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Grovely Wood is one of the largest woodlands in southern Wiltshire. It is situated on a chalk ridge above the River Wylye to the south of the village of Great Wishford, within the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The Sarum Way enters the wood. It is recognised for its nature conservation importance through designation as a County Wildlife Site. Among the species found here is the Purple Emperor butterfly.〔(Purple Emperor ) at ukbutterflies.co.uk〕 To the west of Grovely, on the same ridge, lies another large block of woodland, Great Ridge Wood. Adjacent to Grovely, to the north, lies the grassland Site of Special Scientific Interest Ebsbury Down. Another SSSI, Baverstock Juniper Bank is also nearby. There is much Iron age and Roman archaeology in the vicinity of the woods. A Roman road runs east to west through the centre of the wood, and at the western end there are the Iron age/Romano-British settlements of Hanging Langford Camp and Church End Ring. Just to the north of the woods lie the sites of two Iron age hillforts, Ebsbury, and Grovely castle; as well as an Iron age farm enclosure, known as East Castle. At a Grovely swanimote held in March 1603 a jury drawn from Great Wishford and Barford St. Martin declared that the forest then consisted of fourteen coppices. Seven lay north of 'Grim's Dyke' in Great Wishford, namely Ashgoe, Hadden, Ebsbury, 'Bemerell' (Bemerhills), Stotfield, 'Pollinstone' (Powten Stone), and 'Radneth' (Rodnell). The others lay south of the dyke in Barford St. Martin, namely, Shortengrove, Himsel, Appledoe, Chilfinch and Thornhills, Sandgates, and Rowden. The combined areas of these fourteen coppices correspond to what was formerly the extraparochial district of Grovely Wood, now (1957) included in the parish of Barford St. Martin. 〔(Royal Forests: A History of the County of Wiltshire )〕 ==Ancient custom== According to a mediaeval custom, villagers of Great Wishford have a right to gather firewood in Grovely Wood on ''"Oak Apple Day"'', May 29. On this day, villagers claim their ancient rights to collect wood from Grovely, said to date back to the Middle Ages and to have been confirmed by the Forest Court in 1603, thanks to a charter for the collection of wood in the Royal Forest of Groveley.〔(Moonraking: The Folklore ) at bbc.co.uk〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Grovely Wood」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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