History of the woods

In the 16th Century the whole area formed part of an extensive tract of uncultivated heathland which stretched from Western Heath and Reach to Northern Leighton Buzzard.   In 1844, the Enclosure Act was passed dividing the heath into plots. John Dollin Bassett, a prominent local Quaker and banker, purchased about 60 acres. This area included what is now known as Knolls Wood, Redwood Glade and similar land on the other side of Plantation Road.

In the autumn of 1844, Bassett then set out to create a woodland on his land by planting a selection of Scots Pine, Larch and other hardwoods (Oak, Chestnut, Beech, Ash, Birch etc.). As a result of their success he then began to cultivate exotic and ornamental trees. By 1871, 250 different species were recorded here.

Many of the larger trees in the woods today date from the original plantings in the 1840’s. The wood area continued to stay privately owned and in the latter part of the 19th Century the house known as “The Knolls” was built. In a sale catalogue of 1918 the grounds belonging to The Knolls were described as “pleasure grounds and woodlands, containing a unique collection of specimen non-deciduous trees and shrubs, the whole extending to nearly 33 1/4 acres.” (County Records Office ref: AD1147/86).

Part of the wood has since seen housing development - Redwood Glade in the 1970’s - and in the early 1980's, after several campaigns by local
residents, the woods were bought into public
ownership and have been safeguarded as an
amenity woodland.

More recently in the 80’s and 90’s a lot of work has been done to take out many of the
old, dead and unwanted trees and replace them with new ones. Also there has been an
attempt to remove some of the invasive scrub species and create glades, but the work was not maintained and they have just re-grown. 

Click here to view a map of Knolls Wood produced by the Greensand Project (predecessor of the Greensand Trust) in the 1990's.

This site boasts some of the largest trees in the eastern counties; Mr Alan Mitchell, an authority on ornamental trees, measured a Silver Fir 126ft high and a Redwood 105ft high by 17ft 2in circumference. The Redwoods here are possibly from the first importations of stock.