View source for Tree ring (landscape feature)

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| image1 = The Folly (geograph 6002775).jpg
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| footer = The Folly, How Hill, [[Ingleby Greenhow]], a typical tree ring of beeches planted to enhance an existing landscape feature.
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A '''tree ring''', also once popularly called a "folly",<ref name=thurnam327>{{cite journal |last=Thurnam |first=John |title=On Wayland's Smithy and on the traditions connected with it |journal=The Wiltshire Archeological and Natural History Magazine |year=1862 |page=327}}</ref> is a decorative feature of 18th and early 19th century planned landscapes in [[Great Britain|Britain]] and [[Ireland]], comprising a circular earthen enclosure (a "tree ring enclosure") planted with trees.<ref name=williams97>Williams, B. B. “Excavation of a Tree-Ring at Gallanagh, County Tyrone and Some Observations on Tree-Rings.” Ulster Journal of Archaeology, vol. 43, 1980, p 97. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20567855</ref> While several different species of tree were used, [[Fagus sylvatica|beech]] and [[Scots pine]] were especially popular for their tall, straight growth and landscape value. Tree rings are a development of the naturalistic 18th century style of [[landscape architecture]].<ref name=williams100>Williams (1980), 100</ref>
==History and construction==
Tree rings were created by 18th century landowners seeking to 'improve' and enhance the views across their properties. Beech became particularly valued in the 18th century as a landscape tree and for its timber, where previously it had been largely regarded as a fuel source and often managed by [[coppicing]].<ref name=mabey>{{cite book |last=Mabey |first=Richard| title=Flora Britannica |date=1996 |page=79 }}</ref> Hilltop groves of beech trees were especially favoured; several well-known examples survive in the South of England, including [[Wittenham Clumps]], the earliest such planting in England, dating from 1740.<ref name=mabey/>
Creation of a tree ring involved raising a circular hedge bank: this was planted with [[quickset hedge|quickset]] to provide a fast-growing, thorny barrier to protect the young trees from livestock.<ref name=riley>{{cite book |last=Riley |first=Hazel |title=The Historic Landscape of the Quantock Hills |date=2006 |publisher=English Heritage |page=125}}</ref> The term "tree ring enclosure" is generally used to describe the resulting bank, while "tree ring" is used to refer to the trees themselves; in some cases an existing manmade feature such as a barrow or motte was used. While the outer ring of trees often featured beeches, in the 19th century the interior of tree rings was often planted with ornamental conifers.<ref name=riley/>
[[File:Mount Lucas - Drumcaw. Daingean Offaly - 2007 - geograph.org.uk - 725290.jpg|thumb|left|Beech tree ring near [[Daingean]], [[County Offaly]], originally planted by the Lucas family of Mount Lucas]]
In Ireland, tree rings were often planted as a landscape embellishment on top of [[drumlin]]s, and occasionally made use of an existing rath or [[ringfort]] by creation of a small additional bank.<ref name=williams99>Williams (1980), 99</ref> The species used were similar to those in England, with a high proportion of beech and Scots pine, with smaller numbers of ash, oak, sycamore and other trees. In the late 18th century the [[Dublin Society]] offered a premium, at two shillings a [[Rod (unit)|perch]] running measure, for enclosing or tree planting on "old Danish forts, mounds, raths and moats".<ref name=williams100/>
==Present status==
[[File:Chanctonbury Ring 1905 view.jpg|thumb|left|[[Chanctonbury Ring]], seen in 1905: its appearance was greatly altered by a 1987 storm]]
The relatively short lifespan of beeches means that tree rings are becoming vulnerable to damage or loss. Chanctonbury Ring was heavily damaged by the [[Great Storm of 1987]], losing about 75% of its trees. Many of the beech trees at Wittenham Clumps are reaching the end of their life; the [[Earth Trust]], which manages the site, is replanting with more drought-resistant [[Carpinus betulus|hornbeam]] and [[Tilia cordata|lime]].
<ref name=earthtrust>[https://earthtrust.org.uk/visit-us/wittenham-clumps/ Wittenham Clumps], The Earth Trust, accessed 25-10-22</ref>
==Examples==
*[[Chanctonbury Ring]], [[Sussex]], 1760
*[[Lancing Ring]], Sussex, late 18th century
*[[Wittenham Clumps]], [[Berkshire]], c.1740
*[[Seven Sisters (Quantock Hills)|Seven Sisters]], [[Somerset]], c.1780
*[[Wayland's Smithy]], [[Oxfordshire]], planted with beech and fir trees in c.1810 and for a time known as "Wayland's Folly"<ref name=thurnam327/>
==References==
{{reflist}}
[[Category:landscape garden features]]