(^22) an environmenTal hisTory of Wildlife in england
forests, in others they were becoming increasingly open ground, denuded by
poorly regulated cropping, felling and grazing.
More stable in character were those woods which were managed as
coppice-with-standards. In these, the majority of trees and bushes were cut
down to at or near ground level on a rotation of between 7 and 15 years,
in order to provide a regular crop of poles: like pollards, in effect, but at
ground level. The plants regenerated vigorously from the stump or stool, or
suckered from the rootstock (Figure 5). Such woods contained relatively few
standard trees – ones allowed to grow naturally, and harvested for timber –
for if these had been numerous, the canopy shade would have suppressed the
growth of the underwood beneath.^11 Coppices were vulnerable to grazing
livestock, which were thus rigorously excluded – at least for the early stages
of the rotation – by substantial boundary banks and ditches, topped by
fence or hedge, although these may also have had a symbolic function,
emphasizing that the areas in question had been privatized from the wastes
by a local lord and were now out of bounds to commoners.
Woods were factories for producing wood and timber, and their species
composition was in some ways only loosely related to that of the local ‘wildwood’.
The majority of standard trees were oaks, the most valued material for con-
structing ships and timber-framed buildings. The coppiced understorey displayed
more variation, related in part to soil type and in part to management history.
Hazel, ash and maple were well represented; hornbeam was a major component
in areas of heavy soil in the south east and East Anglia; while oak, small-leafed
lime, alder, elm holly and sweet chestnut were all locally important.^12
figure 5 Wayland Wood, Norfolk: outgrown coppice of ash and hornbeam in a
typical ancient wood.
elle
(Elle)
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