Black Horse Wood is part of Great Linford Manor Park, which is managed by The Parks Trust.  While MKNHS has visited the park before, the opening of the south wood by The Parks Trust through construction of a path leading from the lower pond meant that this area had not been visited before.  The focus of the visit was to understand how historical processes had brought about the creation of the wood and to record what species were present in the wood.   23 members set off from the Memorial Hall car park on a chilly evening.

Great Linford Manor pleasure gardens

Our first stop was in the wilderness.  Great Linford village was recorded in the Doomsday Book (1086).  The house was built on its present position in 1678 and in 1690s pleasure gardens were laid out.  The designer is unknown.

Linford Manor almshouses and ponds (Photo © Jagoda Zajac)

A pleasure garden was an idealised pastoral landscape of water gardens, lawns, placed trees and classically inspired garden buildings.  This garden also included a wilderness, an area of formal planting.  The area is on limestone, which influences the flora found here and provides several springs including the Hine Spring which fed a series of ponds.  The first two are visible from the wilderness (photo above). The view north would have been an open vista over wood pasture and river pasture across the Ouse valley up to Little Linford.  Whilst walking through the Wilderness we noted the Lime tree, and the Hemlock Water-dropwort (Britain’s most poisonous plant) growing beside the canal.

   
a) Lime tree (Photo © Jagoda Zajac) and (b) Hemlock Water Dropwort (Photo © Richard Schmidt)

On the canal itself we saw two Canada Geese with a group of around 25 goslings .

Black Horse Wood pond

Path to the Black Horse Wood pond (Photo © Jagoda Zajac)

Having crossed the canal, the path approaching the pond is lined by damp-soil specialist plants such as Alder, Pendulous Sedge and Brooklime.  We also noted the course of a spring-fed brook trickling into the pond.

Pendulous Sedge (Photo © Jagoda Zajac)

In 1800 the Grand Union canal was built, bisecting the park and cutting the garden in two, meaning that one pond in the series was destroyed and part of the garden was cut off.  The garden on the north side of the canal became wood pasture and the fourth pond remained, but was abandoned.  In 1864 the Newport Pagnell railway was built, so there is a second large embankment.  Now this area, cut off by the two embankments and difficult to graze, was planted as a wood. As the area is ‘trapped’ between two fairly steep embankments there is a natural pooling of water creating a damp environment which in turn affects the plants inhabiting the space.  The area on the north side of the railway was kept as paddocks, but when the railway closed in the late 1960s part of it was developed into a wood.

The whole park, including the wood, is now managed by The Parks Trust and has been restored with Heritage Lottery funding.  Species found around the pond included Coltsfoot, Garlic Mustard/Jack by the Hedge, Willowherb and Wood Dock.  The eggs of orange-tip butterflies were spotted on Garlic Mustard plants.

 Black Horse Wood

We left the pond area and headed west along a bark chip path into the wood itself.  The entry to the wooded area on this side of the pond is more open because many trees were felled as part of the pond restoration work.  In this environment we found Red Campion, Creeping Thistle, some very tall Dandelions, Ground Elder and Burdock.

Red Campion (Photo © Jagoda Zajac)

As we passed further along the path we headed into much deeper shade of the wood.  The main high level canopy is provided by Sycamore and some Ash.  There were a few examples of Holly and Yew forming lower level cover.  At ground level there were Bluebells,  Primroses, Lords & Ladies and Dogs Mercury.  Many of the trees were draped in Ivy and there was also some Black Bryony creeping through some of the smaller shrubs/young trees.

a) Lords and Ladies; b) Bluebells (Photos © Richard Schmidt)

A full list of plants seen within Black Horse Wood is appended to this report here.

Wood beside Stonepit Field

Having left Black Horse wood, the group walked up the canal towpath and crossed the canal using the Railway Walk footbridge.  It then walked further up Railway Walk before entering the wooded area beside Stonepit Field.  Here we saw an impressive display of Ramsons/Wild Garlic.  A feast for the eyes and nose.  It prospers in this location due to the dappled shade of the wood and the moist calcareous soil conditions.

  
Wild Garlic/Ramsons (Photos © Richard Schmidt) 

Finally, the group returned to the Memorial Hall car park through Great Linford Manor Park.

Jane Bidgood and Richard Schmidt, Co-leaders
May 2026