Jaques d'Alltrades wrote:
The message
from David Rance contains these
words:

Also, I would mention that there are masses of saplings all around
the tree. Would the tree originally have grown from a bunch of
acorns
(either planted by a human or a squirrel), or would they have been
planted as saplings?

I'd go for planting as a ring of saplings.

Technical query. If a tree were coppiced early in life, might the
shoots not grow together in the same way if subsequently left alone?

--
Mike.