Dering Wood, Kent

Dering Wood is a 300 acre area wood west of Ashford in Kent. It has in all probability had continuous woodland cover since at least the early medieval period. There were, however, a few areas in the southern part which were under cultivation in the early to mid part of the 19th century. The survival of such a large area of woodland was due to a number of factors: the ground was very wet and it would have been difficult to clear, and the wood also lay on the margins of several parishes. Thus much of the land would have been unclaimed territory before being brought under the jurisdiction of the Manor of Little Chart in the 8th century.