The
Unofficial Website Falconer Wood & Hail Mary Wood
Treeton
Hail Mary Hill Wood is located on the eastern side of Treeton Dyke with
Falconer Wood to the south east. These two woods are areas of Rotherham designated as Heritage
Woodlands.
Hail Mary Hill Wood and Falconer Wood form the northern and southern ends respectively of a
block of woodland lying on the western side of the Rother Valley between Treeton and Aughton,
about four miles south of the centre of Rotherham. The site has a good network of footpaths,
some of which can be used by wheelchairs and pushchairs. Some parts are accessible by bridle
path.
Treeton Brook flows through the wetland area of Treeton Marsh before entering the open water of Treeton Dyke so the site contains a number of habitats including wet woodland, dry, acid semi-natural woodland with birch and oak trees and acid grasslands. Beech, ash, hazel, sweet chestnut and elder also occur. In spring the woods are full of bluebells. The woods were subject to close-felling so much of the woodland you can see today is growth that has regenerated over the last 40 years or so.
Historical records for the two woodlands are relatively sparse but both are thought to be at least four hundred years old. In the Middle Ages land here was deeded to the Augustinian monks (canons) of Nostell Priory. They founded a small settlement here called Canonthorpe - name which is now lost, but the religious connection remains in the name Hail Mary. There is an alternative and probably apocryphal tale that Mary, Queen of Scots spent the night here and the woods were named after her. Falconer Woods are named after the Faukener family who are first recorded in the area in 1311.
Close to the summit of Hail Mary Hill is an archaeological site dating from the Middle Stone Age period (10000BC - 4500BC), where chert and flint were made into tools.