Ownership
During the Medieval period, the wood was part of the Bishop of London’s hunting estate. Between the 16th and 18th centuries the wood, known then as "Brewer's Fell", was leased to various tenants who managed it by “coppicing with standards”. This involved regularly cutting down areas of Hornbeams to a stump (“coppicing”) to encourage new growth which could be used for fuel or fencing, whilst allowing oak and other tree species to grow to maturity (“standards”). Remnants of wood banks dividing these areas can still be seen. Many of these oaks were then used by the Crown to construct ships and by the Church to construct buildings.
In the 1880s the last tenant gave up his lease. In 1886 the City of London Corporation acquired what was by then known as Gravelpit Wood (so named in 1863 on account of a gravel pit used to source gravel for roads in the district) from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners at no charge on condition that it was "maintained in perpetuity for the benefit of Londoners". It was renamed Highgate Wood and has been owned and managed by the Corporation ever since.
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