Oaken Wood
Site of Special Scientific Interest
LocationKent
Grid referenceTQ 701 548[1]
InterestGeological
Area18.7 hectares (46 acres)[1]
Notification1985[1]
Location mapMagic Map

Oaken Wood is a 18.7-hectare (46-acre) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest west of Maidstone in Kent.[1][2] It is a Geological Conservation Review site.[3]

Known locally as "Barming Wood" due to the village of Barming being the closest settlement to Oaken Woods,[4] it is an ancient woodland with orchids, dormice, tawny owls, nightingales and many species of bat (alongside various other species).[5]

This site provides the best example of a very unusual topography, with cracking and tilting of underlying weaker strata during the Pleistocene by periglacial processes producing crests and troughs in the surface rocks.[6]

A public footpath crosses the site.

In 2013, plans to uproot parts or all of Oaken Wood for a ragstone quarry were met with controversy due to its environmental importance (with various different species residing there) and its possibility in setting a legal precedent for up to 300 other ancient woodlands in the UK.[7]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Designated Sites View: Oaken Wood". Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
  2. ↑ "Map of Oaken Wood". Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
  3. ↑ "Oaken Wood (Quaternary of South-East England)". Geological Conservation Review. Joint Nature Conservation Committee. Archived from the original on 12 January 2018. Retrieved 11 January 2018.
  4. ↑ "Barming Woods/Oaken Wood". BusinessYab. 2020-04-24. Retrieved 2020-04-24.
  5. ↑ Turner, Camilla (2015-03-27). "Ancient woods face gravest threat for decades, Woodland Trust warns". the telegraph. Retrieved 2020-04-24.
  6. ↑ "Oaken Wood citation" (PDF). Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
  7. ↑ Boffey, Daniel (2013-09-22). "Oaken Wood in Kent to be uprooted as quarry plan gets go ahead". the guardian. Retrieved 2020-04-24.
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51°16′01″N 0°26′13″E / 51.267°N 0.437°E / 51.267; 0.437

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