Secret History

• Ancient Woodland

The standard definition in the UK for a woodland environment that has been continuous on a piece of land since at least 1600 AD.

• Ancient Woodland Indicator (AWI)

Flowering plants, such as bluebells and wood anemones, that spread very slowly. Their presence provides strong evidence of a continuous woodland environment because they indicate the soil structure has remained undisturbed for centuries.

• Angiosperms

Plants that reproduce through seeds and berries, including trees, shrubs, flowers, and grasses.

• Coppicing

A sustainable woodland management technique where a tree is cut to the ground to produce a steady supply of poles for construction and farming. The base, or "stool," regenerates over centuries.

• Cryptogams

Plants that reproduce using spores, such as ferns, mosses, lichens, and fungi.

• Holocene

The current warmer interglacial period, which began with rapid warming approximately 11,500 years ago after the last Ice Age.

• Late Devensian Glaciation

The last major cold period of the Ice Age in Britain, which reached its maximum extent around 18,000 years ago.

• Mycelium

The fungal network that lives in the soil and can survive for decades or centuries after its host tree has gone.

• Mycorrhizal

Describes a crucial, mutualistic (symbiotic) relationship formed between fungi and the roots of specific tree species.

• Naturalised

Refers to an introduced plant species that now regenerates naturally in its new environment without human assistance.

• Open Field System

A historic agricultural practice where fields were divided into scattered strips of land, operated similarly to a large-scale modern allotment. This system was gradually replaced by the Enclosure Movement.

• Periglacial

A tundra-like environment experienced in areas near the edge of ice sheets during an ice age. Devon experienced this environment during the Late Devensian glaciation.

• Pioneer Species

The first species to colonise cleared or disturbed land. In the context of the post-Ice Age wildwood, birch and willow were key pioneer tree species.

• Radway Estate

An area of land, including the modern Powys House site, that was annexed from the Manor of Sidmouth in 1215 and owned for many centuries by the de Radway family, who originated from the local monastery.

• Sedemuda

The Old English name for Sidmouth recorded in the Domesday Book, meaning "mouth of the Sid."

• Shelter Belt

A line of trees planted along a boundary to provide shelter for livestock from wind, rain, and sun. On the Radway estate, this also served as a fence and an economic crop.

• Wildwood

The dense, natural woodland that covered Britain after the end of the last Ice Age, beginning around 10,000 years ago. The wildwood in Devon was likely an oak-hazel woodland.