Woods, Hedges and Fields - Gower - page 255

buckthorn Frangula alnus and crab apple Malus sylvestris occurring alongside wood horsetail Equisetum
sylvaticum and lemon-scented fern Oreopteris limbosperma.
Berry Wood, near Knelston, is an example of ancient oak woodland with coppice standards, which is
situated on poorly drained glacial drift over the Millstone Grit (Fig. 145). Both pedunculate and sessile
oaks are present, together with ash, hazel, grey willow Salix cinerea , rowan and aspen Populus tremula.
The oldest oaks are estimated to be around 200 years old and are located on the western side of the wood.
The remainder of the wood is much more recent and is made up of even-aged stands of oak, birch and
ash. This suggests that much of the wood was felled at some time and allowed to regenerate naturally.
A number of other Gower woods, such as Prior's Wood, are examples of secondary woodland. Here the
woodland canopy is made up of a considerable number of species including sweet chestnut, beech, ash,
alder, birch, sessile oak, elm and small-leaved lime. This variety, together with evidence from old maps,
which show that the site was originally called Priors Meadow, suggests that the wood has developed as
a result of natural regeneration, probably aided by planting in the Victorian period. Parts of many other
Gower woodland blocks are also secondary woodland, including Oxwich Wood, where large areas were
affected by extensive limestone quarrying in the past.
Several areas, particularly at Kilvrough and the southwestern end of Park Woods, have in the past
been planted with beech. Although the beech dominates, ash is often also frequent along with other ele-
ments of semi-natural woodland including a field layer dominated by bluebells, ramsons, wood anemone
Anemonenemorosa ,lords-and-ladies Arummaculatum andenchanter'snightshade Circaealutetiana .The
Forestry Commission started planting in Glamorgan in 1921. Regarding Gower, the Commission's guide
to the Glamorgan Forests , published in 1961, noted, 'Its woodlands of oak, beech and other broadleaved
trees, stand on southward-facing slopes and are very much in the public eye. Therefore their management
is closely concerned with retaining the scenic amenities, though at the same time it is believed that valu-
able timber can be grown and harvested without ever causing harm to the peninsula's marvellous views.'
The main blocks of forest in Gower are Park Woods, Mill Wood and Mead Moor. Conifers planted in
Park Woods and Mill Wood by the Forestry Commission included European larch Larix decidua , Corsic-
an pine Pinus nigra var. maritima and Sitka spruce Picea sitchensis . Mill Wood is an ancient woodland
thatwaslateranestatewoodandasaresultithasalargenumberoftreespeciesincludingoak,ash,beech
and small-leaved lime. The flora underneath these trees is interesting and varied with plants such as wild
daffodil Narcissus pseudonarcissus ssp. pseudonarcissus . Scattered throughout the wood are large, old,
veteran trees which themselves support a number of animal and plant species. There are also the remains
ofasixteenth-centurycornmillthatgivesthewooditsnameandwhichstillretainsthreelargemillstones.