Whitemill Common & Roughets Wood - Shirenewton, nr Chepstow

Site Description

Whitemill Common and Roughets Wood are situated near to the village of Mynydd Bach and surround the Whitemill Water Treatment Works. Mounton Brook flows through the site, separating Roughets Wood to the north from Whitemill Common to the south. Roughets Wood is included on the Ancient Woodland Inventory but was largely replanted with larch and poplar in the mid 20th Century. At the same time Whitemill Common, which probably supported open habitat at the time, was planted with spruce, larch and a lesser amount of beech.

During the period 1995-2003, many of the conifers were removed from the site as a result of windthrow clearance, thinning and group felling. Cleared areas have been restocked with native broadleaved species, through both planting and natural regeneration.

Poplars planted into ancient woodland on the valley bottom were also removed in 1999, leaving an area of mature semi-natural woodland dominated by ash and alder supporting diverse field layer vegetation characteristic of both wet and calcareous woodland communities (W6, 7 and 8 NVC types).

Elsewhere, the field layer is dominated primarily by dense tall bracken and bramble with abundant bluebells present throughout Roughets Wood and to the south-east of Whitemill Common.

Access to the site is via a surfaced track and there are paths throughout, including 2 public footpaths and 2 bridges over the stream. A viewpoint with a bench is maintained on Whitemill Common affording views over the rolling grassland and pockets of woodland that typify the area. The site is well used by local residents and is of local landscape importance.

The neighbouring grassland, to the west of Roughets Wood, is a designated SSSI. The remains of White Mill, an old paper works, are of archaeological interest.

The site's key features are the fact that Roughets Wood is an Ancient Woodland Site, the secondary woodland on Whitemill Common and the site’s overall value for informal public access.