Plant Life: Pollard

A pollard is not a separate kind of tree.  It is a tree that has been pollarded. Trees that have been cut back at the top usually about 2 to 4 metres above the ground are called pollard. The new shoots of the pollarded tree grow from the cut trunk. 

Pollarding was common in England because it produced a regular supply firewood and poles; kept branches above the reach of grazing animals; and prolonged the life of the tree.   Willows, alders, ashes and oaks were often managed this way. 

In 19th century literature, like that of Dickens and Hardy, pollards were part of rural landscape.  Their thick turncated trunks with tufts of new branchl gave them a distinct and eerie appearance.

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