SOMERSHAM WOOD: KELSALE-CUM-CARLTON’S LOST WOODLAND JERRY BOWDREY
At around 3,620 acres, Kelsale-cum-Carlton is one of the largest Suffolk parishes. It is situated to the north-east of the town of Saxmundham and is bisected by the A12.
The Parish’s Biodiversity Group is currently engaged in identifying local habitats and species to inform the production of a local biodiversity action plan. Woodland is a scarce habitat in the Parish, comprising mostly secondary woodland or plantations and with only two likely ancient woodland survivors identified, amounting to only around 1% of the total land area.
Browsing through chapter one of Battye & Cullen (2017) my attention was drawn to Plate 2, part of a map dated 1616, showing detail of Kelsale Park. Intriguingly, on the margin, part of a woodland was marked. On contacting Suffolk Flora Preservation Trust (SFPT) to seek further information, I was put in touch with one of SFPT’s guardians, John Rainer (JR).
JR considered it likely that the location of the wood on this earlier map was inaccurate, a later map of 1638, by Thomas Waterman, shows the wood in more detail and in a different location, further to the east. He kindly supplied me with an image from this map, showing the complete extent of the wood (Fig. 2) which has an irregular circular outline and is just over 20 acres in extent.
When the 1638 map showing the extent of former deer park is superimposed onto the Lidar image, the fit is almost perfect. JR comments ‘Assuming the accuracy shown on the park map of 1638 extends to the location of the wood, then the wood is placed within 20 metres of its likely position’ (Figs. 3, 4 & 5).
A shallow, linear feature just visible running across the former site of the wood for around 35 metres is only centimetres high (Figs. 2 and 3) and corresponds well with the former line of a boundary hedge shown on the 6” Ordnance Survey Map (1957) and since grubbed out.
JR was also able to calculate the area of the wood which corresponds almost exactly with that shown on the map of 1638.
Discussion
No trace of Somerton Wood remains on the ground today in what is now an intensively farmed arable landscape and under arable cultivation since at least 1839 (Burnay, 2001). However, it is possible from the adjacent Tiggins Lane, looking southeast towards Butcher’s Road, to make out its likely original position on the brow of the hill between an overgrown pond (left) and a solitary oak (right) on the horizon (Fig. 6).
Tiggins Lane (shown as Kitt’s Road on the 6” Ordnance Survey map of 1884) is in part a sunken lane (Fig. 7) running alongside a tributary of the River Fromus. This stream, often dry, flows under the lane at the southern edge of the intriguingly named Whale’s Mouth Meadow, now partly scrub and part plantation. Parts of the lane’s verges are also now designated a Roadside Nature Reserve (RNR) on account of their flora.
The prevalent soil type around Tiggins Lane is chalky boulder clay, but there are also sandy deposits near the stream as evident from mammal burrows in disused pits, as well as in roadside banks.
Evidence for the existence of woodland from the present-day flora
Rose (1981) pointed out that shady hedge banks and hollow, sunken lanes often have woodland-type floras and may preserve actual relics of former woodlands that once existed nearby.
Since 2014 I have been recording the flora and fauna around my home in the centre of Kelsale village. In Tiggins Lane and its environs, around 130 species of flowering plants and ferns have so far been identified. Does this present-day flora give further support to the documentary evidence of woodland in the area?
Woodlands are land on which trees have arisen naturally (Rackham, 1986), the term ‘Ancient Woodland’ being used for those woodlands that were in existence prior to 1600 AD (Sanford & Fisk, 2010). Although the first documentary evidence for Somerton Wood dates from 1616, it is quite likely that it was in existence prior to 1600. Further evidence of antiquity is an irregular outline coupled with the location on a sloping hilltop, woodlands tending to survive on land that was not good for growing anything else (Rackham, 1986).
Although there is some debate over which plant species can reliably be considered as woodland indicator species in Britain; the most recent list available for Suffolk is included in a County Wildlife Site Criteria document (SBIS, 2022). This is based on an original manuscript list compiled by Martin Sanford and Francis Rose and later included in a national review by Glaves et al. (2009). Over 80 species are listed, divided into main and scarce species lists.
The total of 130 plant species for the area in question does include a number of species strongly indicative of woodland habitats including Allium ursinum (Ramsons) (Fig. 10), Anemone nemorosa (Wood Anemone) (Fig. 10), Mercurialis perennis (Dog’s Mercury), Primula vulgaris (Primrose), Ranunculus auricomus (Goldilocks Buttercup) and Sanicula europaea (Sanicle) (Fig. 9). These, in the main, are confined to the shadier, low-lying parts of the lane where it slopes down to and eventually crosses the River Fromus. See Table 1 for the full list of woodland associated species recorded within one Kilometre of the site of Somerton Wood.
Of the hedgerow trees in Tiggins Lane, the oldest, a pollard oak Quercus robur) (Fig. 8) with a girth of about 5 metres, may be around 350 years old and have been contemporaneous with Somerton Wood as a young tree. It stands on the opposite side of Tiggins Lane (TM390659) near to the point where the predicted boundary of the wood comes closest to the lane itself.
As well as oak, younger native hedgerow trees present are: Acer campestre (Field Maple), Corylus avellana (Hazel), Crataegus monogyna (Hawthorn), Fraxinus excelsior (Ash), Prunus spinosa (Blackthorn), Ulmus minor (Elm), in addition to those listed in Table 1.
Scientific Name
Common Name Tree or shrub + Notes from Sanford & Fisk (2010)
Ajuga reptans Bugle
Allium ursinum Ramsons
Anemone nemorosa Wood Anemone Ancient woodland on boulder clay
Carpinus betulus Hornbeam +
Clematis vitalba Traveller’s Joy
Cornus sanguineum Dogwood +
Euonymus europaeus Spindle +
Iris foetidissima Stinking Iris
Malus sylvestris s. str. Crab Apple +
Mercurialis perennis Dog’s Mercury
Polypodium vulgare Common Polypody
Polystichum aculeatum Hard Shield Fern
Potentilla sterilis Barren Strawberry
Primula vulgaris Primrose
Ranunculus auricomus Goldilocks
Buttercup
Rosa arvensis Field Rose +
One of the most reliable indicator species for Suffolk
Widespread on boulder clay, associated with old undisturbed habitats
Sanicula europaea Sanicle Woods on boulder clay
Sorbus aucuparia Rowan +
Viola riviniana Common Dog
Violet
Conclusion
So far, less than 20% of Suffolk woodland associated plant species have been found in the area around the former site of Somerton Wood, of these, some, considered to be strong woodland indicators, occur only as single, isolated stands (e.g., Common Polypody, Hard Shield Fern, Sanicle, Wood Anemone).
Evidence from maps indicates that Somerton Wood must have been grubbed out post 1636 and before the tithe map of 1839, drawn up by James Smy of Saxmundham (Burnay, 2001). There was a period of woodland clearances in the mid-18th century, but the tithe map shows that Somerton Wood was already gone before the resurgence in woodland clearance from 1850 onwards (Rackham, 1986). Since then, changes in agricultural practice, hedgerow and verge management would doubtless have had an adverse effect on any surviving woodland flora, which may account for this comparatively low figure. However, it is still possible that some of the species may actually be descendants of those occurring in the original woodland.
Two privately owned sites, managed for nature conservation, already abut Tiggins Lane and coupled with its status as a RNR, perhaps there is a worthwhile case to be made for a wilding scheme to recreate Somerton Wood!
Appendix 1: Image credits
Figs. 1, 2, 3 Produced on behalf of Suffolk Flora Preservation Trust, reproduced by permission of Sir Charles Blois.
Figs. 3, 4, 5 Produced on behalf of Suffolk Flora Preservation Trust. Lidar image contains public sector information licensed under Open Government License version 3.0. Data processing and rendering John Rainer
Figs. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
J. P.Acknowledgements
Bowdrey
I should like to thank especially, John Rainer for his research and assistance with this paper, for data processing and rendering of the aerial, Lidar and map images and reading through the manuscript and suggesting improvements, as well as the Suffolk Flora Preservation Trust for permitting the reproduction of the maps and Lidar images.
My thanks also to Martin Sanford (S.B.I.S.) for providing literature and links and for confirming my fern identifications.
References
Battye, R. & Cullen, J. (Eds) (2017). Barons to botanists. Landholders and land use on two Suffolk nature reserves. (Adult Education Series: 4 (2017). Leiston, Leiston Press.
Burnay, S. G. (2001). Kelsale-cum-Carlton in the 1840s. (A snapshot of village life in rural Suffolk). (Suffolk Snapshots No. 3). Newbury, Sigma Books.
Glaves, P., Rotheram, I. D., Wright, B., Handley, C., & Burbeck, J. (2009). A survey of the coverage, use and application of ancient woodland indicator lists in the UK. A report to the Woodland Trust. Sheffield, Hallam Environmental Consultants Ltd. Ordnance Survey (1957). Sheet TM 36 NE 6” to 1 mile. Chessington, Ordnance Survey. Rackham, O. (1986). The history of the countryside. London, Dent.
Rose, F. (1981). The wild flower key. London, Warne.
Sanford, M. & Fisk, R. (2010). A flora of Suffolk. Ipswich, D. K and M. N. Sanford. Suffolk Biodiversity Information Service (2022). Suffolk County Wildlife Sites: Selection criteria. Available at https://www.suffolksbis.org.uk/sites/default/files/images/ protected sites/cws-selection.pdf consulted 26.x.2022
Jerry Bowdrey
10, Dennys Lane, Kelsale IP172PD jeremybowdrey@btinternet.com