This project bought a striking and detailed historical perspective on the changing tree landscape of the Quantock’s fringing parklands and hedgerows.

Focusing on how the number, size, and species of individual trees (outside woodland) has changed over the last 200 years or so, it has renewed interest in the importance of trees in the lowland landscape.

This project was the archive and outreach-based part of the LPS work on significant trees in the Quantock landscape. It worked with, and was closely linked to, contemporary field recording and survey undertaken as part of 2.2 Quantock Hedgerows and 2.8 Quantock Monitoring Volunteers. It also worked closely with project 3.4 Unlocking the Archives, which made new estate record collections available for analysis for the first time.

Alfoxton Park Estate is the first estate we began to investigate. In Autumn 2021 we conducted some initial tree surveys on some notable ancient trees. These surveys have then been compared to historical records to try to understand the changing landscape of this historical parkland.