Earliest record of Woolley Wood lies in a document prepared for the 7th Earl of Shrewsbury between 1590 and 1616 which refers to the woodland as a Spring Wood (NAA 2001). The wood is sited on steeply sloping land and map evidence shows that (apart from the northern fringe of the woodland where communications routes including two railways and a road have been constructed from the mid 19th century onwards) the boundaries of the wood are largely unchanged since the mid 19th century. As coppice management declined in popularity and usefulness in the later 18th century (as wood as a building material was superseded by brick and the use of charcoal as a fuel by coal and coke), the woodland was planted with a number of 'standards' (trees allowed to grow to full height) including the non native hornbeam, which it has been suggested was a useful source of raw materials for the manufacture of cogs and pulleys for water powered mills - source (http://www.heritagewoodsonline.co.uk/map/035/035c.html). Legibility of previous character types is uncertain as we have no evidence as yet for an earlier landscape character type.