After joining the EU in 1972, and the planned demise of our agriculture, government grants were awarded to replant many of these fields with trees which are now doing well. The slump in agriculture in the 1920s helped as many less fertile fields were allowed to be grown over with scrub and eventually trees.įollowing WW II there were government grants to reclaim many such fields and much woodland was lost. The loss of the southern iron industries and the use of steel for ship building allowed the woodlands to recover to some extent, but the first and second world wars placed great demands on wood. 17th and 18th century maps of Sussex and Kent, the two most heavily wooded counties in the country, show very little woodland, they having been clear felled to provide wood for ship building and in particular for charcoal to service the vast iron industries of that period. It also depends on the continuity of the woodland. It depends on what is meant by ‘ancient’ no doubt some people see me as being ancient, a matter of relativity. The term ‘ancient woodland’ can be misleading. There are many areas of the UK where hazel and hornbeam have been grown, but the Midlands and Devon still have much hazel woodland useful for the remaining thatchers. Although it is said that the Romans introduced it, there is some evidence that coppicing was practised in England in Neolithic times. Historically chestnut coppice growing has been strongest in the south East of England, especially Kent and East Sussex. Chestnut has traditionally been used for fencing whereas hazel is more likely to have been used for thatching, hedge-laying spars and hurdle making. In the UK the main trees that are coppiced are sweet chestnut, hazel and hornbeam. Some even make hurdles for keeping sheep in pens.Īn approximate guide the diameter of felled coppice for further processing is: In many cases the coppicer will process further and create spiles (stakes or strong fencing posts), or will split the chestnut into various sizes for fencing. Once cut, the poles produced are usually processed to some extent in the woodland: they are often cut to length, and perhaps de-barked. Always leave a fire in a safe condition when leaving the woodland.Make sure you are working upwind of any campfire.Fell away from the wind and fell all the poles in one direction.In some cases it maybe necessary to make a first cut higher and then trim back as above.That cut should be angled some 15 to 20 degrees from horizontal with the lowest point facing outwards from the centre of the stool. Ideally one cut should be made about 1-2 inches above where the branch grows out of the stool. Progressively cut each stem starting with the most accessible sections and working in to the centre of the stool.Cut and clear away any dead or dying stems.Clear out all leaves and other debris around the base of the stool.The basic procedure for coppicing chestnut is as follows: The best time to coppice chestnut is well after the autumn leaf fall when the sap has gone down, and certainly well before the sap rises in the spring. If the coppice cycle is managed correctly it can increase biodiversity in the woodland because of the beneficial effects of varying light levels reaching the woodland floor, and the range of different aged trees and stools in the woodland. This periodic coppicing encourages the individual trees to live for up to hundreds of years. When an area of coppice is cut, it is all cut down, and creates a clearing. This technique is different from pollarding, in which branches are cut at, or above, head height, leaving the possibility of grazing underneath the growing branches.Ĭoppicing is done on rotation: small areas of a woodland are cut each year in sequence leaving the areas not being cut to grow on for between 15 and 20 years for chestnut, and about 7 years for hazel. It subsequently regrows over a period of years without needing to be replanted. Coppicing is a woodland management method in which the wood from a tree is harvested by cutting a suitable tree near ground level.
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