Weston Big Wood
| Site of Special Scientific Interest | |
One of the "CB" boundary markers found in the wood
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 Location within Somerset
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| Area of Search | Avon |
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| Grid reference | ST455750 |
| Coordinates | 51°28′17″N 2°47′10″W / 51.47133°N 2.78604°WCoordinates: 51°28′17″N 2°47′10″W / 51.47133°N 2.78604°W |
| Interest | Biological |
| Area | 37.48 hectares (0.3748 km2; 0.1447 sq mi) |
| Notification | 1971 |
| Natural England website | |
Weston Big Wood (grid reference ST455750) is a 37.48 hectare woodland west of the town of Portishead, North Somerset, England. It is a nature reserve and biological Site of Special Scientific Interest, notified in 1971. The wood takes its name from the nearby village of Weston-in-Gordano.
The wood itself dates at least from Iron Age times, with some evidence that there has been woodland here since trees began to recolonise after the last Ice Age some 10,000 years ago. Some of its internal features e.g. old stones, ditches and banks are thought to be medieval boundaries, dating from the Middle Ages and used to divide the wood into sectors.
More recently, after the manor of North Weston was sold to the City of Bristol in 1637, marker stones were placed to mark a boundary across the woodland. These stones, marked with C.B. (City of Bristol), remain in place and can be found by looking at the old OS maps of the 19th century.
Adjacent to the wood on its southern side is the dis-used Black Rock quarry. On the western side of the woodland, adjacent to Valley Road which runs through the Nightingale Valley, sits another disused quarry which now is the site for the local civic amenity site.
The woodland sits on a ridge of Carboniferous limestone.
Slopes within the woodland are covered with small-leaved lime trees; oak and hazel are more common on flatter hilltop areas. Rare whitebeams are also dotted throughout the wood.
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Wikipedia