C O N T E X T 1 3 8 : M A R C H 2 0 1 5 29 CHARLES HIPPISLEY-COX Carpentry traditions and timber-frame buildings The complex relationships between Britain’s oaks, landscapes, woodland management and water resources contributed to shaping historic industries and architectural traditions. No other tree features more prominently in the folklore and psyche of the inhabitants of Northern Europe.This respect for the oak is probably based on the strength and durability of the timber for construction and ship building, but the wood can be used for tanning leather and smaller branches can be converted into charcoal.The longevity of the individual trees and an association with fertility give the oak a prominent place in folklore and legends such as the green man, who is usually depicted with boughs of oak emerging from his mouth.There are many examples of oaks over 500 years old. Some (often with a history of being pollarded and/or coppiced) may be twice that age and have a girth of up to 12 metres. There are two predominant types of oak tree in the British Isles. Of the 25 European species, these two have dominated the temperate deciduous forests of Northern Europe since the end of the last ice age. First there is the common ‘robust’ or ‘pedunculate’ oak, Quercus robur, and, second, the ‘sessile’ or Durmast oak, Quercus petraea. The vast areas of forest dominated by these two trees once covered large areas of Europe but the trees now remain only in small pockets within an agricultural landscape. The overall tree shape differs, with the pedunculate oaks tending to have twisted, gnarled branches and a rounded silhouette with a broad-domed crown above a relatively short sturdy trunk. The sessile oaks tend to have a longer trunk with straighter branches and a narrower crown. Pedunculate oaks tend to prefer neutral or slightly lime-rich soils, and can also thrive on loams and heavy clays. The sessile oak is more tolerant of acid soils and has the capacity to thrive on higher ground. In Scotland the distribution shows some sessile oaks in the wetter north-west, despite the deliberate planting of the robust oak during more recent times. In mountainous areas and parts of Scotland where the climate is harsher, oaks are less common, but some sessile oaks thrive on lower parts of south-facing slopes. Despite much of the forest being cleared in advance of agricultural expansion, areas of oak woodland have been managed as a valuable resource passed on from one generation to the next. The longevity of oak trees has required long-term planning. Depending on circumstances, this would have happened historically within family groups, or perhaps on a communal basis as part of the feudal system. Apart from buildings and boats, the next most significant contribution of the oak is the production of charcoal.With pedunculate oak this has normally been achieved by pollarding, with the bole or trunk being left at about four or five metres. The harvested poles/ The oak tree, icon of the British landscape The short-stemmed leaves of the pedunculate oak
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