The black poplar trail...
| Distance: | 5 mile (8km) walk with a shorter loop of 4 miles (6km). |
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| Time: | |
| Rating: | moderate (flat, some unsurfaced paths may be muddy at times) |
| Starting point: | Wilstone village hall |
Route description
Discover our rarest native trees on a 5 mile (8km) or 4 mile (6km) trail between the villages of Wilstone and Long Marston
The Black Poplar Trail is a 5 mile (8km) walk with a shorter loop of 4 miles (6km). it is on flat terrain and runs between the villages of Wilstone and Long Marston. It follows public footpaths and quiet lanes to discover the best examples of Black Poplar Trees, and provides delightful views of the Chiltern escarpment. The trail takes you through two attractive villages and across the distinctive flood plain landscape of the Vale of Aylesbury, some of the path can be muddy in wet weather.
The trail starts and finishes at Wilstone Village Hall where there are car parking spaces, but it is possible to reach Wilstone by bus or bicycle from Tring and Aylesbury. Alternatively, you can start the walk in Long Marston.
Why are Black Poplars rare?
The native Black Poplar Populus nigra. Var betufolia is one of Britains most endangered trees, and the Vale of Aylesbury is the tree’s classic location. Currently there are reckoned to be about 5000 trees here, of which around 1200 are in the Long Marston, Willstone and Puttenham area. Black Poplars prefer to grow with their roots in damp ground, so you find them mostly along streams, ditches and by ponds. Although the habitat is common in the locality, some ditches and ponds may be filling in because of lack of maintenance.
Individual trees are either male or female, that is they are dioecious. Most of the Black Poplars here were probably planted in the nineteenth century. Because the female trees produce masses of fluffy seed that can be inconvenient, cuttings from females were rarely used. Even if the male and female trees grow near to each other and seed is produced it has to land on a piece of mud that stays wet for some days before a new tree germinates. Sometimes the tree will regenerate through branches falling onto wet ground, but this means of reproduction produces a clone that restricts genetic variation. Often fallen trees are ‘tidied up’ quickly. The population of surviving trees is ageing and a few succumb to the wind and fall over every year.
What have Black Poplars ever done for us?
Mature and pollarded Black Poplars are an important element in the special landscape of the area, especially since the loss of Elm trees to Dutch Elm disease. They follow the ditches and streams as they thread their way through the clay vale. Black Poplars were a resource for the local economy. They grow fast. Their use as hedging stakes may account for the appearance of mature Black poplar trees at regular intervals in hedgerows. The wood is soft and fire resistant, so it is said to have been utilised locally to make matches, bean poles, fruit baskets, wattle and for cattle fodder. People remember the wood being used in sheep hurdles to confine the sheep at night when they were brought down from the Chiltern downland, and some Black poplar wood found its way into First World War rifle butts.
Black Poplars are closely related to Willows. The buds, bark and leaves are rich in an aspirin related substance: salicin, so may have been used as remedies for pain relief, heart trouble, coughs, rheumatism and inflammation.
Black Poplars are valuable as a wildlife habitat especially for insects, such as the Poplar Hawk Moth and Puss Moths. Holes in the trees provide nesting sites for owls and roosting sites for bats.
The trees were once considered sacred, perhaps because of its guarded bark or the story that grief stricken black clad women were turned into Black Poplars in Roman mythology. Because of their rapid growth rate the trees may have been regarded as a fertility symbol and were once dressed as part of wedding ceremonies. An annual Black Poplar flag dressing ceremony still occurs in Aston upon Clun in Shropshire.
Safeguarding a rare species
In the Long Marsten and Wilstone area a lot of work has been undertaken to safeguard the population for the future, including surveying and mapping existing trees over 21 square kilometres. The survey work was undertaken as a community response to Local Agenda 21. It requires annual updating to monitor the effects of climate change and other events on the status of trees. Many individual trees have been managed by careful pollarding and lopping (cutting back heavy branches to prevent the tree from splitting). Some cuttings or truncheons taken from trees in the vicinity have been planted along ditches and hedgerows.
Nowadays the fallen timber is used to make charcoal for barbeques – a good example of sustainable use that reduces demand on forests abroad and creates a small local industry.
The Old Church Tower
Situated at the end of quiet Chapel Lane, the Norman Tower is the only remnant of a 12th Century Chapel of Ease, which was pulled down in 1883. It is a Grade II listed building and was restored in 2002. There are information boards within the small churchyard giving details of local history.
Millhoppers Nature Reserve
Millhoppers Pasture is a 3 acre area of unimproved grassland ringed by blackthorn scrub and some magnificent Black Poplars, bisected by a stream and with a central marshy area. In the past some of the strea,s powered water mills and the name ‘Millhoppers’ may refer to the vessels used for corn storage. It was acquired by Butterfly Conservation in 1997 with an emphasis on encouraging grassland butterflies like the Marbled White. However there is a wide range of flora and fauna within the reserve; all of which are monitored. It is managed by a local conservation group. Visitors are welcome to explore and encounter the wildlife.
Wilstone Village
There’s a shop, the Half Moon pub for refreshments, a picnic area by the Grand Union canal and St Corss Church to visit. Find out about the last witch to be ducked and drowned in Hertfordshire. Long Marston Village
The village has All Saints Church and some attractive thatched timber framed and weather boarded cottages. Should you feel the need for refreshment there is a shop and two pubs; The Boot and The Queen’s Head.
Tring Reservoirs and the Grand Union Canal
Built to supply water to the main line of the Grand Union Canal and its arms to Wendover and Aylesbury, Tring Reservoirs are famous for their wildlife and have been designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interest. The Aylesbury Arm was built to carry wheat and coal to the Thames at Abingdon, but the company ran out of money. The tranquil setting of the reservoirs and the local canal can be enjoyed by all, with opportunities for walking, fishing and birdwatching.
Walk directions (clockwise)
- Leave the Wilstone village hall car park and continue past the church to Chapel End Lane. Follow the lane and track to the end, over the stile and right over the next stile. In the next field, at the fork, take the left path across the field.
- cross the canal, bear right across the next field to the footbridge and stile, then go straight ahead to Astrope Lane.
- at the road junction bear right to the stile and bear right again to cross the footbridge. Turn left, left over the next stile and right onto another stile. Turn left to the old church tower.
- At the end of Chapel Lane, bear right and turn right immediately after the school to Astrope Lane. Turn right, go past the houses and take the footpath on the left passing Millhoppers reserve to Astrope Lane. Turn left and left again at the road junction along Tring Road. Turn right here for the short cut to the village hall.
- At the next junction, go along the footpath opposite. After crossing a footbridge turn right and, in a few yards, turn right into a garden, turn right across a stream and stile, turn left into a gate and re-enter the garden, then pass through a kissing gate.
- Turn left and, after going through a gap in the hedge, turn right to a canal bridge. Go over the bridge, right along the towpath and take the footpath on the left to Wilstone.
- Optional detour to see some more trees.
How can I find some Black Poplars?
- They’re big! Up to 30 metres high
- They can tend to lean on one side
- They usually grow by water or in damp areas
- The lowest branches sweep downwards but, finally, the tips arch upwards
- The bark is often deeply ridged with bosses and burrs
- The leaves are triangular, dark green above and paler below; making a definitive rusting sound in the breeze. In spring they are light green and in autumn they turn pale yellow.
- In spring the male catkins, sometimes called the Devil’s Fingers, are vivid red
Rights of Way symbols you might see
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Yellow arrows indicate footpaths for pedestrian use only |
| Blue arrows indicate bridleways for horse riders, cyclists and pedestrian use only |
| Red arrows indicate Byways Open to All Traffic (BOAT) for horse riders, cyclists and pedestrians and may be legally used by other wheeled vehicles |
| Black arrows indicate Roads Used as Public Paths (RUPP) for horse riders, cyclists and pedestrians and may be legally used by other wheeled vehicles |
Maps
This map is based on Ordnance Survey material with the permission of Ordnance Survey on behalf of the controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office © Crown copyright. Unauthorised reproduction infringes Crown copyright and may lead to prosecution or civil proceedings. Hertfordshire County Council 100019606 2004.
The Ordnance Survey mapping included within this web-site is provided by Hertfordshire County Council under licence from the Ordnance Survey in order to fulfill its public function to provide information relating to its activities, services and plans. Persons viewing this mapping should contact Ordnance Survey copyright for advice where they wish to license Ordnance survey mapping for their own use.
See the Ordnance Survey site for more information.
This is is one of a series of walks through the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) supported by the Chilterns Conference.
Please be considerate in the countryside - keep to footpaths, especially through crops, and leave farm gates as you find them.
