Chopwell Wood Heritage Trail

How the Chopwell Wood Heritage Sites Project came about

The Heritage Lottery Fund was set up by the government in 1994, to make money from the National Lottery available to heritage projects of all sorts of sizes. This was all about bringing history back to life and making people aware of all its many aspects. This involved museums, historic places and archaeology, natural environment and cultural traditions. A few years later, the government ear-marked some of these funds for the Local Heritage Initiative (LHI). This was an invitation for local communities to propose their own heritage projects which they saw as important to their area and to apply for funding to carry out the work required.

In 2003 the Friends of Chopwell Wood were made aware of the LHI funding and we started to discuss a possible project on the heritage of Chopwell Wood and the surrounding area. It took over a year to agree the proposal and make a submission for a possible project to the Heritage Lottery Fund. In developing the proposed project we talked to lots of people in the area about what they thought was important from a historical point of view and where were the significant heritage sites in and around Chopwell Wood. This resulted in 18 sites being identified covering all the various types of heritage. Our proposal was modified following advice from LHI officers in 2005, who emphasised the importance of involving the local community as much as possible, and in particular the children and opportunities for education.

In the spring of 2006, the Friends were granted £25000 by the LHI to put our project into practice. We have spent some of the money recovering the settlings tanks from the undergrowth (site 13) and restoring the footpath and bridge (sites 9 and 10). At Christmas in 2006, children from one of the local schools made lanterns with a theme of mining and carried them through the wood along the former colliery railway line. We have researched the history of all of the heritage sites and used this to produce five information boards and an information leaflet. Artists have produced a sketch of the colliery tower (site 1) and a painting of the sawmill (site 8), as these structures are no longer in the Chopwell Wood and so photographs were not possible. This was important because old people could tell us what the tower and sawmill looked like before they were dismantled. It was vital to create a record of these structures while there are still people who remember them. Local school children were also involved with naming some of the Forest Roads in the wood.

All this research has also gone into producing the materials and interactive activities found in this online education package. We hope you will enjoy the various activities and learn a lot about heritage and the history of Chopwell Wood and its villages while you do so.

One of our aspirations in carrying out our LHI project was that local people, and particularly children, would become interested in the heritage of Chopwell Wood, so that the heritage of the woodland and its surrounding villages will live on with the next generation and those to come.

Friends of Chopwell Wood - 2008

Visiting Chopwell Wood

If your school wishes to visit Chopwell Wood then please contact the Hamsterley Forest Office on 01388 488312 enquiring about visiting Chopwell Wood and using the Forest Classroom, under the guidance of the education ranger.

Hamsterley Forest Office
01388 488312