Barnsbury Wood: London's Smallest Local Nature Reserve

Tucked away behind the grand Victorian terraces of Thornhill Crescent in Barnsbury, North London, you will find a tiny hidden woodland.

At 0.35 hectares, Barnsbury wood is London’s smallest nature reserve.

The wood

Just off Thornhill Crescent, on Crescent Street, look out for a small black gate. This will take you down a stone pathway into the wood.

It is a delightful little oasis of tranquility and nature.

Despite being small, you can still get the sense of being leaving the city behind and explore hidden corners. You might find an insect house tucked away or come out into the clearing in the centre, where a circle of low, wooden benches have been placed.

Wildlife found here include the common toad, the long-tailed tit and the lesser stag beetle.

Despite being the smallest nature reserve in London it is unbelievably the largest area of real woodland in the borough of Islington. It has sycamore, lime, ash and horse chestnut trees.

Occasionally peeking through the trees, you’ll see the backs of the 1840s Victorian terrace houses reminding you of your locality. That brings us nicely onto the history…

The Thornhill Family

By the mid 1800s the Thornhill family owned vast swathes of land in London including 86 acres in Islington, let out predominantly for dairy farming.

barnsbury nature reserve map — _{An 1828 map of Islington from Layers of London. You can see how pastoral it was. By the end of the century, pretty much all of this was built over.}

As London expanded rapidly in the 19th century, George Thornhill, MP for Huntingdon, decided to start building housing instead. The Thornhilll Estate was laid out from 1813-1849 by Joseph Kay, the family’s surveyor. This included Thornhill Square and Thornhill Crescent.

thornhill crescent — _{Thornhill Crescent}

St Andrew’s Church was also built in 1852-54 at one end of Thornhill Square to accommodate the religious needs of the community.

st andrew's church barnsbury — _{St Andrew’s Church}

Up until 1946 Thornhill gardens, in the centre of the square, were only for keyholders at which point Captain Thornhill gifted them to the public. The railings around the square actually date from 1852, having survived being removed for their metal during World War Two.

thornhill square — _{Thornhill Square- Islington’s largest square}

History of Barnsbury Wood

This seemingly random bit of woodland was once the personal garden of George Thornhill who lived at number 7 Huntingdon Street; at that time the vicarage of St Andrew’s church. Many of the trees in the wood would have been planted around this time.

The vicarage went on to become a school and then converted into flats. In the early 1900s the garden was abandoned and became overgrown and wild.

_{An Ordance Survey map from 1890s courtesy of Layers of London}

In 1974 the London borough of Islington purchased the land for development but thankfully plans fell through due to the awkward shape of the site.

The council then decided to demolish numbers 1 and 2 Crescent Street to give public access to the open space.

In 1981 plans were put forward again to develop the site but a group of residents formed the Barnsbury Wood Cooperative and fought the decision.

It is now managed as an ecology park and gained nature reserve status in 1996.

Visiting

Barnsbury Wood relies on volunteers so is only open at specific times: 2-4pm on Tuesdays all year and 2-4pm on Saturdays from July until the end of September.

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More London history below!