Tree Planting.

This past year has been a quiet but in many ways productive period for group members.   We have carried on, as we do each year, with our rolling tree planting project by putting in Oak, Willow, Rowan and Wild Cherry which have been grown on by some of the members before going in.  These have been new plantings but we have also replaced some of the trees that we had previously planted but which had been killed off by vandalism or  through Deer damage.  We have also recently planted three hybrid Elm tree’s which we acquired from  the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association via their Elms4London project.  All the trees that have been planted will be good for wildlife from birds to insects and will enhance the overall look of the reserve when fully grown.

 

Bulb Planting

Apart from the tree planting members have been busy putting in over 800 bulbs in and around the reserve ready for them to bloom this Spring.  These bulb’s, mainly Daffodils have been planted in various place’s  such as at the main entrance in Settle Road, the main car park area, at the base of the new trees and where there are information boards.  Because of the ease that this has been done we will be continuing bulb planting this year and possibly into next year as well.  

 

Hibernacula’s & Bat Boxes

The group have laid out around twenty hibernacula’s in various sites in the reserve which will provide shelter for amphibians and small mammals alike.  Some of these shelters will be easily spotted whilst others have been placed in quieter areas and will be less disturbed.  In line with providing hibernacula’s members have been busy putting up boxes to provide roosting sites for our Bat population.  These boxes will complement the ones that we had already put up in previous years and we have more to put up. 

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Bird Nesting Boxes

One of the longer term projects that we have been carrying out  is introducing nesting boxes for small birds with the nature reserve.  Since starting this project in 2020 we have now placed 100 nesting boxes around the reserve.  These boxes have and will provide safe nesting sites for species such as Blue Tits, Great Tits and Nuthatch.  This is, as I say a long term project, and more nesting boxes will be going up in the future.  Coupled with the small nesting boxes going up are the positioning of Owl boxes within the reserve.  Some years ago Owl boxes were placed around the reserve  and for a while they were being used however since they were first introduced into the reserve many have deteriorated to such an extent that they  are no longer useable.  With this in mind it is the intention of the Friend’s group to place Owl boxes in a number of sites within the reserve to help the Owl population that we have.

 

All of the above are positive steps taken by the group  and form part of their initial aims for the reserve which were first voiced when the Friends group began in 2003.  More is to follow with continuous planting and the siting of more nest boxes which will run alongside the other projects that the group have in maintaining the nature reserve.

 

Members support.

Amongst all of this we, the committee,  look forward to the ongoing support that we have received from group members who come out in all weathers to work within the reserve.  Whether it be for siting nesting boxes, painting benches, clearing ponds or litter picking members have shown their support by turning up and mucking in.

 

Gold Award

It is because of their continuous support and work that Dagnam Park was once again awarded a Gold Award in the Large Conservation Area category as set out by the London in Bloom organisation in September last year.   Dagnam Park has been fortunate to have been given a Gold Award in this category since 2016 hopefully we, as a group, can help to maintain the same level of standards set by the above organisation in retaining the award for this coming year.

 

Don Tait,

Chairman,

Friends of Dagnam Park 2024

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As Don announced we were given another gold award from the  London in Bloom judges, you may not know, that Havering has won the best in bloom borough award from all of greater London’s boroughs. Havering will now go forward to the Best in Britain final. It’s good to realise Dagnams played its part in achieving this, especially in such difficult financial times.

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Don has discussed all of our hard work during our 20th year of being the official Friends group of Dagnam Park nature reserve. So I’ll move onto the archaeology dig update.

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We have been digging now for over 10 years, with the last 4 years concentrating on the Manor House site. So to recap on what we have discovered so far ;

 

We now have strong evidence through digging and researching the various archives, that there have been at least 3 large building complex’s going back as far as the Tudor period. The Tudor house had a moot surrounding it, similar the moat at the nearby Cockerell’s site, only  probably Dagnams was much larger, possibly the circular house pond was part of the moot, but greatly altered obviously.

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The Tudor culvert discovered when digging at such a great depth in the east wing is very similar to culverts unearthed by the Friends group at Marks Hall in Coggleshall. Marks hall was demolished in 1950 same as our Dagnams, they also had multiple Manor house builds over the same period.

 

Our Tudor house was demolished around the 1630s, to be replaced by a large house described by visiting diarist Samuel Pepys as being - delightful. This building was rebuilt by 1667 but what these alterations were, is yet to be unearthed.

 

During our test trench digs, we uncovered the fabled cellar, confirmed with the discovery of the cellar steps and thanks to ranger Taylors involvement, is now permanently unearthed and preserved.

 

We then attempted to measure the width and length of the cellar area, but inadvertently this helped us find, not the cellar as expected, but the Tudor culvert remains I mentioned earlier.

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This whole east wing area appears to be of a domestic working area, possibly involving a washing room or a buttery/ kitchen activity. Only last week we unearthed an exterior foot path that proved the area was separated from the main block and looking at old photographs, it is, at a much lower height to the Pepys house build.

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This area also uncovers large amounts of sea food shells in particular oysters and broken animal bones, glass and pottery ware.

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When the cellar steps had its preserving protective wall built by contractors, they finally revealed the elusive cellar wall, so during this year we will eventually know just how large the cellar is.

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In 1772 Richard Neave purchased Dagnams, he over a 3 year rebuild, demolished much of the second house, but retained the part that housed the cellar. He then had a grand Georgian style house built next to the remaining building, which stood until 1950, but sadly had to be demolished due to war damage and vandalism.

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I must close by thanking the many diggers who have joined us over the years, and I can confirm as far as I’m concerned we will be digging and recording for many a year ahead.

 

Alan York,

Secretary,

Friends of Dagnam Park 2024