Monument record MDR16505 - Birchwood Park (site of), Snelston Common, Norbury and Roston

Birchwood Park, now a farm, was enclosed from a parcel of woodland, part of the common of Norbury, Roston, Cubley, and Snelston parishes. Marstoncommon Lane and Hollies Lane mark two sides of this almost triangular plot, with a footpath following the parish boundary to complete the north-eastern limits. Large fields on gently sloping ground characterise the area that contains Accession Wood as the only sizable piece of enclosed woodland. Field work has shown a long, curving hedge with diverse species plants on the southwest boundary, effectively leaving a crescent shaped freeboard of land alongside the lanes at the T-junction by Marstoncommon Farm. This is considered to be part of the remnant pale; as is a significant bank and ditch noted on the valley side extending to the northwest from Cubley Wood Farm along the parish boundary. A similar bank is seen in the hedge line just north of Birchwood Park. Although the history of the Fitzherbert family is well documented, it is difficult to establish when the park was created and by whom. The wood of Birchwood is documented from the late 13th century, but the park, from which it appears to have been carved, is first noted only on Saxton's map of 1577. The first documentary reference to a park here was in 1506, when John Fitzherbert obtained a licence to enclose an area lying in Norbury, Roston, Snelston and Cubley for a park and warren. (1)