| Walk through any woodland anywhere in the English | | | | steep decline, it is important to remember that British |
| countryside and you will see signs of coppice work, | | | | wool was highly prized by the Romans and that in |
| visit any country show and you will see coppice | | | | the Middle Ages it was the profit from wool that |
| workers producing fences and besom brooms and | | | | financed the construction of our great cathedrals. |
| the dictionary gives the definition of coppice as an | | | | Even the Royal Navy has a woolly connection, in that |
| area of small trees. So it is time to define what | | | | it came about to protect wool exports to Europe, |
| exactly a coppice worker does and highlight the work | | | | likewise the Chancellor of the Exchequer to this day |
| they do in maintaining our historic countryside. | | | | sits at the House of Commons on the Woolsack, |
| Brian Raines lives and works in the small hamlet of | | | | which symbolises the nation's wealth. Ironically it was |
| Michelmersh, near Romsey in Hampshire and is a full | | | | sheep that sparked the industrial revolution when |
| time coppice worker and after spending a few hours | | | | steam power was first used to mechanise the |
| in his company walking around the 50 odd acres that | | | | spinning wheel." |
| he part owns and part manages I decided that he | | | | "The eventual decline of the wool industry also saw a |
| was totally nuts and, like many who carry out this | | | | collapse in the hazel coppice industry and since the |
| ancient art, a genius in his field. | | | | First World War many woodlands have been |
| Brian, an ex Royal Marine, re-mortgaged his home in | | | | abandoned and left to grow wild." |
| order to purchase 28 acres of waste countryside and | | | | "Today, Coppice woodland management is of |
| then turn it into an ancient woodland haven full of | | | | particular benefit to wildlife providing natural habitat |
| wildlife and old and disappearing crafts. I, like many | | | | for rare woodland butterfly, birds such as the |
| others, often enjoy the delights of Hampshire's New | | | | nightingale and animals such as the dormouse." Once |
| Forest, but did not realise that this area is also part | | | | he got going it was hard to keep up with Brian and |
| of an historic old forest. I will let Brian explain. | | | | the information he was passing on about something |
| "Hampshire is one of the most wooded counties in | | | | he had adored since early childhood. "Letting light |
| Britain, however whilst much attention is paid to the | | | | onto the woodland floor also prevents woodland |
| New Forest, Hampshire's much more ancient forest | | | | flowers from becoming shaded out. In this respect, in |
| goes overlooked." He explained. | | | | cycled coppiced woods, the woodland floor is awash |
| "Stretching from the Wiltshire Border in the west, | | | | in spring with a dense and rich sea of snowdrops, |
| across to Sussex in the east, the Old Forest was the | | | | daffodils, primroses, wood anemone, red campion and |
| hunting ground of the ancient Saxon Kings who once | | | | bluebells. Coppicing is primarily a winter activity, in that |
| ruled England from Winchester. Hampshire's Old | | | | hazel is best cut when sap is no longer rising and |
| Forest, whilst mostly forgotten, comprises of a | | | | when trees have lost their leaves. The work is |
| dense patchwork of ancient hazel and bluebell | | | | physically demanding and a sure way of keeping fit. |
| woodland which extends across the centre of our | | | | Working in the underwood is a solitary pursuit and an |
| county, providing habitat for herds of fallow and roe | | | | isolated existence that is not to everyone's liking. In |
| deer and other forest dwellers including a small | | | | this respect the coppice woodsman spends his day |
| number of wild boar. Significantly this forest to this | | | | with the robin and the wren, returning home at dusk, |
| day remains central to Britain's coppice industry." | | | | when the woodcock takes to the wing." |
| Brian explained that the wild boar are known to | | | | We reached an area, which Brian has returned to |
| coppicers as 'sounders' as they are rarely seen but | | | | meadowland, and at the bottom of the slope a large |
| are often heard. As we walked around his land of | | | | lake played host to several wildfowl. He explained |
| meadow, wood and lakes Brian told me the | | | | that the hazel has a life cycle similar to that of |
| connection between the fruits of nature and many | | | | humans in that it will live for 70 years or so before it |
| pagan festivals and practices that are still reflected in | | | | begins to rot and bits begin dropping off. "However, |
| today's Christian traditions. The use of fruit and | | | | if coppiced back, it will be reinvigorated with a new |
| berries, as well as these old traditions, are too basic | | | | lease of life and grow for another 70 years. In this |
| in their manner to be printed in a family feature but | | | | respect generations of coppice workers have literally |
| all were fascinating and his knowledge of these rituals | | | | blessed the hazel of Hampshire's old forest with |
| was an amazing insight into life and beliefs of old. As | | | | eternal life, with many coppiced hazel stools being |
| an example he told of the use and the symbolism of | | | | ancient and the remnant of trees that have grown |
| the holly, with its redness and the white mistletoe | | | | for literally thousands of years." |
| berries but neither are repeatable here. | | | | "Unfortunately much of Hampshire's old forest is |
| "The coppice industry is arguably Britain's most | | | | today in a critical state of neglect and decline. Left |
| ancient profession and dates back many thousands | | | | unmanaged, the magic of bluebell time has been lost |
| of years, to before the construction of Stonehenge." | | | | and the song of the nightingale, a memory of the |
| Brian continued. "Coppicing involves the cutting down | | | | past." |
| of trees, such as the hazel, to provide a harvest of | | | | "As an alternative lifestyle, working in the woods can |
| rods and poles used to make hurdles as well as spars | | | | be immensely satisfying and a welcome escape from |
| for the thatching trade. Other products include stakes | | | | the hustle and bustle of everyday life, however most |
| and binders used by traditional hedge layers, faggots | | | | woodsmen have a dual occupation, to see them |
| used by river keepers to prevent erosion along | | | | through the summer months. Traditionally woodsmen |
| riverbanks and material for wattle fencing. Hazel is | | | | were also shepherds, in that during winter months |
| also a useful source of firewood and can be used to | | | | they would cut their timber then with the arrival of |
| make charcoal." | | | | spring came lambing and sheep shearing." |
| Brian went on to explain that the area around Kings | | | | My education of coppicing and seasonal rituals did not |
| Somborne, just a few miles from his small holding, | | | | end there and Brian continued to explain all that he |
| boasts more acres of coppice hazel woodland than | | | | had learned. Facts such as the legacy of this industry |
| anywhere else in the country and is home to a | | | | were that children of the Age of Aquarius were born. |
| number of coppice woodsmen and hurdle makers | | | | They would be conceived during Beltane (May day) |
| who work a solitary lifestyle in the depths of the | | | | at the height of bluebell time and then born nine |
| underwood. | | | | months later during the sign of Aquarius when a |
| "Coppicing is an environmentally friendly and | | | | plentiful supply of ewe's milk would be available to |
| sustainable method of woodland management in that | | | | safeguard against high child mortality rates. |
| once the coppiced stool is cut to the ground it | | | | To say it was a fascinating insight into the heritage |
| quickly sends up shoots which grow into straight | | | | of our countryside would be an understatement. I |
| rods, which are harvested every seven years or so." | | | | spent a wonderful couple of hours with a man who is |
| "The hazel coppice industry grew up with the | | | | protecting and giving rebirth to some of our |
| demand for hurdles required by shepherds up on the | | | | countryside heritage and who admits to being a little |
| Hampshire downs and out onto the treeless expanse | | | | bit nutty, a saying derived from the hazel nut itself. |
| of Salisbury Plain. Whilst today the sheep industry is in | | | | |