There are prehistoric remains from the Bronze Age and other periods in the wood, including a Roman villa.

Its size is 251.4 hectares (621 acres); the M3 motorway runs through the western side.

Part of the present Micheldever Wood was later held by Hyde Abbey.

The abbey was dissolved in the 16th century, and Micheldever Wood was purchased by Thomas Wriothesley; it later descended by marriage to the Dukes of Bedford, and was acquired in 1801 by Francis Baring, 1st Baronet.

[4][5] Archaeological features survive from the Bronze Age to the Romano-British period, preserved for many centuries by the woodland.