The Breckland Pine Rows - Norfolk's Biodiversity

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the distribution map presented as Figure 3 particularly interesting, for it is immediately apparent that there are major discontinuities in the occurrence of the pine rows. Some of these can be explained by the presence of the Forestry Commission plantations or the large military bases at Mildenhall and Lakenheath: any rows that once existed within these areas have largely disappeared. The disappearance of pine rows from the forest areas has already been discussed; in the case of the air bases, including their associated residential areas, removal was evidently systematic and thorough (in contrast, pine rows can survive remarkably well within urban areas, in Brandon, Mildenhall and in particular within Thetford, where the designers of the overspill areas in the 1960s evidently took great pains to incorporate existing planting within the new developments wherever practicable). Figure 4: The distribution of pine rows and soil type. However, while the Forestry Commission plantations and the military bases explain many of the apparent lacunae in the distribution of pine rows, as Figure 3 clearly indicates they cannot explain them all. There are many parishes in Breckland which are characterised largely or entirely by arable fields, but which nevertheless contain few or
no examples. One possible explanation is that the pine hedges were only planted on particular types of soil and, indeed, a number of writers have suggested, or implied, that Scots pine was favoured as a hedging plant in the area because it thrives in acid conditions, implying in turn that it would be more likely to be employed for enclosing land reclaimed from heaths, than land taken out of the open fields. As Figure 3 indicates, however, there is little correlation between the distribution of pine rows, and that of particular soil types. While they are numerous on the leached, acid soils of the Newport 4, Methwold or Worlington Associations, they can also be found in some numbers on the more calcareous soils of the Newmarket 1 and 2 Associations – the better arable soils, farmed as open-field arable in the Middle Ages, and in many places up until the nineteenth century. What is more surprising is that small but significant numbers occur on the peat fens immediately to the west of Breckland, especially in Mildenhall. Evidently, the location of the pines was not determined by environmental factors, and the choice of pine as a hedging plant was one shared by landowners living well beyond the boundaries of Breckland proper. Figure 5. Pine rows and parish boundaries in the Elveden/Icklingham area. Another approach is to examine the distribution of the pine rows in terms of aspects of ownership and tenure. In this context the most notable feature is the relationship with parish boundaries. The concentrations of pine rows are nested neatly within the boundaries of ecclesiastical parishes, as these existed in the early and middle decades of the nineteenth century: and in a more general sense there are signs of dramatic discontinuities at parish boundaries. Particularly striking in this respect is the concentration, already emphasised, lying to the south west of Elevden, for this is largely
Page 1 and 2: The Breckland Pine Rows: History, E
Page 3 and 4: Introduction: Breckland and its Pin
Page 5 and 6: numerous writers on topography and
Page 7 and 8: Figure 1: The Distribution of Pine
Page 9: Figure 3: Pine rows, plantations, a
Page 13 and 14: and lost common rights, generally h
Page 15 and 16: and it is noteworthy that with few
Page 17 and 18: Figure 9. Above, the area to the we
Page 19 and 20: The Management and Development of t
Page 21 and 22: Figure 11. The area between Eriswel
Page 23 and 24: Figure 14. Detail of pine row at Er
Page 25 and 26: Figure 15. Pine row with associated
Page 27 and 28: In short, the antiquity of the rows
Page 29: Rose, F. 1991. ‘The Importance of

The Breckland Pine Rows - Norfolk's Biodiversity

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