What would the UK look like without all of the grazing sheep and crops?

[Aristotle]

Having been to the Lakes last week and into North Wales this week, it struck me how relatively few trees there are in this country.

Obviously, I was aware of this before, and have been to New England in the past where there are *a lot* of trees.

If we had not cleared the land for farming and let sheep eat everything would the Lake District (& Scottish) hills be covered in trees and look like Vermont? I'm assuming that it wouldn't look like the Alps as the the tree-line would be above the tops and there are no glaciers or areas of constant snow.

Had we not drained the wetlands, what would our low-lying areas inland from the coast look like? How deep was the water before the drainage took place?

 

[Trunks]

I remember doing "history" when younger and being told that several hundred years ago if you chose the right course, you could walk from the south of england to the north, pretty much all under woodland - oh for a time machine.

 

[JonathanD]

That's right, years ago, this country was all forest. What an amazing bimble we could have had back then.

 

[Aristotle]

So is it correct that the Lakeland fells would have been covered in trees back in the day? What about Snowdonia and the Scottish Highlands?

When I did history I heard that a lot of the trees went on Iron production and ship building (~2000 Oak trees for a galleon!)

 

[JonathanD]

So is it correct that the Lakeland fells would have been covered in trees back in the day? What about Snowdonia and the Scottish Highlands?

When I did history I heard that a lot of the trees went on Iron production and ship building (~2000 Oak trees for a galleon!)

You would get clearings and open places where topsoil is thin over rocks like Snowdonia and certain places in the Highlands. You would also get marshes that would not have as many trees and places with loose moving topsoils close to rivers that could not hold a root system. We also had bison and beavers creating natural clearings and grass lands. But, for the most part, trees would dominate the landscape.

 

[Aristotle]

Which 2010 area of the world would most closely resemble northern England 200/500/1000 years ago?

 

[JonathanD]

Probably the Belarusian forest. It still has all of the species we killed off and is vast. Considered to be one of the last of Northern Europes primeval forests.

 

[Trunks]

Tough one that. Some parts of New Zealand might come close to the peak/lake district, different trees though.

 

[Retired Member southey]

I should think if you look at undeveloped areas of eastern europe, the old soviet states would probably bear a good resemblance of this country 1000 years ago for the canopy cover, mabey a few more knights though?

 

[Aristotle]

Probably the Belarusian forest. It still has all of the species we killed off and is vast.

Interesting.

I once took the Train between Moscow and Tallin -that was a very large area of forest and was only a small part of it....
There were some great-looking wooden houses and about as far from a Moscow tower block as I could imagine.

 

[Aristotle]

There are some great images of the forest on the www:

 

[JonathanD]

I've had a few colleagues and friends spend time in it. Everyone has raved about how untouched some areas are, and how diverse the species found there. At the moment it is still large enough to sustain a natural eco system as it was in primeval times. I would love to go there myself one day before it shrinks.

 

[Aristotle]

How large were the inland expanses of bog/marsh/swamp? Did they have tree cover or were they areas of shallow water and surrounded by spongey ground as per Blakemere Moss that has been re-flooded in Delamere Forest?

There were presumably areas of slightly higher ground that people travelled on and settlements were built on.

 

[JonathanD]

No idea how big they could get, but no doubt they would be vast in some areas. I'd also imagine you'd get all permutations of the options you've mentioned. There would have been quite a bit more water inland than there is now. You also have to remember that beavers could have a major influence on the landscape and create those environments where they did not occur natually otherwise.

Archeological evidence certainly points to marshland being very prolific millennia ago.

 

[Aristotle]

There would have been quite a bit more water inland than there is now.

Certainly in West Lancs, near my parents, there a lot of place called 'xxxx Moss', which are now fertile arable land.

 

[Retired Member southey]

It's a good hint to look at historic trackway, sutch as the ridge way in Wiltshire, if you look at an old map of routes through the Avon valley there are a number areas where the ridgeway is almost on the river bank, so this part wouldn't be prone to flooding where as other areas there are two tracks one higher one continuing along the river bank(as a lot of settlements we're next/near to the rivers) two tracks would mean that at certain times the lower track would be impassable probably through flooding, this can give you an idea as to where the wetter areas of of the country would be.

 

[Aristotle]

good point.

On a similar note, when did almost every road in the UK become surfaced with tarmac? Was there a big push at some point? I think that every other country I've ever been to appears to have a lot more 'un-metalled' road.

 

[Retired Member southey]

Your looking at more recent history there, it was probably around the time that tarmac started to be applyed by machine. i should have thought up till then, a fair majority of the road system would still have been a hardcore top type.

 

[robin wood]

Which 2010 area of the world would most closely resemble northern England 200/500/1000 years ago?

I think most folk don't realise how far back most of our woodland was cleared. We are now around 8% cover but increasing, the only less wooded country in Europe is Ireland. The bulk of this clearance was actually pre Roman and had nothing to do with iron smelting or building galleons as is often misrepresented. If you cut woodland for charcoal for iron or oak for ships it regrows, most of the areas with good woodland cover now are the areas that were coppiced for iron smelting eg the Weald of Kent and the South Lakes. The way to get rid of woodland is not to cut it for use but put grazing livestock in, it takes a generation to destroy a woodland this way but it happens with very little work.

The majority of woodland clearance happened before the Romans arrived, from memory Oliver Rackham suggests we were around 20% cover then (similar to France today) the last 2000 years accounted for clearing half of what was left.

 

[locum76]

There's the old story about how a squirrel used to be able to cross Scotland from east to west without touching the ground.