Guestling Wood - Hastings
Site Description
Guestling Wood is situated near the village of Pett, near Hastings, in the East Sussex High Weald. The wood was acquired by the Trust in 3 stages. The northern section of the wood was bought in 1981, with the central part being acquired in 1987. The southern half was finally acquired in 2006 after a successful fund-raising campaign, greatly supported by local people. The total area of the site is now 44ha (110 acres).
The site is ancient semi-natural woodland dominated by sweet chestnut coppice with oak standards. There is also a significant area of oak coppice, a rare habitat in the south-east. The wood has spectacular displays of wood anemones and bluebells in the spring. The species-rich ground flora also contains a number of other ancient woodland indicator species such as yellow pimpernel, wood sorrel and yellow archangel. There are small areas of hornbeam coppice in the southern part of the wood. This is possibly the precursor species to the chestnut which was probably planted in the nineteenth century for hop-poles.
Most of the chestnut coppice is in rotation with recent cants being cut in the Trust’s original ownership (2004) and in the southern section (2004/2005). In addition the previous owners of the southern part of the wood also removed a number of oak standards creating small gaps some of which have been restocked with oak transplants.
A small stream known as Lady Brook follows most of the western boundary, with its source being close to the southern boundary of the wood. Along the stream there is a different ground and tree flora with willow, alder, hazel and ash with dog’s mercury, sedges and rushes.
The site has various archaeological features including woodbanks and ditches, hollow-ways, a charcoal-hearth and various pits/ponds. Part of the site was previously used for quarrying followed by land-fill in the 1950’s and 60’s.
The wood is crossed by 4 public footpaths and has a good network of rides and paths which link to the surrounding countryside. There is a small car park at the main entrance to the wood, off Watermill Lane.
