In Berry Wood two pieces of historical graffiti on an ancient beech tree; 1838 (I'm really not sure what characters are carved before it), with the Admiralty mark of an arrow to one side. I wonder what the forest of 1838 was like; 1838 sits square in the middle of the forest's enclosure (1808-1870), when areas historically heathland were being planted with blocks Beech and Oak by the Royal Navy for ship building; a sparsely populated area, it must have been quite a wild and desolate place this time of year. The Admiralty mark is an interesting one; you usually see these arrows on trees within the enclosures, Berry Wood is open unenclosed woodland; I'm sure there must be more outside the enclosure bounds, though searching my memory I don't recall an instance.
