NHER 51372 (Designed Landscape record) - Bullfer Grove, Historic Woodland

January 2008. Walkover Survey.
Ancient Woodland Archaeological Earthwork Rapid Identification Survey.
The extent of Bullfer Grove wood was verified during a rapid earthwork survey. The southern boundary is formed by a bridleway. The bridleway appears to be an ancient trackway, with an entrance to the wood roughly in the centre of its length. The western boundary is a substantial bank with a slight external ditch while the northern edge is defined by an ill-defined bank, and both are truncated by a large extraction pit. The eastern boundary is again a well-defined bank and scarp. However, it has been disturbed by creation of an access route roughly in the centre of the bank, previously used to reach a large extraction pit in the north-east corner of the wood. The L-shaped indentation in the south-east corner is currently defined by a wire fence, but the fence is situated on the top of a scarp up to 1m high and a low bank, indicating that this is likely the original extent of Bullfer Grove. The substantial southern and western boundaries are believed to be of medieval date, while the date of the less substantial banks remains uncertain.
No other archaeological finds or surface features were identified during the survey.
Consultation of historic maps has verified that the wood had reached its current shape by 1826 (S2), the extraction pit in the north-west corner was partially depicted in 1838 (S3), and two internal pits were depicted in the1880's (S4).
See report (S1) for further details.
H. Hamilton (NLA), 25 March 2008.