Ox Close Wood - a historical background

摘要

Ox Close lies by the River Wharfe in a landscape that must have changed very little in the preceding centuries (Fig.l). Positioned over a mile from the village centre, it was part of the common lands of East Keswick and used as a wooded pasture untilEnclosure at the beginning of the 19th century.Figure 1. Detail from a map in Vicaria Leodiensis: or the History of the Church ofLeedes in Yorkshire, Ralph Thoresby, 1724East Keswick has an interesting geology—the western side of the parish lies on Gritstone with overlying Boulder Clay, and to the east Magnesian Limestone. This mix makes Ox Close a very diverse habitat; it has rich alluvium by the river, a central bandof more acidic soil where there was once a conifer plantation and a substantial area on the limestone.