Wilkswood - Langton Matravers, Isle of Purbeck, Dorset, UK
Posted by: 
Dragontree
N 50° 37.009 W 002° 00.923
30U E 569657 N 5607677
Wilkswood is an area of woodland now owned by the National Trust.
Waymark Code: WM4Y0D
Location: Southern England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 10/12/2008
Views: 11
The woodland site is an old quarry and there are a few details here:
visit link
'The woodland was already present by the time Treswell made his map. The 1888 and 1929 OS maps show the N edge of the site, close to the E-W public footpath, as unwooded, but the wood now includes the footpath (correctly shown on OS 1:25000 of 1999) and has now linked Langton West and Talbot woods to the N of Wilkswood Farm. NT says the footpath is the mediaeval road to Corfe Castle, NT site no.112,791. (A local person met 2002-08-29 called it a Roman road, but Good (1966) identifies it as a mediaeval road, Swanage High St-Oakridge-Valley Road-Quarr-Downshay-Afflington-Scoles Gate, the last being at the SE corner of Corfe Common.) The 1929 map shows a rectangular area (?enclosure) close to the S side of that footpath which was not shown in 1888.
Trev Haysom found a PM mortar in Talbot Wood at SY 998 793 (say NT) which is now in Langton Matravers Museum, who say it is medieval; NT no.112,795. He also found Roman pottery under roots of a fallen tree (Martin Papworth, pers. comm. 2003-08).
Mediaeval quarries appear as bowl-like pits; mining started C16. In 1722, 600sq.ft. of rough stone was dug at Wilkswood (Bankes records).'
Despite this being National Trust property, as most of this coastline is, there is no mention of it on the actual National Trust website.