Anston Stones Wood LNR

Notified by the Nature Conservancy Council (the forerunner of Natural England (NE)) in 1955 under Section 23 of the National Parks & Access to the Countryside Act 1949, revised in 1977 and renotified in 1984 under under Section 28 of the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981, because it contains the second best example of limestone woodland in South Yorkshire.

The SSSI is the ancient woodland in the natural gorge cut through the Lower Magnesian Limestone by glacial meltwaters plus the grassland to the northeast, all owned by Anston Parish Council and managed in partnership with NE, DEFRA and Rotherham MBC. The northwestern grassland (Little Stones), also owned by Anston PC, is outside the SSSI but included in the LNR.

Access is from Anston Recreation Ground off Ryton Road (also served by bus routes) to the northwest and from the A57 layby at the southeast (on the bus route from South Anston to Worksop). Footpath 24 runs alongside the stream in the valley bottom while footpaths 25 and 27 are along the northeastern edge of the wood and join footpath 24 via a flight of steps. Please keep to the footpaths and note that rock climbing is not allowed anywhere in the wood.

Description

The valley sides are covered in deciduous woodland but shows signs of planting, with Sycamore and Beech being the dominant canopy trees in places. However, it is recognised by botanists as one of the finest remaining fragments of native woodland in northern England. The crags are magnesian limestone, a rock which provides an exceptionally fertile and well-drained soil.

It could all be classified as Southern Ash-Wych Elm woodland but the effects of past clearance and occasional planting have altered some areas. Generally, the whole wood has an excellent structure with very mature trees being well-spaced enough to allow a strong secondary layer, an occasional shrub layer and a very diverse field layer.

Anston Stones Wood contains more ancient woodland indicator plants (33) than any other wood in NCC's Ancient Woodland survey of South Yorkshire in 1986 and contained the only example of the nationally scarce Sessile Oak-Ash-lime woodland found during the survey.

History

The valley is not only interesting for its natural history but also for its archaeology. Ice Age cave deposits and Roman artefacts have been found throughout the valley.

This appears to be an ancient woodland which has been saved from felling in the past because the banks of the Anston Brook are steep and unsuitable for cultivation. It was managed as coppice with standards as long ago as 1553 and appears to have remained continuously wooded since that time. Anston Stones Wood supplied the Royal Navy with some of its 'hearts of oak' in the C18th. This management continued until the early C19th, when planting either for ornament or game began to be practised.

The wood was purchased from the Duke of Leeds by Kiveton Park Rural District Council in July 1947, with the intention that it be safeguarded & preserved as a local amenity for the benefit of local inhabitants. It was transferred to Anston PC in April, 1973.

For an independent view visit:

 j31 site

 Fungi at Anston Stones  (26 Kb)

 Flowering plants at Anston Stones  (36 Kb)

 Invertebrate animals at Anston Stones  (38 Kb)

Vertebrate animals at Anston Stones (24 Kb)

Nearby is  Lindrick Golf Course S.S.S.I.