File:Pollarded willows on the Grantham Canal - geograph.org.uk - 748448.jpg

English: Pollarded willows on the Grantham Canal These willows have been cut back in the style known as pollarding, a management system where a tree's branches are regularly cut off at a height of 2-3 metres. This practice was far more common in the past but is gaining popularity again as a way of managing fast growing trees such as willows.

In the past, trees were pollarded to produce repeated crops of small-sized wood growing out of reach of hungry deer and livestock. The poles produced were used in much the same way as coppicing where the trees are cut down almost to ground level. Products included ships planking, timber for half-timbered Tudor houses, as well as smaller items such as pea and bean sticks, firewood, charcoal, furniture, sheep hurdles, baskets, fencing, hedging sticks, tool handles and brooms.

Pollarding was typical in deer parks, on common land or wood pasture and on stream-sides and riverbanks, as in this case. Pollarding prolongs a tree's life - done regularly, pollarded trees can survive for centuries.