It's a piece of bog oak from the Fens, near Downham Market in Norfolk - a chunk of a tree that got flattened in a huge storm thousands of years ago, before being covered and compacted by the peat that formed after the last Ice Age.
The trunks are starting to get rare now, as farmers have been ploughing them up around Southery, Ten Mile Bank and other areas of the Black Fen for a century or so. This lump's been sitting around in my study for 15 years or so, while I've waited to find a use for it.
Nice rock face feature, instead of making rocks from those plaster kits with moulds..?
Bit loathe to paint it because of its amazing provenance which I'd like to keep.
