Thetford Forest

Thetford Forest
Thetford Forest
	A view of the forest
Type	Woodland
Location	Norfolk and Suffolk
Coordinates	52°27′37″N 0°38′53″E / 52.46028°N 0.64797°E
Area	19,000 ha (47,000 acres)
Created	1922
Operated by	Forestry England
Visitors	1 million+
Open	All year
Website	Forestry England

Thetford Forest is the largest lowland pine forest in Britain and is located in a region straddling the north of Suffolk and the south of Norfolk in England. It covers over 19,000 ha (47,000 acres)^[1] in the form of a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

History

Thetford Forest was created after the

flint-mining, the construction of rabbit warrens and other activities. Grime's Graves

is located within the forest.

Making a landscape

Acquiring the land

By the end of the

landed estates in England were bleak and particularly acute in areas of poor soil like Breckland. Farms were left untenanted and land became derelict. At this time Forestry England had been established. In 1922, the first purchases of land were made with over 80% of the land in Thetford Forest acquired in the 1920s and 1930s in the form of large blocks of land from the former estates.^[1]

Management

Since the forest's inception, decisions affecting the forest have been taken locally at the Divisional Offices at

gangers or foremen who supervised the forestry workers. The forest workers were organised into gangs of between three and thirty, their tasks included clearing ground, planting, weeding and later brashing and thinning.^[1]

Labour and labour camps

Breckland of the 1920s was an area of high

depression

deepened training camps were established. From 1928 up to 1938, 21 camps and a further 10 only used in the summer months housing a total of 6000 men were scattered throughout the infant forest. The unemployment schemes and mass unemployment came to an end with the onset of World War II.^[1]

The war years saw a drastic shortage of labour as local men joined the

demobbed servicemen. During the post-war years the number of people employed increased to 570 by 1950. However, with the development of the nearby town of Thetford recruitment of labour became more difficult. With the introduction of modern technology and the use of modern weedkillers these problems eased through the sixties and by the mid-1970s the numbers of workers was similar to the 1930s.^[1]

Planting

Seed collection

The vast quantities of trees needed for the forest in its infancy needed huge amounts of seed much of it obtained locally. Men and women were sent out into the countryside, gathering

cones from existing plantations and pine hedges. As the new plantations matured it was possible to obtain seed from the forest itself. From 1925 the seed was extracted from the cones at the Seed Extraction Unit at Santon Downham, this continued to be operated until 1964. Once the seed had germinated the seedlings were transplanted after one year's growth. This was later increased to two years. After being lined out in the nursery they were grown on for one to two years before they were planted in the forest.^[1]

Tree species

As soon as a property was acquired by the Commission planting began with the majority of the forest planted within the first 20 years. The

maple have been established.^[1]

The forest matures

Maintenance and industry

As the trees became established and were approximately 20 feet high all side shoots up to six feet were removed. This process called brashing ensured easy access, less risk of fire and the first six feet of the tree had a reduced knotty core. The next stage after brashing was pre-thinning this process was carried out after 15 to 16 years. It involved the removal of diseased trees. Larger trees known as wolves were also removed as they suppressed their smaller and straighter more valuable neighbours.

wallboard and some 60 tons of pine transported each week to a wood wool factory in Manchester. Large numbers of thinnings were taken to the Commission's own creosote plant at Santon Downham which was established in 1958 before closing in 1970. As the forest matured the size of the material being removed increased and clear felling of mature areas began with felled timber being sold directly to timber merchants. By the mid 1960s chainsaws had been introduced and by the early 1980s specially adapted tractors and trailers known as forwarders came into widespread operation. With the arrival of the harvester in 1991 full mechanization had reached the forest. Some 2500 trees were being extracted each day producing 180,000 cubic metres of timber annually by 1997. Much of this is sold to local saw mills and used in the building industry with the remainder producing fence posts, pallets and pit props.^[1]

Conservation

Visitor numbers have been increasing steadily from the 1950s as the forest matured and now exceed 1 million annually. Open areas created by felling have made the forest a more pleasant place for visitors to walk and picnic. These changes have now attracted a wider variety of wildlife including birds such as

SSSIs which have been chosen as representative of the principal Breckland habitats.^[1]

Biodiversity

The forest is largely surrounded by farmland, as well as the villages of West Stow, Ingham, Elveden, and the towns of Mundford and Thetford in Norfolk, and Brandon and Mildenhall in Suffolk. However, it has a high level of biodiversity. It is home to a large population of hares, rabbits and gamebirds. Several species of deer also reside there, muntjac, roe deer and a small population of red deer, the last hunted by the Norwich Staghounds before deer hunting was outlawed.^[3]

The forest is well known for its scarce breeding birds, such as

Stone curlews breed on the edges of the forest and there is often a wintering great grey shrike

.

High Lodge Visitors Centre

High Lodge Visitors Centre was opened in 1992 and has a cafe, cycle hire, adventure play areas, walking trails, outdoor concerts, theatre and entertainment. It is also the home to the Go Ape high wire adventure course.^[5]

Mountain biking

The forest is a popular destination for

singletrack, several black-graded bomb holes and a steeply undulating section called "The Beast" at the end of the Lime Burner Trail.

National cross-country cycling races are held in the forest. There is also a recently formed organisation called TIMBER (Thetford Improved Mountain Biking EnviRonment) which aims to work with Forestry England to improve the mountain bike trails in the forest.

In popular culture

Annual concerts from notable musicians including

Steps, Ed Sheeran all played concerts in the forest during summer 2012.^[7]

The forest was used as a location for the BBC series Dad's Army.^[8]

Other activities

The

Roman road, known as Peddars Way leads from the north Norfolk coast and reaches its end in Thetford Forest, near Knettishall. Other walking routes in the Forest connect to it.^[9] There is also a walk way through the trees called 'Go Ape'. There is a Center Parcs holiday resort at Elveden which also brings many visitors. The British Siberian Husky Racing Association^[10]

hold several husky racing events in the forest each winter.

^
ISBN 0-906219-45-0
.

^ Forestry Commission - Santon Downham Retrieved 23 August 2013
^ page 4 Norwich Staghounds Retrieved 18 June 2013
^ Thetford Forest Park Mayday. - U.K. Forestry
^ High Lodge visitor centre Retrieved 23 February 2012
^ Music concerts
^ http://www.forestry.gov.uk/music Music concerts
^ http://www.iknow-eastanglia.co.uk/tourist_information/norfolk/thetford/thetford-tourist-information.htm Thetford Tourist Information
^ Peddars Way and Thetford Forest Walks - U.K. Forestry
^ British Siberian Husky Racing Association
^ Little Ouse path

External links

Map sources for Thetford Forest

Forestry England - Thetford Forest

52°27′37″N 0°38′53″E / 52.46028°N 0.64797°E / 52.46028; 0.64797

[Thet-1] 
ISBN 0-906219-45-0
.

[2] Forestry Commission - Santon Downham Retrieved 23 August 2013

[3] 4 Norwich Staghounds Retrieved 18 June 2013

[4] Thetford Forest Park Mayday. - U.K. Forestry

[5] High Lodge visitor centre Retrieved 23 February 2012

[6] Music concerts

[7] ttp://www.forestry.gov.uk/music Music concerts

[8] ttp://www.iknow-eastanglia.co.uk/tourist_information/norfolk/thetford/thetford-tourist-information.htm Thetford Tourist Information

[9] Peddars Way and Thetford Forest Walks - U.K. Forestry

[10] British Siberian Husky Racing Association

[11] Little Ouse path

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