Harlaxton Manor Bluebell Woods Walk
Short walk approximately 20 minutes Long walk approximately 45 minutes Post no. 1 A selection of deciduous and evergreen trees: Common beech (Fagus sylvatica) Deciduous trees that can group up to 40 metres tall. They are often solitary, short trunked and heavy crowned trees. The bark is silver grey and smooth. European larch (Larix decidua) A deciduous conifer growing up to 50 metres tall. Growing rapidly at first, and with a narrow conical crown it later broadens out and the thin branches take on a typical drooping appearance. The bark is thick and typically deeply furrowed and scaly. It is grey/brown in colour with often a reddish-brown flecking.
Post no. 3 Cross roads
Post no. 2 Coppiced oak trees (Quercus robur)
The path divides at this point, going off in two directions. The path that goes to the left is a new extended path, going past the Gun Port that is still there from the Second World War. This path is marked red on the map.
Coppicing is a traditional method of woodland management which takes advantage of the fact that many trees make new growth from the stump or roots if cut down. In a coppiced wood young tree stems are cut down to near ground level and in subsequent growth years many new shoots emerge. After a number of years the coppiced tree is ready to harvest and so the cycle begins again.
The path that goes straight up is a shorter route, and is marked blue on the map.
Typically a coppiced woodland will be harvested in sections, or coups, on a rotation and in this way a crop is available each year.
Post no. 4
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Coppicing maintains trees at a juvenile stage and a regularly coppiced tree will never die from old age, indeed some reach immense ages. The age of the tree may be estimated from its diameter and some are so large, perhaps as much as 5.4 meters (18 feet) across, that they are thought to have been continuously coppiced for centuries. An oak tree can be coppiced over a fifty year cycle for poles or firewood.
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Pond
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Norway spruce (Picea abies) An upright conifer growing up to 50 metres tall, with a pointed conical crown and grey or red/brown flaky bark. The Norway spruce is commonly used as a Christmas tree.
The bench overlooks the village of Barrowby that can be seen on the horizon. Take a few minutes to sit down and enjoy the view. By 1917, a series of trenches, running out into the fields away from the Carriage House, had been constructed to replicate the Western Front. A line of ‘German’ trenches faced a line of ‘British’ trenches with ‘No-Man’s Land’ in between. The trenches were part of the complex of training grounds built around Grantham for the Machine Gun Corps established in 1915.
Post no. 5 The Gun Port
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Gun Port
A bench is placed next to the pond area that collects spring water from the wood and field above and is ideal as a wildlife habitat.
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In World War Two, Allan Williams Turrets were positioned across the countryside to strengthen the nation’s defences against invasion. These were one-man, all-metal conical turrets. Designed to rotate 360 degrees, a machine gunner seated in the turret could fire in all directions through a small armoured door; a machine gun could also be fired through a hatch in the roof to provide limited anti-aircraft fire.
Post no. 6 A collection of Norway spruce and silver birch (Betula pendula). The birch can be coppiced on a three-four year cycle for bundles of brushwood.
Post no. 7 An area of new and old plantation sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus). Sycamores, a deciduous tree that can grow up to about 35 metres tall, are strongly branched and have a domed crown. They flower in May, when the leaves are drooping. The flowers are 5-15cm long and are yellow-green in colour. The bark at first is grey-brown and smooth, later becoming scaly with reddish markings.
Post no. 8 Carriage House
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An area planted with Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) and Austrian pine (Pinus nigra). Scots pine is a conifer that grows to about 40 metres tall. The crown at first is conical with branches arranged in whorls, but later becomes spreading. The needles are bluish-green whilst the bark is reddish-brown in colour. There is another bench at this point in the walk.
Harlaxton Manor was built in the 1830s for Gregory Gregory, a wealthy Nottinghamshire businessman, to replace the original Elizabethan Manor House in Harlaxton Village. Having travelled throughout England and Europe seeking inspiration, ideas and indeed artefacts for this huge house, Gregory employed Anthony Salvin as architect and Harlaxton Manor must be regarded as Salvin's masterpiece. Built in Ancaster stone, it is an exuberant merging of Gothic, Jacobethan and Baroque styles creating an unforgettable and dramatic impact. Owner and architect had many differences of opinion, however, and Salvin having completed the exterior of the main building was replaced by William Burn who is thought responsible for much of the interior. Few houses in the country can match the splendid approach to Harlaxton. A straight mile long drive across a bridge, under a gatehouse, past 'the pyrotechnic display of the forecourt gates and screen'* to Salvin's towering facade, whether by day, or night when the building is floodlit, is in itself a memorable, experience.
Map source: Ordnance Survey 1:10560 1890/1 SK122NE/SE LMD/2013
The house is now owned by the University of Evansville, Indiana, USA, and is used as their British Campus. *Lincolnshire by Pevsner and Harris in the Buildings of England series.