 |
DEAN GREEN TEAM Wildlife Conservation Group in the Forest of Dean Gloucestershire |
 |
14 February 2017
Reddings Enclosure, Highmeadow Woods
Grid Ref SO541140
Today, the team were near the Suck Stone in Highmeadow woods. We cleared a large number of trees near the stone which was partly to open up the area for wild flowers but also to allow a better view across the forest.
It was Valentine Day today and purely by chance we cut this appropriate heart!
 |
The Suck Stone The word 'Suck' may be derived from the Anglo-Saxon words 'Socage' 'Soccage' or 'Soke' thus this stone maybe where 'rent might have been paid' or 'local lords/justices held a Court which heard disputes over rent' Reputed to be the largest detached block of rock in the British Isles this huge boulder of conglomerate Old Red Sandstone and Quartz, weighing in excess of 30,000 tons, stands proudly over the River Wye in Highmeadow Woods North of Staunton one of the oldest villages in the Forest of Dean. |
|
Near Hearkening Stone This rock is reputed to have been a listening post used by gamekeepers to detect poachers in search of the Kings Deer (and by Royalist Troops during the Civil War) - it is said that words whispered at the nearby Buck Stone (1.8km away) could be heard by keen ears - the face of the rock is concave and to hear the interlopers the watchmen put their backs to the rock
|
|
The trees below the stone were removed. There was obvious evidence of the boar snuggling up under the stone in the past.
|
