A vocabulary of landscape — a landscape of words
1068 entries
lop and top
The commoner’s traditional right to cut the branches (lop) and tops of trees in common woodland for firewood and building material. The phrase names the specific cuts: the side branches and the crown. This was the fuel that fired preindustrial England.
Etymology
“Lop” from Middle English “loppen” (to cut off branches); “top” from Old English “top” (summit, crown). English forestry/commons-law term, in use since at least the medieval period to describe traditional wood-gathering rights.