As a non-commercial Community web site we rely totally on people in the community to send us information and photos that will add to other people's knowledge of Exmoor and its surrounding area. Many thanks to the thousands of people who have contributed information so far to Everything Exmoor.Do you know the history of a particular place or have a story to tell about a local character? If so please send it along.
Around a quarter of Exmoor's national park is moorland but the entire area was once covered in huge trees. It was cleared for
agriculture thousands of years ago, then generations later even more
trees were cut down for timber.Exmoor is home to large sections of ancient
woodland.
To be classified as "ancient" the area must
not have been wooded for the past 400 years. Ten thousand years ago the
entire area of Exmoor would have been covered by trees before humans
stripped the land for farming. It has taken around 5,000 years for Britain
to clear nearly all of its woods, and now only 1.5% of the land is covered
by ancient woodlands. Coppicing, where tree trunks are cut back to force
new growth, used to be common practice here.
Cutting back the trees resulted in many sunny glades,
which created the perfect habit for the insect nicknamed "woodman's
follower". After
the woodmen coppiced an area, the "woodman's follower" would
move in and colonise the area.
Once coppicing decreased, so did the habitat for the insect and numbers
rapidly declined.
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This site is continually being updated - last major update 07th April 2008
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