Wentwood, Monmouthshire

Wentwood is the largest ancient woodland site in Wales, extending over four miles across a sandstone ridge northeast of Newport; the land slopes gently down to the southeast, and much more steeply to the northwest, where the wood is bordered by the River Usk.

Surviving ancient trees are few in number, however, and there is only one named veteran, the Curley Oak, estimated to be around one thousand years old, though also of note are many large beeches, lining some of the old pathways. Nearly all of the other venerable native trees were felled in the last two centuries, replaced by conifers; the forest is now classed as a Planted Ancient Woodland Site, PAWS, yet its origin is still evident, as shown by abundant ancient indicator species of wildflowers and fungi. Parts of the wood are particularly good for bluebells in the spring.

Wentwood was once part of a continuous forest extending east and northeast from Newport, merging with the trees of the River Wye valley. Much has now been converted to fields, a process begun in medieval times, yet several other significant sections remain including Chepstow Park Wood; this together with Wentwood and the formerly wooded land in between was for several centuries used as hunting grounds for Chepstow Castle.


A sizeable part of Wentwood was purchased by the Woodland Trust in 2006, after being used for timber production for over a century, and now a decades-long project is in progress, to restore the original broad-leaved forest. All the wood is open access land, crossed by innumerable tracks and paths, and the site is large enough to allow for loop walks of ten miles or more.

History

Within Wentwood are a number of scheduled ancient monuments, the oldest a burial mound from the Iron Age, while other evidence of past use include underground World War II bunkers, ancient pathways, charcoal hearths, old quarries, tumuli and other earthworks, plus the remains of a mill. The original trees were mixed with wood pasture and patches of heath, and although the surrounding area was steadily cleared during late medieval times, the wood itself was unchanged until around 1760, when the first areas of conifers were planted. The next century saw gradually more of the old trees being felled, replaced with larch, Douglas fir and Norway spruce. The last sections of the ancient forest were cut down to meet the increased need for timber between and during World Wars one and two, and by 1961 almost the whole forest was populated only by the conifers. Various large sections have been recently felled, but the conifers still cover well over half of the site.

The Wood

The forest is approximately triangular in shape - it narrows to a point at the southwest end, just outside Newport, and is over 2 miles across along its eastern flank. The wood is centred on a ridge, the highest point 1,015 feet, and the less steep southeast slopes are crossed by several small streams, some draining into Wentwood Reservoir, which was created by a dam in 1904. There are many access points around the perimeter, and along the two roads that cross the wood, from Llanvair-Discoed and Parc-Seymour, the two of which meet at the northern edge.

Tracks

Forest tracks access all areas of Wentwood, a few rather overgrown but most are open, and still used periodically by vehicles. Perhaps the most ancient runs southwest-northeast along the crest of the ridge; a wide route, somewhat sunken in places, mostly lined with ancient, formerly coppiced beech trees, and affording grand views across the Usk valley towards the hills of the Brecon Beacons. Along this track, at its southwest entry point into the woods, is a motte and bailey, Caer Licyn, presumed to be the remains of an Iron Age hillfort or burial mound.

Curley Oak

Older maps show a number of veteran trees within Wentwood - Curley Oak, Little Oak, Foresters' Oaks (two of them) and Bluebell Oak, but just the former remains, albeit only as a broad stump, around 15 feet high. The trunk is hollow and fragmented yet several healthy, living branches survive. The land in the near vicinity has been partly cleared allowing the tree more light, though it remains surrounded by the non-native conifers, long since isolated from any other oaks. The girth is 21 feet, and the Curley Oak is recognised as the oldest tree in Wales's largest forest. It may be reached by a 0.8 mile walk from the Little Oak parking place, along the westerly of the two roads through the forest, and stands just a few hundred feet from a large cleared area from where the views extend south to the Bristol Channel.