[1][3] There is a central bridleway running through the wood, which formerly provided a route for packhorses carrying goods between Piddington and Oxford, via Beacon's Bottom.

[7] Medieval documents show that the area was owned by the French Abbey of Fontrevaud, from the 12th century until 1413, when the land was returned to the Crown.

The land was later given to Sir John Phillip and remained in the family for several years before coming under the ownership of Eton College and then the Earl of Caernarvon.

[9] In the early 20th century, while the woodland was still part of the Wormsley estate, timber from Bottom Wood was sold each year at the King's Arms, Stokenchurch.

Helped by the local scout troop, Mr Deane planted the adjoining field of Toothill, at the south-east end of the wood, with Sitka spruce and Scots pine trees.

It was very scrubby with collapsing hazel and thorns with a bit of rubbish, including the remains of an old car at the entrance...The old beech wood was very dark with almost no ground vegetation.

[14] A small team managed by the Chiltern Society began working in the wood in September 1983, spending an initial ten-week period clearing the bridleway through the wood, getting rid of rubbish that had accumulated under previous owners, and felling some trees in an attempt to encourage the growth of healthier specimens.

This included a complete felling of 0.5 hectares (1.2 acres) of the Toothill plantation, which was replanted with 350 trees consisting mainly of ash, cherry, beech and whitebeam.

Volunteers continued working to improve the quality of the wood in subsequent years, with some timber being sold to local businesses to fund the management project.

[1] Formal cataloguing of some of these species has taken place, including research into the wood's plants by a PhD student, and a record of moths started in 1993.

[17] Bottom Wood supports a wide variety of plants, due to the range of soil acidity and moisture levels across the woodland area.

[23] Red kites are frequently seen in the area, as are other rare bird species such as lesser spotted woodpeckers and marsh tits.