On the Wildside: Often unseen and unappreciated, ancient holly connects us to the medieval

The hollin, hollyng, or holly hagg, was an area set aside and generally protected from grazing animals by a wall or fence, and without which the animals would gain access and eat the precious fodder. The lord of the manor wanted holly as winter feed for his deer, and the peasantry demanded access to it for food for their sheep and cattle during the long cold months of the so-called ‘Little Ice Age’. Hollins do occur countywide but were particularly important in the north and west of England. Sheffield and the Peak District are especially well blest with historic sites and a quick scan of a map has the telltale evidence – Rivelin Hagg, Haggside, Hagg Lane, Hollinsend, and many more place-names. Old maps and plans give further indication, so the medieval deer park at Norton, now incorporated into the twentieth-century Graves Park, had ‘Holling Hill’ where holly was grown for the deer in Tudor times. Tankersley Park in Barnsley also had hollins.

But then step inside the region’s ancient woods like Ecclesall Woods, with its medieval deer-park origins, and you may discover holly ‘clones’ where repeated harvesting of the precious leaves and branches over many centuries has created a ‘suckering’ circle. This might be 800-years-old and our most tangible connection to the medieval park. I recently found similar examples in Graves Park (nee Norton Park), and there are remarkable specimens in Holmesfield Park, North Derbyshire where the name literally means ‘the open land populated by holly trees’. The other factor is that holly grows incredibly slowly, maybe a millimetre diameter per year, and so forms a much-valued, very hard wood. A tree only a couple of feet in diameter is centuries old. But mostly unseen and unloved, holly is often cleared in the name of ‘conservation’ and untold permanent damage is needlessly done.

Professor Ian D. Rotherham, researcher, writer & broadcaster on wildlife & environmental issues, is contactable on [email protected]; follow Ian’s blog (https://ianswalkonthewildside.wordpress.com/) and Twitter @IanThewildside