Stoney Down or Stony Down is both a hill and an area of forested countryside in the county of

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, that has been designated an "Area of Great Landscape Value" (AGLV) in the East Dorset Local Plan.''Areas of Great Landscape Value''
(pdf) at www.dorsetforyou.com. Accessed on 13 September 2015 The forest is known as the Stoney Down Plantation or Stony Down Plantation.

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1:50,000 ''Landranger'' map series It covers an area of . The area is popular with riders and walkers.

Geography

Location

Stoney Down is part of the

Corfe Mullen Corfe Mullen is a village in Dorset, England, on the north-western urban fringe of the South East Dorset conurbation. The village had a population of 10,133 at the 2011 Census. It is served by six churches, four pubs, five schools, a library, v ...

AGLV, which covers an area of just under 3 square miles. The plantation lies west of Corfe Mullen's village centre and east-northeast of

Lytchett Matravers Lytchett Matravers is a village and civil parish in Dorset, England. The 2011 census recorded the parish as having 1,439 households and a population of 3,424. History The name comes from the Brittonic ''litchet'' meaning "grey wood" and the ...

. To the north, across Crumpet's Valley, is the Henbury Plantation with its sand and gravel pits that reaches a high point in Notting Hill (89 m). To the northeast are the grounds of Castle Court School around Knoll Clump. To the east is Corfe Mullen, to the southeast are Poor Common and Beacon Hill. Away to the south and southwest across Elder Moor are the

Purbeck Hills The Purbeck Hills, also called the Purbeck Ridge or simply the Purbecks, are a ridge of chalk downs in Dorset, England. It is formed by the structure known as the Purbeck Monocline. The ridge extends from Lulworth Cove in the west to Old Har ...

Topography

Its highest elevation is the hill of Stoney Down which is high. The main high points on the Stoney Down ridge are (from southwest to northeast) Barrow Hill (75 m), Forest Hill (82 m), Stoney Down (83 m) and Allen Hill (80 m). The Stoney Down Plantation covers much of the area, extending from Rushall Lane to Brickyard Lane.

Character

Much of the

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (see ...

is mixed, but there are also significant stands of

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accep ...

Douglas fir The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Oregon pine, and Columbian pine. There are three va ...

and

larch Larches are deciduous conifers in the genus ''Larix'', of the family Pinaceae (subfamily Laricoideae). Growing from tall, they are native to much of the cooler temperate northern hemisphere, on lowlands in the north and high on mountains furt ...

. Within the wood are scattered examples of huge, ancient

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 ...

as well as copses of

sweet chestnut ''Castanea sativa'', the sweet chestnut, Spanish chestnut or just chestnut, is a species of tree in the family Fagaceae, native to Southern Europe and Asia Minor, and widely cultivated throughout the temperate world. A substantial, long-lived ...

. The courses of two power lines across the plantation form major firebreaks of open, irregular, sandy terrain.

Development

In July 2015, the plantation was purchased by Paradise Farms which is proposing to establish a holiday park with nine

yurt A yurt (from the Turkic languages) or ger ( Mongolian) is a portable, round tent covered and insulated with skins or felt and traditionally used as a dwelling by several distinct nomadic groups in the steppes and mountains of Central Asia. ...

s on the site. It has also applied to stop public use of the plantation for leisure pursuits, although acknowledging the public bridleway will have to be kept open. The proposals have met with opposition from local residents."75 turn up to Corfe Mullen parish council meeting to express concerns at plans for yurts at Stoney Down Plantation"
at www.bournemouthecho.co.uk. Retrieved 12 February 2016

References

{{coord, 50.767, -2.046, type:landmark_region:GB_dim:3000, display=title Forests and woodlands of Dorset Hills of Dorset Corfe Mullen