Saturday 21 March 2015: The Buck Stone Rocks!

Wow, what a turn out!

We met like grey squirrels – bright eyed and bushy tailed – at 10 am at the Slabbering Baby entrance to the woods.

After our customary greetings, banter and chatting, Mary, Steph and Jen set to litterpicking – beginning with removing litter from Nanny Beck.  Later, they moved on to the copse opposite Tesco’s, the recreation ground, and Crag Lane, and by the end of the morning had picked up about twelve bags of rubbish – a tremendous achievement.

The rest of us set off to the Buck Stone where we found David, Tina and Rob and others waiting for us.  Noted local historian Steven Burt tells me that the Buck Stone:

The Buck Stone: March 2012

“… was a noted landmark in the eighteenth century and does appear prominently on the map of the commons prepared for the Lane Fox family when they were in dispute with John Dixon of Gledhow Hall c.1770, who claimed this land as being in the manor of Chapel Allerton. However, it is not a land boundary marker and I can only think that the name must relate to the deer that still haunt the woods. Was it a particular gathering point for a cull?

“In the material I collected on the Todd family who cleared the common in that area there is no mention of it having any significance other than that of a landmark. “

Some of our group remember their imaginations being fired as they climbed on the Buck Stone as children, and three years ago we spent two days restoring the Buck Stone removing as much as we could of an oak tree which all but obscured it.  You can find an account of our work in this blog for March 2012.

The renascent oak tree

The oak tree is still there and we cut back some of the branches which were reappearing, cleared moss from the Buck Stone, picked up litter and cleared brambles which were growing over and around the stone.

 

Rob remembers that in his childhood there was a smaller rock just in front of the Buck Stone.  This was not visible today and it could be the object of an archaeological dig on another occasion.

The task of removing the brambles and other plants was a much bigger one than anticipated by your correspondent (an hour’s work for three of us!) and even after two hours work by twelve of us there was more we could have done.  Nevertheless, we achieved a great deal and can be proud of our achievement.  Another generation of children will enjoy the Buck Stone.  Let us hope that in fifty years they too will look back with fond memories  of happy adventures as they clear away the brambles.

It is not just the Buck Stone that rocks.  The Friends of Adel Woods Rock too!!