Hatfield Forest Conservation Management Plan

conservation plan

Our stewardship of this special place is guided by a conservation management plan, the present one covering the period 2015 - 2020. We have also commissioned a series of reports from various external experts which will feed into the next plan.

Conservation Plan

Download the pdf file to read the plan:

HF Conservation Plan 2015 - 2020 (PDF / 2.3203125MB) download

This is a compressed file and the quality of the images has suffered in the compression process.  If you would like to view a high resolution version, please e-mail: hatfieldforest@nationaltrust.org.uk

Expert Reports

  • The Historic Landscape Significance of Hatfield Forest

Professor Tom Williamson, Professor of Landscape History, University of East Anglia:

The Historic Landscape Significance of Hatfield Forest (PDF / 0.33203125MB) download

" What is clear is that Hatfield is the best-preserved forest landscape in England…without parallel elsewhere in England, and possibly Europe. The continuing survival of the complex mosaic of traditional management regimes…depends on the perpetuation of versions of archaic techniques, here practised on a uniquely extensive scale. This is a unique inheritance which deserves particular protection into the future "
- Professor Tom Williamson

  • Archaeological and Historic Landscape Survey

Maria Medlycott, Historic Environment Consultant, Place Services, Essex County Council

" Using a methodology developed for comparative analysis as part of the World Heritage Site evaluation: Hatfield Forest is the most complete and authentic survival of a medieval Forest. "
- Maria Medlycott
" Hatfield remains of outstanding value in the British cultural context, and probably in the worldwide cultural context too"
- Maria Medlycott

  • Portingbury Hills Environmental Archaeological Assessment Report

Quest, School of Archaeology, Geography and Environmental Science, University Of Reading

  • Roman pottery from Hatfield Forest

Anna Doherty, UCL Archaeology South-East

For copyright reasons, only the first is available to download.  If you would like to see a copy of any of the others, please contact us at hatfieldforest@nationaltrust.org.uk

You may also be interested in reading:

  • The Last Forest  - The Story of Hatfield Forest

Oliver Rackham, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge

published by:

J M Dent, London, 1989; ISBN: 0 460 04736 1 (hardcover) and ISBN 0 460 86089 5 (paperback); and

Phoenix, London, 1998; ISBN: 0 753 80525 1 (paperback)

Although first published nearly 30 years ago, this remains the definitive account of the forest, covering both its history and natural history.

There is more about Oliver Rackham in this article.