Site of Special Scientific Interest and home to a variety of wildlife, birds, bats, butterflies and moths. History of the site
There is little specific information about the history of the Heath prior to the 20th century. The 1899 1:2500 Ordnance Survey map shows a 5-acre enclosure in the southern part of the site. Between that and the road is shown a sand pit with a small building in it. A grave
l pit near the centre of the Heath is described as ‘old’. This was probably used for road repairs, possibly for hundreds of years. The track across the centre of the Heath provided access to Cockglode, which used to occupy the site of the pit tip. Beginning in the early 1900’s, the flat area next to the A616 near the car park, was used as the local cricket ground for many years and was also used by the Army as a training ground, including tanks, until the early 1950’s. There was a major fire on the Heath in 1976, which led to the problematic birch invasion. The heath is still used as a common by the people of Ollerton for recreation, dog walking. The Heath is now part of the Birklands and Bilhaugh Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and a Local Nature Reserve, Leased to Newark and Sherwood District Council and managed by the Sherwood Forest Trust. Nottinghamshire County Council manages the woodland adjoining the heath to the west. COCKGLODE
It is said that the Rangers of the Hays of Birklands and Bilhaugh once had a lodge on the site. It is thought that a house was built there in 1724 by the Reverend William Stern, who leased 19 acres of land from Edward Harley, Earl of Oxford, who had a dubious claim to that Crown property. Sterne planted an impressive avenue of Scots pines. The well-known Cockglode Hall was built in 1778 by Dr. George Aldrich, possibly incorporating Sterne’s house. It was enlarged in 1844 but became less desirable when Thoresby Colliery opened in 1928, and was demolished in the 1950’s to make way for a new pit tip. Harley’s daughter, Margaret, married the 2nd Duke of Portland, and in 1818 the Duke legally acquired Birklands and Bilhaugh from the Crown, in exchange for the advowson of St. He then sold the land to the east of the Centre Riding (including Sherwood Heath) to Earl Manvers. The Heath is now part of the Thoresby Estate and the adjacent woodland is owned by Notts. County Council and RJB mining. The name probably means “Woodcock Glade”. Alternatively, glode is the obsolete past tense of glide, so it could mean “the place where woodcock were seen to glide”. Cockglode Wood
Cockglode Wood has ancient origins, being a remnant of the woodland that covered the area long before it became the Royal Hunting Forest of Sherwood. The bluebells and dog’s mercury that appear in the wood every spring are clues to these ancient beginnings. Rotary Wood is the exact opposite. The native trees were planted on the restored spoil tip of Thoresby Colliery in 1998 – 1999 to celebrate the Millennium. On a trip to Cockglode and Rotary Woods:
see the exotic trees and shrubs, such as false acacia and rhododendron
spot various butterflies, insects and ground-nesting birds that take advantage of the maturing woodland and wide grassy paths. soak up the fantastic views of the surrounding Sherwood landscape. This is easily accessed via the circular Rotary Walk from the Sherwood Heath car park just off the A614 Ollerton roundabout. From the top of Rotary Wood it is possible to see over Cockglode Wood towards Boughton Pumping Station as well as towards Sherwood Forest Country Park and the village of Edwinstowe with its prominent church spire. Above: Cockglode and Rotary Wood
Above: Cockglode and Rotary Wood
Much of the habitat management work is done on a voluntary basis by the Friends of Sherwood Heath in conjunction with the Sherwood Forest Community Rangers. Sherwood Heath
Sherwood Heath is a 23 hectare area of lowland heathland, acid grassland and wood pasture/woodland
which is owned by the Thoresby Estates and leased to Newark & Sherwood District Council (NSDC). The site, also known as Ollerton Corner, lies between the A6075/Ollerton Road and the A616, due west of Ollerton roundabout. As well as the nature reserve, there is a limited amount of car parking reserved for users of Sherwood
Heath together with a grassed picnic area. In 1987 NSDC declared the Reserve as a Local Nature Reserve (LNR) and in August 2001 English Nature designated the Reserve as a Site of Special Scientific Interest SSSI (and is part of the Birklands West and Ollerton Corner SSSI which includes parcels of land owned by and on the Thoresby estate). The Reserve contains tracts of unimproved acid grassland and lowland heaths which are distinctive
semi-natural habitats associated with the lowland heaths of the East Midlands. They form one of the
largest examples if this habitat type in the county and are ecologically linked to the larger heaths of
the adjoining Birklands and Bilhaugh SSSI. SFT manage the site for its habitat value on behalf of NSDC, a management plan was produced by SFT in 2007, and NSDC entered into a Higher Level Stewardship to help manage the site and ensure that the value of the site is seen by many generations to come.
