The symbolic cutting of a barbed wire fence last week marked the first step in the creation of Britain’s newest forest: an 860-acre site in Hertfordshire to be planted with 600,000 native woodland trees.

The Woodland Trust charity has now completed the purchase of the land for the forest at Sandridge, near St Albans. Part of it will be named The Sunday Times Wood, and readers have already donated money for more than 1,800 trees - enough to cover three acres.

Five hundred years ago, another oak on the site played its own role in English history. It was here, during the second battle of St Albans in 1461, that King Henry VI is reputed to have been held prisoner under a tree by Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, the legendary “kingmaker” of the wars of the roses.

Archeologists will be watching the planting of the wood for any relics that are turned up. Warwick the Kingmaker, after a rare defeat, led his Yorkist troops in a retreat across the site of the Sunday Times wood.

Simon West, district archeologist with the Verulamium Museum in St Albans, said: “Much of the weaponry, such as swords and arrows, would have been collected up as spoils of war by the victors and what was left would have been scavenged by local peasants who recycled or sold them.

“But there is every chance of finding things such as daggers, buttons and smaller items like garter hooks.”

Work on the forest can now start in earnest. A new stile was erected last week where the wire was cut to open a footpath along the edge of the land, giving open access for the first time in many years.

One of the first to walk the path was Jean McCann, a conservationist, who described it as a “momentous” day. “The forest will be a marvellous thing,” she said, “teeming with wildlife, and the joy is that it will not be run as a commercial asset but as an asset for everyone to enjoy.

“Sunday Times readers should be thanked and congratulated for their enthusiastic support of the project – their involvement tells the country just how important this is.”

The land, most of which is currently used for cereal crops, will be surveyed over the coming weeks before the first tree is planted later this year.

From tomorrow, however, internet users can also enjoy the atmosphere at Sandridge. The trust is planning to release a podcast that can be used by visitors as an audio guide.

As it develops, the forest will become a haven for rare wildlife and will eventually be as large as Sherwood Forest and Regent’s Park combined.

Andrew Reid, a solicitor who previously owned much of the land, said: “We are extremely pleased the land is to be used for the forest and will be protected and looked after.”

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• UK regional accents thrive against the odds
• ‘Scarecrow’ wind farms put rare birds to flight
• What an anti-climax: G-spot is a myth