Ancient Forests

A map of the ancient woodlands that have survived through the centuries

Every site of 120 hectares or more in Natural England's Ancient Woodland Inventory for England (coverage: England only), drawn as a fantasy storybook atlas. 226 ancient woodlands: 81 ancient semi-natural woodland (ASNW) and 145 plantations on ancient woodland sites (PAWS). Sites below 120 hectares are not shown - England holds many thousands more. Each site is marked with a dot at national scale; the true inventory outlines appear as you zoom in.

About the classifications. Ancient semi-natural woodland has been continuously wooded since at least 1600 AD and keeps native trees largely self-sown. Plantations on ancient woodland sites are equally ancient ground, later replanted with managed timber - the ancient soil and its hidden ecology remain beneath the crop trees.

Click any woodland for its name (where recorded), classification and area. Gold fireflies, sparkles and the compass rose are decorative, not data.

Woodland data: Natural England, Ancient Woodland Inventory (England), open dataset, Open Government Licence. Basemap: OpenFreeMap/OpenMapTiles vector tiles (data © OpenStreetMap contributors) with a custom enchanted style.