The woodland flora of the Forest of Writtle and surrounding area
James'Spring: TL657024. Size: 2 ha/5 acres. At one time this small wood was probably part of
Chatterbox Wood but the two halves are now separated by a field. A small, dry Hornbeam coppice
with a poor ground flora. It has been extensively coppiced in recent years.
Baker's Wood : TL661034. Size: 7 ha/18 acres. Probably part of Bosmore Wood at one time but
as with the last named the two halves are now separated by afield. Great Edney Wood adjoins it to
the west. Mostly clear felled and replanted following the 1987 hurricane. Formerly much like
Bosmore Wood, containing many conifers and Rhododendron, many of which survive along the
margins. The flora is typical of the acid woodlands throughout the Forest.
King Wood: TL667034. Size: 18 ha/45 acres. This large coppiced spring is connected to Great
Edney by a wooded footpath known as Cold Hall Lane. It has been extensively coppiced in recent
years as Writtle College undertake chain saw training courses here while parts of it were also clear
felled and replanted following the 1987 hurricane. It contains the best flora of all the woods on the
Coptfold Estate, Broad-leaved Helleborine, Common Cow-wheat, Early Dog Violet Viola
reichenbachiana and Wood Sedge Carex sylvatica being among the species recorded. The rare
tooth-fungus Hericium coralloides, was found here by Geoffrey and Stephen Wilkinson in 1999.
the only other Essex site being in Epping Forest.
Chapel Wood: TL672031 : Size: 16 ha/40 acres. A large hornbeam and sweet chestnut spring that
has not been touched in recent years and is consequently rather dark and lifeless with a poor ground
flora.
4. The Ingatestone and Fryerning Woodlands
Stoneymore Wood: TL635015. Size: 27 ha/69 acres. Formerly two woodlands, known as Great
and Little Handley Woods. A dry acid-ridge wood which like its neighbour to the west, Deerslade
Wood, is dominated by mature oaks and large areas of Sweet Chestnut coppice. Holly is abundant
on the margins but as with all areas of so-called 'high forest' the ground flora is poor, consisting
mostly of scattered patches of Bramble Rubus fruticosus agg. and Bracken Pteridium aquilinum.
However, the flora responded well to recent coppicing work in two areas of the wood - adjoining
Deerslade and close to the Mill Green road. The wood's main claim to fame is the presence of two
scarce Essex bryophytes, namely Dicranum majus and Leucobryum glaucum.
Mill Green Common: TL640015. Size: 20 ha/50 acres. As mentioned elsewhere, the southern half
of the Common was enclosed during the late cightccnth/carly nineteenth centuries while the outline
of the remainder is obscured by the Mill Green-Highwood road. The boundary wood-bank with
Stoneymore lays to the west of the road and extends down the hill past The Viper pub, re-entering
the wood alongside the stream at its base and forming a broad tongue of low-lying, marshy ground
known as The Mores along the boundary with the old Writtle parish. In the 1950s, much of the
Common was open land with extensive areas of Gorse Ulex europaeus and Bracken and patches of
Heather and Wavy Hair Grass Deschampsia flexuosa grassland. It was the haunt not only of common
birds such as Linnet Carduelis cannabina, Whitethroat Sylvia communis, Tree Pipit and Nightingale
but also far rarer species - Nightjar Caprimulgus europaeus, Woodlark, Red-backed Shrike Lanius
collurio and Stonechat Saxicola torquata among them. Oak/birch secondary woodland was confined
to a small area near The Viper but this has since colonised four-fifths of the area to the east of the
road and squeezed out most of the birds and much of the former flora. The once abundant Wood
Anemone, for instance, is now confined to the southern tip while the likes of Common Cow Wheat,
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Essex Naturalist (New Series) 20 (2003)