A WOMAN writing her PhD thesis on the Forest's medieval landscape has made the exciting discovery of a previously unknown wreck inland of Grange Pill, near Woolaston.

It is one of a number of discoveries made by Elizabeth Townley of Lydney which cast new light on the area.

"At present the remains are in a big tank of water at Bristol University, where all the pieces have been drawn. It's like a great big jigsaw," said Elizabeth.

Her find lay some 60 metres inland from a medieval quay towards Woolaston Grange, linked to Tintern Abbey, and because of the threat of erosion from the river it was decided to rescue some of the frame timbers and record the rest.

However the fragile underwater pieces began to break up when exposed to air and it was decided to take everything and preserve it while testing for its age.

Working parties from Bristol University's Centre for Maritime History and Archaeology and History have spent the past three summers painstakingly removing and cataloguing the pieces with the permission of landowner Robin Larkham.

"So far tests on its age have been inconclusive. Because of the way timbers were sawn it has been impossible to get a tree-ring date, and carbon-dating so far hasn't worked and is being retried," said Elizabeth.

The next stage is drawing an impression of the complete vessel but it is known to have been some 32 feet long, sturdily built of oak and some elm, and without a keel like the traditional fishing boats of the estuary. It had a cargo of stone.

Elizabeth is not inclined to put a date on the boat herself before tests are complete, although a Grange estate map of 1787 does not show the dock and it is assumed the boat was derelict and the dock disused by that time.

Her researches show a vastly different scene from today with pills or creeks stretching further inland and a sea of marshes.

"Erosion is the real enemy," she says. "Once some of these finds are exposed it is a race against time to save them."

But she promised there will be many more revelations about the area in the years to come.