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A recently coppiced alder stool in Hampshire.
The same alder stool after one year's regrowth

Coppicing is a traditional method of woodland management which exploits the capacity of many species of trees to put out new shoots from their stump or roots if cut down. In a coppiced wood, which is called a copse, young tree stems are repeatedly cut down to near ground level, known as a stool. New growth emerges and after a number of years, the coppiced tree is harvested and the cycle begins anew. Pollarding is a similar process carried out at a higher level on the tree.

Many silviculture practices involve cutting and regrowth; coppicing has been of significance in many parts of lowland temperate Europe. The widespread and long-term practice of coppicing as a landscape-scale industry is something that remains of special importance in southern England. Many of the English-language terms referenced in this article are particularly relevant to historic and contemporary practice in that area.


Coppicing maintains trees at a juvenile stage, and a regularly coppiced tree will never die of old age; some coppice stools may therefore reach immense ages. The age of a stool may be estimated from its diameter, and some are so large—perhaps as much as 5.4 metres (18 ft) across—that they are thought to have been continually coppiced for centuries.[2]


Berlin Britzer Garten, coppiced willow tree in the spring of March 2018

Evidence suggests that coppicing has been continuously practised since pre-history.[3] Coppiced stems are characteristically curved at the base. This curve occurs as the competing stems grow out from the stool in the early stages of the cycle, then up towards the sky as the canopy closes. The curve may allow the identification of coppice timber in archaeological sites. Timber in the Sweet Track in Somerset (built in the winter of 3807 and 3806 BC) has been identified as coppiced lime.[4]

Originally, the silvicultural system now called coppicing was practiced solely for small wood production. In German this is called Niederwald, which translates as low forest. Later on in Mediaeval times[when?] farmers encouraged pigs to feed from acorns and so some trees were allowed to grow bigger. This different silvicultural system is called in English coppice with standards. In German this is called Mittelwald (middle forest). As modern forestry (Hochwald in German, which translates as High forest) seeks to harvest timber mechanically, and pigs are generally no longer fed from acorns, both systems have declined. However, there are cultural and wildlife benefits from these 2 silvicultural systems so both can be found where timber production or some other main forestry purpose (such as a protection forest against an avalanche) is not the sole management objective of the woodland.[5]

In the 16th and 17th centuries the technology of charcoal iron production became widely established in England, continuing in some areas until the late 19th century[6] Along with the growing need for oak bark for tanning, this required large amounts of coppice wood. With this coppice management, wood could be provided for those growing industries in principle indefinitely. This was regulated by a statute of 1544 [7] of Henry VIII, which required woods to be enclosed after cutting (to prevent browsing by animals) and 12 standels (standards or mature uncut trees) to be left in each acre, to be grown into timber. Coppice with standards (scattered individual stems allowed to grow on through several coppice cycles) has been commonly used throughout most of Europe[when?] as a means of giving greater flexibility in the resulting forest product from any one area. The woodland provides not only the small material from the coppice but also a range of larger timber for jobs like house building, bridge repair, cart-making and so on.

In the 18th century coppicing in Britain began a long decline. This was brought about by the erosion of its traditional markets. Firewood was no longer needed for domestic or industrial uses as coal and coke became easily obtained and transported, and wood as a construction material was gradually replaced by newer materials. Coppicing died out first in the north of Britain and steadily contracted towards the south-east until by the 1960s active commercial coppice was heavily concentrated in Kent and Sussex.[8]



Another, more complicated system is called compound coppice. Here some of the standards would be left, some harvested. Some of the coppice would be allowed to grow into new standards and some regenerated coppice would be there. Thus there would be three age classes.[9]


Diagram illustrating the coppicing cycle over a 7- to 20-year period


In France, chestnut[ambiguous] trees are coppiced for use as canes and bâtons for the martial art Canne de combat (also known as Bâton français).

Some Eucalyptus species are coppiced in a number[vague] of countries.[10]

The Sal tree is coppiced in India,[11] and the Moringa oleifera tree is coppiced in many countries, including India.



United Kingdom[edit]

Recently felled chestnut coppice near Petworth in West Sussex
Old hornbeam coppice stools left uncut for at least 100 years. Coldfall Wood, London

In southern Britain, coppice was traditionally hazel, hornbeam, field maple, ash, sweet chestnut, occasionally sallow, elm, small-leafed lime and rarely oak or beech, grown amongst pedunculate or sessile oak, ash or beech standards. In wet areas alder and willows were used.[12]

Coppices provided wood for many purposes, especially charcoal before coal was economically significant in metal smelting. A minority of these woods are still operated for coppice today, often by conservation organisations, producing material for hurdle-making, thatching spars, local charcoal-burning or other crafts. The only remaining large-scale commercial coppice crop in England is sweet chestnut which is grown in parts of Sussex and Kent.[8] Much of this was established as plantations in the 19th century for hop-pole production (hop-poles are used to support the hop plant while growing hops) and is nowadays cut on a 12 to 18-year cycle for splitting and binding into cleft chestnut paling fence, or on a 20- to 35-year cycle for cleft post-and-rail fencing, or for sawing into small lengths to be finger-jointed for architectural use. Other material goes to make farm fencing and to be chipped for modern wood-fired heating systems.

In northwest England, coppice-with-standards has been the norm[when?], the standards often of oak with relatively little simple coppice. After World War II, a great deal was planted up with conifers or became neglected. Coppice-working almost died out, though a few men continued in the woods. A small, and growing, number of people make a living wholly or partly by working coppices in the area today.[13]


Overstood sweet chestnut coppice stool, Banstead Woods, Surrey

Coppice management favours a range of wildlife, often of species adapted to open woodland.[8] After cutting, the increased light allows existing woodland-floor vegetation such as bluebell, anemone and primrose to grow vigorously. Often brambles grow around the stools, encouraging insects, or various small mammals that can use the brambles as protection from larger predators. Woodpiles (if left in the coppice) encourage insects such as beetles to come into an area. The open area is then colonised by many animals such as nightingale, European nightjar and fritillary butterflies. As the coup grows, the canopy closes and it becomes unsuitable for these animals again—but in an actively managed coppice there is always another recently cut coup nearby, and the populations therefore move around, following the coppice management.


Natural occurrence[edit]

Coppice and pollard growth is a response of the tree to damage, and can occur naturally. Trees may be browsed or broken by large herbivorous animals, such as cattle or elephants, felled by beavers or blown over by the wind. Some trees, such as linden, may produce a line of coppice shoots from a fallen trunk, and sometimes these develop into a line of mature trees. For some trees, such as the common beech (Fagus sylvatica), coppicing is more or less easy depending on the altitude : it is much more efficient for trees in the montane zone.[14]

For energy wood[edit]

Coppicing of willow, alder and poplar for energy wood has proven commercially successful. The Willow Biomass Project in the United States is an example of this. In this case the coppicing is done in a way that an annual or more likely a tri-annual cut can happen. This seems to maximize the production volume from the stand. Such frequent growth means the soils can be easily depleted and so fertilizers are often required. The stock also becomes exhausted after some years and so will be replaced with new plants. The method of harvesting of energy wood can be mechanized by adaptation of specialized agricultural machinery.[15]

Species and cultivars vary in when they should be cut, regeneration times and other factors. However, full life cycle analysis has shown that poplars have a lower effect in terms of greenhouse gas emissions for energy production than alternatives.[16]


See also[edit]


  2. ^ Rackham, Oliver (1980). D.G. Buckley (ed.). "The Medieval Landscape of Essex – Archaeology in Essex to A.D. 1500" (PDF). London: 103–107.
  3. ^ Coles, J M (1978). Limbrey, Susan and J G Evans (ed.). "Man and landscape in the Somerset Levels" (PDF). The effect of man on the landscape: the Lowland Zone. London: 86–89.
  5. ^ A Critique of Silviculture Managing for Complexity Chapter 1 Historical Context of Silviculture Puettmann, K.J. et al. 2009
  6. ^ "Coppicing – A Brief History". Wandering Woodsmen - Woodland & Countryside Conservation. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  7. ^ Forestry in the Weald, Forestry Commission Booklet 22, C. Barrington 1968
  8. ^ a b c d Fuller, R J; Warren, M S. "Coppiced woodlands: their management for wildlife" (PDF). JNCC. JNCC. Retrieved 6 November 2017.
  9. ^ Silviculture Concepts and Applications, Ralph D. Nyland 2002 pg. 563
  11. ^ "coppice on sal tree (Shorea robusta ) – 2714050". Retrieved 29 April 2014.
  12. ^ Rackham, Oliver (2003). Ancient Woodland; its history, vegetation and uses in England (New Edition). Castlepoint Press. ISBN 1-897604-27-0.
  13. ^ The Bill Hogarth MBE Memorial Apprenticeship Trust Retrieved 17 June 2014
  14. ^ Flore forestière française : guide écologique illustré. 1, Plaines et collines, Institut pour le développement forestier, 1989, p. 453, ISBN 2-904740-16-3 Cite: [...] rejette mal de souche à l'étage collinéen, mais très facilement à l'étage montagnard ; (Does not coppice well in the foothill zone but very easily in the montane zone).
  15. ^ Silviculture Concepts and Applications, Ralph D. Nyland 2002 Ch. 24 "Coppice Silviculture"
  16. ^ Poplar (Populus spp.) Trees for Biofuel Production by Patricia A. Townsend, et al.

Further reading[edit]

  • Hammersley, G, 'The charcoal iron industry and its fuel 1540–1750' Econ Hist. Rev. Ser. II, 26 (1973), 593–613.

External links[edit]

Media related to Coppices at Wikimedia Commons

  • The dictionary definition of coppicing at Wiktionary