Low mounts and pruning shears
Walk through any woodland anywhere in the English countryside and you will see signs of coppice work, visit any country show and you will see coppice workers producing fences and brooms and the dictionary gives the definition of coppice as an area of small trees . So it’s time to define what exactly a coppice worker does and highlight the work they do in maintaining our historic countryside.
Brian Raines lives and works in the small village of Michelmersh, near Romsey in Hampshire and is a full time coppice worker and after spending a few hours at his company walking around the 50 acres he part owns and part manages I decided that he was completely insane and, like many who practice this age-old art, a genius in his field.
Brian, a former Royal Marine, remortgaged his home to buy 28 acres of vacant land and then turn it into a former woodland retreat filled with disappearing wildlife and ancient crafts. I, like many others, often enjoy the delights of the New Forest of Hampshire, but I didn’t realize that this area is also part of an ancient historic forest. I’ll let Brian explain.
“Hampshire is one of the most forested counties in Britain, yet while much attention is paid to the New Forest, the much older forest of Hampshire is overlooked.” He explained.
“Stretching from the Wiltshire border in the west, to Sussex in the east, the Old Forest was the hunting ground of the ancient Saxon kings who once ruled England from Winchester. The Old Forest of Hampshire, though for the most part forgotten , is made up of a dense mosaic of ancient hazelnut and bluebell forest that stretches across the center of our county, providing habitat for herds of fallow deer and roe deer and other forest dwellers, including a small number of wild boar.Significantly, this forest to this day it remains central to Britain’s coppice industry.”
Brian explained that boars are known to coppicers as ‘probe’ as they are rarely seen but often heard. As we walked through his land of meadows, forests, and lakes, Brian told me about the connection between the fruits of nature and many pagan festivals and practices that are still reflected in Christian traditions today. The use of fruit and berries as well as these old traditions are too basic in form to be imprinted on a family feature but they were all fascinating and his knowledge of these rituals was an amazing insight into life and beliefs of yore. As an example he spoke of the use and symbolism of holly, with its redness and white mistletoe berries, but neither is repeatable here.
“The coppice industry is possibly the oldest profession in Britain and dates back many thousands of years, before the building of Stonehenge.” Brian continued. “Regrowth involves the felling of trees, such as hazel, to obtain a crop of rods and posts used to make fences, as well as beams for the thatching trade. Other products include stakes and binders used by roofers. traditional hedges, firewood bundles used by river keepers to prevent erosion along riverbanks, and wattle fencing material. Hazel is also a useful source of firewood and can be used to make charcoal.”
Brian went on to explain that the area around Kings Somborne, just a few miles from his small property, boasts more acres of hazel forest than anywhere else in the country and is home to a number of solo loggers and jumpers. lifestyle deep in the undergrowth.
“Regrowth is a sustainable and environmentally friendly method of forest management in that once the clipped stool is cut into the ground, it quickly sends up shoots that develop into straight rods, which are harvested every seven years. about”.
“The hazel coppice industry grew with the demand for fences required by herders in the hills of Hampshire and on the treeless expanse of the Salisbury Plain. While the sheep industry is in steep decline today, it is important to remember that British wool was highly prized by the Romans and that in the Middle Ages it was the profit from wool that financed the building of our great cathedrals. Even the Royal Navy has a woolly connection, in that it came to protect wool exports to Europe, likewise the Chancellor of the Treasury to this day stands in the House of Commons in Woolsack, symbolizing the nation’s wealth Ironically, it was sheep that sparked the industrial revolution when it was first used steam power to mechanize the spinning wheel”.
“The eventual decline of the woolen industry also led to the collapse of the hazelnut coppice industry, and since the First World War many forests have been abandoned and left to grow wild.”
“Today, the management of Undergrowth forests is especially beneficial for wildlife, providing a natural habitat for rare woodland butterflies, birds such as the nightingale and animals such as the dormouse.” Once she got going, it was hard to keep up with Brian and the information he was passing on about something he had loved since childhood. “Letting light on the forest floor also prevents the flowers of the forest from being shaded. In this sense, in cyclically trimmed forests, the forest floor is awash in spring with a dense and rich sea of bluebells, daffodils, primroses , wood anemone, red bell and bluebells Regrowth is primarily a winter activity as hazelnut is best cut when the sap no longer rises and when the trees have lost their leaves The work is physically demanding and a safe way to keep fit. Working in the undergrowth is a solitary quest and an isolated existence that is not to everyone’s liking. In this regard, the woodsman in the copse spends the day with the robin and the wren, returning home at dusk, when the woodcock takes flight”.
We came to an area, which Brian has reverted to prairie, and at the bottom of the slope, a large lake was home to several wild birds. He explained that the hazel tree has a life cycle similar to that of humans in that it will live for about 70 years before it begins to rot and the pieces begin to fall off. “However, if it regrows, it will be revitalized with a new lease of life and will grow for another 70 years. In this regard, generations of coppice workers have literally blessed the old Hampshire forest hazel with everlasting life, with many stools trimmed hazel trees that are getting old and the remnant of trees that have grown for literally thousands of years.
“Unfortunately, much of the ancient Hampshire woodland is today in a critical state of neglect and decay. If left unmanaged, the time magic of the bluebells has been lost and the song of the nightingale a memory of the past.”
“As an alternative lifestyle, working in the woods can be immensely fulfilling and a welcome escape from the hustle and bustle of everyday life, however, most lumberjacks do double duty, to get through the summer months. Traditionally , the lumberjacks were also shepherds, in that during the winter months they cut the wood and then, with the arrival of spring, came the lambs and the shearing of sheep”.
My education on regrowth and seasonal rituals did not end there and Brian went on to explain everything he had learned. Facts like the legacy of this industry was that children of the Age of Aquarius were born. They would be conceived during Beltane (May Day) at the height of the bluebell season and then born nine months later during the sign of Aquarius, when a plentiful supply of sheep’s milk would be available to guard against high infant mortality rates. .
To say that it was a fascinating insight into the heritage of our countryside would be an understatement. I had a wonderful couple of hours with a man who is protecting and reviving part of our rural heritage and who admits to being a bit of a nut, a saying derived from the hazelnut itself.
If you want to know more go to www.hampshirecoppice.org.uk
© David Massom April 09