HISTORY OF THE WOOD
Classified as ancient woodland, Gipton Wood has been continuously covered in trees since at least 1600. But it has been shaped by the people living in and around it over time. It is first recorded in a Domesday survey of 1086, and likely traces back to the original wildwood that flourished after the last Ice Age. It was the Victorians, however, who planted the Oak and Beech trees that now define the Wood’s character.
During the Bronze Age a settlement flourished at the northern end of the Wood, with its surrounding ditch and bank still visible, now a Scheduled Ancient Monument. Read more about the monument in the two documents below
At the turn of the 20th Century, a drainage adit from Gipton Pit spilt into the Wood, continuing to wet the gully at the Wood’s southern end to this day.
Previously a part of one of the local estates, Gipton Wood was gifted to the people of Leeds in 1923 and is now owned by Leeds City Council, who care for it in partnership with Friends of Gipton Wood. Read more about this transaction in the document below:
In the 1970s the introduction of Dutch Elm Disease to the UK decimated the Elms in the Wood, and continues to kill our Elms as they mature. The wood contined to be used as a cut through to Roundhay Road and as a playing area for local children. In the 1990s it fell into decline with dumping carried out and generally being uncared for. In reaction to this a small group of residents came together in 2000 to form the Friends of Gipton Wood which continues to this day.