Ancient Beauty: The Woodland of Chatsworth Estate
Chatsworth House has been home to 16 generations of the Cavendish family, including the current Duke and Duchess of Devonshire. It sits on a raised terrace on the eastern side of the park, overlooking the River Derwent and backed by a steeply rising, well-wooded ridge to the east
This story was created for the Google Expeditions project by Twig World, now available on Google Arts & Culture
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Woodland is an important part of the Chatsworth estate and must be carefully managed. Not only does this contribute to Chatsworth’s income, but it also ensures a future for the native wildlife.
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Good Collection
Chatsworth House has over 30 rooms, including the magnificent Painted Hall, regal State Rooms, restored Sketch Galleries and beautiful Sculpture Gallery. The house contains works of art that span 4,000 years, from Egyptian sculpture to modern art.
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Grazers
The whole estate of 35,000 acres is home to red and fallow deer, sheep, cattle, and many wild animals. It is a farmed, food-producing landscape. There is a river that supplies fish, woodlands that provide timber, and space for crops.
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Woodlands
The estate includes over 3,700 acres of woodland, including over 1,300 acres of semi-natural or ancient woodland. Some woodland is used to make wood for building and firewood. The semi natural and ancient woodland is managed for wildlife.
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Ancient Woodlands
Ten thousand years ago, Britain was completely covered in oak, beech and lime trees. There is very little ancient woodland left as a result of human expansion, the rise of fenced farmland and livestock grazing, and the use of wood as fuel during times of war and industrial advancement.
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This type of woodland has high biodiversity – it contains many different plants and animals, and so is protected where possible.
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Elder Wood
Oak trees can live for over 800 years. Old trees are wider at the base, have a lot of dead wood in the canopy and lots of crevices in the bark.
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Ancient Management
Woodlands have been managed by humans for at least a thousand years – even trees considered to be ancient have often been altered in some way. Woodlands are often coppiced, meaning the trees are cut back to allow fresh growth.
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Oak Tree
A single oak tree can support up to 260 different species of insect. Ancient woodlands also help to support rare plant life, like orchids, as the soil has never been disturbed.
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Arboretum
In the 1830s, the owner of the Chatsworth Estate – the 6th Duke of Devonshire – was one of the first to plant a pinetum and arboretum. He did this in partnership with Joseph Paxton, the head gardener of Chatsworth for 32 years.
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Paxton was responsible for many of Chatsworth’s most famous gardening triumphs. He cultivated the Cavendish banana, named after the family who lived on the estate. This banana became the most widely consumed type of banana in the western world.
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Botanical Garden
An arboretum is a botanical garden, which is made with the sole purpose of growing and preserving trees. Paxton’s arboretum at the Chatsworth estate now hosts trees like the cedar of Lebanon and the monkey-puzzle tree.
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Exotic Trees
In the 18th and 19th centuries, British botanists explored many different parts of the world. They brought back seeds and seedlings of plants not known to western scientists, such as this Douglas fir, named after Scottish botanist David Douglas.
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Giant Sequoia
This tree is a Giant Sequoia, a very tall, wide pine tree from California. Trees like this would have been a curiosity because of their exotic nature, and attracted visitors from around the country.
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Forest School
Ancient woodlands are a great place to learn about biodiversity and native local species. Full of life and fresh clean air, they can also provide a quiet place for people to relax and escape from their everyday lives.
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From foreign tourists to local school groups, just fewer than 20,000 people visit Chatsworth Estate for its wide variety of educational activities. These visits help to inform people about how to manage and protect ancient woodland for the next generation.
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Students
This group of students is learning about biodiversity in woodlands and why it is important. This includes the delicate interaction of different groups of flora and fauna, like beetles, mosses and lichen, and rare birds.
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Life Goals
For some young people, the field trip can be a great opportunity to consider a career working in the great outdoors. There are careers in woodlands management that some students might not have considered before their visit.
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Bird Call
Rare birds, like the lesser-spotted woodpecker, live in these forests. Visitors with a keen ear can recognise their signature hammering noise as they drum their beaks into the tree trunks to look for food.
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Forestry Management
At Chatsworth Estate, the many acres of land cover a variety of managed gardens and woodland, including grassy parkland, ancient woodland, an arboretum and commercial softwood forestry. Softwood refers to the type of wood that is being cut, not to the actual hardness of the wood
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These trees provide an income for Chatsworth Estate, as this timber can be sold and made into furniture, or used as a building material.
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Excess
Some of this wood isn’t suitable to be sold, as the pieces are not large enough to be cut into commercial quantities. At Chatsworth, these pieces are turned into woodchips and used as biofuel, producing electricity for the estate.
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Tree Health
Foresters work in many ways to assess the health of a tree. Sometimes they climb it, using special equipment, to check for the presence of deadwood. They also check for rot or diseases, which could spread to other trees nearby.
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Lichen
This tree has lichen on its trunk. Lichen only grows where there is good air quality, as it is very sensitive to pollution. This is a good indication of the excellent air quality in this rural area.
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The Productive Forest
Caring for ancient woodland and running a successful commercial forestry industry are 2 very different ways of managing the land. Both are done on the Chatsworth Estate. Ancient woodland is managed to support wildlife and produce a small amount of high-quality wood.
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Commercial forestry focuses on fast-growing trees, like spruce or pine. These are grown from seed or sapling and harvested when they are large enough.
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Perfect Shapes
These trees are grown for their long, straight trunks, perfect for use in building and manufacturing. Commercial forestry has less interest in tourism and encouraging wildlife, but can bring in money that can be used to manage the estate.
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Clearing the Area
This site has been cleared so it can be made ready for the planting of more seedlings. This would never happen in an ancient woodland as this would reduce the diversity of supported wildlife.
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Tree Farming
Commercial forestry works a little like farming – if managed well, it can be a way of making money without damaging the environment. It provides good jobs for those who want to work in the countryside and boosts the local economy.
