Landscape Detective

The story of woodland is closely linked to human clearance and settlement of the county.

As soon as the ice sheets melted, trees began to colonise the land. Birch, seen here at Whixall Moss, would have been one of the first colonisers. Gradually pine and a rich and varied wildwood of oak, alder, beech and hazel covered the landscape. Only to the north of the county, among the heath and meres, would the landscape have been relatively open.

Mesolithic people (ca. 8000 BC) made small clearances in the wood. However it was not until the Iron Age (700 BC – 43 AD), when  iron axes, heavy ploughs and the use of fire as well as grazing animals, that any impact on the clearance of woodland was made. These clearances were predominantly on the lighter soils or marginal land.

During the medieval period woodland was seen as a valuable resource. By the 12th century up to a third of Britain was designated Royal forest. This was a legal term meaning that only the crown and noblemen had the right to hunt in these forests. This came about as a result of the Saxon and Norman love for the chase.

The photograph shows the remnants of the Royal 'Long Forest' (Wenlock Edge). This was so named because it followed the escarpment. It is still thickly wooded as agriculture has not spread up the steep slopes. Other Royal forests include Shirlett, Wyre, Morfe and Clee forests.

The main function of woodland was to produce underwood for fencing and firewood, and timber for building. The medieval population expected to live off renewable resources and so the management of woodland was all-important. Many woods were fenced or enclosed with a bank and ditch to keep out livestock. The illustration to the left shows men at work in the woods.

In a woodland of native broadleaved trees, felling results not in the death of the tree but in regrowth from the base. The repeated cutting is called coppicing, and can be seen in the illustration. This was well established by 1086 and shows that they were managing the woodland from around this time. The coppice was cut every 20 years. The result of coppicing can be seen today here on Wenlock Edge.

Where animals were loose, trees were pollarded. This is where the branches are cut back to the trunk so that the new shoots were out of the range of grazing animals. It is seen here on willows by the River Severn.

Throughout the Middle Ages there was a constant demand for timber for the building and repair of castles, churches and houses.  This can be seen in the roof structure of Stokesay Castle. Occasionally there was a need for larger trees for construction. As large timber became more difficult to find the Royal forests were often seen as a good source.

Today most of our forests are planned and coniferous. Although conifers grow quicker than broad leafed trees they are not a renewable resource and cannot be coppiced. The management of our woodland today is therefore very different.