Micheldever Wood is a wood near the village of

Micheldever Micheldever is a village and civil parish in Hampshire, England, situated north of Winchester. It lies upon the River Dever . The river, and village, formerly part of Stratton Park, lie on a Hampshire grass downland, underlain with chalk and ...

, in

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

, England, about north-east of

Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...

. It is managed by

Forestry England Forestry England is a division of the Forestry Commission, responsible for managing and promoting publicly owned forests in England. Forest Enterprise, the precursor to Forestry England, was originally formed as a Great Britain-wide organizati ...

. There are prehistoric remains from the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

and other periods in the wood, including a Roman villa.

Description

Its size is ; the M3 motorway runs through the western side. The wood consists mostly of

beech Beech (genus ''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to subtropical (accessory forest element) and temperate (as dominant element of Mesophyte, mesophytic forests) Eurasia and North America. There are 14 accepted ...

trees, interspersed with some

conifer Conifers () are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a sin ...

s. There is a car park; there are picnic places and two walking trails. There is a range of wildlife species, and

muntjac deer Muntjacs ( ), also known as the barking deer or rib-faced deer, (URL is Google Books) are small deer of the genus ''Muntiacus'' native to South Asia and Southeast Asia. Muntjacs are thought to have begun appearing 15–35 million years ago, ...

can be found. Notable displays of bluebells can be seen in the spring."Micheldever Woods, Hampshire"
''Meandering Wild''. Retrieved 12 January 2021.

History

The area was part of the Royal Forest of Pamber in the medieval period. Part of the present Micheldever Wood was later held by

Hyde Abbey Hyde Abbey was a medieval Benedictine monastery just outside the walls of Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was dissolved and demolished in 1538 following various acts passed under King Henry VIII to dissolve monasteries and abbeys (see Dis ...

. The abbey was dissolved in the 16th century, and Micheldever Wood was purchased by

Thomas Wriothesley Sir Thomas Wriothesley ( ; died 24 November 1534) was a long serving officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. He was the son of Garter King of Arms, John Writhe, and he succeeded his father in this office. Personal life Wriothesley ...

; it later descended by marriage to the Dukes of Bedford, and was acquired in 1801 by

Francis Baring, 1st Baronet Sir Francis Baring, 1st Baronet (18 April 1740 – 11 September 1810) was an English merchant banker, a member of the Baring family, later becoming the first of the Baring baronets. Early life He was born at Baring family properties, Larkbear ...

. The wood was described in the 1820s by

William Cobbett William Cobbett (9 March 1763 – 18 June 1835) was an English pamphleteer, journalist, politician, and farmer born in Farnham, Surrey. He was one of an Agrarianism, agrarian faction seeking to reform Parliament, abolish "rotten boroughs", restr ...

in '' Rural Rides'' as "one of the finest oak woods in England". It has been in the care of Forestry England since 1919.'The parish of Micheldever', in ''A History of the County of Hampshire: Volume 3'', ed. William Page (London, 1908), pp. 390-394
British History Online. Retrieved 10 January 2021.

Archaeological features

Archaeological features survive from the

to the

Romano-British The Romano-British culture arose in Britain under the Roman Empire following the Roman conquest in AD 43 and the creation of the province of Britannia. It arose as a fusion of the imported Roman culture with that of the indigenous Britons, ...

period, preserved for many centuries by the woodland. The remains are a

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...

. Information boards are provided for some of the features. There is a Bronze Age

cross dyke A cross dyke or cross-dyke (also referred to as a cross-ridge dyke, covered way, linear ditch, linear earthwork or spur dyke) is a linear earthwork believed to be a prehistoric land boundary that usually measures between in length. A typical cr ...

in the south-east of the wood, extending into Itchen Wood to the south; it is thought to mark a territorial boundary. It is a bank wide, with a ditch either side; the part of the dyke in Micheldever Wood is about long. There is a linear earthwork running west–east across the wood. Nearby is a

bowl barrow A bowl barrow is a type of burial mound or tumulus. A barrow is a mound of earth used to cover a tomb. The bowl barrow gets its name from its resemblance to an upturned bowl. Related terms include ''cairn circle'', ''cairn ring'', ''howe'', ''ker ...

, in diameter and high, with a hollow left by antiquarian excavation; and a

bell barrow A bell barrow, sometimes referred to as a Wessex type barrow, campanulate form barrow, or a bermed barrow, is a type of tumulus identified as such by both John Aubrey and William Stukeley. In the United Kingdom, they take the form of a circula ...

, in diameter and high. There are two

banjo enclosure In archaeology, a banjo enclosure is the name of a type of archaeological feature of the British Middle Iron Age. It is so named because in plan it consists of a small round area with a long entrance track leading inward from one direction. This l ...

s; these are regarded as dwelling places or stock enclosures of the middle

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

. These are of area and , with entrance ways to the east in both cases. There is much evidence of a Romano-British settlement. In the 1840s a hoard of more than 1400 Roman coins of the late fourth century were found; other artifacts and foundations of walls were also found. A field survey in 1992 recorded the remains of an L-shaped villa and associated buildings. Around these are traces of garden terraces and trackways, and there are two trackways linking the settlement to the

Roman road Roman roads ( ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Em ...

between Winchester and

Silchester Silchester is a village and civil parish about north of Basingstoke in Hampshire. It is adjacent to the county boundary with Berkshire and about south-west of Reading. Silchester is most notable for the archaeological site and Roman town of ...

References

{{Reflist Archaeological sites in Hampshire Scheduled monuments in Hampshire Forests and woodlands of Hampshire

Wood Wood is a structural tissue/material found as xylem in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulosic fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin t ...