Stoney ground. Time well spent in our small Devon wood.

 Our small Devon wood isn't very old compared to some of the ancient woodland around here,although some individual trees may well be old, particularly those that were part of a hedgerow. Historical records include reference to areas of coppice included with the property: an attractive feature when the only means of heating and cooking was a fire. I’ve written before about the quarry within the woods and the impact of that industry on the topography of the woods; how it created the sweeping track that takes the steepness out of the access to the quarry and the level areas where I set up tarps and do some green woodworking. We can't at present find out when quarrying ceased but  no doubt the woods grew unchecked from that point on. 

An old tithe map labels a area close by as Stoney Ground. The old descriptive names didn’t need much interpretation. This whole area around the town of Bampton was heavily quarried for the limestone. Maps still show the old workings dotted about the place and sheer rock faces can still be seen where the stone was removed. Scott’s is a small housing development where quarrying was particularly intense and bears the name of the family that owned those quarries. Remains of lime kilns are scattered all about often with a small quarry close by. These small quarries are now overgrown but the trees don’t disguise the deep chunks taken out of the land from the roadside. Some look as though  they were exploratory workings because they are shallow and when the rock face is examined the revealed seams are shale and not the sought after limestone slabs. Here, the undulations of the rolling hills take the choice stone deep into the ground. The stone was also needed for house building, walls and road building. The long gone Tiverton to Minehead railway that passed through here would also have needed stone to lay the tracks on. This line passed our house on the other side of the river Batherm across the road. When we take our circular walk back from town and pause to view our house from across the valley we try to picture the scene with the steam train passing by.

Back up in the woods, the high quarry face tapers down towards the north east corner. The retaining wall has gradually fallen down. The beech trees are the culprits. Their expanding trunks and tough roots testing the integrity of the wall year on year. The fallen stones consequently became covered with leaves from the beeches and most are now buried completely in rich leafmould. I’ve done some remedial work using the more easily uncovered stones as a makeshift job to make the boundary more secure so that Jarvis can’t go wandering. Recently I've been bagging up the leafmould which I carry back when returning from our daily walks. This is then used in the garden to improve the soil. In the summer I’ll spend enjoyable time  digging out the stone and reinstating the wall properly. These walls are rich habitats. Wood mice and voles will shelter in them and over time the pennyworts and other flora will grow along with the mosses and lichens.

Elsewhere in the woods I’ve been collecting stones on our daily walks and made low level walls to delineate paths and protect areas where for example the early purple orchids do well. Collecting stones has become a pleasant habit. I don’t always have an immediate use for these so I’ll leave them where they can be easily retrieved in a pile and sometimes if the fancy takes me, in a small tower. This is fun, enables me to locate the stones as they won’t become overgrown and therefore hidden, keeps me practiced working with stone but perhaps most importantly, enables me to sort the stones by size and shape. 

Much as I love working with wood and preferably in the green, working with stone couldn’t be more different. Perhaps the only tool needed for laying dry stone is a hammer but as stone is so unforgiving, it’s better to find the piece you need and simply knock off unwanted bits rather than attempt to shape them. Most of the time if after rotating, cajoling and repositioning a piece of stone it stubbornly refuses to fit I’ll simply put it to one side and find another. This selecting, positioning, discarding and trying another piece is as enjoyably absorbing as doing a jigsaw puzzle, albeit in 3 dimensions and with no picture to guide other than the rough image in your head. It’s also done outside in the woods with the birds singing and the dogs patiently waiting for me signal the time to move on to where they will find something more interesting to do. Well, at least more interesting for them I suppose.

Here's where the retaining wall has collapsed and I've dug out many of the stones. The crude hurdles are a makeshift barrier to stop Jarvis from wandering up into the neighbour's wood above.

Last year I reinstated some small sections of the wall. It's difficult because the line of the original has been broken by the huge beech tree roots and I've had to work around them. I'll probably reuse the larger stones in this section for the longer stretch pictured above and redo this small bit with leftovers. Because of the trees it's unlikely the wall will ever look as it once did, but I'll aim to create a stable retaining wall along its original line that will be good for many years. I've aleady planted 5 young beech trees on the top of the bank to fill gaps. It will be satisfying doing something that may well be there for who knows how long..