Assart and back again

An evening walk through a less visited wood in the Wye Valley and towards the furthest extremity of this wood, the forestry track cut through a stone wall. A derelict, moss covered stone wall,  surrounded by high oak and beech woodland. My initial thoughts were a simple event chronology of  building of the stone wall, planting of woodland and construction of a forestry track cutting through wall. As that stone walls are rarely constructed through an existing wood and the area of woodland on one side of the wall was carpeted in bluebells and on the other side of the wall, bluebells were colonising through a relict gateway or where the wall had collapsed, which suggested the area enclosed by the wall was once farmland, before reforestation. The light was fading and with exposure duration in seconds and mindful of the return walk to car, only a few images were made.

Derelict stone wall in woodland

Intrigued by the wall in the wood, I consulted a couple of authoritative texts and maps of the area. The general area has some history dating back to Anglo Saxon times,  a Domesday Book entry, Norman manor and the creation of a sizeable family estate in the 16th/17th C, but concentrating on the events pertinent to the stone wall and wood, it is probably best to start in first decade of the 19th C.  In 1803, Admiral Lord Nelson, following a visit to the area, produced a report on the naval timber in the nearby Forest of Dean.  The report included the following statements "These shameful abuses are probably known to those high in power ..." and  "If the Forest of Dean is to be preserved as a useful Forest for the country, strong measures must be pursued. First, the guardian of the support of our Navy must be an intelligent honest man ...". He also wrote that some oak woodlands and fields outwith the statutory Forest of Dean could be purchased to ensure a short and medium term supply of mature timber and planting of oak saplings raised in nurseries for the long term. Following an act of Parliament, replanting of the Forest of Dean commenced between 1808-1818, the events of which didn't go entirely to plan and coincidentally in 1817 the Highmeadow estate of woodland and farmland adjoining the Dean, was purchased by the Crown Commissioners.

Primary and secondary woodland either side of the stone wall

I made a return visit in better light, to make a photographic record of the derelict stone wall, bluebells colonising the secondary woodland and confirm that the wall is the one shown on the modern OS maps against known boundaries and features.

View along the stone wall

A search online produced an illustration of a village map of 1608, that also details the wall enclosing a field and adjacent woodland, the 6":1 Mile late 19th C OS map also show the stone wall traced out in woodland and the modern OS explorer map shows the stone wall, woodland and forestry track. It seems likely that the derelict stone wall was once an estate and/or field boundary on the Highmeadow estate. So what was once woodland, was then assarted for farmland, then reforested in the 1820's and has remained woodland ever since under the management of the then Commissioners of Woods and now by the Forestry Commission.

Former gateway and now entranceway for colonising bluebells

The derelict boundary wall has clearly been an effective barrier to bluebell colonisation, but where breaks occur in the wall there is still a discernible difference in spread and density of flowers, between secondary woodland and the original wood after nearly two centuries.  Another observation would be that lateral colonisation across a slope seems particularly slow, especially against the prevailing wind. I was surprised at how slow the colonisation of former farmland was, especially as bluebells are considered as one of the more 'vigorous' colonisers amongst ancient woodland indicator flora.