Speaking of forgotten woodlands, I've talked about this on HN two times already, might as well say it third time. Go on Google maps and look at the size of the Sherwood forest. I've never truly recovered from that experience.
Speaking of forgotten woodlands, I've talked about this on HN two times already, might as well say it third time. Go on Google maps and look at the size of the Sherwood forest. I've never truly recovered from that experience.
Sherwood is not forgotten of course. Every fan of Robin Hood knows it. But it had the misfortune to be in an early industrial area.
I mentioned Birnam Wood in another post, which features in MacBeth. Shakespeare plays fast and loose with Scottish history, but Birnam Wood was a real place. One or two of the old trees are still there, but not much. The area has been reforested a bit within the past two hundred years.
Did it used to be a lot bigger? Looks like a couple wooded lots side by side now.
Much much bigger. Visiting it now is quite sad.
If you go to England, you're better off going to the New Forest in Hampshire. Despite the name, it was established during the Norman period and at least feels like a substantial tract of older woodland. (Tiny by North American standards of course.)
Forest was more of a legal term, and tended to be focused on deer than trees.
Things with 'new' in the name tend to age quite rapidly. See also Oxford's New College.
Or the Pont-neuf ("new bridge") in Paris being the oldest one in the city.