Returning to the request for information on Sweet Chestnut, Dr Norman
Hickin in his account of the Wyre Forest written in the 1960s noted that
Sweet Chestnut was coppiced. When cut after 14 years, it could be
split into palings for fences. It also made excellent hop poles and was
used for all kinds of fencing. He doesn't mention its use in mines but it
sounds to me as though it would have been suitable for general
timbering of workings.
I checked some accounts of timbers recoverd from open-cast works.
On the Clee Hill, probable 18th Century workings were timbered with
oak and beech. At Coleorton, the Tudor workings seemed mainly to
have used oak.
David Poyner
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