Today, Hob Hey Wood is a small area of woodland set in the valley of a small stream, surrounded by farmland. Its history can be traced back thousands of years.

The forests of Mara and Mondrem

12,000 years ago, much of the UK and all of Cheshire was covered in ice sheets to a depth of about 1Km. So much water was locked up in ice that sea levels were much lower and Britain was connected to Europe by a land bridge.

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The climate warmed, the ice sheets retreated northwards and plants and animals moved up from southern Europe. Birch and pine, which are pioneer species would have been the first trees to populate the treeless tundra of Britain, starting the process of forestation. 

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Gradually, other trees arrived until, about 6,000 years ago, much of Britain was covered in a mosaic of forests containing oak, ash, elm, and small-leaved lime, supporting a huge range of plant and animal species: this was the ‘wildwood’.
This woodland remained undisturbed until Neolithic times when woodland clearance for agriculture began. The Bronze Age and Iron Age accelerated this clearance for cultivation and grazing.

By the 11th Century, woodland cover was down to about 20% but our part of Cheshire held a huge remnant of the ancient wildwood. Two vast forests, Mara and Mondrem, stretched from the Mersey in the north, down to Nantwich and from the Gowy in the west to the Weaver in the west. 

The forests existed for the Earls of Chester to hunt in. If you strolled through the forest all those years ago you would encounter red, fallow and roe deer as well as wild boar and wolves. Hunting here was reserved for the nobility; any peasant caught poaching could face blinding as a punishment.

From 1215, clearance for agriculture was permitted and by the 19th Century, much of the forests had gone, with Delamere Forest the largest remnant. In the 20th Century, however, Delamere was cleared and drained of its bogs and lakes, being planted with fast-growing conifers for timber production, it was ancient woodland no more.

A concentration of ancient woodlands did persist in the Weaver valley where small streams produced steep wooded valleys, called cloughs. Too steep to clear easily and cultivate, they remain tiny fragments of the once vast forest of Mara. Hob Hey Wood in Frodsham is one of those fragments; an extant relic of the ancient wildwood, still maintaining much of the original forest’s rich biodiversity. 

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Forests can look and feel spooky, especially at night, with gnarled tree branches towering overhead and strange noises produced by woodland creatures. In ancient times there were real dangers in the wood so it is not surprising that many myths and legends sprang up around certain woodlands.

The giant, Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn McCool) stalked the wooded slopes of Slieve Gullion. Shervage Wood held a mighty dragon, the Gurt Wurm, who feasted on passers-by whilst the forest of Rothimurchus is the home of an unnamed, invisible being, seemingly human but running on four hooves.

Our own Hob Hey Wood may have its own mythical being for which the wood may have been named…

The word 'Hob' is from the old English diminutive of 'Hobgoblin' and Hey from middle Germanic 'Haie' meaning 'protected wood'. So, you have, 'wood protected by a goblin', or more probably 'Goblin's wood'!

And, indeed, there is an old folk tale of a goblin that lives under a tree root by the stream.

Of course, there is a more mundane explanation for the naming of the wood. The term 'protected' is perhaps more likely to mean that the wood was protected from being felled for agricultural land, because of the slopes either side of the stream making tilling impossible, with the Hobgoblin folklore possibly used to keep young children away from any dangers that may have existed in the wood many years ago.

However the wood was named, it is an almost unique name; there is no other ‘Hob Hey’ wood that I could find anywhere else.

Thanks to John Whitby for the information on the wood's name.

Hob Hey Wood in Recent Times
 

The most recent history of the wood concerns its ownership and protection for future generations.

In 1992 the wood was in private ownership and a proposal to buy part of the wood and develop it as a motorcycle scrambling centre caused a public outcry. Frodsham Town Council (FTC) stepped in and their offer to buy the land was fortunately accepted.

This still left much of the wood in private ownership so, due to fears about the future use of this ancient woodland, a programme of purchasing tracts of the wood was put in place and slowly the wood fell completely under the town council's ownership. 

A charity, Friends of Hob Hey Wood, was set up at this time to look after Hob Hey. Many improvements to paths were made and bridges and steps put in making the wood more accessible to visitors (but still extremely valuable to its wildlife).

By 2018, Hob Hey Wood Friends Group's activities had all but ceased. Recognising this, FTC set up a new group with a slightly different name: Hob Hey Wood Friends Group to take over the development of the wood aiming for improvements to benefit visitors and wildlife alike. We have been working hard to do this ever since.

In 2020, to further protect the wood, Frodsham Town Council registered Hob Hey with the 'Fields in Trust'; a legal agreement that the wood will remain as woodland in perpetuity. 

Ancient woodland cover is now only 2.4% in Britain; a fraction of what it once was. That Frodsham's ancient woodland is now owned by FTC, protected as a Field in Trust, and looked after by Hob Hey Wood Friends Group, should ensure that it remains an extremely important asset for the people of Frodsham to enjoy for many years to come.