page_title: Badby
section_title: Badby Wood
hierarchical_section_title: Badby / Badby Wood
caption_attribution_description: English: Arch Gate, Badby Woods, Badby, England. Dating from the late 18th or early 19th century. Originally a lodge gateway.This is a photo of listed building number 1075268.
context_page_description: Badby is a village and a rural parish of about 2,020 acres in the Daventry district of the county of Northamptonshire, England.
context_section_description: Badby Wood is owned by the Fawsley Estate. This estate belonged to the Knightley family from 1416 and passed through the female line to the Gage family of Firle, Sussex in 1938 when the male line died out. Most of the wood is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, and the citation states:
  Badby Wood is the largest of a localised group of ancient semi-natural woodlands lying mainly on acidic soils derived from Jurassic Upper Lias Clays and Northampton Sands. It has a history of continuous woodland cover for over seven hundred years. Lowland hazel-pedunculate woodland is the most common vegetation type present, with pedunculate oak-ash-hazel occurring locally in the wetter areas. Woodland habitat of this kind has declined significantly throughout Northamptonshire and is now unusual in the county.
  Early 2007 saw the start of work undertaken by Fawsley Estate under a Forestry Commission Woodland Grant Scheme Agreement, running from 2006 to 2011. Natural England was involved and supports the works undertaken. A large number of sycamore and some larch were felled and removed to allow for native species, and the edges of the rides cleared in the first stage. In the second stage, more and larger larch were removed. A ring of horse chestnut trees, marking the start of the path to the stone arch into the cherry tree avenue, declined over ten years. The last ones fell over or were felled by the end of 2008. Fawsley Estate erected new gates and fencing here in 2009.
  From autumn 2014, thinning operations took place in Badby Wood to improve the health and quality of the habitat in addition to producing timber and firewood as a sustainable carbon lean product. The work represented sustainable use of the growing natural resource and demonstrated best forestry practice in woodland SSSI management. This is part of a carefully designed programme fully consulted with the Forestry Commission and Natural England and now approved within a long term Woodland Management Plan.
  The thinning process removed predominantly sweet chestnut, sycamore, European larch and Scots pine and opened back around the mature oak. In areas worked no more than 20-25% of standing volume was removed. This opened areas of the canopy as appropriate to allow light penetration and thus encourage natural regeneration of tree seedlings and ground flora. Through encouraging structural diversity, a wider variety of wildlife is supported, and areas of non-SSSI woodland with high biodiversity potential improved, to fulfil this potential in the long-term.
  The work was specified and contracted by a Chartered Forester and was fully managed and supervised throughout. It was carried out by competent and insured forestry contractors who were aware of the ecological importance of the woodland and have good experience of working on sensitive sites. The proceeds of timber sales was invested into the long-term management of the valued woodland resource to ensure its sustainable upkeep for future generations.
caption: Arch Gate of Badby Wood
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