Royal Recognition For Isle Of Wight's Borthwood Copse

The Isle of Wight's Borthwood Copse has been given royal recognition ahead of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee.

The forest has been chosen as part of a nationwide network of 70 Ancient Woodlands to be dedicated to Her Majesty.

The Queen’s Green Canopy recently announced the network of 70 Ancient Woodlands and 70 Ancient Trees across the United Kingdom which will form part of the Ancient Canopy to celebrate Her Majesty’s 70 years of service.

The initiative was launched by His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, who is Patron of The Queen’s Green Canopy, under one of the Ancient Tree dedications - the old Sycamore located at Dumfries House in Scotland.

Robin Lang, National Trust Countryside Manager, Isle of Wight:

“Borthwood is an exceptional woodland and a wonderful place to spend time in. It is much loved by local people as a place to walk, horse ride and cycle. It’s a relatively small wood, but parts of it are quite dramatic, with ancient, gnarled oaks and majestic beech.

"It’s full of wildlife too, never more so than in spring when it’s carpeted in native bluebells. There are beautiful sunny glades, where you might catch a glimpse of a red squirrel, a dragonfly or hear a wood cricket.

“For centuries Borthwood Copse has been a working wood, providing timber for house and boat building. Today the National Trust continues that management by coppicing hazel and the introduced sweet chestnut.

"The main benefit of this is that it keeps the wood dynamic, letting light and warmth in to allow flowers to grow, insects to flourish and fresh coppice growth to provide breeding birds and small mammals such as dormice and rare bat species with habitats and food sources.

"The spin-off is that we can supply some of our hedge laying and fencing materials for conservation work on other places on the Isle of Wight, without transporting these products great distances.”

Borthwood Copse lies to the east of the Island and was once part of a much larger Medieval hunting forest. 

It appears among the lands of William son of Azor in the Domesday Book and is associated with “Queen" Isabella de Fortibus, Governor and self-proclaimed Queen of the Island in the 13th-century. Later, Borthwood is mentioned in the diaries of Sir John Oglander, a 17th-century English politician who became Deputy General of the Isle of Wight in 1624.

John Deakin, Head of Woodlands at the National Trust said:

"We are delighted to have five woodlands and eight of our notable trees included in this prestigious list and dedicated to The Queen's remarkable 70 year reign.

"Trees mean so much to so many people and these dedications present a wonderful opportunity to share the brilliant stories of some of the UK's most significant trees and woodlands which have themselves witnessed remarkable periods in history and have their own stories to tell.

"These include trees like Newton's apple tree at Woolsthorpe Manor, where the scientist first questioned, and then came up with, the theory of gravity after an apple fell to the ground beside him, and the oldest tree in our care - the 2,500 year old Ankerwycke Yew at Runnymede in Surrey close to the site of the sealing of the Magna Carta."

By sharing the stories behind the Ancient woodlands and trees, the Queen’s Green Canopy aims to raise awareness of the habitats and the importance of conserving them for future generations.