Discovering Viking Archaeology in Sherwood Forest

Archaeologists have spent the week of 17 - 22 January 2011 investigating the area of Thynghowe in Sherwood Forest. Nottinghamshire County Council archaeologists have been using GPS and Total Station surveying techniques. Archaeologists from University College London Assembly Sites Project were using magnetometry equipment to investigate the site. A 'Thyng' (things, dings, tings etc) is a Viking assembly or meeting place, where they met to resolve disputes and make the law. A 'howe' could indicate a prehistoric burial mound. This site demonstrates the possibility of many sites that may lie undiscovered in our historic and ancient forests and woodlands. Thynghowe lay beneath forestry plantation until rediscovered by myself and wife five years ago. It is not much to look at but its past reflects hundreds, if not thousands of years, of use for public assembly by the people of the 'shire' - there is evidence to suggest that 'Sherwood' comes from the original word 'Shirewood' and would have reflected the presence of an Anglo Saxon shire moot. This would have predated the Viking Thynghowe site. These assembly sites had to provide good acoustics for the open air meeting and also enough grazing pasture for horses and water for the many hundreds of people who would have attend a shire moot.

Make Sherwood Forest a 'Heritage Forest'

I welcome the Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman's admission that the government had "got this one wrong" but we must not take our eye of the ball. Safeguarding the 'cultural heritage and archaeology' contained within our local woodlands will still need to be part of any future discussions about forestry management.
Whilst access and biodiversity have been recognised as issues, the archaeology and cultural heritage of our forests seem to have been marginalised.

The debate on the Forestry Commission management of our ancient forests and woodland will still go on but the position in England is that we have possibly the highest concentration in the world of unresearched or under researched historic woodland sites.

Here in Nottinghamshire we have been actively involved with the Forestry Commission for a number of years working on the archaeology contained within Sherwood Forest. As a royal hunting forest Sherwood Forest was 20 miles long and ten miles wide. This geographic area was and is being considered as a regional park.

All Forestry Commission owned and managed woodlands in the Nottinghamshire area are therefore vital to a cohesive forestry facility. This forestry underpins the tourist industry of the area and the overall global appeal of Nottinghamshire. We must be vigilant and ensure the whole of the Sherwood Forest area becomes a designated 'Heritage Forest'.

Forest sale axed: Caroline Spelman says 'I'm sorry'

There is still much to do and be involved with to get and maintain the woodlands we deserve - so - now it is up to all of us to get involved locally with projects and volunteering - check this out for the latest news

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12488847

Forest sell-off consultation to be scrapped

A new panel of advisors to be convened to decide on forest and woodland managment. The matters of cultural heritage and archaeology in our forests and woodlands is still to be addressed.
Cameron Unhappy with Forest sell-off Plans

Forest Sell-Off: Protect our Cultural Heritage and Archaeology

There are now many reports on the issues surrounding the government sell-off our forests. The main issues seem to be the concerns of public access and maintaining biodiversity within a mono-culture plantation system. However, there does not seem to be the same level of concern about the amount of cultural heritage and archaeology contained within our ancient forests and woodlands.

The above topic seems, at present, to have been marginalised in the debate on the FC management of our ancient forests and woodland. I am just flagging this up as the position in England is that we have possibly the highest concentration in the world of unresearched or under researched woodland sites. I have been actively involved with the FC for a number of years working on the archaeology contained within Sherwood Forest. I am sure commercial forestry would not see the preservation or conservation of heritage sites within their woodland as high priority. Also, to think that any level of local authority is capable of becoming involved with woodland management in the current financial climate is a mistake. 

Local authorities here in Nottinghamshire are slashing staff and services and are not looking for new areas of responsibility. Local authorities would probably like to give away their parks and gardens as well because they have already sacked the rangers that managed them. The Woodland Trust has been looking for people to lease woodlands as they are not able to resource all the extended responsibilities, funding has been cut from the Community Forests and small woodlands have been chopped up to create 2 and 3 acre woodland gardens just to promote sales.

I am all for public involvement and social forestry but to expect the untrained and unsupported public to pick up the responsibilities of woodland management is unrealistic.

Forest Sell-off It is not over yet!

Breaking news! The government have announced they will pause forest sell-offs for a few months. It's a brilliant sign, but our forests are still in danger. If we keep working together, we can save our forests forever - not just for a few months.

The government is still going full steam ahead with changing the law to clear the way for a 100% sell-off. It looks like they hope the fuss will die down if they pause a few sales here and there - so they can press on with quietly scrapping legal protection for our public woodlands.

Our petition is now 490,000 strong. Let's show the government we will keep campaigning until English forests are safe, by making sure the petition passes half a million signatures today.

Please forward this email and ask your friends to sign:
http://www.38degrees.org.uk/save-our-forests

Picture yourself in the last forest you visited. Remember how you felt, what you saw, how peaceful it was. Now imagine hearing that this beautiful place has been auctioned off. We just can't let it happen!

By working together, bit by bit, we are protecting our woodlands for future generations. Since 38 Degrees members voted to launch this campaign, we've spread the word, emailed our MPs, and chipped in to pay for opinion polls and adverts. It’s starting to work - today is a time to celebrate. But we also need to keep the pressure building.

Please forward this email and ask your friends to help get our petition past half a million signatures today:
http://www.38degrees.org.uk/save-our-forests


Let's keep going!

David, Johnny, Hannah and the 38 Degrees team


PS:
If you use Facebook, please click here to post the petition to your profile: http://www.38degrees.org.uk/forests-facebook-share
If you use Twitter, please click here to send a tweet: http://www.38degrees.org.uk/forests-twitter-share

The Fate of Sherwood Forest

We read in the Chad this week that Mark Spencer MP for Sherwood had been given 'assurances' that 'Sherwood Forest' would not be sold off as it is not managed by the Forestry Commission.

This is misleading as 'Sherwood Forest' is much much larger than just the Country Park that is managed by Nottinghamshire County Council which I believe he may have been referring to.

The forest next to it is Birklands and is part of Sherwood Forest too. It is right next to Bilhagh (the Country Park). This area of the forest is managed by the Forestry Commission for the three estates of Fitzherbert, Thoresby, and Welbeck. In this area is what is probably the most important archaeological site in the whole of Sherwood Forest, Thynghowe. Birklands was probably part of the Northumbrian Mercian border. Thynghowe was a Viking assembly site, before that a Saxon Moot and is sited on possibly a Bronze Age burial mound. It has recently come to international attention by attendance of The Friends of Thynghowe at conferences for the Thing sites of Northern Europe. www.thynghowe.org.uk

This puts this area of Birklands which is managed by the Forestry Commission at the heart of Sherwood Forest, a significant place that has been used for thousands of years. If the Forestry Commission were forced to give up their management of Birklands and sell the contract to a private company we could lose the access and amenity of this historic site. It could be used for less sensitive commercial forestry and some of the important archaeological evidence still to be discovered could be destroyed .

We are concerned that if people in government think that Sherwood Forest as just being the Country Park, many areas of the real Sherwood Forest, those of outstanding ecological value and significant cultural heritage, will be lost because of a lack of understanding for what the whole of Sherwood Forest consists of.

Sherwood Forest is not just the Country Park of 440 acres of woodland leased from the Thorseby Estate by Nottinghamshire County Council. It is much, much larger than that and part of our collective national heritage.

The woodland areas of Sherwood Pines, Thieves Wood, Wellow Wood, Silverhill Wood, and Blidworth Wood are all in the bounds of Sherwood Forest and could all be sold off.

The Forest of Dean, and the New Forest contain many woodlands, villages and open heathland pasture as does Sherwood Forest. As a royal hunting forest Sherwood Forest was 20 miles long and ten miles wide. This geographic area was and is being considered as a regional park. All Forestry Commission owned and managed woodlands in the Nottinghamshire area are therefore vital to a cohesive forestry facility. This forestry underpins the tourist industry of the area and the overall global appeal of Nottinghamshire.

The Nottinghamshire County Council has already sidelined the visitor centre for the Sherwood Forest Country Park. The NCC has also indicated that most of the rangers will be made redundant. The combined effect, along with Forestry Commission redundancies, could make all the hard work and money spent over the last 30 years a complete waste of time. We could be close to losing something far bigger than the local MP for Sherwood realises.

See also 'Is Sherwood Forest Targetted for DEFRA sell-off' 

http://sherwoodforest.info

Save Our Forests - How Did Your MP Vote?

http://www.38degrees.org.uk/page/content/forest_vote_table/

Forests sell-off not done deal, says Caroline Spelman

 Latest News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12377215

Government urged to rethink forest sell off plan

Watch the debate here
http://news.bbc.co.uk/democracylive/hi/house_of_commons/newsid_9385000/9385055.stm

Books on Woodland and the Countryside

An acknowledged authority on the British countryside, especially trees, woodlands and wood pasture, Rackham has written a number of well-known books, including The History of the Countryside (1986) and one on Hatfield Forest. He has also studied and published extensively on the ecology of Crete, Greece.
In 1998 he was awarded the OBE for "services to Nature Conservation".^[1] In 2006 he was appointed Honorary Professor of Historical Ecology in the Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge.

Forest Sell Off Could Cost Taxpayer

Check these out - there is a debate today - tell your MP we do not want our forests and woodlands sold off:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/8296959/Forest-sell-off-could-cost-taxpayer.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/official-englands-forest-selloff-will-cost-more-than-it-saves-2201501.html