Ashtead Common,the evolution of a cultural landscape: A spatially precise vegetation record for the last 2000 years from southeast England

Abstract

The results of palaeoecological (pollen and fungal spores) investigations of an abandoned clay pit on Ashtead Common, Surrey are presented and compared with archaeological and documentary evidence. The pit lies adjacent to a Roman industrial complex, with early Saxon activity recorded nearby. Prior to the early twentieth century AD the Common was managed as wood-pasture and it has a high nature conservation designation as a result of c. 2000 veteran pollarded oak trees which remain from this phase. The pit provides a record of landscape history from the Roman (c. cal. AD 150) to the modern (c. AD 1850) era which, in terms of spatial and temporal resolution, is unrivalled in southeast England. From the late Roman into the middle Saxon period the palaeoecological data are consistent with archaeological evidence for the continuity of settlement and land use. Subtle changes in woodland cover, probably reflecting changes in the importance of grazing against the exploitation of wood, are evident up to c. cal. AD 1200. Thereafter grazing pressure on the Common appears to have increased and the resulting shortage of underwood is likely to have led eventually (cal. AD 1490—1680) to the adoption of pollarding. Changes in depositional environment are shown to have a major impact on the fungal spore record. In general terms the stratigraphic data from the Ashtead Common pit accord well with archaeological/documentary evidence and demonstrate the utility of studies which use a combination of sources to reconstruct vegetation change in the historic era.