An online talk by Dr Lawrence Shaw, Lead Historic Environment Advisor, Forestry England.

The nation’s forests are home to some of the best archaeological sites, historic buildings and designed landscapes found in England. Evidence of how humans have shaped these places can be found frozen in time, hidden beneath the tree canopy. The unique nature of forestry, when compared to other land uses, means that our historic record has the potential to be preserved to a much higher degree, with tens of thousands of known sites, and more than 850 protected monuments, buildings and parks and gardens found throughout our forests. The very nature of how the Forestry Commission developed, how we acquired land and how this has been managed over the last one hundred years, means that Forestry England now oversees a palimpsest of landscape histories, ranging from the Palaeolithic through to the Second World War, as well as our own histories. This lecture will touch on just some of the incredible archaeological and historical narratives that can be found within the Nation’s Forest and how Forestry England has influenced these.

To express an interest and receive the Zoom link please contact: info@surreyarchaeology.org.uk