Skipton Wood

Skipton Wood (also known as Skipton Castle Woods, Castle Wood or Springs Wood) is a 36-acre (15 ha) wood following the valley of Eller Beck to the north of Skipton behind Skipton Castle. The wood is owned by Skipton Castle but has been leased to the Woodland Trust.

History

The wood was originally used by Skipton Castle primarily for hunting and fishing, although during the 18th and 19th centuries, the wood was also used to provide timber, building stone and water. The timber and stone was moved out of the wood via Springs Canal (a small branch off the Leeds and Liverpool Canal). The water was obtained by damming Eller Beck to form Long Dam, which in turn fed a small reservoir called Round Dam, also known as Mill Dam or Mill Pond. The water was used to power the former sawmill and corn mill located by the castle. Public access to the wood was first allowed by the owners of the castle in 1971 between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Flora and fauna

Most of the wood is native broadleaved trees such as oak and ash and is classed as "ancient semi-natural woodland" by the Woodland Trust. There are also a large number of introduced beech and sycamore trees with a smaller number of non-native trees such as hornbeam and sweet chestnut. A small four hectare area of the wood to the north-west has been replanted with a mix of oak, Scots pine, larch and Norway spruce. This area has been designated as "replanted ancient woodland". The ground flora consists of dense carpets of wild garlic, bluebells and dog's mercury.

Skipton

Coordinates: 53°57′43″N 2°01′01″W / 53.962°N 2.017°W / 53.962; -2.017

Skipton (also known as Skipton-in-Craven) is a market town and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is on the River Aire and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal to the south of the Yorkshire Dales, 16 miles (26 km) northwest of Bradford and 38 miles (61 km) west of York. At the 2011 Census, Skipton had a population of 14,623.

History

Skipton is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086. It was important during the English Civil War and was the site of a prisoner of war camp during the First World War.

One of the oldest mills in North Yorkshire, High Corn Mill is powered by the waters of Eller Beck, and dates to 1310 when it was owned by Robert de Clifford, 1st Baron de Clifford; at that point it was transferred to the powerful Clifford family by the then King Edward II. The mill as it appears today is only half of what used to exist when two mills were in operation to produce corn for the whole of Skipton. The mill has been completely redesigned, from the mill grounds to the buildings themselves. The outside walls of the mill have been sandblasted and the two main buildings of the old mill have been turned into flats from 2007 onwards, with one stand-alone building yet to be redesigned, touched or Sandblasted.

Skipton (disambiguation)

Skipton, also known as Skipton-in-Craven, is a town in North Yorkshire, England.

Skipton may also refer to:

See also

Skipton (UK Parliament constituency)

Skipton was a county constituency centred on the town of Skipton in Yorkshire which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

It was created for the 1885 general election, and abolished nearly a hundred years later, for the 1983 general election. It was then partly replaced by the new Skipton and Ripon constituency.

Boundaries

1885-1918: Part of the Wapentake of Skipton and Ewecross.

1918-1950: The Urban Districts of Barnoldswick, Earby, and Skipton, and the Rural Districts of Bowland, Sedbergh (the civil parishes of Dent, Garsdale, and Sedbergh), Settle (the civil parishes of Austwick, Bentham, Clapham-cum-Newby, Giggleswick, Horton, Ingleton, Malham, Settle, and Stainforth), and Skipton.

1950-1983: The Urban Districts of Barnoldswick, Earby, and Skipton, the Rural Districts of Bowland, Sedbergh, and Settle, and part of the Rural District of Skipton.

Members of Parliament

Elections

Elections in the 1880s