What's In A Street Name 10 - The Birches

A visit to Crawley and I had another wander about looking at and photographing Crawley Street Nameplates.

In many parts of the town, there are definate themes and one of the most popular is trees and woodland names. There is actually a small wood in the parish of Slinfold, nearer to home that is called The Birches. I am not certain yet if there was a field or a wood at this location in Crawley known as this.

Birch trees are usually referred to as a pioneer tree. If you leave an area of land uncultivated it will in time revert to woodland and the Birch will likely be one of the first to colonise the area. They are also commonly planted on roadsides in built up areas and there are Silver Birches planted in our road. The catkins eventually break down as they ripen into individual seeds and are carried away by the wind. There are lots of different species of Birch and Wakehurst Place Gardens has a large collection of them. Much more convenient for visitors and free to NT members, there are a good few different species to be found at Sheffield Park Gardens.