Riverside Willows Receive Overdue Trim

Published on: 6 Sep, 2024
Updated on: 8 Sep, 2024

Pollarding the River Wey willows along the bank of Shalford Watermeadows. Photo Fiona Giles

The weeping willows that give a picturesque frame to the River Wey by Shalford Meadow are being pollarded.

Sure feet and a head for heights required. Photo Fiona Giles

A GBC spokesperson said: “The trees are overdue re-pollarding and we have now started this process which will continue over the coming few years.

“The aim is to prune 10 trees this year, then 10 trees next year and then finish the remaining trees in the final third year.

“We will be staggering the 10 trees along the line of trees, not just working on 10 trees next to each other, so as to to spread the visual appearance of the works.”

Men below ensure the severed limb, attached to their pole, is brought safely to the ground. Photo Fiona Giles

According to Wikipedia, pollarding is a pruning system involving the removal of the upper branches of a tree, which promotes the growth of a dense head of foliage and branches. There are literary references to pollarding in Roman times.

The practice has occurred commonly in Europe since medieval times, and takes place today in urban areas worldwide, primarily to maintain trees at a determined height or to place new shoots out of the reach of grazing animals.

Traditionally, trees were pollarded for one of two reasons: for livestock fodder or for wood but pollarding tends to make trees live longer by maintaining them in a partially juvenile state and by reducing the weight and windage of the top part of the tree which might reduce the risk of collapse, especially during storms.

The willows at Shalford Meadow are believed to have stood on the bank for over 100 years, their roots helping to bind and strengthen the artificial bank beneath, much older than the trees, which constrains the River Wey into a deeper, narrower and since the 18th Century, navigable waterway.

It is also believed that managing the depth of the river was necessary in ancient times in order to provide sufficient headwater to power mills in the town, perhaps as early as the Saxon period.

Water sluices that used to be used to flood Shalford Meadow, noticeably at a lower level than the river, can still be seen but have not been operable for about 30 years. In the last century Shalford Meadow was used for skating when flood water froze as recently as the 1960s as the photo below shows.

Skating (and cycling) on the frozen River Wey during the winter of 1962-63.

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