PGBO Community Hall

The area occupied by Pound Green and Button Oak started life as part of the ancient Wyre forest which was in existence in Celtic times. The whole area was originally covered by oak trees with local people living in tiny cottages and working for the estates.

Gradually land was cleared, particularly around Pound Green, and people settled there in great numbers. A man could stake a claim for a piece of land so long as he and his helpers could clear an area of forest, build a house and have smoke coming out of the chimney within 24 hours. Most of these ‘claim’ houses consisted of a strong chimney and meagre shelter to enable the family to claim the land and live there.

There is an area of common land which is still used by those with the right to freely graze their animals.

Pound Green has a small private airfield used for microlights only, and Ye Olde New Inn (opposite the Community Hall) is 17th century and full of character. There are fabulous views from the garden when the weather is fine, and roaring fires inside during the winter.

The name Button Oak is thought to come from the word ‘boothen’, the plural of booth – a shelter used by charcoal burners who lived in the area. charcoal burning was a time consuming occupation with the burners keeping watch over their charcoal mounds for five or six days at a time in order to produce the best quality charcoal.

Button Oak has a very small church, St. Andrews, opened in 1873 and the Button Oak Inn is thought to be around 300 years old.

In the Wyre Forest some of the oaks have been replaced by plantations of conifers but there are still plenty of oaks trees along with beech, holly and some yew. Bluebells and foxgloves thrive in parts of the Wyre Forest and there are small herds of fallow deer which roam throughout the area.