Westonbirt Arboretum
Description
Established in 1829 by Robert Stayner Holford later to be taken over by his son George Lindsay Holford and after his death in 1926, ownership of the arboretum passed over to his nephew, the fourth Earl of Morley, and eventually to the Forestry Commission in 1956 and Forestry England in 2019.
Covering an area of about 240 Ha (600 acres), Westonbirt holds over 15,000 trees and shrubs, containing over 2,500 species of tree from across the world. Whilst much of the site is smothered in exotics and neatly manicured there are patches of ancient woodland, with wood piles and species-rich ground flora in the coppiced parts especially such as Bluebell, Wood Anemone, Primrose, Common Dog-violet, Dog's Mercury, Bush Vetch, Moschatel, Wood Avens, Barren Strawberry, Thyme-leaved and Wood Speedwell, Woodruff, Wood Spurge, Common Figwort, Bugle, Toothwort, Lesser Burdock, Marsh Thistle, Cuckooflower, Yellow Archangel, Hairy and Perforate St John's-wort, Pignut, Lords-and-ladies, Pendulous Sedge, Wood Sedge, Remote Sedge, Wood Millet, Tufted Hair-grass and low shrubs, mainly Honeysuckle and Rubus vestitus. There are also small amounts of decent species-rich grassland.
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Map
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