COST Action E 52 - vTI - Bund.de

have had human assistance in this colonization – accidental or deliberate. It is certainly believed that
beech spread into a landscape that had previously undergone significant anthropogenic clearance of
natural mixed deciduous woodlands (dominated by oak, lime, ash, hazel and elm), which may have
facilitated later, more rapid, colonization by beech. There is limited evidence that beech may have
spread naturally beyond its current natural distribution, colonizing Carboniferous limestone hills
to 300 m a. s. l. in areas of northern England and eastern Wales (to 54 degrees north). The extent of
naturally-arising beech woodland has since been markedly reduced by clearance of woodland for
agriculture and urban development and by replanting with alternative species. Nonetheless, seminatural
beech woodland remains the dominant land-cover type in a number of localities in the hills
of southern England where it appears climatically suited and silviculturally valuable.
beech PLaNTaTIoN aFForesTaTIoN sINce 1600
Since around 1600 AD plantation afforestation has been pursued in many parts of Britain for both
timber production and landscape amenity, using a wide variety of tree species. Beech was used
extensively in this afforestation, particularly between 1680 and 1920, when it was favoured for
planting on private estates, often using reproductive material sourced from famous superior stands
of mainland Europe, such as Versailles (France) and Forêt de Soignes (Belgium). Planting during
Fig. 1: Upland beech plantation – eastern Scotland
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