In response to a 1980 select committee which recommended that ancient woods should be recognised and treated as a separate category, the NCCs compiled the Inventories of Ancient, Long-established and Semi-natural woodlands. A more sophisticated classification was developed for woodlands in Scotland due to the nature of the available historical sources.
IMPORTANT
For Scottish woods, the category Ancient comprises woods recorded as being of semi-natural origin on EITHER the 1750 Roy maps OR the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey maps of 1860. This is due a) to the likelihood of the latter having been omitted from the Roy maps and b) to render the Scottish classification compatible with that for England and Wales.
