Stara Woods is a privately owned woodland in east

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

, England, UK, of local interest after being bought by a local resident in 2004 and repurposed as a community woodland. The woods are in the Lynher valley and south-southeast of North Hill.

Location and natural features

Stara Woods is a woodland of circa located west of Rillaton and south of Bathpool in east Cornwall. The name derives from

Stara Bridge Stara Bridge is a clapper bridge across the River Lynher in east Cornwall, England, dating to the Late Middle Ages and now scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as a rare surviving example of such bridge types. T ...

, a medieval

clapper bridge A clapper bridge is an ancient form of bridge found on the moors of the English West Country (Bodmin Moor, Dartmoor and Exmoor) and in other upland areas of the United Kingdom including Snowdonia and Anglesey, Cumbria, Derbyshire, Yorkshire, La ...

located at the south of the woods. It is made up of three discrete woods: Colquite Wood and Treovis Wood,

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

woodlands dating back at least to the 17th century; and Broad Wood, a

conifer Conifers are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single ...

plantation dating to the 1980s, and in process of being replanted with

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

beech Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''Engle ...

and

hazel The hazel (''Corylus'') is a genus of deciduous trees and large shrubs native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The genus is usually placed in the birch family Betulaceae,Germplasmgobills Information Network''Corylus''Rushforth, K. (1999). ...

. Treovis and Broad Woods lie on the southern and western

oxbow __NOTOC__ An oxbow is a U-shaped metal pole (or larger wooden frame) that fits the underside and the sides of the neck of an ox or wikt:bullock, bullock. A bow pin holds it in place. The term "oxbow lake, oxbow" is widely used to refer to a U-sh ...

valley of the

River Lynher The River Lynher ( kw, Linar) (or St Germans River downstream from its confluence with the Tiddy) flows through east Cornwall, England, and enters the River Tamar at the Hamoaze, which in turn flows into Plymouth Sound. Navigation The normal ...

, facing north and east, whilst Colquite Wood is to the east of the river facing west and south; all at elevations from to circa above sea level. A

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage ...

of the Lynher, Shales Brook, forms the northern boundary of Treovis Wood, and a

leat A leat (; also lete or leet, or millstream) is the name, common in the south and west of England and in Wales, for an artificial watercourse or aqueduct dug into the ground, especially one supplying water to a watermill or its mill pond. Other ...

which once supplied mills at

Rilla Mill Rilla Mill ( kw, Melin Reslegh) is a village in Cornwall, England. It is about one and half miles west of Linkinhorne Linkinhorne (in Cornish ''Lanngynhorn'') is a civil parish and village in southeast Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. Th ...

runs through all three woods. A 2013

suspension bridge A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck (bridge), deck is hung below suspension wire rope, cables on vertical suspenders. The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridg ...

crosses the Lynher linking Colquite and Broad Woods. Fauna in the woods include

otter Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine, with diets based on fish and invertebrates. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which also includes wea ...

brown long-eared bat The brown long-eared bat or common long-eared bat (''Plecotus auritus'') is a small Eurasian insectivorous bat. It has distinctive ears, long and with a distinctive fold. It is extremely similar to the much rarer grey long-eared bat which was on ...

s and

dormice A dormouse is a rodent of the family Gliridae (this family is also variously called Myoxidae or Muscardinidae by different taxonomists). Dormice are nocturnal animals found in Africa, Asia, and Europe. They are named for their long, dormant hibe ...

History

The Friends of Stara Wood assert that the woodlands can be traced back to Manor of Carneddon, owned by

Edward, the Black Prince Edward of Woodstock, known to history as the Black Prince (15 June 1330 – 8 June 1376), was the eldest son of King Edward III of England, and the heir apparent to the English throne. He died before his father and so his son, Richard II, su ...

in the 14th century. More recently, the woods were part of the

Duchy of Cornwall The Duchy of Cornwall ( kw, Duketh Kernow) is one of two royal duchies in England, the other being the Duchy of Lancaster. The eldest son of the reigning British monarch obtains possession of the duchy and the title of 'Duke of Cornwall' at ...

estate of Botternell, until bought in 2004 by Anne Hughes, a local resident who remortgaged her house to cover the costs. Hughes has opened up permissive footpaths through the wood, and is working with volunteers to effect ecological and sustainable management of Stara Woods to provide an arts, environmental, educational and recreational resource for the area, whilst preserving its essential beauty and tranquillity.

References

External links

Stara Woods
website {{coords, 50.54196, N, 4.41524, W, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Forests and woodlands of Cornwall