[6] Discoveries of Neolithic stone axes and possible traces of Iron Age fields show that occupation goes back thousands of years.

In the nineteenth century the coming of the railways increased the value of the land, and the lord of the manor, Edmund Byron, began enclosing the area.

They were successful, William Hall then asked the Corporation of London to purchase the land to preserve it as open space.

It is the largest area of calcareous scrub in Greater London, with a herb-rich chalk grassland.

There are two nationally rare herbs, early gentian (Gentianella anglica) and round-headed rampion.