File:"The Naked Lady of the woods" Boundless valley - geograph.org.uk - 964083.jpg

English: "The Naked Lady of the woods" Boundless valley During the road excavations in Boundless Valley, as the ground was being prepared for the approach to the tunnel, the contractors came across (April 2007) the carving above which depicts a woman naked except for her high-heeled shoes. The graffiti artist signed as 'G. Wadham. Southall. 5/3/43'. Although the carving on the remotely located 400-year-old beech tree was already known to the Forestry Commission, National Trust and local historians this 'discovery' resulted in a brief flurry of interest in the national media as they tried to track down the mysterious G. Wadham in a bid to find out who the carving, dubbed by the newspaper red tops as The Naked Lady of the Woods, depicted. Locals believed the work was done by a British soldier on wartime exercise, or was perhaps that of a Canadian serviceman as there was a large Canadian army camp nearby. However a journalist from the Daily Mail eventually determined that there had been one Gerald Wadham who settled in the Hindhead area after the war when he ran a shop and a pub, and coincidentally was living in Southall in 1943. Sadly he died five years ago and his family were unaware of the carving, so the identity of the woman went with him to the grave, if indeed he was the creator. The Daily Mail's claim that the route of the tunnel road was diverted in order to save the tree was officially denied by our contact at the contractors. The tree and its mysterious woman is safe for future generations to ponder upon.