Big Wood, Hampstead Garden Suburb (also known as Big Wood Nature Reserve)⁹²⁷⁹

Brief Description

Now designated a Nature Reserve, there are a great variety of trees here including Wild Service Trees, associated with ancient woodland.

History

Big Wood has existed as woodland for over 1000 years, probably part of land given to the Bishop of London in around 704AD. When Hampstead Garden Suburb was being planned in 1907, its instigator, Dame Henrietta Barnett, was committed to provide green spaces within the housing, planting trees and preserving those that existed. When additional land was acquired to extend the Suburb in 1911, Big Wood was leased from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners and preserved as woodland. In 1933 Finchley UDC took on the freehold.

Visitor Facilities