House Copse

Also within

West Sussex County

Condition (Natural England)

Habitats

Coppiced woodland, Fast flowing river and stream

Description

Area, 12.37 ha. 30.56 ac. Description A small isolated woodland, which is shown on the 1st Edition 1" Ordnance Survey Map 1816 to have much the same shape and extent as at present. There is much to suggest that it is an 'ancient' woodland with continuity of woodland cover since at least the Middle Ages. This type of woodland cover is rare, being a close association of small leaved lime and hornbeam, previously managed as coppice, under oak standards and is almost unknown elsewhere in southern England. The small leaved lime was once 5,000–7,000 years ago a common component of Wealden woodlands, but today it has almost disappeared from the area, lime woods now being mainly restricted to East Midlands and East Anglia. The reasons for the disappearance of the tree are imprecisely known. House Copse is therefore, a wood of great interest both botanically and historically and is one of the best examples of its kind known to South East Region. Some of the oaks in the wood have multiple stems possibly from old coppice stools although most oaks are maiden stems. The lime and hornbeam has been managed as coppice; some of the lime stools are more than one metre across; others are regenerating from small groups of stools forming a ring with a hollow centre that may be derived from a single original stool that has now broken up. The shrub layer is less well developed and in places the coppice itself forms a distinct lower layer. Elsewhere there is scattered hazel, hawthorn, holly, crab apple and guelder rose. Rhododendron has been introduced into the wood in a few places. A single wild service tree grows in one corner of the wood. In the more dense shaded areas there is little ground flora, however many areas have large numbers of bluebells with bramble, honeysuckle, foxgloves and wood sorrel. In the more base rich areas in the centre of the wood and along the stream is a greater variety of species including dog’s mercury, enchanter’s nightshade, bugle, wood avens and sedges.

Plant communities