Fair Green History

An important aspect of the history of Diss was its great Fair, an annual event for nearly 700 years. In 1185 permission for this was first granted to the Lord of the Manor by Royal Charter and for 400 years it was held on Fair Green where fetes are still held today.

Fair Green is a registered Village Green owned in trust by the Trustees of the Parochial Charities of Diss, maintained by Diss Town Council.  Residents of Fair Green have set up the Fair Green Neighbourhood Association.

Management Programme for Fair Green

Fair green is an area of open grassland located on the southern side of Diss, surrounded on most sides by private dwellings. The road on the east of the site is well used, around the rest of the site are access roads allowing access to the private dwellings. Close to the western Boundary a road bisect the Green and a large industrial unit is found south west of the site.

The green is located on loamy sand and the topography is generally level with the occasional shallow dip close to the centre of the Green. Surrounding the majority of the site are grassy ditches of varying depths some representing no more than a shallow depression. Close to the boundary are groups of mature and immature trees. The site is well used by the local residents and a number of paths have formed transecting the Green.

The sward is dominated by grasses cock’s-foot Dactylis glomerata, rye grass Lolium perenne, timothy Pheleum pratense and creeping bent Agrostis stolonifera. Though generally there are relatively small numbers of herbs found, the most abundant specie is yarrow Achillea millefolium and creeping buttercup Ranunculus repens, common cat’s-ear Hypochoeris radicata, smooth hawk’s beard Crepis capillaries are frequently found across the Green.

The edge of the Green ribwort plantain Plantago lanceolata, bucks horn plantain Plantago coronopus, dandelion Taraxacum officinal, cow parsley Anthriscus sylvestris, sorrel dock Rumex acetosa, knotgrass Polygonum aviculare and ox-eye daisy Leucanthemum vulgare can be observed.

A narrow range of broad-leaved species are situated in the ditches; these consist of small numbers of common mallow Malva syslvestris, white dead nettle Lamium album, hedge woundwort Stachys sylvestris and common poppy Papaver rhoeas.

Aims 

Objectives

Management

Grazing

Horses periodically grazing the site do not seem to have damaged the sward. If the regime is maintain at the existing level it will continue to create a variation in the sward height. The spacial structure of the sward will be beneficial for invertebrates. During winter a cessation of grazing would be beneficial to prevent poaching of the green and bare patches, this would subsequently prevent coarse grass and herbs becoming dominated. To encourage the abundance of forbs, grazing should be prevented or at a low concentration during the flowering season.

Mowing Regime of Green

At the end of the summer the green should be cut for hay after the forbs have flowered and set seed. This will encourage the broad leaved species and increase in their distribution over the site, and the removal of vegetation will reduced the nutrient input onto the Green.
The fresh cuttings from areas that are more species rich can be spread over areas that are less abundant in forbs species. The areas to be seeded will be cut and cleared before spreading the species rich hay. The hay should be left for several days and turned periodically. After a few days the hay needs to be collected and removed to prevent nutrient input form the decaying material. Doing this over several years will increase colonies of desirable species such as lady’s bedstraw.

Mowing regime of Ditches

The ditches and edges are to be cut frequently for safety reason, but the cuttings removed to prevent coarse grasses and herbs becoming dominated. The cuttings can be racked, collected and removed from the site by using a green skip. Preferable the cuttings should be collected during mowing and then placed in green skip, to save time and work.

Ragwort Control

There are two methods to control the Ragwort, the first can be completed with the help of local volunteers, and is to hand pull the plant. This is done once the species reaches a suitable height but before it set seed. The safety equipment needed would be protective rubber gloves and face mask if the plant is in full flower. The collected plants placed in a green skip and removed form site. The draw back with this method is getting sufficient numbers of people to pull the plants.

The only alternative to hand pulling, is to use Barrier H on the rosettes. The treatment can occur any time of the year as long as the plant is dry at the time of treatment and there is no rain for 24 hours. The dead plant material must be removed after treatment and animals kept off the site for two weeks. These criteria would be impossible to impose on Fair Green.

Tree Management

The mature trees on the site need to be monitored frequently for health and safety reasons. Where possible leaving standing dead wood (snags) this will increase the biodiversity of the site by provide new niches for species to take advantage of. If a tree has a safety issue it should be managed appropriately and the material produced used to create a habitat pile, thus providing a suitable habitat for invertebrates and fungi.

Infrastructure

There are a number of benches around the site, these need to be sanded and painted with varnish every year to prolong their life. It will be put into the programme to replace each bench, so as to maintain its amenity value. With regard to infrastructure up-grade this will be part of the overall works plan for this site.

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