Planting Parkland Trees

Northern Ireland has one of the smallest areas of woodland cover in Europe. Whilst our countryside may appear wooded, in fact most of our isolated trees are set in hedges.

After the Plantation of Ulster, huge areas of trees had been cleared for military reasons, industry, building and agricultural intensification - a process that until recently has been ongoing.

As a result of these pressures many of the woodlands in Ireland remain on land associated with great houses, whose owners, as large land owners, were relatively isolated from economic pressures to cultivate land intensively and solely for food. Many undertook grand planting schemes during the 18th and 19th centuries, creating both large areas of broadleaf and conifer forestry planting. These landowners also set significant areas as essentially ornamental grounds characteristically creating parkland areas, where carefully created vistas were set with open trees – plantings that proclaimed the wealth, style and power of the owners.

It was fashionable to plant newly discovered trees from around the world. One example of this is that as the eastern and western regions of North America were progressively opened up in the 18th and 19th centuries, American species such as the spongy barked and enormous giant sequoia (such as can be seen near the main entrance to the Castlewellan Arboretum) - swiftly appeared in Ireland. This western seaboard native was first recorded in the US in 1852 and appeared in Ireland as early as 1860. Almost all are still growing vigorously today.

Large quantities of broadleaf trees, such as beech, oak and ash, were also planted. Whilst beech was introduced to Ireland in the 16th century, the absence of significant areas of native woodland makes all old trees of particular importance. They are a home for many rare insects and fungi, in particular those that rely on decaying trees for habitat. They also provide habitats for some larger, now rare, mammals such as the pine martin and the increasingly scarce red squirrel. Many of these trees are now approaching the end of their lives, creating a significant environmental loss and also a great loss of natural beauty.

If you are a member of an agri-environment scheme, DARD can provide funding to replant trees on areas of current or former demesnes.

For further information on planting parkland trees and agri-environment scheme options, please contact Countryside Management Branch staff at your local DARD office.