Re: Making sculptures to go on the Coppice
 

More likely to have originated from -

kopje - definition of kopje by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.
kopje koppie
noun (S. African) hill, down (archaic), fell, mount, height, mound, prominence, elevation, eminence, hilltop, tor, knoll, hillock, brae (Scot.) the rocky kopjes, small hills rising like islands

Re: Making sculptures to go on the Coppice
 

Not convinced, but will keep an open mind.

Re: Making sculptures to go on the Coppice
 

They are amazing :) I wish I could do that!

I wonder how they managed to make it without people hearing the sound of the whatever they used to cut it?? :S ?? I like that the maker/makers are anonymous aswell.

I've always understood the Coppice had trees planted to stop a landslide. My dad has a few pictures somewhere of what it looked like before trees were planted there.
He says he prefers it without trees and could run up to the top and back to his house again with my grandma looking out the back window on Burnley road and she could see him go all the way up because there were no trees at all then. This is going back 40< years.

I wish the Coppice was entirely unspoilt, but whenever I go up and walk around the back to the reservoirs they always have rubbish/litter everywhere around the edge. It would be good if someone, even community police officers could walk about it every now and again to guard it.

There is the Venus and Cupid sculpture in Morecambe that is said to be in memory of those lost at sea, including the cockle pickers:

Bay Views: Venus and Cupid, Morecambe Promenade

I personally think it would have been better suited to where it was originally supposed to be placed (St Georges Quay Lancaster), as I think that having it as a tribute, when it was not originally designed to be a tribute is stretching it a bit........ throwing in a reason after it was made, rather than being made for that reason.

Useful definition of Kopje, thanks :)

Sonnart

Re: Making sculptures to go on the Coppice
 

Yer dads right sonnart, The coppice without trees was our cross country practice run, straight up from the Avenue Parade n Straight up No path involved,was knackering, but it made me a good un.:D;)

Re: Making sculptures to go on the Coppice
 

The statue is not really for the cocklers as far as I know, that's the first I've heard of it. There is a memorial garden to them on the prom in the centre of town.

However the statue nearly disappeared recently:
BBC News - Venus and Cupid fund may lead to Morecambe arts trust

Re: Making sculptures to go on the Coppice
 

Margaret I'm with you on this... Chambers has kop, S. Afr, a hill generally round topped, from Dutch for head, and coppice or copse from the Old French for newly cut wood.

Since the name is not on any maps does anyone know how long people have been calling it the Coppice?

Re: Making sculptures to go on the Coppice
 

According to this, there are photographs from 1848, showing the Coppice being coppiced with trees.

Roy's information site on Huncoat, History, Walking and Weather etc.

Though apparently it was more or less bereft of trees by 1909.

Can't see there being a Dutch connection, if as it seems, it was referrred to locally as the Coppice, prior to the Boer War.

Re: Making sculptures to go on the Coppice
 

The old French word copeiz, is apparently derived from the Latin word colpacticum, meaning 'having been cut'.

As much of this area had already been deforested for farming before the Roman Invasion, Susie's suggestion that the hill might have been managed and coppiced to help prevent further soil erosion, makes sense to me.

Re: Making sculptures to go on the Coppice
 

(Life Sciences & Allied Applications / Forestry) a thicket or dense growth of small trees or bushes, esp one regularly trimmed back to stumps so that a continual supply of small poles and firewood is obtained

Look to the English meaning of the word too!

Re: Making sculptures to go on the Coppice
 

Watching cashy run up the copice, ya I'd pay good money to have seen that:D

Re: Making sculptures to go on the Coppice
 

Gary It wasn't me who suggested that, it was Dave... see above quote.

Dianne the derivation and meaning of the English word is what I was referring to in my post quoted above.

I can probably tell you more about the management of a coppice than you really need to know. When we lived in Wiltshire we were in a farm cottage on the edge of a field, all of which was surrounded by one of the last remaining areas of hazel coppice still managed in the traditional way for forestry products. These included spars for thatching (holding down the thatch on a roof) and longer poles and spars for making wattle fencing. Managed on a 7 year rotation if I remember rightly.

Our village pub had a name unique in this country, the Hook and Glove, being named after the traditional implements used by coppicers - the hook being used to cut down the wood, and the leather glove for protection.

If you want to know more... interesting website, especially the section on threats to coppices.

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