Brash may be piled over stools but the protective value is uncertain and it may adversely affect the straightness of the shoots. Protection of the stools from browsing is the most important practice in the management of coppice. ‘By the statute, men were bound to enclose coppices after felling’ – John Evelyn It is worth noting that one of the first recorded silvicultural experiments in Britain was at Hopewell in Flintshire in 1351: it was to determine the best height to cut coppice stools. This is a traditional method – the advice hasn’t changed. Nay the closer, the better, and that to the south, slopewise’ – John Evelyn (seventeenth-century silviculturalist and author of ‘Sylva, or a Discourse of Forest Trees’). ‘Cut not above half a foot from the ground. Coppice is best cut during the dormant winter period: the absence of foliage makes working easier, the bark is less likely to tear and new shoots are likely to grow better. The regrowth can be surprisingly fast at about 5cm a day and Oak can grow 2 metres in a season. Historically, coupes were usually on south-facing slopes with the cuts made, as far as possible, to face south as well to aid drying. The coupes (their number being equal to the number of years in the cycle) are cut on a rotation of 5 – 30 years depending on the species and product required. The part of a woodland coppiced is called a coup(e) or depending on locality, a sale, fell, cant, panel or burrow which may be useful to know for local history with regards to place name derivations or the history of woodland management within a specific area. Its history can be traced back to Neolithic times with the Sweet Track, a causeway in the Somerset Levels, shown to have been built from coppiced wood in about 3800 BC. Coppice stools consist of the roots and stumps which give rise to the coppice shoots, usually known as rods or poles. Coppicing is a traditional method of woodland management that involves repetitive felling on the same stump, near to the ground, allowing the shoots to regrow: this provides a valuable supply of small-wood or underwood (for fencing, wattle, charcoal, furniture, crafts and other uses – even making coracles) and a variety of habitats for wildlife.
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