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- What are the responsibilities of the Verderers, Agisters, Forest Keepers?
- Balance and checks.....who represents the Commoners? Who represents the State?
In 1184, Henry II required local knights to undertake unpaid duties in the administration of Royal Forests. In every Forest county, four knights were appointed as Agisters to make arrangements for the feeding of swine in the sovereign's woods, and to collect "pannage" dues from those turning out pigs into the Forests. He also appointed 12 knights in each county responsible for the safekeeping of his vert and venison. These knights were the forerunners of the Verderers and Regarders (Regarders held a triennial enquiry - the Regard - into the state of the vert, and accounted for those that trespassed upon it. They formed a central administration for the collection of royal revenue from breaches of Forest Law. The title is no longer used).
Verderers' Court
The Verderers are the guardians of the Commoners and their Rights of Common; they are also the watchdogs of the Forest landscape and may veto development and highways. They may authorise up to 5,000 acres for timber production (Verderers' Inclosures) and they must authorise the Forestry Commission work in unenclosed woods. There are ten Verderers:
- an Official Verderer appointed by the Crown;
- five Verderers elected by Commoners (the elected Verderers must occupy not less than 1 acre carrying Rights of Common of Pasture);
- four appointed by: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Forestry Commission; the National Park Authority; Natural England (formerly Countryside Agency).
The Court of Verderers was re-established in 1877 (Deer Removal Act) but its origins are judicial - the Verderers presided over local courts appointed to deal with offences against Forest Law.
Agisters
The Verderers employ five Agisters. Their roles are to:
- ensure Forest Bye-Laws are obeyed;
- collect "marking fees" (see below) for Commoners' stock turned out within the perambulation;
- supervise the welfare and condition of stock on the Forest;
- brand all stock turned out.
The Agisters conduct the "drifts" when ponies are rounded up into pounds for foal branding, worming and tail marking. The tail is cut into 1 of 4 marks (dependent upon the jurisdiction of the particular Agister) to denote depasturing fees have been paid. There are about 15 drifts each year between August and November.
One of their most onerous duties is to attend road-traffic accidents involving commonable stock.
situated on a gravel spur overlooking the Avon
valley. They were planted by the Lord of the Manor,
Lord Normanton, in 1931. They replaced Scots pine
planted in 1850, but killed by heath fire at the
beginning of this century. Ibsley Common is a privately
owned "Adjacent Common" brought under the
jurisdiction of the Verderers in 1964.
Forestry Commission
The Forestry Commission is the agent of the Crown. The Crown's land within the perambulation is vested in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; the Ministry places the management of the land in the hands of the Forestry Commission (the Forest is actually managed by Forest Enterprise, an agency of the Commission). In general, only the Forestry Commission may disturb the soil or remove products of the soil (with the exception of Rights of Turbary and Marl, and Verderers' statutory grazing improvements).
Forest Keepers
Forest Keepers are employees of the Forestry Commission. They ensure enforcement of Forest Bye-Laws and as Special Constables they have powers to deal with civil offences. In addition, they are responsible for:
- control of deer;
- control of hares, rabbits and squirrels;
- public liaison;
- wildlife surveys and conservation work;
- camping permits.
for the deer. To prevent deer and ponies grazing the
regrowth (future years supply of browse), the trees
were pollarded - cut 6-10 feet from the ground. Keepers
were permitted to retain the cut wood after deer had
stripped it, but inevitably this concession was abused
and there were accusations of excessive pollarding. In
addition, the misshapen trees provided poor timber and
the practice was made illegal in 1698.
The oldest beeches in the New Forest date from the early
17th century. On Forest soils, a pollarded beech has a
life span of about 350 years. Many of the old pollards
are in the final stages of their life. This picture was
taken about 3 years ago - the branches of the large beech
on the right have now collapsed
(furze) and holly are the staple foods
of stock in winter. Unlike ponies, deer
won't browse gorse but the bark of
holly is palatable to them within
a few days of cutting. These cut
branches of the holly (leaves and
bark) will be stripped within days.
Re-growth will serve future winters.