A beautiful
place, especially on a warm spring morning with the leaves just coming out. An ancient woodland, with a moated area, Hardicanute's (Harding's) Moat, surrounding an ancient settlement (12th-14th century). The moat kept the animals inside.
This gnarled tree inside the moat might have been a sapling when the area was inhabited --
Animals are still grazed in the area, and we reckoned these enclosures might be there to protect the young trees. The
Corporation of the City of London, which manages the woods, is also pollarding some of the trees - apparently a lost art, so they're experimenting.
They also build "habitat piles" of logs for hedgehogs etc and insects to inhabit, and are planting new trees - which gives aldermen a chance to have their names on a plaque. This plaque, however, commemorates the "mossy slope" that inspired Mendelssohn, who came here several times, to write some of the music for his Midsummer Night's Dream --
Lots of people walking dogs, and even a contingent of riders --
And ants everywhere, scurrying about their business. A metaphor for the City of London?
A beautiful place, especially on a warm spring morning with the leaves just coming out. An ancient woodland, with a moated area, Hardicanute's (Harding's) Moat, surrounding an ancient settlement (12th-14th century). The moat kept the animals inside.
This gnarled tree inside the moat might have been a sapling when the area was inhabited --
Animals are still grazed in the area, and we reckoned these enclosures might be there to protect the young trees. The Corporation of the City of London, which manages the woods, is also pollarding some of the trees - apparently a lost art, so they're experimenting.
They also build "habitat piles" of logs for hedgehogs etc and insects to inhabit, and are planting new trees - which gives aldermen a chance to have their names on a plaque. This plaque, however, commemorates the "mossy slope" that inspired Mendelssohn, who came here several times, to write some of the music for his Midsummer Night's Dream --
Lots of people walking dogs, and even a contingent of riders --
And ants everywhere, scurrying about their business. A metaphor for the City of London?
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