Gibbing Greave & Herringthorpe Wood
Herringthorpe/The Brecks
Herringthorpe Wood and Gibbing Greave are heritage woodlands. The two neighbouring woodlands which lie adjacent to Herringthorpe Valley Park, a mile and a half east of Rotherham town centre. The combined area of the two woodlands is just under 11 hectares.
Gibbing Greave is the northernmost of the two woods and also the largest. It is set in a steep-sided valley cut through by a stream. It is known from both documentary and other evidence to be an ancient woodland, that is, a woodland that is more than 400 years old. The first mention of the wood is in a document of 1482 which states that Gibbon Grove was owned by the College of Jesus. After the College was dissolved in the 1540s the wood became the property of the Swift family before passing to the Howard Dukes of Norfolk who owned it in 1672. At some time it was acquired by the Foljambe family who are believed to have sold it to Rotherham Council in 1940 along with Herringthorpe Wood.
Herringthorpe Wood is also thought to be of ancient origin but there is no clear documentary evidence for this. It occupies the steep valley of the Dalton/Whiston boundary stream. The earliest evidence is map of the wood dated 1798 from the time when the common land in Dalton was enclosed. The area called Great Bank adjoins it the the south.
About a century ago, large parts of both woodlands were greatly modified by the planting of substantial areas of beech and to a lesser extent of sweet chestnut. There are areas of semi-natural woodland including oak-dominated woodland in Gibbing Greave. The ground flora is very sparse in some parts due to the heavy tree canopy. There is an area of wet alder woodland in Herringthorpe Wood.
For those of you who may be interested the name Gibbing Greave means the thicket with the gibbet. Rotherham's hanging tree (gibbet) was situated in this area, an old purpose also remembered in the street name Gallow Tree Road, just to the south of the woods.
In 2004 Rotherham Council have received large grants from the powers that be towards woodland management. Some of this is to be spent thinning the trees in the above woods where the soils are so poor and the tree canopy is so thick that nothing grows underneath. Some trees are to be cut down entirely and some trimmed to provide habitats for insects and bats.
More information about Herringthorpe Valley Park can be found onsite at Recreation - Rotherham's Parks - Urban Parks - Valley Park, Herringthorpe.