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History
The earliest records of St Nicholas Fields come from the 12th century when the land was leased to the nearby hospital of St Nicholas. At this time the Fields were meadows, surrounded by remnants of ancient woodland.
During the 19th century this was the site for clay extraction and brick works. These continued in production until the 1950s, making the bricks for thousands of new homes, including the nearby Tang Hall estate.
Over the next twenty years St Nicholas Fields was used as a landfill site and the clay pits were filled with York’s domestic and industrial waste.
In 1974 the tip was finally closed. Natural regeneration and colonisation gradually brought new life. A wide range of plants thrived among the refuse and songbirds nested in the thickets of bramble and elder bushes.
In the 1980’s a successful campaign was launched by York Natural Environment Trust and local residents to develop St Nicholas Fields as an urban nature park.
Before it could be formally opened, the refuse had to be sealed under a thick layer of clay. During 1994 50,000 cubic metres of clay, from Clifton Moor, were spread over the Fields.
Since then tons of rubbish have been cleared, thousands of trees and shrubs planted, wildflower meadows sown and new pathways constructed.
Habitats and wildlife
The central part of the site is divided between a summer wildflower meadow and rough grassland, along with scrub and a few mature willows. The meadows and scrub provide larval food plants and nectar for a variety of butterflies. Common blue, holly blue, orange tip, ringlet and meadow brown are seen regularly.
The rough grass and scrub areas contain stands of teasels and thistles providing a valuable food source for finches. Large groups of goldfinch can be seen in winter along with chaffinch, bullfinch, brambling and siskin.
The south of the site contains a thicket dominated by elder, hawthorn and bramble. These provide cover for nesting robins, wrens, sparrows, dunnocks, blackbirds and thrushes.
To the north there are a considerable number of fruit trees along with well-established ash and alder, and scattered hawthorns. This area feeds large numbers of blackbirds and bullfinches.
The western area of the site has been planted as a community woodland, known as John Lally Wood, with ash, lime, field maple, silver birch, dogwood and oak. In time this will form an impressive woodland experience within less than a mile of the City Centre.
Blue tits, coal tits, great tits and long tailed tits can be seen feeding on the mature willows and alders by the beck along with a regular kingfisher.
A distinctive feature of St Nicholas Fields are the apple and pear trees, all of which have grown from pips which arrived with the rubbish. A butterfly walk has been created with buddleia, bramble and apple, which attract the butterflies for nectar, whilst larvae feed on the vetches, brambles and meadow grasses.
York Environment Centre
In May 2000, York Environment Centre was opened towards the southern end of the Fields. The Centre is designed as a model of sustainability: large south-facing windows allow it to be heated directly by the sun’s energy; solar panels and a wind turbine supply electricity; rainwater is collected and filtered for use in the Centre; there is a ‘living roof’, covered with low growing Sedum acre.
Behind the Centre is a children’s play area with swings and picnic tables.
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