Download or read book Rethinking Ancient Woodland written by Gerry Barnes and published by Univ of Hertfordshire Press. This book was released on 2015-10-01 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Ancient woodland' is a term widely used in England for long-established semi-natural woods, shaped by centuries of traditional management. Such woods are often assumed to provide a direct link with the natural vegetation of England, as this existed before the virgin forests were fragmented by the arrival of farming. This groundbreaking study questions many of these assumptions. Drawing on more than a decade of research in Norfolk, the authors emphasize the essentially unnatural character of ancient woods.