Post on 16-Jan-2016
© Ian D. Rotherham 2011
Historic Development Historic Development and and
Evolution of LandscapesEvolution of Landscapes
An example -
Woodland History Summarised
Ian D. Rotherham
© Ian D. Rotherham 2011
© Ian D. Rotherham 2011
Landscape Development and CharacterLandscape Development and Character
Natural conditions and history – topography, geology, climate, exposure, aspect, water and wetness, soils, vegetation, fauna
Landscape type and character
SHAPING LANDSCAPESSHAPING LANDSCAPES
PotentialTIME
Influence
Human influences – land management – clearance; farming, forestry, houses, industry, factories, roads, railways, canals, air transport etc
Sight, [texture, colour, reflectivity, movement etc], Sound, Smell
Sight, [texture, colour, reflectivity, movement etc], Sound, Smell
© Ian D. Rotherham 2011
© Ian D. Rotherham 2011
© Ian D. Rotherham 2011
© Ian D. Rotherham 2011
© Ian D. Rotherham 2011
© Ian D. Rotherham 2011
Continuous matrix of ‘wildwood’ + areas of non-woodland due to edaphic (soil) factors and grazing impacts of large herbivores; landscape much wetter.
Probably less woodland than previously thought and more grassland and wetland – upland and lowland.
© Ian D. Rotherham 2011
More or less isolated woodland blocks
Modification of original structure and composition
Non-woodland
Non-woodland phase
Recent plantation
Recent semi-natural woodland
Ancient plantation
Ancient semi-natural
Clearance
Further Clearance
PlantingNatural succession to woodland
Re-planting often with non-natives
Traditional management or neglect allows some ‘wildwood’ features to survive
© Ian D. Rotherham 2011
Recent plantation:
• Upland conifer woods; urban planting schemes;
• New community woodlands etc; highways plantings
• c.1,250,000 ha
© Ian D. Rotherham 2011
© Ian D. Rotherham 2011
Recent semi-natural woods:
• woods on old heaths, moors, and downs; spontaneous urban commons; post-industrial sites.
• c.100,000 ha
• New native woods??
© Ian D. Rotherham 2011
© Ian D. Rotherham 2011
© Ian D. Rotherham 2011
© Ian D. Rotherham 2011
Ancient plantation:
• Old coppice re-planted with conifers or broad-leaves;
• [Note: PAWS]
• c.350,000 ha
© Ian D. Rotherham 2011
Ancient semi-natural woodland:
• Old coppice;
• Old pasture woodland;
• Upland Caledonian pine forest;
• Wooded commons.
• c. 300,000 ha
© Ian D. Rotherham 2011
© Ian D. Rotherham 2011
© Ian D. Rotherham 2011
Landscape Development and Characterisation
• Landscape development is influenced by a complex matrix of factors – environmental, human, and historical.
• These are interwoven though time and space to create ‘landscape’.
© Ian D. Rotherham 2011
SHAPING LANDSCAPES
Natural conditions and history – topography, geology, climate, exposure, aspect, water and wetness, soils, vegetation, fauna
Sight, [texture, colour, reflectivity, movement etc], Sound, Smell
Landscape type Landscape type and characterand character
Human influences – land management – clearance; farming, forestry, houses, industry, factories, roads, railways, canals, air transport etc
Sight, [texture, colour, reflectivity, movement etc], Sound, Smell
TIME
Influence
Potential
© Ian D. Rotherham 2011
• Our perceptionsperceptions of landscape are hugely individual and affect and influence what each of us sees or experiences as landscape.
• {See reading from: Richard Muir (1998) – Figures in the Landscape}.
• Each person sees, or experiences a unique and individual landscape around them. This is influenced by the past as well as the present.
© Ian D. Rotherham 2011
• There are numerous ways that attempt to characterise landscape and its development.
• From an environmental perspective is the UK is the concept of ‘Natural AreasNatural Areas’ and from and anthropogenic view are ‘Countryside Countryside Character AreasCharacter Areas’.
• Combined these were used to generate the Character of England MapCharacter of England Map. [See Cooke and Hewston, 1998; and Brooke, 1998; for more details].
© Ian D. Rotherham 2011
© Ian D. Rotherham 2011
© Ian D. Rotherham 2011
[See the relevant publications of the former Countryside Agency and English Nature for more information on these concepts and their applications]. Try the web sites of both Natural England and particularly the Woodland Trust.
© Ian D. Rotherham 2011
Cultural LandscapesCultural Landscapes
Especially in a country such as Britain, the landscape is a human-shaped creation – from the high moors, to the urban centre.
Natural factors control and limit the options, but the landscape itself is shaped by but the landscape itself is shaped by
people and their activities over thousands people and their activities over thousands of yearsof years.
© Ian D. Rotherham 2011
© Ian D. Rotherham 2011
Some Key References
• Hoskins – The Making of the English Landscape
• Rackham – The History of the Countryside
• Melvyn Jones – various – esp. Jones and Rotherham (1998)
© Ian D. Rotherham 2011
[Visit the
South Yorkshire ForestSouth Yorkshire Forest
web site to see how they characterised and assessed their region and the sub-regional areas or zones]
The character maps and zones are all in the Level 4 Resources Room
© Ian D. Rotherham 2011
A Case Study – South Yorkshire’s Woodlands and
Wooded Landscapes
• Introduction
© Ian D. Rotherham 2011
Changing woodland management systems during the last millennium and their ecological impacts
Wood Pasture:
1000 - c.1450 A.D.
© Ian D. Rotherham 2011
© Ian D. Rotherham 2011
Coppice Management: c.1450-1850 A.D.
© Ian D. Rotherham 2011
© Ian D. Rotherham 2011
The decline of coppicing and conversion of coppice woods to high forest: since c.1850 A.D.
© Ian D. Rotherham 2011
© Ian D. Rotherham 2011
© Ian D. Rotherham 2011
Summary and ConclusionsSummary and Conclusions
• Woodland cover in South Yorkshire has never been extensive in the last 1000 years.
• In 1086, at the time of the Domesday Survey, woodlands covered only 13 per cent of the county.
• Since then, population growth with the extension of cultivated and grazed land and, after c.1840 rapid industrialisation, continued to reduce woodland cover.
• Today, ancient woodlands cover less than three per cent of the area.
© Ian D. Rotherham 2011
• Despite their small extent, woodlands, particularly in the western half of the area, have played a vital part in the initial development of industry in the early middle ages and its subsequent expansion into the modern period.
© Ian D. Rotherham 2011
A number of economic, political and social factors have had a profound impact on the ecology of the ancient woodlands in South Yorkshire:
1. Changing patterns of ownership, from a concentration in the hands of a few large estate owners to a mixed pattern of ownership including a range of smaller private owners, public bodies such as the Forestry Commission, and city, town and parish councils.
© Ian D. Rotherham 2011
2. There has been a change of function since c.1850 from the role of suppliers of timber, wood and bark to the role of suppliers of timber only and then, in a substantial number of cases, to the role of recreational woods/nature reserves.
© Ian D. Rotherham 2011
3. Change of function has been accompanied by a change of structure from coppice-with-standards to high forest and by changes in composition with the introduction of many trees not native to South Yorkshire.
© Ian D. Rotherham 2011
4. The onset of large-scale industrialisation from c.1840, with the proliferation of ‘smoke-stack’ industries, had a negative impact on ancient woods in South Yorkshire, causing the loss of a number of woods, the reduction in size of many others, together with widespread disturbance and pollution.
Only since c.1980 has there been a rapid decline of coal mining and heavy industry and a shift to a post-industrial, service economy.
© Ian D. Rotherham 2011
5. Since c.1970 public pressure, organised conservation campaigns and increased research activity have resulted in the widespread recognition of the heritage value of the county’s ancient woods and the resumption of active management.
© Ian D. Rotherham 2011
6. The future of South Yorkshire’s ancient woods looks much better than it did three decades ago.
Awareness of their cultural and ecological importance has been raised to a much higher level than at any other time this century and interest in their economic as well as recreational potential has been re-awakened.
However, the renewed interest in the sustainable management of these ancient woodlands is just the beginning; the challenge is to sustain it in the medium and long term.
© Ian D. Rotherham 2011
Summary Table1Summary Table1
© Ian D. Rotherham 2011
Summary Table 2Summary Table 2
© Ian D. Rotherham 2011
But …………!!!!!?????But …………!!!!!?????
• Problems of cultural severancecultural severance
© Ian D. Rotherham 2011
© Ian D. Rotherham 2011