The Alice Holt Research Station is one of two British forestry research institutes, and is located in north-east Hampshire.

History

It was established as a Forestry Research Station in 1946 by the Forestry Commission near

Wrecclesham Wrecclesham is a village on the southern outskirts of the large town of Farnham in Surrey, England. Its local government district is the Borough of Waverley. History It was once in the estate of Henry of Westminster and Blois the powerful 13th ...

. The forest estate had 1,225,000 acres. By the late 1950s it had an international reputation. A £134,000 extension was opened in the summer of 1959, which enable the Commission to have its central seed store at the site for varieties such as

Douglas-fir The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Oregon pine, and Columbian pine. There are three va ...

Sitka spruce ''Picea sitchensis'', the Sitka spruce, is a large, coniferous, evergreen tree growing to almost tall, with a trunk diameter at breast height that can exceed 5 m (16 ft). It is by far the largest species of spruce and the fifth-lar ...

, Corsican pine, and

Norway spruce ''Picea abies'', the Norway spruce or European spruce, is a species of spruce native to Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. It has branchlets that typically hang downwards, and the largest cones of any spruce, 9–17 cm long. It is very close ...

. The store was mostly for

conifer Conifers are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All ext ...

s, keeping seeds up to four years. and also

acorn The acorn, or oaknut, is the nut of the oaks and their close relatives (genera '' Quercus'' and '' Lithocarpus'', in the family Fagaceae). It usually contains one seed (occasionally two seeds), enclosed in a tough, leathery shell, and b ...

s had been stored up to three years. More laboratories were added in the late 1970s.

Research

In 1948 it began experimenting with '' Metasequoia glyptostroboides'', the

dawn redwood ''Metasequoia glyptostroboides'', the dawn redwood, is a fast-growing, endangered deciduous conifer. It is the sole living species of the genus ''Metasequoia'', one of three genera in the subfamily Sequoioideae of the family Cupressaceae. It now ...

, with a view to produce timber. In the late 1950s its scientists were among the first people to investigate biological data with computers, when they discovered why the Douglas-fir did not grow well in south-east England, which they found was due to temperature and rooting depth. It was through computers that many solutions were found. The station found a new way to determine daily tree growth with

vernier scale A vernier scale, named after Pierre Vernier, is a visual aid to take an accurate measurement reading between two graduation markings on a linear scale by using mechanical interpolation, thereby increasing resolution and reducing measurement unce ...

s. Computers investigated ways to classify trees by leaf character. It notably conducted research into

eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of flowering trees, shrubs or mallees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including '' Corymbia'', they are commonly known as ...

and poplar trees. In April 1973 it found that

Dutch elm disease Dutch elm disease (DED) is caused by a member of the sac fungi (Ascomycota) affecting elm trees, and is spread by elm bark beetles. Although believed to be originally native to Asia, the disease was accidentally introduced into America, Europe ...

had been imported on

Rock Elm ''Ulmus thomasii'', the rock elm or cork elm (or orme liège in Québec), is a deciduous tree native primarily to the Midwestern United States. The tree ranges from southern Ontario and Quebec, south to Tennessee, west to northeastern Kansas, ...

logs from North America. The disease had first appeared in 1965. The disease had originally been shipped to the North America from Britain in the 1930s. The disease in Britain had then become less known. There were outbreaks of the disease in 1965 in north Gloucestershire and in 1967 in south Essex. Two scientists at the station discovered two strains of the disease. The areas affected were southern Hampshire, north-west Kent, the Severn valley, and Ipswich. The scientists realised that these outbreaks could have been prevented by controlling imports of logs. It had been assumed that as Britain had the disease in the 1930s that trees would not be affected. By 1984 Dutch elm disease had reached Scotland. Other diseases of trees to be controlled were

Oak wilt Oak wilt is a fungal disease caused by the organism ''Bretziella fagacearum'' that threatens ''Quercus'' spp. The disease is limited to the Midwestern and Eastern United States; first described in the 1940s in the Upper Mississippi River Val ...

and

Chestnut blight The pathogenic fungus ''Cryphonectria parasitica'' (formerly ''Endothia parasitica'') is a member of the Ascomycota (sac fungi). This necrotrophic fungus is native to East Asia and South East Asia and was introduced into Europe and North America ...

. In 1973 it looked at ways to control the grey squirrel.

Chief Research Officers

* Professor

Malcolm Laurie Malcolm Laurie FRSE FLS (27 February 1866 – 16 July 1932) was a Scottish zoologist and palaeontologist. Biography He was born in Brunstane House south of Portobello, Edinburgh on 27 February 1866, the son of Simon Somerville Laurie an ...

, 1946 - October 1959 * Tom Peace, October 1959 - * David Burdekin * Prof Peter Freer-SmithPeter Freer-Smith
/ref>

Structure

It is situated next to

Birdworld Birdworld is the United Kingdom's largest bird park, covering . It is located in the East Hampshire district, close to the village of Bucks Horn Oak and the surrounding Alice Holt Forest. It is part of the parent company Haskins Garden Centre ...

in the

Alice Holt Forest Alice Holt Forest is a royal forest in Hampshire, situated some south of Farnham, Surrey. Once predominantly an ancient oak forest, it was particularly noted in the 18th and 19th centuries for the timber it supplied for the building of ships fo ...

East Hampshire East Hampshire is a local government district in Hampshire, England. Its council is based in Petersfield. Other towns are Alton and Bordon. The district was originally to be known as the District Council of Petersfield. It comprised 42 sea ...

off the A325, east of Bentley railway station on the

Alton Line The Alton line is a railway line in Hampshire and Surrey, England, operated by South Western Railway as a relatively long branch of the South West Main Line. The branch leaves the main line at Pirbright Junction to the west of Brookwood stat ...

, which follows the

River Wey The River Wey is a main tributary of the River Thames in south east England. Its two branches, one of which rises near Alton in Hampshire and the other in West Sussex to the south of Haslemere, join at Tilford in Surrey. Once combined the ...

. The nearest inhabitation is Rowledge in

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant ur ...

, on the Hampshire boundary. Although now in Hampshire, similar to Birdworld, the site is in the religious parish of Rowledge in Surrey.

References

External links

Forest Research
{{Authority control 1946 establishments in the United Kingdom Buildings and structures in Hampshire East Hampshire District Forest research institutes Forestry in the United Kingdom Forests and woodlands of Hampshire Research institutes established in 1946 Research institutes in Hampshire Research stations