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Shroner Wood (also known as Shroner Copse)

Introduction

Shroner Wood is a late-19th-century arboretum planted and owned by a member of the Hillier family until 1913. Subsequent owners have continued to develop and maintain the woodland. The area around the original cottage is now parkland.

The second and third editions of the Ordnance Survey maps note the Nurseries, the planting of belts of trees around the cottage, Nursery, and west to the adjoining land. The paths are orientated as on the earlier tithe map. In the third edition a Nursery is also noted within the Wood. In 1913 Edwin Hillier sold the 48.5 hectare (120 acre) site. About five years later it was observed that some timber had been felled and sold.

In the 1980s the owner of the estate developed the area around the house into a park and planted a new lime avenue leading from the A33. The arboretum was opened to the public for the first time in 1992 when it was advertised as ‘A collection of rare, mature conifers and beautiful flowering shrubs set in a bluebell wood. The six acre arboretum has been continuously developed since 1871'.

The M3 and the Winchester Service Station now occupy part of the south-east boundary.

History

Shroner Wood was an area of native woodland in the 18th century. Early in the 19th century it was identified on the first series Ordnance Survey map as Shroner Copse with a building to the west. The Greenwood map (1826) noted the building as Shroner Cottage, and the Copse as Shroner Wood. Although the area was not tithed, the awards of 1841 list the owner and occupier of the Cottage and Shroner Wood as Richard Bailey. The wood was 81 acres (32.8 hectares). The rest totalled 112 acres (45.3 hectares). The award map shows the wood dissected by two paths approximately north to south and east to west.

In 1871, Edwin Hillier, grandfather of Sir Harold, bought the property. Edward Hillier's son, Edwin Lawrence, made Shroner Wood into a Pinetum in the late-1890s and early-20th century. It is said to have been ‘the most complete collection of its day'. A number of pines originated at the Shroner Wood Nursery. Edwin Lawrence also planted a range of fruit trees between 1895 and 1901.

Features & Designations

Features

  • Avenue
  • Description: In the 1980s the owner of the estate developed the area around the house into a park and planted a new lime avenue leading from the A33.
  • Earliest Date:
  • Latest Date:
Key Information

Type

Collection

Purpose

Conservation

Principal Building

Domestic / Residential

Survival

Extant

Civil Parish

Itchen Valley

References

Contributors

  • Hampshire Gardens Trust