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Trees in England Tom Williamson

Trees in England By Tom Williamson

Trees in England by Tom Williamson


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Summary

The results of an ambitious research project are here shaped into a richly detailed survey of English arboriculture over the last four centuries. Trees in England will be essential reading not only for landscape historians but also for natural scientists, foresters and all those interested in the future of the countryside.

Trees in England Summary

Trees in England: Management and disease since 1600: 2017 by Tom Williamson

There is currently much concern about our trees and woodlands. The terrible toll taken by Dutch elm disease has been followed by a string of further epidemics, most worryingly ash chalara - and there are more threats on the horizon. There is also a widely shared belief that our woods have been steadily disappearing over recent decades, either replanted with alien conifers or destroyed entirely in order to make way for farmland or development. But the present state of our trees needs to be examined critically, and from an historical as much as from a scientific perspective. For English tree populations have long been highly unnatural in character, shaped by economic and social as much as by environmental factors. In reality, the recent history of trees and woods in England is more complex and less negative than we often assume and any narrative of decline and loss is overly simplistic. The numbers of trees and the extent and character of woodland have been in a state of flux for centuries. Research leaves no doubt, moreover, that arboreal ill health is nothing new. Levels of disease are certainly increasing but this is as much a consequence of changes in the way we treat trees - especially the decline in intensive management which has occurred over the last century and a half - as it is of the arrival of new diseases. And man, not nature, has shaped the essential character of rural tree populations, ensuring their dominance by just a few indigenous species and thus rendering them peculiarly vulnerable to invasive pests and diseases. The messages from history are clear: we can and should plant our landscape with a wider palette, providing greater resilience in the face of future pathogens; and the most `unnatural' and rigorously managed tree populations are also the healthiest. The results of an ambitious research project are here shaped into a richly detailed survey of English arboriculture over the last four centuries. Trees in England will be essential reading not only for landscape historians but also for natural scientists, foresters and all those interested in the future of the countryside. Only by understanding the essentially human history of our trees and woods can we hope to protect and enhance them.

About Tom Williamson

Tom Williamson is Professor of Landscape History at the University of East Anglia and has written widely on landscape archaeology, environmental history and related subjects. Gerry Barnes MBE is a Research Fellow at UEA and has co-authored a number of volumes, including Rethinking Ancient Woodland (UH Press, 2015). Toby Pillatt is a Research Associate in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Sheffield with a particular interest in human relationships with the natural world.

Table of Contents

1 Introduction: trees, woods and history 2 `One continued grove' 3 The economics of farmland trees 4 Woods and wood-pastures 5 The nature of trees 6 Trees in the modern world, c.1780-1880 7 The threats to trees 8 Conclusion: past and future treescapes

Additional information

GOR008769124
9781909291966
190929196X
Trees in England: Management and disease since 1600: 2017 by Tom Williamson
Used - Very Good
Paperback
University of Hertfordshire Press
20171101
256
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in very good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

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