Monument record MBC47969 - MEDIEVAL & POST MEDIEVAL WOOD BANKS RIDES IN FORMER MUXWELL WOOD (NOW HOME WOOD)

Medieval and post medieval wood banks, boundary ditches and rides are visible on historic aerial photographs and remote sensing data and were mapped as part of the Aylesbury Vale Aerial Investigation and Mapping project (EBC18604). Located in fields immediately north of Home Wood and centred at SP 71626 24593, sinuous sections of earthwork bank and ditch represent the former boundary of the woodland, now contracted and renamed Home Wood. The 1813 dated Ordnance Surveyors Drawing shows the extent of the woodland, known as Muxwell Wood at that time, which matches these bank and ditch boundaries. The 1880 dated 1st Edition Ordnance Survey maps suggests that the north end of the wood is being thinned and cleared at that time. By the late 1940s, all remaining trees have been felled and a pasture field created in its place. Through the woodland are three probably post-medieval dated linear rides or breaks, 2 running parallel aligned SSW-NNE and a third aligned SW-NE. Each of these are defined by 2 parallel ditches, which still extend as earthworks north of the current woodland boundary. Also visible are probable medieval field boundary ditches (1-5).