ARCHAEOLOGY
Recent archaeological surveys carried out as part of the Fuelling a Revolution programme have provided valuable information about the past history and management of Bowden Housteads Wood.

Some of the archaeological features found during these surveys relate to the history of woodland management at the site and include 'platforms', at least some of which are the remains of the hearths used in charcoal production. Sections of the woodland boundary are marked by the remains of stone walling, sometimes associated with low banks. There are also the remains of banks within the woodland and these are thought to have been used to divide coppice compartments from one another.

Other features, associated with the extraction of minerals and stone from the site, include pits and hollows, areas of quarrying, and capstones, associated with the airshafts of disused coalmines.

One of the most remarkable features found in recent archaeological survey work is an area of medieval ridge and furrow in the south-western part of the site, close to the western bank of the Car Brook. This clearly indicates that this area of the site has not been continuously wooded.

Remains of trackways and associated bridges have also been found throughout the site.

ANCIENT WOODLAND STATUS
In order to be classed as an ancient woodland, an area must have been continuously wooded since at least 1600. There is clear documentary and other evidence that Bowden Housteads Wood has been wooded for far longer than this.

The earliest documentary reference to the wood dates from 1332 when it was referred to as Baldwynhousted in an property inventory compiled following the death of Thomas de Furnival, Lord of Hallam. Baldwyn is an Anglo-Saxon personal name; hous means house; and sted has a variety of meanings, including a place occupied by a farm or other building. As a result, it is presumed that the woodland is named after a nearby farm, tenanted or owned by someone named Baldwyn.

Another way in which ancient woodlands can be distinguished from more recently established woodlands is by their diverse flora and fauna. Indeed, certain plant species, usually those that spread relatively slowly by vegetative means, are known to be either entirely restricted to, or only rarely found outside, ancient woodlands. These are known as 'indicator species'. Where a number of these species are found together, there is a high likelihood that the wood in which they occur is of ancient origin. A wide range of ancient woodland indicator species occurs in Bowden Housteads Wood, including Bluebell, Dog's Mercury, Ramsons, Wood Anemone, Wood Sorrel and Yellow Archangel.

More information on ancient woodlands can be found elsewhere on this website.

Fields around its edge give a good impression of what the wood was like when surrounded by agricultural land rather than by housing and roads.

WOODLAND MANAGEMENT
The history of Bowden Housteads Wood has been well researched. It reflects the gradual change from wood-pasture to coppice management, and during the last century, to plantation forestry, that is typical of many woodlands in the Sheffield region.

In 1086, at the time of the Domesday Book, the Manor of Hallam, within which the Bowden Housteads area lay, was dominated by wood-pasture, a now largely extinct method of woodland management in which animals (such as pigs) grazed the woodland floor whilst the upper layers of the woodland were exploited for timber. This type of woodland management was prevalent where woods were widespread and the population sparse and scattered and is known to have continued in Bowden Housteads Wood until at least the time of its first record in 1332.

Bowden Housteads Wood was first referred to as a coppice wood in a document written between 1598 and 1616, listing woodlands belonging to the 7th Earl of Shrewsbury, the major landowner in Sheffield at the time. An extract from this document can be seen in the book 'Sheffield's Woodland Heritage'. The introduction of coppicing required the fencing or walling of woods in order to prevent animals entering and eating the regrowth from coppice stools. References to Bowden Housteads as a coppice wood can be found from the seventeenth to early-nineteenth centuries. Maps from this period indicate that the woodland boundary was, until the 20th century, stable for hundreds of years.

Competition from coal for domestic fuel, and the rise of steel and iron in construction meant that by the mid-19th century, the demand for coppice products was in sharp decline. The last major coppice felling within Bowden Housteads Wood took place during 1875-77. In 1898 proposals were made by the Duke of Norfolk's forester for the replanting of 40 acres of the wood with Oak, Ash, Elm, Sycamore, Birch, Lime, Sweet Chestnut, Beech and Larch. Further planting of Beech, Oak and Sycamore is presumed to have taken place during the early part of the 20th century.

In 1916, the Duke of Norfolk sold Bowden Housteads Wood to Sheffield City Council, for £6,000. By the 1950s, the wood had become virtually surrounded by housing development.

In 1970, the construction of the Sheffield Parkway cut the woodland in two. The Mosborough Parkway further sub-divided the southern part of the wood in 1990. However, apart from some very minor changes, the external boundary of the wood is much the same as that shown on an 1810 map of the site.

In contrast to Bowden Housteads Wood, the history of the Spring Wood and Car Brook Ravine area is poorly known. However, the word 'spring' points to a past management as coppice woodland and the majority of this area was certainly wooded in the 1850s.