A few weeks ago we read on the news that a section of petrified forest has been uncovered at St Ouen's. 650 years ago, a man called John Willis owned a large house - the Manor of La Brecquette, at L'Etacq. It was surrounded on two sides by a forest of oak trees. One year, waves moved up St. Ouen's beach and began to flood the land. The sea rose until it covered the manor, and eventually it covered the oak forest as well.
When the tide is very low at St. Ouen's, you can still see black tree stumps - the petrified forest, all that remains of the oak trees that once surrounded the manor. The stumps can be seen at the northern end of the bay. This strip that had been uncovered after a high tide and windy weather was more like a mass of petrified wood. It was spongy to walk on and we could still see the roots underneath the main petrified mass.
As it was raining quite heavily Rebekah took these photographs with her 12 year old phone so they are poor quality for enlarging! We did not stay longer than 10 minutes as it really was a grey miserable day! We are glad to have finally been able to capture this piece of history as there have been other times that we have been down to see if the forest has been uncovered after a high, stormy tide.
