15] The Screaming Woods

Below Pluckley is a sizeable area of woodland officially named Dering Wood but also known as Smarden Woods. Another portion of the same wood is popularly called 'Fright Wood.' Both are part of the ancient Andredsweald: that stretch of woodland that once ran along almost the entire south east of England. These woods are a haven for wild animals - not least of all foxes and it is the sound of a vixen's scream that has caused many ghost hunters to rename it the Screaming Woods. 
Fright Wood is a derivative of Frith - an old English word meaning land that is of poor agricultural quality. There were farmers in the area with the name of Frith in the 1580's, and with Frith Farm nearby it is almost certain that the popularist name of Fright Wood is yet another attempt to give Pluckley yet more status as ghost central for England.
Ghosts