Nantmawr - Jones's Rough

Nearest town: Oswestry

Site type: woodland

Access: Public

Church name: No Data

Diocese: No Data

County: Shropshire

Country: England

Grid ref: SJ248248

Lost yew site: Yes

Date visited: 12-Aug-09

Recorded by: Tim Hills

Protection & responsibility: No data

Yews recorded at this site: Notable

Notes: Jones's Rough is a 3.3 hectare reserve with a scree slope which runs up a southwest facing hill. In 1999 the following entry appeared in the Shropshire Botanical Society spring newsletter: 'The first impression upon entering the wood is one of gloom and darkness due to the unusually high number of Yew trees, mixed with Wild Cherry and Hazel. The Yew are probably native here on this steep slope where the underlying Carboniferous Limestone outcrops. Perhaps the Yew survived the woodman's axe due to superstition or the difficulty in cutting its very hard wood'. In 2009 the Shropshire Wildlife Trust announced that 'a lot of work has been done by the Trust's conservation volunteers in the wood lately, cutting down yews to let in the light'. We visited the scree in pouring rain to assess the work.