Ancient Monument Clearance Thread

[Will Hinchliffe]

The clearing work on castle hill was quite a talked about issue in Shaftesbury. There is a site that has plannig permission to build a number of expensive houses that backs on to castle hill. A lot of people thought that the removal of trees was to create better views for the houses that are to be built.

 

Its tricky comparing the value of the site as an ancient monument and the ecological impact of removing trees from it.

 

Are there plans to further clear any areas on Castle hill ?

[rapidlee]

i did some clearance work there about 3 years ago some cherry trees goarse and some ash i got pulled through some brambles which was funny.

 

have you had any hassel from big ears, some guy with massive ears kept moaning about the work we were doing. kept saying he hadnt been informed and was a member of the shaftsbury tree group, who were informed about it.

[Matthew Arnold]

The clearing work on castle hill was quite a talked about issue in Shaftesbury. There is a site that has plannig permission to build a number of expensive houses that backs on to castle hill. A lot of people thought that the removal of trees was to create better views for the houses that are to be built.

 

Its tricky comparing the value of the site as an ancient monument and the ecological impact of removing trees from it.

 

Are there plans to further clear any areas on Castle hill ?

 

Yep. We are planning on having the pond cleared of the vegetation and we plan on clearing the brambles near the steps as we get some decent wild flowers there. And with any luck we will take a few more sycamores out on the slope to open the view even more off the top. We will be leaving the two massive ones on the hillside unless the rootplates start to give way in this rain.

[Matthew Arnold]

i did some clearance work there about 3 years ago some cherry trees goarse and some ash i got pulled through some brambles which was funny.

 

have you had any hassel from big ears, some guy with massive ears kept moaning about the work we were doing. kept saying he hadnt been informed and was a member of the shaftsbury tree group, who were informed about it.[/quote

 

We know Shaftesbury Tree Group very well but not for good reasons. The monument was completely covered in trees and with it being an ancient monument we are asked to clear the lot. We put up signs a week in advance warning people and they still complained. I have had run ins with most of the tree group. We were clearing the lateral stems sticking out into Breach lane from the hedge (which is to be laid or cleared this year) and this bloke with a spaniel asked wot i was doing as i was the one with a pole saw taking the higher limbs off. I explained and if he wanted to have a more detailed explanation and the future plans with the hedge to speak to my colleague who was weilding the chainsaw. They went absolutely apeshit when the monument was cleared though. They recon the trees had been there since the saxons left. lol. The trees were mostly sycamore, ash, hazel and blackthorn regrowth from a previous clearance 15 years ago.

[Matthew Arnold]

ah, the spec is all arisings to be removed off site so a mowing schedule can start within a year. i wanted to mulch the lot initially but now they require it all to be left as bare ground as not to interfere with the regrowth of grass.

 

The first thing that came up on Castle Hill once it was cleared of trees was nettles. Its taken about 2 years of continuous mowing to get it to almost all grass

[garth mc garth]

The first thing that came up on Castle Hill once it was cleared of trees was nettles. Its taken about 2 years of continuous mowing to get it to almost all grass

 

yeah i can imagine, problem with this site is that 1 its an orchard and 2 its heavily overgrown. they have said they dont want anything left as mulch and it has to either be burnt on site or totally removed whole. i dont think they appreciate how many lorries it will take to clear a ten acre site if they want it removed whole.

[Matthew Arnold]

bloody hell. It would be easier to have a big pto chipper on the back of the mog with a tractor n grain trailer lol. maybe have another tractor dragging the stuff to the chipper for someone to feed in. we did that on Castle Hill. The trouble was we had about 3 weeks of solid heavy rain and the bottom gateways get a bit boggy around the pond.

[garth mc garth]

yeah i have all that kit but the main problem we have is that the bottom of the trees are all covered in chicken wire upto 3ft to stop the rabbits. looks like its gonna be a tree shear job!

[Matthew Arnold]

I hate it when people put chicken wire or any sort of wire around trees. We felled a tree about 2 weeks ago and the member of the public had put high-tensile wire around it to "protect" it. Unfortnuately the wire had allowed fungi to get in and it had to be felled. We got some very expensive chains for our saws. They had carbide teeth so if you hit stones, wire, etc it would stay sharper for longer.

[garth mc garth]

i did consider sending someone round with a stihl saw to snip the wire but with nearly 1200 trees to do i dont think it will be viable