page_title: Swithland Wood and The Brand
section_title: Public Woodland
hierarchical_section_title: Swithland Wood and The Brand / Public Woodland
caption_attribution_description: English: Swithland woods. Taken by kev747
context_page_description: Swithland Wood and The Brand is a 87.9 hectares biological Site of Special Scientific Interest south of Woodhouse Eaves in Leicestershire. Swithland Wood is a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade II. The Brand is designated a Precambrian site in the Geological Conservation Review site, but the dating has been changed due to the discovery of trace fossils from the succeeding Cambrian period.
  Swithland Wood is a public woodland in Charnwood Forest, in Leicestershire. Although close to the village of Swithland, it is almost entirely within the parish of Newtown Linford. It is just north of Bradgate Park and also near Woodhouse Eaves and Cropston. The wood is Leicestershire's most important ancient woodland for nature conservation. Quarries within the wood were a source of the distinctive Swithland Slate roofs found on many local buildings as well as the slate gravestones common in Leicestershire churchyards. Swithland Wood has been a public woodland since 1925, upon its acquisition by the Leicester Rotary Club, having previously been part of the estate of the manor of Groby. Since 1931 it has been managed by the Bradgate Park and Swithland Wood Trust.
context_section_description: After the closing of the quarries the area continued to be an important woodland resource, with active timber management and planting by the Grey Estate. However in 1921, as part of a wholesale disposal of the Bradgate Estate lands, the woods, along with two local farms, were bought by William Gimson. Two adjacent areas of woodland totalling 137 acres (554,000 m²) were offered to the Rotary Club of Leicester in order to preserve these important ancient woodlands and provide public access for the benefit of the people of Leicester and Leicestershire in perpetuity. A Charitable Trust was established and a fund-raising appeal raised £6,000 (more than half of it from members of the Rotary Club itself) which covered not only the £3,000 purchase price but also renewed fencing, woodland management works and public access facilities. The Rotary Club employed rangers and managed the country park directly for seven years. On the rock face of the Great Pit is an inscription recording the Rotary Club's donation which reads "The Leicester Rotary Club Secured Swithland Wood For A National Heritage".
  The area is notable in spring for its bluebells and other spring flowering bulbs which cover large areas of the woodland floor. In 1927 the Rotary Club, in partnership with Swithland Parish Church, initiated an annual Bluebell Service by the Great Pit, and this tradition continues, with the Bluebell Service being held on the afternoon of the third or fourth Sunday of April.
  In 1928 a leading Leicester businessman, Charles Bennion, similarly bought the adjacent and larger Bradgate Park for preservation and the public benefit, vested in a Charitable Trust supported by the Leicester and Leicestershire City and County Councils and the National Trust. In 1931, with the Bradgate Park Trust fully established, the Rotary Club offered to merge Swithland Wood with Bradgate Park. This was readily agreed by all parties and the two Trusts were combined as the Bradgate Park and Swithland Wood Trust. Since then Swithland Woods has been managed by the Trust rather than the Rotary Club, open to the public, and greatly appreciated for its conservation and leisure value.
caption: Bluebells in Swithland Wood
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