FT 43c.1981-2002Nature Conservancy Council and English Nature: Ancient Woodland Inventory Dataset
The Ancient Woodland Inventory (AWI) is an electronic dataset which identifies and records information about ancient woodland in England. For the purposes of the Inventory, 'ancient' woods are those which are believed to have been in existence since at least 1600 AD and which have only been cleared for underwood or timber production. The Inventory covers woodland sites which had an area of at least two hectares on the Ordnance Survey's First Series 1:25,000 maps. Smaller woods are excluded. It includes ancient semi-natural woodland, ancient replanted woodland and ancient woodland sites which have been cleared since the surveying for the Ordnance Survey First Series 1:25,000 maps.
The AWI covers the following types of woodland:
Ancient semi-natural woodland: 'all stands of ancient woodland which did not obviously originate from planting'. The following are included in this category in the AWI: birch woodland on disturbed ground inside ancient woods; small semi-natural stands within ancient sites which have developed on former settlements, gravel pits etc.; woods where semi-natural stands have been slightly modified by planting; and woods containing some self-sown sycamore.
Ancient replanted woodland: 'obviously planted woodland of any age of a broadleaf, mixed or coniferous type, identifiable from field survey'. Plantations of any coniferous species, sycamore, poplar, red oak, southern beech 'and native species planted so densely that the semi-natural underwood is suppressed' are automatically included in this category. 'Ancient replanted woodland' excludes beech north of the Chilterns and Cotswolds, and includes sweet chestnut in Kent and other south eastern counties 'unless it can be shown that they are suppressing the other semi-natural components of the underwood'.
Ancient woodland sites which have been grubbed: woods which have been cleared for agriculture, mineral extraction or urban development since the publication of the Ordnance Survey First Series 1:25,000 maps.
A single woodland site in the AWI may comprise one or more of the above types.
Three main products have resulted from the Inventory and have been used to disseminate AWI data:
(1) Published reports - known as provisional county inventories - which summarise the results of the AWI for each of the post-1974 counties of England. The reports give an overview of the methodology and findings of the AWI, and include 1:50,000 maps showing the location of ancient woodland. The reports were accompanied by summary tables and printouts of wood-level data for each county. The reports are known as 'provisional' because of the expectation that the information will be revised as new or more detailed data about woodland is received. Some have gone through several editions. English Nature also issued a series of separate Research Reports, summarising changes to the AWI, which could be used to update the provisional county inventories.
(2) A database holding data gathered in the AWI for all of England, with records for individual woodland sites. This dataset is derived from this database.
(3) A dataset of digital boundary data capable of being loaded into a geographical information system (GIS). Between 1995 and 1999 a joint project between English Nature and the Forestry Commission digitised the boundaries of ancient semi-natural and ancient replanted woodland sites. This resulted in a GIS dataset consisting of digital boundaries (digitised at 1:25,000 scale) for each site, plus information calculated by the GIS such as grid reference, total area, semi-natural area and replanted area. At the time of transfer of the first AWI dataset to NDAD (2001-2002), AWI digital boundary data could be downloaded from English Nature's web site.
Three tables (AWISITE, AWITNR and AWISTRV) record information about woodland sites, while four other tables act as lookup tables for fields in AWISITE, AWITNR and AWISTRV. AWISITE contains the main data on woodland sites and provides the following information on individual sites:
An identifier for the site which acts as a link to the AWITNR and AWISTRV tables and to the GIS data.
The name (or names) of the site, including an indicator as to whether the name was a local name or one created for the purposes of the Inventory.
Data on the site's location, including the current grid reference of the centroid of the site; the 10 km square and quadrant of the Ordnance Survey 100 km square in which the site is located; the grid reference of the centroid of the site at the time of the First Series 1:25,000 maps (which may be different from the current grid reference); and the parish (or parishes), county and 'Natural Area' in which the site is located. ('Natural Areas' are high-level subdivisions of England created by English Nature as a way of interpreting the ecological variations of the country in terms of natural features).
The extent of the site (in hectares), including the original area of the site at the time of the OS First Series 1:25,000 maps; the current area of the site; the area cleared of woodland since the OS First Series maps; the area of ancient replanted woodland; and the area of ancient semi-natural woodland.
An identifier linked to the SITE lookup table, which identifies any Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) associated with a woodland. Other fields record the total area of woodland designated as SSSI and the area of ancient semi-natural woodland designated as SSSI.
The total 'designated area' of the site in hectares, and the 'designated area' comprising ancient semi-natural woodland.
Assessments of the reliability of historical information about the site, and the reliability of recent knowledge of the site.
An identifier (linked to the TEAM table) for the English Nature team whose area covered the ancient woodland site.
Digital boundary data relating to the AWI has not yet been transferred.
The datasets in this series are available to download. Links to individual datasets can be found at piece level.
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