Woode Close

Mayson's survey of Newburn Manor in 1613 records that 'there are no woods or underwoods of any value nowe left within Newburn manor for that they have been greatly wasted and destroyed by James Cole and others for making of steythes and timbering of cole pitts'. 'Back of Wood' and 'Woode Close' are shown on a plan of 1620. The wood would have been planted with native trees such as ash, maple, hazel, lime, elm, birch, alder, sallow, oak and hawthorn. Woods had names because they were valuable property. The boundaries of the wood were probably defined by a bank and ditch with a hedge or fence to prevent encroachment and keep out livestock which would eat young shoots. Today the Wood is gone.