Tittensor, A. M. and Tittensor, R. (1985). The Rabbit Warren at West Dean near Chichester. Sussex Archaeological Collections 123. Vol 123, pp. 151-185. https://doi.org/10.5284/1086373. Cite this via datacite
 Title The title of the publication or report |
The Rabbit Warren at West Dean near Chichester | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Issue The name of the volume or issue |
Sussex Archaeological Collections 123 | |||||||||
Series The series the publication or report is included in |
Sussex Archaeological Collections | |||||||||
Volume Volume number and part |
123 | |||||||||
Page Start/End The start and end page numbers. |
151 - 185 | |||||||||
Downloads Any files associated with the publication or report that can be downloaded from the ADS |
|
|||||||||
Licence Type ADS, CC-BY 4.0 or CC-BY 4.0 NC. |
ADS Terms of Use and Access
|
|||||||||
DOI The DOI (digital object identifier) for the publication or report. |
|
|||||||||
Publication Type The type of publication - report, monograph, journal article or chapter from a book |
Journal | |||||||||
Abstract The abstract describing the content of the publication or report |
Rabbits were native to Britain in early post-glacial times but had become extinct by the Roman period. Their history in southern England from their reintroduction, through the establishment and decline of warrens, to the later formation of wild populations, is reviewed as background to the account of rabbits at West Dean in West Sussex. Rabbit warrens were present on all landforms in Sussex. A combination of archaeological, historical and ecological methods was used to trace the development and demise of the West Dean warren. Already well established by 1583, the warren existed until 1804 when it was dismantled; the area known as Ellingsdean may originally have been a separate, smaller warren, part of which became incorporated into West Dean. The warren contained about 900 a. in the 18th century, was well stocked with rabbits and was simultaneously used as common pasture for tenants' domestic stock. Although it was surrounded by a substantial fence-topped, flint-faced bank with inner ditch, escaping rabbits caused friction between warrener and farmers. There was some controversy over rights of free warren on the land and over ownership of fringe areas.of the warren. Since the demise of the warren, the area has become progressively enclosed and wooded, so that now only two per cent of its former area has remnants of the original chalk downland and heath vegetation. The establishment of a 19th-century game warren for rabbit shooting, quite separate from the medieval warren, and the increasing abundance of wild rabbits in the area are described. Myxomatosis, which came here in 1954, almost eradicated rabbits from the area, demonstrating the full extent of their previous effect on the landscape. Rabbits are now reestablished and causing problems again on the West Dean Estate. | |||||||||
Year of Publication The year the book, article or report was published |
1985 | |||||||||
Locations Any locations covered by the publication or report. This is not the place the book or report was published. |
|
|||||||||
Locations Any locations covered by the publication or report. This is not the place the book or report was published. |
|
|||||||||
Source Where the record has come from or which dataset it was orginally included in. |
ADS Archive
(ADS Archive)
|
|||||||||
Relations Other resources which are relevant to this publication or report |
|
|||||||||
Created Date The date the record of the pubication was first entered |
08 Jun 2021 |
