Wychwood
The Wychwood, or Wychwood Forest, is an area now covering a small part of rural Oxfordshire. In past centuries the forest covered a much larger area, since cleared in favour of agriculture, villages and towns. However, the forest's area has fluctuated. Parts cleared for agriculture during Britain's centuries under Roman rule later reverted to forest.[1]
It is believed[by whom?] that "Wych-" is derived from the Old English word Hwicce. The Hwicce were the Anglo-Saxon people living in the area from some time in the 6th century until the assimilation of the Old English peoples into the wider Middle English society.[citation needed]
Early medieval clearings were made to convert forest land to pasture for wool production.[citation needed] Irregular field boundaries in parts of the forest's former area are evidence of mediaeval assarting.[2] Later clearances elsewhere in the former forest area have left more regular field boundaries,[3] as for example in Leafield parish where the area south of the hamlet of Langley was cleared in 1857-58.[4]
Some of the land that had been cleared for agricultural use was purchased by the Woodland Trust, and re-planted with native English deciduous trees creating Shillbrook Wood, a 9-acre (3.6 ha) site near Bampton, and Eynsham Wood, a 13.37-acre (5.41 ha) site near Eynsham.[5][6]
Recent years have seen a particularly strong resurgence in Wychwood culture. A number of forest fairs take place around the Wychwood area, promoting pre-Industrial Revolution crafts and employments. The Oxford University Historical Re-Enactment Society, also known as the Wychwood Warriors, is a reenactment group that recreates aspects of Saxon life in Wychwood during the Dark Ages.[7]
The Wychwood has also given its name to a set of three villages in Oxfordshire, Milton-under-Wychwood, Shipton-under-Wychwood and Ascott-under-Wychwood. The villages together are known by locals as "The Wychwoods".
[edit] References
- ^ Rackham, 1976, page 50
- ^ Taylor, 1982, page 96
- ^ Taylor, 1982, page 146
- ^ Taylor, 1982, page 145, Figure 25a
- ^ "Shillbrook Wood". Directory of Woods. The Woodland Trust. http://www.wt-woods.org.uk/ShillbrookWood. Retrieved 2007-10-02.
- ^ "Eynsham Wood". Directory of Woods. The Woodland Trust. http://www.wt-woods.org.uk/EynshamWood. Retrieved 2007-10-02.
- ^ Wychwood Warriors
[edit] Sources and further reading
- Emery, Frank (1974). The Oxfordshire Landscape. The Making of the English Landscape. London: Hodder & Stoughton. pp. 44, 51, 57, 62, 63, 70, 71, 85–88, 109, 123, 124, 158–162, 177, 201, 229. ISBN 0 340 04301 6.
- Rackham, Oliver (1976). Trees and Woodland in the British Landscape. Archaeology in the Field Series. London: J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd. p. 50. ISBN 0 460 04183 5.
- Taylor, Christopher (1982) [1975]. Fields in the English Landscape. Archaeology in the Field Series. London: J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd. p. 96. ISBN 0 460 02232 6.
- Watney, Vernon J (1910). Cornbury And The Forest Of Wychwood. London: Hatchards.
[edit] External links
- The Wychwood Project - A promoter of Wychwood culture
- The Wychwood Magazine Online
Coordinates: 51°46′55″N 1°25′44″W / 51.782°N 1.429°W
