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 the three woodlands.

The site of an agricultural settlement dating from the Romano-British period (1st to 4th century A.D.) has been identified in Wheata Wood. This comprises stone banks and other features which indicate field boundaries and possibly huts. These remains extend into surrounding fields and possibly also into upper parts of Prior Royd. It is highly likely that part of the area was cleared at this time, both for cultivation and also because the inhabitants of the site would not want to be vulnerable to attackers creeping up on them through woodland. Some woodland though remained in the vicinity and this was exploited for wood and timber as well as being used for the grazing of domestic animals.

A number of ancient trackways dating from the medieval period run through the woods, for example the bridleway parallel to Woodhead Road. A linear depression running through the northern section of Wheata Wood is on the course of a trackway known as 'The Burying Way' which ran from the medieval settlement of Stanfield Ash to Ecclesfield Parish Church.

Because of its Romano-British remains, much of Wheata Wood is now designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

WOODLAND NAMES
The name of Wheata Wood derives from the Whete family who had tenant rights here in the late fifteenth century. Prior Royd is so called as a result of the wood being owned by Ecclesfield Priory before the dissolution of the monasteries. Royd is an Old English word meaning clearing (Jones, 1993).

This stone wall separates Wheata Wood from a field between it and Prior Royd. The irregular shape of the woods is strongly indicative of ancient woodlands, around which areas have been cleared for agriculture in a piecemeal fashion.

ANCIENT WOODLAND STATUS
All three woodlands are ancient woodlands, meaning that they have been in existence since at least 1600, even though it is known from archaeological and documentary evidence that at least some areas have been temporarily cleared in the distant or more recent past.

The woodlands exhibit a number of characteristics typical of ancient woodland sites. They are situated on the edge of the parish of Ecclesfield, with the western boundaries of Birkin Royd and Prior Royd actually forming the parish boundary. In addition the irregular shapes of the three woods are the result of the medieval practice of clearing areas of woodland in a piecemeal fashion and then converting these to agricultural use. The steep nature of much of the remaining woodland area, and in particular of Birkin Royd and Prior Royd, is also typical of ancient woodlands, other more accessible areas having been cleared for agriculture.

Another way by which ancient woodlands can be distinguished from more recently established woods 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 plants are known as 'ancient woodland indicator species' and where a number of these 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 occur in the three woodlands, including Bluebell, Dog's Mercury, Ramsons, Wood Anemone, Wood Sorrel and Yellow Archangel.

HISTORY OF WOODLAND MANAGEMENT
The vegetation which developed naturally in the Sheffield region after the last Ice Age is thought to have consisted of wet woodland dominated by Willow and Alder in the valley bottoms; with Oak-Birch woodland on lower valley slopes; and Birch-Rowan scrub on more exposed sites.

The clearance of this 'wildwood' began slowly with the arrival of Neolithic settlers in around 4,000B.C. The rate of clearance accelerated with the growth of agricultural settlements and continued apace until the time of the Norman conquest. By the time of the Domesday survey of 1086, only around 15% of South Yorkshire was still covered by woodland (Jones, 1989). At this time, much of this woodland was being managed as wood-pasture, in which it was exploited both for its trees and used as pasture for animals. This type of management was common where woods were widespread and the population sparse and scattered. Throughout medieval times, Wheata Wood, Prior Royd and Birkin Royd are known to have been used to supply local needs for timber, wood and grazing. Whilst this use is unlikely to have been very intensive, it may nevertheless have caused the woodlands to become progressively more open over time.

As populations grew and as demand for timber increased, woods became scarce and valuable resources that had to be fenced to prevent animals entering them and preventing regeneration. At the same time, coppicing, a type of management which gave a continuous and self-renewing supply of trees was introduced. From the 15th or 16th century until the latter half of the 19th century, Wheata Wood, Prior Royd and Birkin Royd are known to have been managed using the method known as coppice-with-standards. In this, selected trees, known as standards, were allowed to grow to full height, whilst others were cut (coppiced) on a regular basis in order to produce materials, including poles for building and wood for charcoal burning. Prior Royd was recorded as a coppice woodland in a list compiled for the Earl of Shrewsbury in around 1600 and Wheata Wood was first mentioned in John Harrison's 1637 survey of Manor of Sheffield as a 33 acre coppice wood last cut in 1612 (Jones, 1993).

It was customary to allow controlled grazing in coppice woodland, excluding the animals for the first 4 to 7 years to prevent damage to the young shoots but allowing them back in after this. The 1637 survey mentioned above suggests that all three woods were let to local farmers for this purpose and the grazing of cattle continued within Prior Royd for at least some of the 20th century, when the wall between Prior Royd and Wheata Wood was rebuilt to prevent straying.

Undoubtedly the main use of the long, thin wooden poles produced by coppicing would have been the production of charcoal for the local iron smelting and steel industries. In the 17th and early 18th centuries, the availability of charcoal was one of the most important locational factors for the iron industry. Numerous charcoal burning platforms have been located throughout Prior Royd and to a lesser extent within Wheata Wood. Although the importance of charcoal for iron smelting declined in the 18th century with the advent of coke, it was still being used in the steel industry into the early 20th century.

Documentary evidence also suggests that part of Prior Royd may have been managed as a 'Holly hagg', providing winter fodder for cattle. Holly occurs frequently in the woodlands to the present day. Another product taken from the three woodlands was stone. Many small, abandoned quarries, which exploited the underlying sandstones for walling and road building stone, exist in roadside sections of Wheata Wood and around the viewpoint in Prior Royd.

By the mid-19th century, coppice management was declining in the Sheffield area and woodlands were being converted to 'high forest' with all trees being allowed to grow to maturity before being felled. To achieve this, either one stem from a coppice stool was selected and allowed to grow into a single trunk, or unwanted coppice stools were grubbed out and replaced by young trees. These newly planted trees were not necessarily native and included Sycamore, Beech, Sweet Chestnut, and the conifers, Pine and Larch. Documentary evidence from 1877 shows that wood from Birkin Royd was sold as stakes, handles for besom brooms and as bark, the last of these mainly being used for the tanning of leather.

Coppicing was largely discontinued around the beginning of the 20th century, although some small-scale coppicing and removal of young trees took place during World War 2 in both Wheata Wood and Prior Royd. Also during World War 2, a bomb fell in Wheata Wood on the night of the 'Sheffield Blitz' and the deep crater it produced still remains.

Wheata Wood was acquired by Sheffield City Council in 1983. In April 1996 some wood from glade clearance work was used to make the first charcoal from Wheata Wood for perhaps 100 years. The woodland is now however largely managed for recreation and wildlife.