How did heathland happen?

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Pictures of Sunningdale or Liphook in their early days show them to be barren heaths with few or no trees. If you leave heathland unmanaged for even a year trees and scrub quickly grow. So why were these places barren, and for what purpose?

[Philip Spogard]

Heathlands are originally the result of human management schemes in some form or another - e.g. it can  be through clearing of the (native) trees or as grassing areas for cattle, sheep, etc. (or often a combination).

As you say they can change appearance extremely rapidly. Often they are invaded by pioneering species such as pine and birch which spreads quickly and grows fast. It is extremely important to actively maintain the heathlands and their unique habitats if they are not to be lost.

(There are also certain technical soil characteristics that defines e.g. the UK heathlands.)

I wrote a dissertation on the matter of working with established heathland courses around two years ago and carried out a series of case studies on The Berkshire, Wentworth, Walton Heath, Woking and Sunningdale.

Besides Walton Heath - and to some degree Sunningdale New - it is my impression that the rest of the courses have lost or are close to losing all of their heathland defining characteristics.

[Mark Chaplin]

Philip I take that's why WH have removed 1000s of trees to open up the courses again and return to a more traditional heathland look?

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Hankley Common is another where thousands of trees have been removed - it adjoins Thursley Common which is a SSSI (again, very actively managed).

What intrigues me is that there are certain flora and fauna unique to heathland such as the Dartford warbler. Heaths must have been managed for a very long time for such species to evolve.

[Philip Spogard]

Most of the heathlands are thousands of years old and are a result of earlier settlements/clearings + the soil conditions.

Walton Heath have undertaken massive heathland restoration efforts to restore the courses and the playing characteristics from a landscape point of view.

Hankley Common removed - as far as I remember - approx. 25 hectares of trees to restore the heather. It is a very special place in my mind - and a link to how most of the heathland courses used to look and play.

[Philip Spogard]

Some of the courses have their own unique (landscape and golf course architectural) history.

While Sunningdale seemed to be naturally open heathland when it was laid out - according to old photos - The Berkshire was actually only open heathland as a result of tree clearing for use in WWI trenches. When the courses opened (1928) it had matured into heathland as there seemed to be a mature seedbank in the soil.

Both of these courses have now become predominantly tree lined and few golfers are even aware of the lanscape transformation that has occured from their opening to the courses we now play.

I would have loved to tee it out on the courses at Sunningdale anno 1930!

[TEPaul]

"Pictures of Sunningdale or Liphook in their early days show them to be barren heaths with few or no trees. If you leave heathland unmanaged for even a year trees and scrub quickly grow. So why were these places barren, and for what purpose?"


Mark:

Interesting question. Do you feel any logical answers have been provided so far on this thread?

If not, I'll offer a possibility even if I have no idea at all about it's historical accuracy regarding the English heathland's trees. Is it possible at some point in the late 19th century that the heathlands were essentially clear-cut of many to most of its trees as some large parts of Eastern Long Island (New York) were in the late 19th century for the purpose of lumber production to support the huge demand of the ship building industry (and other wood demanding industries of the mid to late 19th century)?

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Tom, You could be right. Surrey in particular was dense forest in the middle ages and later, which is why there are so few old towns.  Old villages, yes, but not towns. Most of Britain had been covered in trees but the big landowners chopped the majority of trees down, for agriculture and for safety. But you wouldn't try to grow crops on Surrey heathland. In both World Wars they tried growing crops on golf courses and on the heathland ones it was a waste of time. In Sunningdale's case the land was owned by St John's College, Cambridge. What did they want with a barren heath. They'd got the fens if they wanted something otherworldly.

[TEPaul]

"But you wouldn't try to grow crops on Surrey heathland. In both World Wars they tried growing crops on golf courses and on the heathland ones it was a waste of time. In Sunningdale's case the land was owned by St John's College, Cambridge. What did they want with a barren heath. They'd got the fens if they wanted something otherworldly."


Mark:

I believe I'm right in saying that one of the most remarkable coincidences in the history of golf was that a particular type of soil makeup was first discovered INLAND in the English heathlands that fundamentally matched the remarkable soil makeup of the Scottish seaside linksland.

The point is, in both areas that soil makeup was incredibly acidic which meant those particular land areas (Scottish linksland AND English heathlands) were essentially useless for the growing of crops.

And not just that but two particular types of grass----eg agrostis (bent) and festuca (fescue) just happen to prosper in highly acidic soil which renders most of their natural competition useless. The fact that those two types of grasses happened to be the best for the playing of golf (and still are) is the second remarkable coincidence!

[Tom Dunne]

In the case of southeast England, the Romans were often the original creators of heathland, as they deforested wide areas to fuel their ironworks. Iron production was big in the Sussex weald well into the 18th century. 

[Tony_Muldoon]

“Lowland Heath, with its wide, open tracts of heather and gorse, is today viewed essentially as an amenity landscape and wildlife habitat.  Yet it was once a significant economic resource, worthy of protection through an intricate system of rights and customs. From the North of Scotland to the furthest pint of western Cornwall, Britain’s heaths were the scene of intensive human activity, ranging from the grazing of livestock to the mining of iron and copper and the making of heather honey and ale. Shepherds, furze-cutters, flint-knappers, rabbit warreners, bracken-gathers and turf-cutters all made a living in what were often difficult and unforgiving conditions.

...the last two centuries have seen the loss of more than 80 percent of British Heathland, either smothered under swathes of intensive agriculture, forestry, roads, and housing, or left unmanaged to become overgrown by scrub and woodland.  Those that lived there, and their way of life, have become distant memories. Far from being a valued component in the rural economy, Heathland became derided as barren and useless, its inhabitants backward and in need of ‘improvement’.”


From the cover blurb to “Heathland”, author James Parry, published by the National Trust.


Reading the above seems to be making a case for Golf Courses to be a natural successor in terms of economic use of this land. Maintained sensitively it’s a good way to preserve the still existing Heathlands. I suspect it will be along time before the National Trust accepts Golf courses as being a useful part of the rural economy that should be nurtured.

The decline of grazing and the decimation of the rabbit population by Myxomatosis also played its part in allowing the trees to take over.

The excellent Walton Heath Club history mentions the objections of locals at the turn of the last century to the loss of their livelihoods. Mineral extraction, turf cutting and exercising/racing horses.

Mark the book also states that part of the economy of the heath was providing work for Papagano – the bird catcher. The Linnet and the Dartford Warbler bwere especially prized by Victorians.





(moorland really)