Great Copse

This photo shows the view from the foot of Leith Hill Tower looking south towards the South Downs in the distance.

This information board is located at the Windy Gap car park in Abinger Road RH5 6LX south of Leith Hill. It has the following wording: Wotton Estate A traditional landscape The commons and woods of Wotton Common, Abinger Common, Broadmoor and Pasture Wood are all in the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) First Column A Changing Landscape This area is part of the Wealden Greensand, which has an acid free-draining soil. People, and the ways they use the land, have long influenced the landscape here. As you explore, look for clues to how it has changed over time. Centuries of cutting and grazing once created heathland, with heathers and other shrubby plants. Nowadays you see mainly semi-natural woodland, forestry plantations, and some remnants of heathland. Some older woods have been here for centuries. Here you can see large oak, beech and yew trees. You will also see fallen wood - home to rare beetles and other insects. The younger woods have faster-growing trees like birch, ash and scots pine, which colonised the heathland once it was left ungrazed. Images: a) Scots pine is one of the first trees to colonise ungrazed heathland. b) An oak tree supports hundreds of types of insects. c) Some of the yew trees are centuries old. Second column Echoes from History Commons date from Saxon times, when the Lord of the Manor granted rights to certain householders, called Commoners. These included the right to collect fallen wood (Rights of Estovers), graze animals (Rights of pasture), and dig turf or peat for fuel (Rights of Turbary). The Wotton estate has been owned by the Evelyn family since Elizabethan times. Images top left: Gorse was once threshed to feed to Livestock and was also used as fuelwood. top right: Bilberry bushes are evergreen so can be seen all year round. lower left: Meadow brown (butterfly) lower right: Brimstone (butterfly) Abinger Common Within Abinger Common there is a very unusual woodland of oak trees with bilberry bushes growing underneath them. Bilberry normally grows on open moors. The wood has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Third column Pasture Wood Pasture Wood was once used for grazing animals and producing timber. The trees are either pollarded (cut above the height of animals' heads) or coppiced (cut at ground level), to give a regular supply of poles for timber. Images from left to right Pollarded beech and Coppiced hazel Managing Woodlands Much of England was once covered with woodland. Then over many centuries, it was cleared and used to meet the needs of an increasing population. By the first half of the twentieth century, woodland covered just five per cent of England. In the last fifty years it has increased again to eight per cent, as economics and national agricultural policy meant that land previously kept clear has been allowed to grow over. Unfortunately, without management there are many dark and overgrown woods with limited biodiversity. The Wotton Estate manages its woodlands commercially, planting trees and harvesting for timber. You may well see signs of forestry activity. Please help by being very careful with cigarettes and other fire hazards. Fourth column Users Guide There is a network of footpaths and bridleways for you to explore on these sites (for your safety there may be temporary restrictions due to forestry activities). Horses and cyclists must keep to the routes marked as bridleways and byways open to all traffic. Images of waymarkers from left to right: a) Public Footpath (Black with yellow arrow) b) Public Bridleway (White with blue arrow) c) Public Byway (White with red arrow) d) Public Footpath-Greensand Way (Black with yellow arrow and GW) Fenced areas are private This area is very vulnerable to fire. Please be very careful with cigarettes and other potential hazards. The Ordnance Survey map for this area is Explorer No.146 (Dorking, Box Hill & Reigate) For more information, contact the Countryside Ranger or Surrey Wildlife Trust Countryside Services at the numbers given on that noticeboard. The paths of the Wotton Estate marked on the adjacent map Link are open to the public through an access agreement with Surrey County Council. Surrey Wildlife Trust Countryside Services manage this agreement on behalf of the County Council. Places to see in the area On the adjacent panel you will see a map of the whole area, including the footpaths and bridleways across it Link refers. The area is part of the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Through it runs the Greensand Way, and from this, you can stop off at the National Trust's Leith Hill Tower. Built in 1765 the Tower is the highest point in south east England at more than 300 metres (984feet) above sea level. Image of Bluebells in spring. Foot of the board Seasonal Information From left to right a) Spring - As the weather warms, a flush of woodland flowers bloom. Violets and pale yellow primroses are among the earliest. Later in spring, look for carpets of bluebells and patches of wood sorrel, with delicate white flowers and clover-like leaves. b) Summer - Butterflies, moths and other insects are at their peak. On warm summer evenings, bats hunt for insects in the woods, along trackways and over Friday Street pond. Look for blueberries in the woods on Leith Hill in late August. c) Autumn - Autumn is the season for fungi. The best place to look are the woods which have lots of rotting wood. A few are poisonous to people, but they are an important food for animals. Please don't pick them. d) Winter - Now the trees are bare, it is easier to see the underlying pattern of the landscape. Lichens and mosses become more obvious too, and you are more likely to spot the elusive roe deer.

This sign is located in Abinger Road RH5 6LX with a notice below mentioning that Cockshot Wood was planted in 1984 in memory of Frances Goddard Knowles (1902-1983).

This information board is at The Landslip car park in Abinger Road RH5 6HG, east of Leith Hill. It has the following wording: Mosses Wood Arboretum and Frank's Wood Covering 69 acres Left column Welcome to Mosses Wood. As you stand here you are surrounded by some spectacular specimen trees which form part of an arboretum. The arboretum is full of an array of interesting pines towering high above. The older of these trees were planted in the mid 1800s, some of which form an avenue created by Alexander Hargreaves Brown leading to his family home at Broome Hall. More recently, in 1995, the National Trust planted 100 trees to celebrate the centenary of the National Trust. Mosses Wood was donated to the National Trust by Lady Edith Ivy Pigott Brown in memory of her son Capt Sir John Pigott Brown who was killed in action in Tunisia on Christmas Day 1942. Lady Pigott Brown also lost her husband Capt Hargreaves Brown during the First World War at the first battle of Ypres on 29 October 1914. Both her husband and her son were in the Coldstream Guards. At the southern edge of Mosses Wood you will find a gate built in memory of Capt Pigott Brown, TQ1442 refers. Capt Hargreaves Brown After attending Sandhurst, Capt Brown was commissioned into the Coldstream Guards in 1900 and served in South Africa between 1901-1902. He married Lady Pigott Brown on 18 October 1910 at the Guards Chapel in Wellington Barracks, London. At the outbreak of The First World War, Capt Brown was part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and deployed to France with the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards. The BEF was a small professional army (not much larger than today's modern British Army) and by the end of November 1914 they had all but destroyed while halting the continuous mass attacks by the much larger conscripted German army. Capt Brown was killed in action during the 1st Battle of Ypres on 29 October 1914. The exact account of what happened will never been known due to the losses sustained by the 1st Battalion and therefore no accounts exist. What is known is the Coldstream Guards were attacked at 05:30am under the cover of fog by the Bavarian Reserve Division. At this stage the BEF frontline was not much more than isolated outposts and the disaster was owned, in part, to the supporting machine guns failing to work due to the wrong calibre of rounds being supplied. Capt Brown's body was never recovered and is remembered on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial. Middle and right column Image of Capt Sir John Pigott Brown Capt Sir John Pigott Brown Capt Pigott Brown followed his father's footsteps and was commissioned into the 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards. Like his father in 1914, he was also deployed to France under the BEF to halt the German Blitzkrieg in the summer of 1940. He received a gunshot wound to his head in Belgium and was sent back to the UK shortly before the evacuation of Dunkirk. After recovering from his wounds in November 1942, as part of Operation Torch, he deployed to North Africa. He was killed in action on Christmas Day 1942 during the first battle of Longstop Hill, a strategic high point overlooking Tunis. On Christmas Day morning he was Officer Commanding of the reserve company but was tasked with taking over command of Number 3 Company. Shortly after his arrival at Longstop Hill, the Coldstream Guards were attacked by 1 Company of the 69 Panzer Grenadier regiment. The attack was started by a heavy artillery barrage and Captain Pigott Brown's position took a direct hit. It also killed Sgt Noble and WO2 (CSM) Callaghan. Like his father in 1914, his final resting place is unknown and he is remembered at The Medjez-El-Bab memorial in Tunisia. The pink walk follows a footpath through Frank's Wood, named after National Trust woodsman Frank Longhurst who planted the oak trees in 1949. This walk is particularly beautiful in spring when the bluebells are in flower. The woodland floor is transformed into a sea of purple, a really spectacular display. This area is particularly prone to landslips due to its geology: the first of which is believed to have occurred when Elizabeth I was on the throne. More recently in 2000, the land slipped again causing damage to the road. There is still evidence today of the landslip. There is more information about the geology of Leith Hill on the noticeboard at the Tower. Map of the Leith Hill area with photos of the memorial gate and inscription beside it. Images of the following trees from left to right: a) Sweet Gum or Liquidambar styraciflua b) Monkey Puzzle or Araucaria c) Pond Cypress or Taxodium ascendens d) Bosnian Pine or Pinus Heldreichii c)

This NT sign is in Abinger Road RH5 6HG and is by a footpath leading to Leith Hill. Coldharbour Common, which comprises of 104 acres (42.1 hectares) of woodland and open space, was acquired by the National Trust in 1986 through the National Heritage Memorial Fund.

The station approach is on the right.

The Roman Stane Street continues at first as a private drive and public footpath. Only fragments of the onwards route over hilly terrain are now public rights-of-way until rejoined by the A29 which takes a longer but easier way round.

Path, pine trees and grassland on the Greensand Ridge between the summit of Leith Hill and the village of Coldharbour.

A fairly new waymarker beside Coldharbour Cricket Club's pitch on Leith Hill shows the way for off road cyclists.

This dates from before the A24 roundabout and Capel bypass were built. It seems to have been retained as a path, as the pavement is missing on the deviation route.

Towards Horsham.

National Trust land.

The big tree looks like a Scots Pine.

National Trust land.

A National Trust route.

Near Beare Green south of the A24/A29 junction