Queen's Wood is an area of ancient woodland and dates from at least 1600, possibly from pre-historic times. 

In the nineteenth century Queen's Wood was known as Churchyard Bottom Wood, possibly because of the discovery of human bones in the west of the wood which were thought to derive from a burial pit for victims of the Great Plague of l665.

The Wood was purchased from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners by Hornsey Council in 1898 and renamed Queen's Wood in honour of Queen Victoria. In November 1990 it was designated a Statutory Local Nature Reserve by the Council. The London Ecology Unit list it (together with nearby Highgate Wood) as a Site of Metropolitan Importance, their highest grading. In 1984, research showed a significantly greater number of ground feeding birds present in Queen's Wood when compared to Highgate Wood. There have been recent sightings of the rare hawfinch (Coccothraustes coccothraustes) in February 1991 and April 1992.

The northern portion of the Wood is crossed by a small stream which provides a diverse damp woodland community. Goldilocks buttercup (Ranunculus auricomus), wood sorrel (Oxalis acetosella), yellow pimpernel (Lysimachia nemorum), and square-stemmed St John's wort (Hypericum tetrapterum) occur here. Wood sedge (Carex sylvatica) and remote sedge (C. remota) are both frequent and there is also a small colony of great woodrush (Luzula sylvatica), but perhaps the most attractive woodland plant here is the wood anemone which covers the ground in white, snow-like drifts in the spring. (There are occasional patches of common dog violet (V. riviniana) and in one place only these are accompanied by a sizeable colony of the early dog violet (V. reichanbachiana).