History Menu
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A synopsis:
- Excesses of the Officers of the Forest are controlled; the Rights of the locals are formalised;
- Formal practices are introduced to preserve underwood for fuel and other domestic uses; there are rising demands for timber by the Sovereign's Navy;
- The Forest is looted by Sovereigns - literally, and by the excessive use of fines; it declines by neglect.
| 1189-1199 Richard I |
Cattle in Longcross Pond
"With horned cattle of course, the forest, like all other large wastes, abounds; and this is a source of great picturesque beauty.....We see them often in large herds; and in the summer, the season of landscape, they are drawn in numbers, to favorite spots, particularly about pools, and rivulets; where a choice may be made among the various combinations, and attitudes they form, of such as are the most beautiful and picturesque." |
| 1199-1216 John |
John disafforested some of his Forests within the country (Essex, Cornwall) but enlarged the boundaries of the New Forest. He was a frequent visitor - a keen hunter (principally with hawks). |
| 1216-1272 Henry III |
There were grievances at all levels of society against Forest Law - barons & peasants. Henry disafforested land that King John and Henry II had afforested. The Charter of the Forest in 1217 relaxed Forest Laws - there was no more death and mutilation for Forest offences.
Church Place, Old Sloden.
Lit by the sun is a low, wasted embankment; this is part of a small rectangular earthwork in Sloden named Church Place. The embankment is believed to be the eroded enclosure embankment and ditch of a 14th century royal hunting lodge. There are other "Church" places within the Forest and excavations have revealed small fragments of Purbeck and Cornish slate tiles at these sites. The lodge would have been a modest timber frame and plaster structure for the accommodation overnight of hunting parties. It is known that Edward III gave instructions in 1358 for 4 lodges to be constructed in the Forest. There was a shift of emphasis from the deer to the vert (greenwood) and interference with the vert such as felling of saplings, lopping of boughs was dealt with vigorously by the Justices of the Forest. Some of the land around the New Forest was re-afforested - there were complaints against the rigours of Forest Law, and its administration. |
| 1272-1307 Edward I |
In 1278-1279, a perambulation of the Forest was made to address complaints against re-afforested boundaries - "the metes and bounds of the New Forest from the first time in which it was afforested". The perambulation was written, not mapped:
"...from thence as far as Christ Church bridge as the sea flows; from thence as the river Averne [Avon] as far as Moletone [Milton at Breamore], thence by the river Averne to North Chardeford and Sechemle [?] and so in length by one ditch which runs to Herdeberwe [?]." At this time, the Forest extended from the River Avon to Southampton Water, and from the coast to the Wiltshire downs. Edward enforced Forest Laws with vigour. |
| 1297 | Under pressure of cultivation, the Forest boundaries were reduced, and a fresh perambulation undertaken. |
| 1300 | Further reductions in the Forest boundary - these boundaries remained until the 22nd year of the reign of Charles II. A perambulation was undertaken in 1300-1301. |
| 1306 | Ordinance of the Forest stated:
"the People of our Realm are by the Officers of our Forests, miserably oppressed, impoverished and troubled with many wrongs, being everywhere molested." The excesses of the Forest officers - foresters, verderers, agisters - were controlled. Sworn juries were introduced for cases of trespass of the vert or venison. |
| 1483 | The demands for timber and underwood in the preceding decades and encroachments for cultivation placed the Forest under renewed threat. It was recognised that once trees such as hazel, ash and underwood were cut, the grazing of animals inhibited the growth of saplings. This led to an Encoppicement Act in 1483 to allow enclosure of cleared areas for 7 years, in order to keep animals out. The enclosures had a ditch and bank topped with palings. Thorns were planted on the inner aspect to exclude animals. This was not systematic timber production - it was aimed at preserving the underwood for domestic fuel and charcoal. |
| 1537 Henry VIII |
The "Orders and Rules of the New Forest" outlined the management of the Forest, and described common practices (currently formalised as Common Rights) and identified a hierarchy of officers in the Forest. It specified procedures for all types of activity within the Forest - including a Royal hunt:
"And if it shall please the Kings Majesty to hunt within the Forest, the Lord Warden may command his Rangers to Summon all the Country, as well within the Forest as upon the Borders of the Forest, to come unto a Place assigned to wait upon the Lieutenant and other Fosters to wendlas [windlass - intercept] the Deer, and to bring them to such places as the Kings Majesty may take his Pleasure, and the same People shall compass and stand in a Stable until such time as the hunting be done." In practice, most hunting was undertaken by professional hunters. |
| 1544 | The "Statute of Woods" in this year was a management plan for coppices; this was the first formalisation of silviculture. The post of Deputy Surveyor was created - a post still extant. |
| 1558-1603 Elizabeth I |
In 1570, Elizabeth made the practice of "encoppicing" imperative in Royal Forests - a system of enclosures in which an area of growing trees (with seed for natural regeneration) was selected and then fenced to keep out the deer and stock. At a census of the enclosures ("encoppicements") - there were 5,800 acres encoppiced. To conserve supplies of timber (presumably for ship building), she passed a law to stop the felling of standing trees for charcoal (for iron smelting). |
| 1603-1625 James I |
By now the Forest system was considered to be anachronistic; it was principally a source of timber for the Navy. James aimed to restore the Forest legal and land management system as a source of income, and for hunting. He reclaimed assarts, and imposed heavy fines. He planted oak. However, he gave the privileges of windfall away. His officers applied to him for leave to pay troops with trees. |
| 1608 | J Norden's survey of coppices in the New Forest was published. Plans of 14 coppices were produced outlining the quality and quantity of underwood, value, rent etc.
Ridley Wood in mist
Ridley is a magnificent old wood,
mentioned in Norden's 17th century survey of coppices. Coppices were leased to tenants for exploitation of the underwood only. In 1571, the tenant of Ridley Coppice was accused of pollarding 200 trees and selling the cut wood, thus exceeding his rights. To compound his crime, he also cut young oak to make fences. They were let to woodcutters who cut the underwoods and pollards, but not saplings. The irregular boundaries of the coppices can be traced on the ground today (particularly in Ridley Wood and Sloden). North and South Bentley Inclosure boundaries follow the line of the old coppice. Of Ridley, Norden said: "There be manie younge sapline okes, which by noe means are to be cutt, for when the underwoodes are gone they will growe bigger and prove timber trees for future ages." |
| 1611 | The first mention of the demands of timber for the Navy - 1,800 oaks were supplied. |
| 1625-1649 Charles I |
Charles continued disafforestation in the kingdom; he leased Forests to raise money to support his foreign policy. The New Forest was in decline and evidently in a shameful condition. |
| 1660-1685 Charles II |
The decline continued. Charles gave woods away to those at Court. On a positive note, he did authorise a John Norton to enclose 300 acres in 1669 for young oak; the expense was defrayed by the selling of decayed wood. Charles was the last monarch to hunt in the Forest. |
| 1670 |
The submission of claims for Common Rights - under Forest Law, possessors of Rights had to make periodic claims before the forest courts.
Old Sloden.
Sloden was one of the coppices surveyed by Norden in the 17th century. The coppice comprised holly and blackthorn underwood with oak and ash; the original coppice embankment can still be traced on the ground. Sloden was enclosed in 1775 for the planting of timber trees, and thrown open some 50 years later. It is a remarkable wood now comprising principally oak and yew (the latter thought to have been planted as nursery trees for the oak). Many of the yew are dying. Old Sloden has a spirit unlike any other wood in the Forest. A perambulation of the Forest was undertaken - the boundaries remained largely unchanged until 1963. "....Sloden, with its thick wood of yews, standing, massive and black, in all their depth of foliage mixed, in loveliest contrast, with clumps of whitebeams" (John Wise, 1895) |