THE Review has uncovered a previously unrecognised Forest of Dean boundary stone installed in 1832. Up against a wall near Yorkley's Nag's Head Inn, it was previously thought to be a parish boundary marker.

"It could be stone number 26 or 27," said Forest Enterprise ranger Glyn Bullock, meeting up with the Review's Bob Smyth in Oldcroft Road. With FE colleague Dave Clark, Glyn is attempting to locate and preserve as many as possible of the 218 stones marking the Statutory Forest boundary.

Slashing at the undergrowth, Glyn commented: "It's a different shape from the others – slightly wider than the rest."

Scraping moss off the weathered stone, he added: "There's the 1832 date, and the number looks like being 30. You see the letters have very ornate ends."

During his weekly work as ranger, Glyn has been looking for stones starting at number 1 at Blaize Bailey, and number 218 in the anti-clockwise periphery. He photographs them and reports back to cartographer Dave Clark in FE's Estates Section who holds the 1904 Ordnance Survey map which shows these and other stones.

The Review was able to identify the stone thanks to local historian Averil Kear.

An Oldcroft resident, she has compiled a history of the hamlet which the Review will be previewing shortly. She located the stone, together with others marking Oldcroft enclosures, during her researches.

The 1833 "Perambulation" made by the Dean Forest Commissioners in 1833 describes the stone's location as follows: "Along the rill into a brook called Old Croft Brook; then north-west or nearly north-west up the said brook to where it is crossed by a wall, and north or nearly north along the said wall, the boundary of lands or reputed lands of Mr Townley, Richard Raid Hook, and trustees of the late Daniel White respectively, to a stone numbered 30, near to an angle in the said wall."

Each stone, with almost three foot of its base beneath ground, weighs around three hundredweight.

"We are aiming to preserve the stones that are still standing, and replace those that have disappeared," says Dave Clark.

•Next week: A full report on the boundary stones preservation project.