Abstract
English wood pastures have become a target for ecological restoration, including the restoration of pollarded trees and grazing animals, although pigs have not been frequently incorporated into wood pasture restoration schemes. Because wood pastures are cultural landscapes, created through the interaction of natural processes and human practices, a historical perspective on wood pasture management practices has the potential to provide insights for modern restoration projects. Using a wide range of both written and artistic sources form the Middle Ages, this article argues that pigs were fed in wood pastures both during the mast season when acorns were available and at other times as grazing fields. Pollarded pedunculate oak (Quercus robur) likely dominated these sustainable cultural landscapes during the medieval period.
Highlights
Wood pastures have long been identified as important for habitat conservation [1,2,3,4].Scattered trees, such as those in the dehesa pasture areas of Spain, have been identified as keystone structures at both local and landscape ecological scales [5]
The large old trees on a wood pasture serve as biodiversity hotspots because they provide habitat for bat and bird species, lichens, fungi, and invertebrates and the surrounding pasture and open woodland serves as the home for flowering plants, rare butterflies and moths, as well as birds [6]
Pig husbandry has a long history in Europe, where swine have served in both nutritional and religious roles [26]
Summary
Wood pastures have long been identified as important for habitat conservation [1,2,3,4] Scattered trees, such as those in the dehesa pasture areas of Spain, have been identified as keystone structures at both local and landscape ecological scales [5]. There can be rapid loss of cultural knowledge about woodland management, as Rotherham noted in a case study from Sheffield, England [19]. Such is the case with both pollarding and pig management in woodlands: pollarding suffered a precipitous decline after the eighteenth century in Britain so that by the 1950s, it “had become a moribund and almost forgotten practice” [20], and pig management in outdoor systems lost favor in the eighteenth century as well [21]. A reassessment of medieval agricultural practices is in order since it could have implications for wood pasture restoration practice in the 21st century
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