About 100 people attended a celebration in Knaresborough today to mark the return of 60 acres of land to public use after 250 years.

The nine fields once belonged to the ancient Knaresborough Forest. But the Enclosure Act 1773 removed access to commoners.

The land returned to public ownership last week after the successful Knaresborough Forest Park appeal raised £864,000 to buy it. However, some of the land could be sold if a £300,000 loan secured as part of the fundraising appeal is not repaid within the three-month interest-free window.

There were tears in some campaigners’ eyes at today’s celebration, which saw a 30-year-old oak tree planted to mark the occasion.

The oak was christened ‘the goose tree’ after the poem The Goose and The Common, which refers to how the law locks up people who steal geese from common land, “but leaves the greater villain loose who steals the common from off the goose”.

Local conservationist Keith Wilkinson read the poem dressed in period attire before everyone was invited to throw a trowel of soil around the tree.

Arnold Warneken, the Green Party councillor for Ouseburn on North Yorkshire Council, then picked up his guitar to lead an adapted rendition of Woody Guthrie’s protest song This Land is Your Land.

Food field and community orchard

The Knaresborough Forest Park campaign, like nearby community nature reserve Long Lands Common, was created to prevent land between Harrogate and Knaresborough being used for housing or a new road. The land is between the Beryl Burton cycleway and Knaresborough Road.

Chris Kitson, secretary of Long Lands Common, which also oversees Knaresborough Forest Park, told the crowd today how the initiatives were developed in response by plans from the former North Yorkshire County Council to build a bypass.

An action group successfully opposed the road, which Mr Kitson said would probably be being built today if it had been approved.

Many of those involved in the action group went on to set up the community benefit society that raised £400,000 from a share offer to take ownership of Long Lands Common.

The Knaresborough Forest Park campaign then raised £864,000 from a £410,000 grant from the George A Moore Foundation, a £300,000 loan from the philanthropic lending organisation We Have the Power and some £200,000 from money raised.

Long Lands Common board member Geoff Freeston, who led the Knaresborough Forest Park campaign, said the field used for today’s celebration would become a food field with a community orchard and allotments. Coppices of willow and hazel trees will be planted in another field, with the willow being used for children’s workshops.

Mr Freeston said there were also plans for a hay meadow, which could generate income, rewilding and initaives such as artists and poets workshops and educational activities. Orb Community Arts in Knaresborough are among those involved. 

He added:

Rick Brewis, who dressed as a tree for today’s celebration, summed up what many felt when he said:

Others in attendance today agreed. Long Lands Common shareholder Bernadette Reid was delighted the threat of housebuilding here had been removed and Duncan Lowery said:

The loan has to be repaid, and volunteers need to be recruited. But if the spirit at today's celebration can be captured then the future looks bright for the new Knaresborough Forest Park.