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Hodgemoor Wood

Buckinghamshire geography stubsForests and woodlands of BuckinghamshireSites of Special Scientific Interest in Buckinghamshire
Coppiced beech trees, Hodgemoor Wood geograph.org.uk 1737217
Coppiced beech trees, Hodgemoor Wood geograph.org.uk 1737217

Hodgemoor Wood is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Chalfont St Giles in Buckinghamshire. It is in the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and most of it is leased by Buckinghamshire County Council to the Forestry Commission.The site is a large area of semi-natural broad-leaved woodland on unusually varied soil types of mottled clays, sands and gravels, and it has a similarly wide range of structure, including ancient coppiced oak, beech and hornbeam. The core of the site is ancient woodland, with records going back to the thirteenth century. Ground vegetation includes bracken and brambles, with sedges in wetter areas. Butterflies include white admiral and purple hairstreak, and the nationally rare jewel beetle Agrilus biguttatus has been recorded. There is also a wide variety of breeding woodland birds.There are extensive tracks with broad rides, walking trails, and cycling paths, and access to the site from Bottrells Lane.Hodgemoor was the site of a Polish Refugee camp from 1946-1962. There were several camps in the Amersham area that housed Polish servicemen and their families. In particular the Hodgemoor Camp housed refugees from the 3rd Carpathian Rifle Division, many of whom later settled in the area, leading to the large local Polish population. At its peak the camp housed up to 600 people.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Hodgemoor Wood (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Hodgemoor Wood
Bottrells Lane,

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Wikipedia: Hodgemoor WoodContinue reading on Wikipedia

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Latitude Longitude
N 51.632434 ° E -0.60207 °
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Hodgemoor Wood

Bottrells Lane
HP8 4EQ , Seer Green (Denham, Gerrards Cross and Chalfonts Community Board)
England, United Kingdom
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Coppiced beech trees, Hodgemoor Wood geograph.org.uk 1737217
Coppiced beech trees, Hodgemoor Wood geograph.org.uk 1737217
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Welders House

Welders House is a Grade II listed house located in the village of Jordans, in Buckinghamshire, England. It was built between 1898 and 1899 for the politician Charles Thomson Ritchie by his son-in-law Mervyn Macartney. The governors of the St Luke's Hospital for Lunatics in London bought Welders House in 1910 along with its 100-acre estate and the nearby 35-acre Jordans Farm. The farm was sold in 1911 to the Religious Society of Friends. The house operated as a convalescent home for women with mild nervous maladies from 1911 to 1916. Welders Orchard of 113⁄4 acres and a field of 63⁄4 acres were purchased in 1917. The 5-acre Welders Wood was bought in 1920. The War Office loaned the house from St Luke's in 1918 for a Home of Rest for army nurses suffering from the mental strains of the First World War. The house closed in 1927 having been received by the Governors of St Luke's from the War Office in 1922. In 1940 the Welders House estate was leased to a couple who unsuccessfully planned to create a private nursing home, it was subsequently leased to the Bon Secours Sisters in 1942 and was part of the St Joseph Nursing Home in nearby Beaconsfield until April 1947.It has been Grade II listed on the National Heritage List for England since December 1984. The formal grounds feature a Rose garden, a copy of the Bethesda Fountain in New York City's Central Park, and a K6 telephone box.It was owned by British two-time Academy Award winning special effects director John Stears in the 1980s. It was then bought by Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne in 1993.Since this time significant renovation and expansion work has been undertaken adding an alternative driveway, a tennis court and gymnasium. The house was chosen by Sharon Osbourne due to its extreme distance from any public houses.The house is built of red brick and has 2 storeys with Dutch style gabled attics. The gardens of Welders House were featured in the 2017 book The Secret Gardeners by Victoria Summerley and photographer Hugo Rittson Thomas.In 2022, Welders House and its history was covered extensively in Jack Osbourne's Haunted Homecoming Mini-series on Discovery+.