evidence: The earliest descriptions of the landscape around the northern Lagan Valley date from the late 16th century. A map from this period by Francis Jobson is of particular interest as it distinguished areas with tall growing trees from areas of scrub. Jobson indicated that the lands southeast of Lough Neagh and in mid-Down had tall woodland trees. The districts around Carrickfergus, North Down and the Ards Peninsular were largely devoid of woodland and the Lagan Valley contained predominantly underwood. With the development of the town of Belfast in the 17th century, much of the woodland in the northern Lagan Valley was cleared for agriculture, cut for firewood or used in industries such as ship building, tanning and charcoal-making for ironworks. However, some leases instructed tenants to retain trees and plant hedges and saplings, and surviving records for the Donegall estate from the 1730s and 1740s refer to the employment of men termed ‘wood rangers’, who looked after trees and hedges. A large woodland was retained at Cromac (lower Ormeau) until the 1790s, when the last trees described as principally oak with some ash and alder were felled. Also, recent tree ring dating at Belvoir Park has demonstrated that some of the imposing oaks that today grace this site have grown undisturbed since the mid - 17th century.