18 CONTEXT 180 : JUNE 2024 also retained or added for landscaping and to mark wealth and status around large houses and estates, or to improve urban parks and streets. Some, like ancient churchyard yews, have cultural or spiritual significance. Some ancient woods (present since at least 1600 CE) have survived because nothing of greater value could be done with the land – like the fragments clinging to the sides of steep gullies and cloughs, unsuitable even for grazing. Woods were modified through management. Coppicing is an ancient system where trees are cut close to the ground on a regular cycle, creating dense stands of multi-stemmed new growth, producing a sustainable ‘underwood’ supply. Smaller rods were used to create wattle laths or hurdles; other wood was cut for charcoal or white coal to fuel the iron or lead industries. In the North York Moors, the monks at historic abbeys such as Rievaulx were early innovators in ironworking, drawing on timber supply from woods that are still found in the surrounding steep river valleys. Even the species composition of woods reflects their history, altered through favouring useful trees. Oak was encouraged or planted for tan bark to feed the tanning industry. In Calderdale, ancient woods were supplemented with beech (not technically a native tree in the north of England), its wood favoured for bobbins and shuttles in nearby mills. Archaeological remnants beneath the woodland canopy tell a story. Charcoal hearths, bell pits or Q-pits are clues to past working, along with remains of colliers’ or bark-peelers’ huts. Holloways hint at centuries of use along key routes. Earlier medieval woodbanks marked internal or external boundaries. Woods may contain Iron Age hillforts, Romano-British field systems and strip lynchets dating from when at least some of the land was unwooded. Elsewhere, ancient woods were absorbed into large estates. First mentioned in the Domesday Book, Hackfall Wood, near Masham, North Yorkshire, was purchased in 1731 by John Aislabie and transformed into an ornamental woodland garden, complete with several follies and a fountain in a landscaped lake. It retained its ‘natural’ feel and today still overflows in spring with wildflowers indicative of its ancient woodland ecology. At nearby Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal, also landscaped by the Aislabies, the deer park holds scores of ancient trees. Trees in their third or final stage of life can continue for centuries. The stages of retrenchment and decay they pass through provide ecological niches for a wide range of species, some of which are rare or threatened. Looking forward, our perception of value regarding trees and woods has shifted towards concepts of ‘natural capital’ and ‘ecosystem services’, recognising our dependence on the integrity, health and flourishing of the natural world. Habitats such as ancient woodland and ancient trees are cornerstones of nature recovery, their longevity and continuity fostering evolution of rich and complex associated communities of plants, animals and fungi, further shaped by management. Historic coppicing lapsed with loss of markets for the products, and while there is a small resurgence in this technique, probably around half of ancient woods are not managed at all. This needs to be addressed if our most precious woodlands are to be resilient to current and future threats. Creating new woodland next to ancient woods can buffer them from surrounding impacts, increasing the resilience of populations of their specialist species. Better connections between woods allows species to move or adapt in response to climate change. Planting future generations of ancient trees will provide Beech planted in ancient woodland for use in nearby mills, Calderdale (Photo: WTML/ Sian Atkinson) A charcoal platform in ancient woodland, Calderdale (Photo: WTML/ Liam Plummer)
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