Copse

History

A copse (or coppice)—a grouping of trees and shrubs—was akin to a clump or thicket in the choice and the arrangement of vegetation. A copse, however, was sometimes distinguished from these other features by virtue of its association with husbandry. Copses were thinned regularly by removing branches and limbs, which were then used for purposes other than ornamentation by the landowner. According to Walter Nicol (1812), this practice of trimming trees and shrubs also distinguished a copse from a wood, since the former included trees and shrubs that were never permitted to grow to “any considerable size.” The latter, by contrast, contained towering trees (see also Charles Marshall [1799] and Humphry Rep-ton [1803]). Nicol drew further distinctions between natural (or self-sown) copses and deliberately planted artificial ones. Lexicographers, including Ephraim Chambers (1741–43), Samuel Johnson (1755), and Noah Webster (1828), focused only on the material uses of wood and did not acknowledge the use of copses in gardens. Garden treatise writers, however, from the Englishman John Worlidge (1669) to American A. J. Downing (1849) discussed the design of copses in terms of their layout with walks to create pleasant spaces for walking.

Seeking evidence of copses in the American context poses several problems. Descriptions and images rarely identify a copse as either natural or artificial. In addition, not every instance of copse cited in this study makes clear that trees and shrubs were “coppiced,” a term that suggested a wood feature that had been (or looked like it had been) cut back periodically. It should also be noted that the identification of copses is further impeded by the fact that the feature has multiple associations with husbandry, natural scenery, and landscape design. Unless the term is directly inscribed on an image, it is difficult to recognize the form.

In the references gathered here a link is implied between copses and the natural landscape, even though it is unclear whether natural or artificial copses are described. Rev. Manasseh Cutler in 1803, when describing the Woodlands, near Philadelphia, used the term to describe an arrangement of native trees as opposed to William Hamilton’s collection of foreign trees, which he called an “artificial grove.” This distinction suggests that the term “copse” was used to describe a group of native trees.

Because a copse was, as Noah Webster specified, a small wood “consisting of under.wood or brushwood,” it was particularly well suited to provide a dense screen of vegetation. Although most designers recommended using shrubberies or thickets as screening devices, a few nineteenth-century treatise writers suggested copses (see Shrubbery and Thicket). Thomas Green Fessenden in 1823 suggested planting copses in graveyards because they could both conceal graves and provide a contrast to the stark stones. At Blithewood on the Hudson River, the vinery was backed by a copse that hid both the working side of the building and provided a pleasing backdrop [Fig. 1]. James E. Teschemacher, in an essay that detailed how to create the illusion of greater space in small gardens, recommended planting copses at the outer boundary of gardens abutted by woods in order to make the neighboring woods appear as if they were part of the designed landscape. In this case, the copse would provide a graceful transition from lawn to wood.

-- Anne L. Helmreich