 908 289 just outside the area of interest (CRO: KK 789). References to clay pits on Kiln Farm land suggests some suitable raw matenals were available locally for the bricks. How long a brick-kiln had been here utilising furze from The Warren is not known but after the Leigh's purchased the property in 1720, when tiles were also being made, it became the main brick and tile kiln for the whole of their large estate in the Leighton Buzzard area and produced considerable quantities (CRO: KK 873, 1823). Charles Leigh also purchased the Bragenham Manor estate in Soulbury in 1734 (CRO: KK 592-3).
Conversion of The Warren to agriculture does not seem to have continued in the early 19th century. Instead, another typical use of marginal land on the Greensand Ridge was introduced - tree plantations. A terrier of the Leigh estate (unfortunately lacking the map) shows that by 1851 The Warren was no longer tenanted out but had been taken in hand and subdivided by the Leighs (although the tenant of Kiln Farm still had grazing rights over it). Most of the subdivisions or compartments in the central part of The Warren in Soulbury parish (just over 52 acres) are described as plantations consisting of either larch or scotch firs (never mixed) with rides, though it seems some compartments were only partly planted to leave some furze and heath. A more substantial area of heathland called South Warren (some 43 acres) was left at the south towards Rushmere (CRO: KK 789). To the north the Oak Wood area (named as "Warren and Oak Wood" in the terrier) was not described as a plantation but as wood (i.e. deciduous) and heath (just over 51 acres). A map dating from 1827 does show some woodland here but confined to the western edge (Bucks. CRO: Ma 190/1/T). It is therefore likely that any woodland in 1851 was concentrated in the west: certainly the 0.S. 6" 1st Edition surveyed in 1879/80 shows a concentration of deciduous woodland in the western quarter, probably the result of natural regeneration and expansion. However, confusingly, the small close to the west of the pond between Oak Wood and the stream, and within the present purchase area, is also shown on the 0.S. 6" as part of this deciduous area, though it is described in 1851 as having been planted with larch in addition to its natural alders (Maps 1 and 3)!
The situation described in 1851 is confirmed generally by a map and schedule accompanying a mortgage document of 1863 (CRO: KK 383). Strangely, however, this names the Oak Wood area as "The Warren or Oak Walk" and describes it as only heath and grass! Also the map shows the subdivisions for the plantations and rides in the central part of the former Warren south of Oak Wood but the landscape pattern indicated is rather different from that depicted on the 0.S. 6" 1st Edition map surveyed in 1879/80 (Map 3). This suggests some reorganisation of this part of the landscape soon after, perhaps in an attempt to naturalise the earlier, more rectilinear, pattern. Certainly the pond, once larger, at the south western edge of Oak Wood would seem to have been created sometime between 1863 and 1879/80.
The impetus for such changes would have come from the Hanmer family who, in 1852, purchased the Leigh's estate, both their Bragenham property (including Kiln Farm and Bragenham Manor) and their leasehold interest in the Manor of Leighton Buzzard, a large holding which here included Lords Hill, Bakers Wood and Kings Wood (CRO: CCE 43/15). Together these lands nearly encircled the small park created to surround the first Stockgrove House built for the Hanmer family at the end of the 18th century. Following an exchange of land with the Leigh family in 1818 a slight expansion of the park to the north east was made possible, but more significant was the purchase of The Bomes (former common heathland) by Henry Hanmer in 1844 as a result of parliamentary Enclosure in Leighton Buzzard and Heath and Reach (CRO: KK 372, 378). This enabled a doubling of the park area followed by new landscaping and planting. It included the eastern part of the present purchase area (Maps 1 and 2). Once Hanmer had purchased the adjacent Leigh property in 1852 he was able to extend his park even further south west into the former area of The Warren. Most significantly part of a mile long carriage drive from Rushmere to Stockgrove House was soon laid out through it. It is noticeable on the 0.S. 6" 1st Edition how the main areas of coniferous tree planting focus on this carriage drive: the Hanmers partially felled some of the areas planted by the Leigh family and then adapted or reshaped the remainder besides, presumably, adding some of their own planting (Map 3). At the same time some of the planting on The Warren was sparse and clear patches of heath were still apparent. No doubt Oak Wood was to some extent seen as part of this parkland extension: its eastern third is shown as planted up with coniferous species while its central portion was much more open - a mix of heath and scatters of deciduous and coniferous species.
Hanmer's landscaping and planting of Stockgrove Park, and the adjacent associated areas, would seem to have been fully achieved by 1879: there is little difference between the 0.S. 6" 1st Edition and a map of 1896 which accompanies the sale catalogue produced when the Hanmers decided to sell the property (CRO: KK 401, Map 4). However, it is odd that the way Oak Wood is depicted on the 1896 map suggests it was wholly deciduous with very occasional coniferous trees, quite different from the 0.S. 6" 1st Edition and not dissimilar from the way Baker's Wood is shown. Is this a cartographic error, particularly as the 0.S. 6" 2nd Edition largely repeats the 1st Edition (Map 5)? By 1896 bricks were no longer being made on Kiln Farm. Elsewhere, some areas of sparse planting and patches of open heath continued into the present century (Map 5).
To the north of Oak Wood the 0.S. 6" maps and that of 1896 show three closes, most of which are now included in the purchase area although they are no longer in agricultural use but are planted up (Maps 3-5). The north eastern of these, now minus its northern corner, was known as The Rabbers in 1896. Previously known as Forehills Close, The Fornills or Far Hills this was part of the Bragenham Manor property bought by the Leigh family in 1734 and sold to Colonel Henry Hanmer in 1852 (CRO: KK 592-3, 1734/5; KK 789, 1851; CCE 43/14-15. 1852; KK380, 1853; KK 386, 1868). The strip of the former Warren adjoining to the south is typical of the runnel shape so often found where tracks or roads opened out into commons or heaths, as this once did here (Map 2). Here the route utilised a natural gully.
To the west are Long Brick Hills (in 1896 - but known as Top or East Close and Cuff Close all in one and arable m 1851 and 1863) which is now divided into three, the central part not being included in the purchase area, and Foot Path Field (in 1896 - but known as Middle Close, Lower Close next Alders and Second Close from Cuff Close all in one and arable in 1851 and 1863) (CRO: KK 789, 1851;KK383, 1863). At the earlier dates a small part of the western comer of Foot Path Field was separate and known as The Alders below Barn, also arable. Both Long Brick Hills and Foot Path Field were part of the Leigh estate purchased by Hanmer in 1852. He maintained them as agricultural closes. Of particular interest is the fact that they, together with the adjoining close to the south west (Oak Wood Field in 1896, High Thrift and Alders Close in 1851/1863), then lay in Great Brickhill parish rather than Soulbury which virtually surrounded them (Map 2). This almost detached portion of Great Brickhill parish may have resulted from a time (medieval?) when it was perhaps just part of a large tract of common heathland shared by several communities, but which in response to growing population and agricultural pressures was divided up and allocated between the competing interests. This could have resulted in the odd parochial arrangement here, though complete detachment was avoided by the presence of the track linking the main part of Great Brickhill parish with its heathland allocation, later converted to agriculture.
During the present century all three closes north of Oak Wood have been taken out of arable cultivation. Most of The Rabbers and all of Foot Path Field were planted up with conifers and rides laid out before the Second World War and the relevant parts of Long Brick Hills were planted up in the 1960s (aerial photographs - RAF: UK 1897/3193, 12/12/46; UK 2008/3056 & 4056, 16/4/47: Hunting Surveys: 1968 - 2/6679, 1/6/68; 0.S. 6" 1960). Also most of the central portion of Oak Wood (not previously densely wooded) was almost completely replanted with conifers and rides laid out before the War, though some older trees were left. Most of the relevant portion of The Bomes was also planted up before the War. The area to the west, abutting Foot Path Field and Oak Wood Field, retained its sparse covering of trees but by 1968 these had been almost entirely cleared, though soon replaced by new coniferous plantations apparent on aerial photographs from the mid 1970's onwards (Hunting Surveys: 1976 - 19/1524, 25/6/76; 1981 - 21/0013, 7/7/81).
In summary all parts of the purchase area were probably open heathland during the medieval penod. The area of Oak Wood and the relevant portion of The Bomes remained heathland until the mid 19th century, but then some limited but mainly controlled coniferous planting, initially mainly for aesthetic purposes, led to their establishment as wooded areas. North of Oak Wood the heathland was probably converted into arable closes during the late medieval or early post-medieval period, which they remained into the present century until they were turned into commercial coniferous plantations.
Stephen R. Coleman
Heritage Group
Planning Department
April 1996
NOTE: unfortunately the maps mentioned in the text are not currently available.
Text courtesy of Chris Valentine @2008