Wistman's Wood

Wistman is a local nickname for the devil, derived from the dialect word wis(h)t, meaning "eerie" or "uncanny". The Place-Names of Devon remarks that "the wood is in a lonely situation and its general appearance [is] strange and gloomy". ==Geography==

behind The wood lies at an altitude of in the valley of the West Dart River near Two Bridges, at grid reference SX612772. ==Preservation status==

The wood is one of the highest oakwoods in Britain, and one of Britain's last remaining temperate rainforests. As an outstanding example of native upland oak woodland, it was selected as a Site of Special Scientific Interest in 1964. It is also an NCR site and forms part of the Wistman's Wood National Nature Reserve. The wood was also one of the primary reasons for the selection of the Dartmoor Special Area of Conservation. The other two high-altitude oakwoods of Dartmoor are Black Tor Copse on the West Okement River in the north, and Piles Copse on the River Erme in the south. In 2023, William, Prince of Wales as Duke of Cornwall announced a scheme in collaboration with Natural England to preserve, regenerate and double the size of the rainforest by 2040. Work began in October 2023. Acorns will be collected from the ancient trees to plant new saplings and both animal grazing and human foot traffic will be reduced in order to regenerate it sensitively. ==Description==

The wood is split into three main blocks (North, Middle, and South Groves or Woods), which in total cover about . Wistman's Wood is owned by the Duchy of Cornwall Fauna The wood is home to a large population of adders. ==History==

Wistman's Wood has been mentioned in writing for hundreds of years. It is likely to be a leftover from the ancient forest that covered much of Dartmoor c. 7000 BCE, before Mesolithic hunter/gatherers cleared it around 5000 BCE. Over this period, the older oak trees have grown from a stunted/semi-prostrate to a more ascending form, while a new generation of mostly straight-grown and single-stemmed oaks has developed. The oldest oaks appear to be 400–500 years old, and originated within a degenerating oakwood that survived in scrub form during two centuries of cold climate. The Buller Stone, a boulder to the east of the wood, commemorates an attempt in 1866 to date the trees, when Wentworth Buller (with permission from the Duchy) felled an oak, which was estimated to be close to 168 years old. ==Myths, art and literature==

The wood has been the inspiration for numerous artists, poets, and photographers. It appears in hundreds of 19th-century accounts. One tradition holds that it was planted by Isabella de Fortibus (1237–93). The wood is described in detail and discussed as a point of great interest in The Tree (1978), an essay on naturalism by English novelist John Fowles. The name of Wistman's Wood may derive from the dialect word "wisht", meaning "eerie/uncanny" or "pixie-led/haunted". The legendary Wild Hunt in Devon, whose hellhounds are known as Yeth (Heath) or Wisht Hounds in the Devonshire dialect, is particularly associated with Wistman's Wood. ==References==