Britain: An official handbook > 1959

280
BRITAIN: AN OFFICIAL HANDBOOK
TABLE 20
Classification of Forest Area in Great Britain (1955)
Acres
Class of Forest
State
Forest
Private
Forest(a)
Total
Percentage
of Total
Forest Area
Softwoods (coniferous)
Mixed woods
Hardwoods (broadleaved) . .
910,080
46,720
179,840
661,120
256,640
1,863,680
1,571,200
303,360
2,043,520
40-1
7-7
52-2
Totals
1,136,640
2,781,440
3,918,080
100-0
Percentage of Total Forest
Area
29
71
100
Source : Forestry Commission.
(a) Forest owned by private individuals and bodies; in this classification a small area of
communal forest is included, i.e. forest owned by public bodies such as local authorities
and water supply undertakings.
Woodlands include areas of high forest (consisting of coniferous and broad¬
leaved trees), coppice, scrub, and devastated and felled areas. Of the broadleaved
species, the most common tree is the oak, with beech, ash, birch, sycamore and
elm following in that order. Of the coniferous species, Scots pine is the most
common, but Norway and Sitka spruces are plentiful.
Volume of Timber
At the end of 1955, the volume of standing timber, excluding hedgerow timber
and woods of not more than one acre, was estimated to be 3,460 million cubic feet.
This included 1,530 million cubic feet of softwood and 1,930 million cubic feet of
hardwood. The net annual increment (the year’s growth minus losses due to fire,
decay, or similar causes) was 118 million cubic feet. The climate and soil of Great
Britain are favourable to the growth of timber; the annual rate of growth which
can be obtained in Great Britain under systematic management compares most
favourably with that achieved in other European countries.
Forest Policy
From the early Middle Ages there was a continuous process of deforestation in
Great Britain. Woodlands were cleared for agriculture, and timber was used for a
variety of domestic and industrial purposes, for instance, as charcoal in iron¬
smelting, for fuel, housebuilding, domestic and agricultural equipment, and ship¬
building. Occasionally, from the sixteenth century onwards, Governments have
encouraged the planting of high forest as an insurance against the blockade of war,
but in times of normal trading it was the practice to buy timber from abroad.
Following the Industrial Revolution, cheap and easily workable timber began to be
required in ever-increasing amounts for a variety of new industrial uses. Home
woodlands contained neither the types nor the quantities of timber to meet this
demand and the importation of timber, principally of softwoods (timber derived
from coniferous tree species), expanded greatly. By 1914 the trade in imported