Looking south from the slopes at High Woods Country Park we can pick out the tower of Colchester Castle, built 1076AD by Eudo and William the Conqueror on the site of a destroyed Roman temple from 49AD. Quite rightly we venerate and protect this ancient site because of its fascinating history, but we should value similarly the living historical monument of High Woods, or Kingswood as it was known for centuries. It’s effectively an open-air museum, predating the Castle by more than eight thousand years.
Almost every place in England has at least one significant period in history attached to it but Colchester’s history encompasses Iron Age, Roman, Anglo Saxon, Viking, Norman, Medieval and English Civil War. With High Woods being just 1 mile (as the Peregrine flies, or the Elephant walks) from the Castle, Colchester’s spiritual heart, its highly likely that characters from each of these previous periods acted out parts of their lives here.
There is evidence for some of these scenes, whilst others are still waiting to reveal themselves.
Mesolithic
Early in December 1989 a resident of the nascent Highwoods Housing Development, living 100 metres or so from the boundary of the Country Park, on what was the southern edge of East Wood, dug up a strange stone in his garden.
This stone (Colchester Heritage Explorer Find Spot record MCC8131) was subsequently identified as a flint axe/adze manufactured sometime in the period 8000-4000 BC, by Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) peoples who lived in hunter-gatherer communities in the forests which developed over the country after the last retreat of the ice sheets.
They had no knowledge of agricultural practices and subsisted by hunting game, fishing and collecting edible flora. Axes like the one found were used for working timber, an invaluable source of fuel, tools and material for shelters.
So far, this is the earliest link discovered between man and the land we now call High Woods Country Park. We can speculate on whether the simple, but painstakingly crafted, stone tool was used to fell some small trees to provide a Mesolithic family with a temporary shelter in the area of East Wood six or more thousand years ago. If this was the case, the family may have moved on after a few days, their rough shelter eventually collapsing and decaying, to be absorbed into the woodland once more.
Although the evolution of the Country Park landscape is a story of man’s continual involvement with the site, and its present appearance the result of that involvement, those early Mesolithic folk, as much as we are able to tell, lived far more in harmony with their environment than at any other time in our subsequent history. Earth sustained only a few million people 8,000 years ago and was still fundamentally pristine, unspoilt by human hand.
The people who used the axe were probably hunter-gatherers, continually moving from area to area to allow resources to replenish, preventing over-exploitation of any single location. They didn’t just exist alongside nature, they were nature, relying on a deep understanding of their environment, migrating with seasonal changes, and respecting the delicate balance of ecosystems, which meant they took only what they needed to survive without significantly disrupting the natural order around them.
Their knowledge of edible and medicinal plants, animal behaviour, weather patterns, and the cycles of life and death within their surroundings was crucial to not merely surviving but thriving. This knowledge, allied to far smaller populations, exerted far less pressure on the environment compared to later large-scale agriculture.
Conversely, modern man’s potential for irreparably altering his environment is far more damaging. East Wood stood, for approximately 10,000 years, as a remnant of the Ancient Woodland that established itself in Britain after the end of the last Ice Age. Those millennia came to an end in 1979 when Planning consent was granted for the development of a supermarket and the Highwoods Estate. (Note the spelling difference between High Woods, the natural area, and Highwoods, the housing estate).
Neolithic
It was not until the introduction of agriculture by Neolithic (late Stone Age) peoples, around 4000 BC that there were major changes made to the natural landscape. A more settled way of life, centred around rearing animals and growing crops, necessitated deforestation on a larger scale and it was from this period that the pattern of fields with scattered remnant woodlands began to evolve.
We have not yet discovered direct archaeological evidence of Neolithic man at High Woods but given the Mesolithic evidence, and the relative importance of Colchester in the Iron Age it is probably just a matter of time before we do so.
One thing we do know is that Neolithic man ‘managed’ woodlands, and that he developed coppicing techniques to provide timber and underwood of various dimensions for different uses. In cutting down deciduous trees, he would have been aware that they would produce new growth which could be harvested again, or coppiced, after a few years had passed, and constantly refreshing down the decades.
Coppicing
So, coppicing is one of the oldest land management practices known to man. This is where trees are cut close to the ground on a regular cycle, typically ten to twenty years. They then regrow from dormant buds at the base of the stump (known as the stool) to create dense stands of multi-stemmed trees. The new stems grow back faster to provide a sustainable timber supply rather than harvesting more mature, thicker branches. This process keeps the tree young, and can extend its longevity by centuries.
Coppiced trees can go through the cutting and re-growing cycle over and over again and so provide a sustainable source of wood. In the spring after cutting, the established root systems of the stools enable new shoots to grow much more vigorously than a newly planted tree, reaching perhaps 1.5m (5ft) or more in the first growing season, depending on the species and the growing conditions. This means that useful poles are quickly produced which can be cut once they reach the required size. The process then starts all over again. Essentially, the coppicing process keeps the tree young and healthy and extends its life.
In the Neolithic High Woods landscape, coppicing was a way for man to live in harmony with nature, cutting enough trees from a woodland area or compartment (known as a coupe) in winter to supply his requirements for that year. He would use the coppiced wood for fuel, shelter, tools, fencing and weapons. The following year he would cut the next coupe, and so on, eventually going full circle and arriving back at the first area he cut, which was now ready to cut again. In this way, the system was truly sustainable.
A large Sweet Chestnut coppice stool, likely to be several hundred years old (dog for scale)
Just as vitally, coppicing results in more edges and ecotones, which are the transition areas between ecosystems, and contribute to a mosaic of habitats, which is ideal from a biodiversity point of view.
A coppiced Small Leaved Lime in the Central Valley, over 7 feet across and likely to be one of the oldest trees in High Woods
Back to the present day and visitors to High Woods in winter will often the see the Ranger-led volunteers coppicing woodland, and it is acknowledged that it can be a shock to walk past a wooded area one day, only to be confronted with the same coppiced area the next. But a return the following summer will show a far more symapthetic, reborn habitat, with the coppicing benefits clearly apparent.