Woolmer Forest
Encyclopedia
Woolmer Forest is a former medieval royal hunting forest. It lies within the western Weald
in the South Downs National Park
, straddling the border between east Hampshire
and West Sussex
. Covering an area of some 1293.9 hectares (3,197.3 acre), it is both a Special Area of Conservation
and a Site of Special Scientific Interest
. Historically a largely treeless heathland on sterile sandy soils, the forest was traditionally managed, like other royal forest
s, as "wood pasture" in which deer would be kept for hunting for sport and for venison, and where commoners were permitted to graze their livestock. The forest today consists of both dry and humid lowland heath, the largest such expanse in Hampshire aside from the New Forest
. It is the only site in England
that supports all twelve known native species of reptile
and amphibian
. It is considered to be the most important area of heathland in southern England
.
Woolmer
village lies within the confines of the forest.
, that of the River Wey
and that of the River Rother. In its sandy soil, streams have cut wide valleys into the gently undulating terrain. On upland sites, dry heath predominates, characterised by heather Calluna vulgaris and bell heather Erica cinerea
. The driest sandy patches support some well-adapted (xeric) uncommon plants. Humid heath, which requires less free-draining subsoils, is characterized by cross-leaved heath Erica tetralix
and purple moor-grass Molinia caerulea, which are joined in the wettest valley bottoms by sphagnum moss and carnivorous sundew
s. These moisture-retaining habitats grade into complex acidic boggy wetlands of hummock
s and pools, locally called "mire
s". Here are the largest populations in England of the trailing bog cranberry Vaccinium oxycoccus.
Centuries of forest management
have shaped the surrounding belts of woodland, composed notably of beech Fagus sylvatica and pedunculate oak Quercus robur. Repeated pollarding
has shaped the growth patterns of centuries-old trees. The discontinuous canopy
favours a diverse understory
, dominated by holly Ilex aquifolium, whitebeam Sorbus aria
and rowan S. aucuparia
with birch
es.
The absence of chemicals in the environment is one aspect that has encouraged an unusual diversity of insect
s and other invertebrates.
The landscape of Woolmer Forest has been classified by the South Downs National Park Authority, in its integrated landscape character assessment of the park, as falling within the Wealden farmland and heath mosaic, namely a landscape that has developed on the sandstones of the Folkestone Beds (part of the Lower Greensand formation of the Lower Cretaceous). This geology has given rise to a well-drained, sandy lowland landscape supporting a mosaic of oak-birch woodland, conifer plantations, open sandy heaths, and rough grazed pastures. The park authority claims that Woolmer Forest is the best area of lowland heath outside the New Forest
, and that it is the largest area of heathland existing on the Folkestone Beds in southern England.
stripped the natural woodland that had replaced tundra
following the retreat of glaciation, and on this light soil the forest cover was replaced with heath. With the settled Roman occupation, the Roman road
that was constructed between Chichester
and Silchester
passed through Woolmer. Traces of Roman villa
s have been discovered at Blackmoor
, Kingsley
and Liss
, though ordinary people continued to live in roundhouses
. Kilns for a pottery industry that apparently supplied Londinium with its cookware must have continued the deforestation to fire the kilns. An extraordinary find, the Blackmoor hoard, consisted of 29,773 coins whose minting dated the hoard to ca 296 CE; in a battle in that year the troops under Emperor Constantius Chlorus
defeated the army of the usurper Allectus
to retake control of Britain. The hoard may have been the paychest for Allectus's troops secreted and inadvertently abandoned after their defeat.
Following the Roman withdrawal and the collapse of Romano-British culture, the first mention of the present toponym, as Wulfamere, the "wolves' pool", is a token either of reforestation of the landscape or a translation of a previous pre-Roman name.
In the eighteenth century "Wolmer" often appears in Gilbert White
's The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne
(1789), as it was included with Selborne parish. White noted that its soil consisted of sand covered with heath and fern, "without having one standing tree in the whole extent." Its bogs had formerly abounded with "subterranean trees", both blackened bog wood, used locally in house construction. In White's day the formerly plentiful Black Grouse
were locally extinct, and the red deer
, of which the poaching had occasioned the severities of the Black Act
, had been rounded up and carted to Windsor.
Only a "narrow range of enclosures" in Gilbert White's day separated the Royal Forest of "Wolmer" from Alice Holt Forest
, situated on a loamy soil that produced dense stands of oak.
(SSSI) was first notified, in respect of Woolmer Forest itself, in 1971; Conford Moor in the east was notified in 1959, and Blackmoor in the west in 1979. These areas were later renotified under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 in 1986, 1984 and 1985 respectively. The SSSI covers 1293.93 hectares (3,197.4 acre). The SSSI citation notes that Woolmer Forest contains the largest and most diverse area of lowland heathland in Hampshire, outside the New Forest, and that it is considered to be the most important area of heathland in the Weald
of southern England.
The Woolmer Forest Special Area of Conservation
(SAC) was designated in April 2005 and covers 666.68 hectares (1,647.4 acre). Its main habitats are heath (62%), coniferous woodland (22%) and dry grassland (10%). Its most important features are the dystrophic areas of open water, in particular Cranmer Pond, a shallow 8 hectares (19.8 acre) pool thought to have been created by peat cutting, and Woolmer Pond; and large extents of European dry heaths. In both cases the area is considered one of the best in the UK. In addition, the SAC supports a significant presence of North Atlantic wet heaths with Erica Tetralix, and transition mires and quaking bogs.
In relation to its dry heaths, Woolmer Forest is the only site in Britain that supports all six native reptiles (including the sand lizard Lacerta agilis and smooth snake Coronella austriaca) and all six native amphibians (including the great crested newt Triturus cristatus). It also supports an outstanding invertebrate fauna and bird assemblage, including European nightjar Caprimulgus europaeus, wood lark Lullula arborea, Dartford warbler Sylvia undata, Eurasian hobby Falco subbuteo, hen harrier Circus cyaneus and merlin Falco columbarius.
Woolmer Forest is also protected by the Wealden Heaths Phase 2 Special Protection Area
, covering 2053.83 hectares (5,075.1 acre), which was designated in March 1993 because of the presence of the rare heathland bird populations noted above such as Dartford warbler and European nightjar.
Western Weald
The western Weald is an area of undulating countryside in Hampshire and West Sussex containing a mixture of woodland and heathland areas.It lies to the south of the towns of Bordon, Haslemere and Rake and to the west of the town of Pulborough. It includes the towns of Liss and Petersfield on its...
in the South Downs National Park
South Downs National Park
The South Downs National Park is England's newest National Park, having become fully operational on 1 April 2011. The park, covering an area of in southern England, stretches for from Winchester in the west to Eastbourne in the east through the counties of Hampshire, West Sussex and East Sussex...
, straddling the border between east Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
and West Sussex
West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex , Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming...
. Covering an area of some 1293.9 hectares (3,197.3 acre), it is both a Special Area of Conservation
Special Area of Conservation
A Special Area of Conservation is defined in the European Union's Habitats Directive , also known as the Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora...
and a Site of Special Scientific Interest
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...
. Historically a largely treeless heathland on sterile sandy soils, the forest was traditionally managed, like other royal forest
Royal forest
A royal forest is an area of land with different meanings in England, Wales and Scotland; the term forest does not mean forest as it is understood today, as an area of densely wooded land...
s, as "wood pasture" in which deer would be kept for hunting for sport and for venison, and where commoners were permitted to graze their livestock. The forest today consists of both dry and humid lowland heath, the largest such expanse in Hampshire aside from the New Forest
New Forest
The New Forest is an area of southern England which includes the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in the heavily-populated south east of England. It covers south-west Hampshire and extends into south-east Wiltshire....
. It is the only site in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
that supports all twelve known native species of reptile
Reptile
Reptiles are members of a class of air-breathing, ectothermic vertebrates which are characterized by laying shelled eggs , and having skin covered in scales and/or scutes. They are tetrapods, either having four limbs or being descended from four-limbed ancestors...
and amphibian
Amphibian
Amphibians , are a class of vertebrate animals including animals such as toads, frogs, caecilians, and salamanders. They are characterized as non-amniote ectothermic tetrapods...
. It is considered to be the most important area of heathland in southern England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
Woolmer
Woolmer
Woolmer is a place in Hampshire, England. Woolmer is situated between Liphook and Bordon. The surrounding Woolmer Forest, a Royal forest, is both a Special Area of Conservation and a Site of Special Scientific Interest....
village lies within the confines of the forest.
Geology and ecology
Woolmer Forest straddles two upland watershedsDrainage basin
A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...
, that of the River Wey
River Wey
The River Wey in Surrey, Hampshire and West Sussex is a tributary of the River Thames with two separate branches which join at Tilford. The source of the north branch is at Alton, Hampshire and of the south branch at both Blackdown south of Haslemere, and also close to Gibbet Hill, near Hindhead...
and that of the River Rother. In its sandy soil, streams have cut wide valleys into the gently undulating terrain. On upland sites, dry heath predominates, characterised by heather Calluna vulgaris and bell heather Erica cinerea
Erica cinerea
Erica cinerea is a species of heather, native to western and central Europe. It is a low shrub growing to tall, with fine needle-like leaves long arranged in whorls of three...
. The driest sandy patches support some well-adapted (xeric) uncommon plants. Humid heath, which requires less free-draining subsoils, is characterized by cross-leaved heath Erica tetralix
Erica tetralix
Erica tetralix is a species of heather found in Atlantic areas of Europe, from southern Portugal to central Norway, as well as a number of boggy regions further from the coast in Central Europe. In bogs, wet heaths and damp coniferous woodland, Erica tetralix can become a dominant part of the flora...
and purple moor-grass Molinia caerulea, which are joined in the wettest valley bottoms by sphagnum moss and carnivorous sundew
Sundew
Drosera, commonly known as the sundews, comprise one of the largest genera of carnivorous plants, with at least 194 species. These members of the family Droseraceae lure, capture, and digest insects using stalked mucilaginous glands covering their leaf surface. The insects are used to supplement...
s. These moisture-retaining habitats grade into complex acidic boggy wetlands of hummock
Hummock
A hummock is a boss or rounded knoll of ice rising above the general level of an ice-field, making sledge travelling in the Arctic and Antarctic region extremely difficult and unpleasant....
s and pools, locally called "mire
Miré
Miré is a commune in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France....
s". Here are the largest populations in England of the trailing bog cranberry Vaccinium oxycoccus.
Centuries of forest management
Forest management
200px|thumb|right|[[Sustainable development|Sustainable]] forest management carried out by [[Complejo Forestal y Maderero Panguipulli|Complejo Panguipulli]] has contributed to the preservation of the forested landscape around [[Neltume]], a sawmill town in Chile...
have shaped the surrounding belts of woodland, composed notably of beech Fagus sylvatica and pedunculate oak Quercus robur. Repeated pollarding
Pollarding
Pollarding is a pruning system in which the upper branches of a tree are removed, promoting a dense head of foliage and branches. It has been common in Great Britain and Europe since medieval times and is practiced today in urban areas worldwide, primarily to maintain trees at a predetermined...
has shaped the growth patterns of centuries-old trees. The discontinuous canopy
Canopy (forest)
In biology, the canopy is the aboveground portion of a plant community or crop, formed by plant crowns.For forests, canopy also refers to the upper layer or habitat zone, formed by mature tree crowns and including other biological organisms .Sometimes the term canopy is used to refer to the extent...
favours a diverse understory
Understory
Understory is the term for the area of a forest which grows at the lowest height level below the forest canopy. Plants in the understory consist of a mixture of seedlings and saplings of canopy trees together with understory shrubs and herbs...
, dominated by holly Ilex aquifolium, whitebeam Sorbus aria
Sorbus aria
Sorbus aria , the Whitebeam or Common Whitebeam is a deciduous tree, compact and domed, with few upswept branches; it generally favours dry limestone and chalk soils. The hermaphrodite cream-white flowers appear in May, are insect pollinated, and go on to produce scarlet berries, which are often...
and rowan S. aucuparia
Sorbus aucuparia
Sorbus aucuparia , is a species of the genus Sorbus, native to most of Europe except for the far south, and northern Asia...
with birch
Birch
Birch is a tree or shrub of the genus Betula , in the family Betulaceae, closely related to the beech/oak family, Fagaceae. The Betula genus contains 30–60 known taxa...
es.
The absence of chemicals in the environment is one aspect that has encouraged an unusual diversity of insect
Insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
s and other invertebrates.
The landscape of Woolmer Forest has been classified by the South Downs National Park Authority, in its integrated landscape character assessment of the park, as falling within the Wealden farmland and heath mosaic, namely a landscape that has developed on the sandstones of the Folkestone Beds (part of the Lower Greensand formation of the Lower Cretaceous). This geology has given rise to a well-drained, sandy lowland landscape supporting a mosaic of oak-birch woodland, conifer plantations, open sandy heaths, and rough grazed pastures. The park authority claims that Woolmer Forest is the best area of lowland heath outside the New Forest
New Forest
The New Forest is an area of southern England which includes the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in the heavily-populated south east of England. It covers south-west Hampshire and extends into south-east Wiltshire....
, and that it is the largest area of heathland existing on the Folkestone Beds in southern England.
History
Deforestation during the local Bronze AgeBronze Age Britain
Bronze Age Britain refers to the period of British history that spanned from c. 2,500 until c. 800 BC. Lasting for approximately 1700 years, it was preceded by the era of Neolithic Britain and was in turn followed by the era of Iron Age Britain...
stripped the natural woodland that had replaced tundra
Tundra
In physical geography, tundra is a biome where the tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons. The term tundra comes through Russian тундра from the Kildin Sami word tūndâr "uplands," "treeless mountain tract." There are three types of tundra: Arctic tundra, alpine...
following the retreat of glaciation, and on this light soil the forest cover was replaced with heath. With the settled Roman occupation, the Roman road
Roman road
The Roman roads were a vital part of the development of the Roman state, from about 500 BC through the expansion during the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. Roman roads enabled the Romans to move armies and trade goods and to communicate. The Roman road system spanned more than 400,000 km...
that was constructed between Chichester
Chichester
Chichester is a cathedral city in West Sussex, within the historic County of Sussex, South-East England. It has a long history as a settlement; its Roman past and its subsequent importance in Anglo-Saxon times are only its beginnings...
and Silchester
Silchester
Silchester is a village and civil parish about north of Basingstoke in Hampshire. It is adjacent to the county boundary with Berkshire and about south-west of Reading....
passed through Woolmer. Traces of Roman villa
Roman villa
A Roman villa is a villa that was built or lived in during the Roman republic and the Roman Empire. A villa was originally a Roman country house built for the upper class...
s have been discovered at Blackmoor
Blackmoor, Hampshire
Blackmoor is a village in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It lies about 1.5 miles southwest of Bordon, just west of the A325 road.The nearest railway station is 3.4 miles south of the village, at Liss....
, Kingsley
Kingsley, Hampshire
Kingsley is a village in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is 2.1 miles north of Bordon, on the B3004 road. The village has a community centre and an inn, the Cricketers....
and Liss
Liss
Liss is a village and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is 3.3 miles northeast of Petersfield, on the A3 road, on the Hampshire/West Sussex border....
, though ordinary people continued to live in roundhouses
Roundhouse (dwelling)
The roundhouse is a type of house with a circular plan, originally built in western Europe before the Roman occupation using walls made either of stone or of wooden posts joined by wattle-and-daub panels and a conical thatched roof. Roundhouses ranged in size from less than 5m in diameter to over 15m...
. Kilns for a pottery industry that apparently supplied Londinium with its cookware must have continued the deforestation to fire the kilns. An extraordinary find, the Blackmoor hoard, consisted of 29,773 coins whose minting dated the hoard to ca 296 CE; in a battle in that year the troops under Emperor Constantius Chlorus
Constantius Chlorus
Constantius I , commonly known as Constantius Chlorus, was Roman Emperor from 293 to 306. He was the father of Constantine the Great and founder of the Constantinian dynasty. As Caesar he defeated the usurper Allectus in Britain and campaigned extensively along the Rhine frontier, defeating the...
defeated the army of the usurper Allectus
Allectus
Allectus was a Roman usurper-emperor in Britain and northern Gaul from 293 to 296.-History:Allectus was treasurer to Carausius, a Menapian officer in the Roman navy who had seized power in Britain and northern Gaul in 286...
to retake control of Britain. The hoard may have been the paychest for Allectus's troops secreted and inadvertently abandoned after their defeat.
Following the Roman withdrawal and the collapse of Romano-British culture, the first mention of the present toponym, as Wulfamere, the "wolves' pool", is a token either of reforestation of the landscape or a translation of a previous pre-Roman name.
In the eighteenth century "Wolmer" often appears in Gilbert White
Gilbert White
Gilbert White FRS was a pioneering English naturalist and ornithologist.-Life:White was born in his grandfather's vicarage at Selborne in Hampshire. He was educated at the Holy Ghost School and by a private tutor in Basingstoke before going to Oriel College, Oxford...
's The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne
The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne
The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne, or just The Natural History of Selborne is a book by pioneering English naturalist and ornithologist Gilbert White first published in 1789...
(1789), as it was included with Selborne parish. White noted that its soil consisted of sand covered with heath and fern, "without having one standing tree in the whole extent." Its bogs had formerly abounded with "subterranean trees", both blackened bog wood, used locally in house construction. In White's day the formerly plentiful Black Grouse
Black Grouse
The Black Grouse or Blackgame is a large bird in the grouse family. It is a sedentary species, breeding across northern Eurasia in moorland and bog areas near to woodland, mostly boreal...
were locally extinct, and the red deer
Red Deer
The red deer is one of the largest deer species. Depending on taxonomy, the red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Asia Minor, parts of western Asia, and central Asia. It also inhabits the Atlas Mountains region between Morocco and Tunisia in northwestern Africa, being...
, of which the poaching had occasioned the severities of the Black Act
Black Act
The Black Act , was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain passed in 1723 during the reign King George I of Great Britain in response to the Waltham deer poachers and a group of bandits known as the "Wokingham Blacks". It made it a felony to appear armed in a park or warren, or to hunt or steal...
, had been rounded up and carted to Windsor.
Only a "narrow range of enclosures" in Gilbert White's day separated the Royal Forest of "Wolmer" from Alice Holt Forest
Alice Holt Forest
Alice Holt Forest is a former royal forest in Hampshire, situated some south of Farnham, Surrey. Once predominantly an ancient oak forest, it was particularly noted in the 18th and 19th centuries for the timber it supplied for the building of ships for the Royal Navy. It is now planted mainly with...
, situated on a loamy soil that produced dense stands of oak.
Statutory designations
The Woolmer Forest Site of Special Scientific InterestSite of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...
(SSSI) was first notified, in respect of Woolmer Forest itself, in 1971; Conford Moor in the east was notified in 1959, and Blackmoor in the west in 1979. These areas were later renotified under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 in 1986, 1984 and 1985 respectively. The SSSI covers 1293.93 hectares (3,197.4 acre). The SSSI citation notes that Woolmer Forest contains the largest and most diverse area of lowland heathland in Hampshire, outside the New Forest, and that it is considered to be the most important area of heathland in the Weald
Weald
The Weald is the name given to an area in South East England situated between the parallel chalk escarpments of the North and the South Downs. It should be regarded as three separate parts: the sandstone "High Weald" in the centre; the clay "Low Weald" periphery; and the Greensand Ridge which...
of southern England.
The Woolmer Forest Special Area of Conservation
Special Area of Conservation
A Special Area of Conservation is defined in the European Union's Habitats Directive , also known as the Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora...
(SAC) was designated in April 2005 and covers 666.68 hectares (1,647.4 acre). Its main habitats are heath (62%), coniferous woodland (22%) and dry grassland (10%). Its most important features are the dystrophic areas of open water, in particular Cranmer Pond, a shallow 8 hectares (19.8 acre) pool thought to have been created by peat cutting, and Woolmer Pond; and large extents of European dry heaths. In both cases the area is considered one of the best in the UK. In addition, the SAC supports a significant presence of North Atlantic wet heaths with Erica Tetralix, and transition mires and quaking bogs.
In relation to its dry heaths, Woolmer Forest is the only site in Britain that supports all six native reptiles (including the sand lizard Lacerta agilis and smooth snake Coronella austriaca) and all six native amphibians (including the great crested newt Triturus cristatus). It also supports an outstanding invertebrate fauna and bird assemblage, including European nightjar Caprimulgus europaeus, wood lark Lullula arborea, Dartford warbler Sylvia undata, Eurasian hobby Falco subbuteo, hen harrier Circus cyaneus and merlin Falco columbarius.
Woolmer Forest is also protected by the Wealden Heaths Phase 2 Special Protection Area
Special Protection Area
A Special Protection Area or SPA is a designation under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds.Under the Directive, Member States of the European Union have a duty to safeguard the habitats of migratory birds and certain particularly threatened birds.Together with Special...
, covering 2053.83 hectares (5,075.1 acre), which was designated in March 1993 because of the presence of the rare heathland bird populations noted above such as Dartford warbler and European nightjar.