You say coppice, I say copse

I walked around the margins of some farm fields on the daily dog walk today and noticed that there were clumps of hazel planted at very regular intervals. I'm pretty sure that these are remnants from the days when farmers and smallholders engaged in copsing.

Copsing or coppicing (both traditionally pronounced as 'cop-sing' though the 'cop-iss-ing' version seems to be gaining ground) is a traditional method of woodland management. It exploits the capacity of some species of trees to put out new shoots from their stump or roots if cut down. In a copse, young tree stems are repeatedly cut down to near ground level, resulting in a 'stool'. New growth emerges and, after a number of years, the copsed tree is harvested, and the cycle begins again. 

Here you can clearly see the stools and the fact that a large number of rods have sprung up from one original trunk that was copsed.

In the case of hazel, you get long straight poles that can be chopped and seasoned for use as firewood or to make charcoal. Or the green wood can be split and woven to make things like wattles for use in construction of buildings, or  hurdles to act as fences or windbreaks. 

Nearby Grange Farm is a Grade II listed building and parts of it go back to the 15th and early 16th century. When in was in the hands of my friends, Andy and Mel James, I got a good chance to look around and the very oldest parts did show evidence of wattle and daub construction - such as this specially left hole in the wall above the fireplace. 

Perhaps the original farmers planted the hazel copses for this very purpose? If they did, then they are obviously no longer needed as they've been left to grow wild and some of the poles are now very thick.

There's a nicely restored 1983 episode of Old Country on YouTube (click here to watch) in which the late great Jack Hargreaves explains copsing and meets a hurdle maker. It's a lovely nostalgic watch. 

And yes, he was the inspiration for The Fast Show's forever coughing Bob Fleming.