STONE WALLS IN WOODCHESTER, GLOUCESTERSHIRE

By Rachel Hemming

The local walls here are of Cotswold limestone. Many of them are at least partly mortared, but in the centre, not the face. Lichens grow on the stone surface and the ferns and flowering plants are rooted in the gaps whether there is mortar there or not. Each wall, its character and the plants and lichens noted, are listed below.

1. Tower House - wall by Lagger Lane S0838 022, mortared top, wall collapsing.

Vascular plants Centranthus ruber, Geranium robertianum, Parietaria judaica, Sonchus asper, Buddleja davidii, Acer pseudoplatanus seedling.

2. Leawood House - boundary between plantation and field S0835 022.

Vascular plants Holcus lanatus, Taraxacum sp, Heracleum sphondylium, Galium aparine, grass sp, mosses 2/3 spp unidentified, lichens coloured white, pale grey, black, pale yellow, and deep orange.

3. Selsley Common - field wall back from verge 50830 027, medium size stones, cap mortared.

Mosses hairy and silky, lichens coloured white, black, deep orange and stone colour with dark dots.

4. Boundary Court - Concrete cap.

Vascular plants labiate sp, mosses of different hairiness, one green, lichens coloured white, black, pale green, red-brown, bright orange and dull orange.

5. Church Lane - by gate 80838 022, some mortar but not on face, concrete cap, ferns rooted between the stones.

Ferns Asplenium ruta-muraria, Ceterach officinarum, the latter seen in the past but not visible March 2010, lichens coloured black, orange with whitish centre, and white with black dots.

6. Southfield Road - S0840 025, upper part stone, lower brick, all mortared.

Unidentified moss and liverwort at base of wall where there is a small stream, ferns Asplenium trichomanes, flowering plants Cotoneaster sp, Cymbalaria muralis, Hedera helix, other plants seen here in summer including Geranium robertianum, some lichens.

7. Atcombe Road - S0838 019, retaining wall with mortar but not on face.

Flowering plants Cymbalaria muralis, Digitalis purpurea.