Knowefield
Wood
Location
Knowefield Wood is situated north
east of the City of Carlisle, in between Beech Grove and Larch
Drive.
There is very limited on street
parking on Beech Grove, and pedestrian access is from Beech Grove
and Larch Drive.
Facilities
Knowefield Wood is well connected
to Hadrian's Wood by excellent
footpath links, although it may get muddy in places.
For a good circular walk you can
park at the hammer head at the northern most end of Beech Grove and
walk through Hadrian's Wood to Tarraby Lane. Then head
southwards along the Lane to the footpath link to Larch Drive and
into Knowefield Wood. Through Knowefield and back onto
Beech Grove.
Park Opening
Times: All day, every day.
History
A 'Knowe'
is a small hill.
The Hutton Brothers established a
seed merchants in Carlisle in 1790, on retirement, their business
was sold to Little and Ballantyne in 1840, who also had nursery
sites at Botcherby and an establishment on the Victoria
Viaduct.
The Knowefield Nurseries once
covered 27.65 hectares (68.3 acres), and stretched from the
point where Knowe Road meets North View in the south, and extended
in a large inverted triangle northwards to Landsdowne Close.
Knowefield Wood is all that remains of Little and Ballantyne's
Knowefield Nurseries.
Bulmer's History &
Directory Of Cumberland, 1901 informs us that:
'The Knowefield Nurseries, the property of Messrs. Little
and Ballantyne, are situated at Stanwix; they are upwards of 150
acres in extent, and amongst the largest in Britain, employing at
some seasons of the year about 200 hands. They are famed for roses,
of which 60,000 to 70,000 may be seen in flower at one time, forest
trees, fruit trees, shrubs, rhododendrons, greenhouse and stove
plants, and alpine and herbaceous plants, and are well worth a
visit, which will be both instructive and interesting; it is one of
the sights of Carlisle. These nurseries were selected by the
English Government to re-afforest the Isle of Man, where many
millions of young trees were planted.
The seed
department is conducted in one of the most handsome and substantial
buildings in Carlisle, adjoining the railway station, and contains
an area of 30,000 superficial feet of floor-room, with the most
complete set of steam machinery for cleaning and dressing seeds -
the only machinery of its kind in the northern counties. The firm
of Messrs. Little and Ballantyne has been established nearly a
century, and has for many years been one of the leading concerns in
the trade.'
Tom Ballantyne died in 1864, and
seven years later in 1871, Knowefield was purchased by Sir James
Watt, who writes:
"I kept the name Little &
Ballantyne and built it into one of the biggest and most famous
nurseries in the Country. We even had a royal seal of approval from
Queen Victoria!
We produced seeds, plants and
trees for farm and garden alike. These were sold not just in
Britain but all over the world. Close to home, one of our biggest
jobs was supplying thousands of trees to re-forest the Isle of Man
in 1878.
Over 200 people worked for the
firm, many here at the nursery and others in our store at the
Victoria Viaduct in town.
My nurserymen also grew some
award winning new varieties of plants such as the Prince Albert
Spruce and the ‘Golden King’ Holly. We even grew a new Cypress tree
which we named after Knowefield called Chamaecyparis
knowefieldensis."
In 1933 the Knowefield Estate was
sold, and developed by John Laings the following year, further
residential development has occurred since.
What can you see?
Although small,
Knowefield is a special woodland. Seeds from the past have
grown into a wood full of variety, some of the trees are named,
look for them as you go round.
Amongst the oak and the birch, you
can find an Austrian Pine and the Cedar of Lebanon, even some
California Redwoods, the worlds tallest tree (some grow as large as
Dixon’s Chimney!). Amongst the leaf litter, you can still
find the brick foundations of what were once the
glasshouses.
The Victorian legacy still echoes
through the road names; Firlands, Maple Grove, Larch Drive, Cedar
Drive, Beech Grove, and Holly Drive.
See also Hadrian's Wood