Chapter XXVII: The Forests of Wilts

CLARENDON

There is clear evidence that the forest of Clarendon, Wilts, formed part of the royal demesne in pre-Norman days. The nuns of Wilton, at the time of the Domesday Survey, had a customary right in the wood of Milchet to fourscore loads of firewood, pannage for fourscore swine, together with as much timber as was requisite for keeping their houses and fences in repair. The parks of Milchet and Buckholt and the forest of Panshet were original members of Clarendon forest according to the thirteenth-century Hundred Rolls. In the interesting account given in Hoare’s county history, it is stated that the earliest general view of this forest is to be found in these rolls of the end of Henry III. and beginning of Edward I. But this is scarcely correct, for the Close Rolls of the early part of the reign of Henry III. abound in references to the forest and its component members, as might naturally be expected from the fact of Clarendon being such a favourite residence of our kings in the thirteenth century.

The timber of the forest was a great boon to the district, and freely granted by the king for ecclesiastical and other purposes. Six oaks were granted in 1222 to Gilbert de Lacy for building a chapel in his court at Britford; in 1223, fourteen large pieces of timber (vj _postes_ iiij _pannas_ et iiij _solivas_) from the rootfallen or cablish trees to make a granary at Eblebourn; in 1224, all the cablish timber, not yet sold, for the fabric of the cathedral church of New Sarum, which had been begun four years before; in 1230, three oaks to the prioress of Amesbury for making the nuns’ stalls, and five oaks to help the Franciscan friars in building their house at Salisbury; and in 1231, five good oaks out of Milchet wood for the abbess of Romsey to make planks for the dormitory, and two oaks for the prioress of Amesbury to mend the quire stalls. As to wood for fuel, the Bishop of Salisbury obtained a grant of forty loads in 1224; Walter Fitz-Peter obtained three dead trees (_tria bona sicca robora folia non ferentia_) for his hearth, in 1230; and the nuns of Amesbury five loads of firewood in 1233, in addition to their customary privilege of estover.

During the like period the orders for timber from this forest for the works at the palace and park of Clarendon were numerous, and in 1223, after the great gale, the large sum of £40 from the sale of the rootfallen trees of this forest was appropriated to the works at Winchester Castle.

Among the grants of deer from this forest, may be mentioned a grant in 1223 of hunting ten bucks to the Earl of Salisbury, and a gift of four does to the Bishop of Salisbury in the following year. In 1228 one Savory de Malo Leone had a royal grant from Clarendon of five live does; and in 1229 William Earl of Pembroke obtained twenty Clarendon does towards stocking his park at Hampstead. The supply of fallow deer was evidently considerable in this forest, but there is no record of red deer.

At an inquisition of the hundred of Alderbury, in 1255, the jurors returned that the forest of Clarendon was well warded, but that the park of Milchet was then waste through the king’s frequent gifts and sales, and through supplying the works at Clarendon and Salisbury. The jurors of 1275 returned that the king held this forest in his own hands. John de Grymstede held the manor of Plaitford by serjeanty of warding the park of Milchet; Jordan de Laverstoke held land at Laverstoke, and Edmund de Milford at Milford by finding respectively a forester for Clarendon; and Henry de Heyraz by finding a keeper for the king’s running hounds (_canes heyricii_).

The royal gifts and orders as to wood from Clarendon forest were almost as profuse in Edward I.’s time as in that of his predecessor, particularly at the beginning of his reign. In 1275, the king granted four oaks to the priory of Mottisfont, and six oaks to one William de Fennes, as well as ordering twenty oaks out of Milchet wood for joists (_gistas_) and eight oaks for shingles (_cindulas_) for the works at Clarendon. In 1276, the bailiff of Clarendon forest had orders to supply the sheriff of Wilts with four oaks fit for timber, to enable him to rebuild the king’s mill under the castle of Old Sarum, which had been thrown down by the force of the river; thirty oaks were granted to the abbess of Wilton towards the building of her church, and ten cartloads of brushwood to the Dominicans of Wilton. In the same year orders were given for supplying forty oaks for shingles for roofing the new works at Clarendon, and also sixty beams of timber to make rafters (_chevrones_), for Queen Eleanor, to be used in the buildings at Lyndhurst. In 1277, the queen had a further grant of twenty oaks out of Milchet park to make laths (_latas_) for the use of her manor house of Lyndhurst, of the king’s gift. It is curious to find timber being imported into the centre of the New Forest; it seems to imply that there was at that date very little wood suitable for timber in the great Hampshire forest.

The grants of timber were not so numerous in the reign of Edward II. Among them may be mentioned orders to the keeper of Clarendon forest, in 1320-1, to deliver to the sheriff for the repair of the king’s water-mills below the castle of Old Sarum thirty oaks and twenty beeches. The beeches were to be felled in Buckholt wood, and as there are other references to the beeches of Buckholt in the reigns of Richard II., Edward IV., and Henry VII., it seems likely that Buckholt was almost if not entirely a wood of beeches.

The adjacent small forest of Groveley was attached to that of Clarendon early in the fourteenth century. A return of the sales of the underwood for the last four years is entered on the Great Roll at Michaelmas, 1333. It was evidently the habit to clear out the undergrowth of a certain number of acres, representing different sized coppices each year. The following is a table of the sales and average. The total for the four years is £116 15_s._ 10½_d._:—

CLARENDON PARK. GROVELEY FOREST.
£ _s._ _d._ £ _s._ _d._
1330 25 acres 20 19 8 8 acres 1 8 0
1331 27 ” 21 5 0 24 ” 1r. 7 5 6
1332 30 ” 22 19 8 12 ” 3r. 2 17 4½
1333 40 ” 1r. 33 15 8 23 ” 3r. 6 5 0

The yearly sale of this undergrowth must have been a boon to the neighbourhood, for where particular records of sales exist, as they do among the Exchequer accounts for most of the reign of Edward III., it is found that the wood was purchased as a rule in quite small lots. Thus, in 1346, when the wood of the coppice by Canonpath, close to the small priory of Ivychurch, which stood within the forest, was sold for £17 7_s._ 1_d._, there were forty-three purchases, the largest sum being 26_s._ 8_d._

An indenture made at the market of Salisbury in 1360, between Robert Russel, lieutenant of Roger Earl March, keeper of the forest and park of Clarendon, and the two verderers of the same, with regard to the sale of oak and beech at Buckholt, mention is made of the foresters who had to be maintained. They were eight in number, namely, two each for the forests of Buckholt and Groveley, one for the park of Milchet, and three for the park of Clarendon; their pay was to be at the rate of 2_d._ a day. There were also two labourers at 1½_d._ a day, whose chief duty it was to keep the pales or park fence in order. In one document of this date these men are termed “palyers,” and at a later date “palers.” It is stipulated that all these men were to be paid by the verderers at the rate of 365 days to the year; that is to say, their wages were due for Sundays and holy days as well as on working days. Several accounts of the reigns of Edward III. and Richard II. show a large expenditure on hay for the sustenance of the deer during the winter. This was quite an exceptional forest expense, and only resorted to for the game in forests or parks frequented by royalty. For the most part their winter food consisted of the deer-browse or clippings from the forest trees.

The dean and chapter of Salisbury had the tithe of the venison of this forest granted to them by charter of Henry II., confirmed by several subsequent kings. There is an entry among the chapter records of the arrival of fifteen deer for the cathedral clergy in one year of Richard II.’s reign, when the capture of deer had amounted to 150.

THE HILL WOODS, LYNDHURST]

The records of several large forests, where they must have abounded, are destitute of any reference to conies or rabbits. But in the case of Clarendon they were repeatedly mentioned in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and once or twice in the thirteenth century. In the time of Edward III. the warrens seem to have been the perquisite of the chief keeper. In 1495 the sum of £100 received of the “Fermour of the Coneys in Clarendon” was an item of the revenue assigned for the expenses of the king’s household. In the time of Charles I. the warrens were worth upwards of £200 a year.

Parliament was petitioned in 1388 by the commonalty and inhabitants of Salisbury complaining that the forest officials of Clarendon had of late years appointed certain of the citizens to act as vendors of the underwood, to their great damage and annoyance, and praying relief. A favourable reply was given, to the effect that such duties were never to be imposed on those living outside the forest bounds, save by the king’s special mandate.

Detailed accounts are extant for the year 1442 of the wood sales at Buckholt and Milchet. They were sent up to London in a leather bag or wallet, in which they still remain in excellent condition (_Accts. Exch., Q. R._ 140/9). Richard Ambros and William Colyn were this year instructed to fell 400 beeches in Buckholt and 200 oaks in Milchet for the repairs of the manor houses, lodges, and park pales. Sir John Stourton was at that time lieutenant to the Duke of Gloucester, who was keeper. The schedule shows that the beeches realised from 2_s._ to 2_s._ 6_d._ each; two selling for 5_s._, four for 8_s._, six for 14_s._, ten for 20_s._, another ten for 25_s._, one for 2_s._ 4_d._, etc. The oaks were sold in larger lots, five in all; three lots of sixty each all realised £4 10_s._, whilst two lots of ten were sold for a total of 30_s._

A warrant to the sheriff of Wilts of 1 Richard III. (1483) charged him to pay to the seven keepers of the forests and parks of Clarendon, Buckholt, Milchet, and Groveley 2_d._ a day, and to the two parkers of the park of Clarendon 1_d._ a day for their wages. The sheriff was also to buy yearly in the summer season “as moche haye as shall amounte unto the some of x_li_ or within,” which was to be stored for winter use in the barn of the park.

Clarendon swainmotes held during the year 1487 include presentments for carrying off _iiij palebordys de la Parke pale de Clarendon_; pasturing six pigs; killing a doe and fawn with greyhounds; and for being a common hunter both by day and night with ferrets and snares. Among the officials present at the Clarendon swainmotes were two palers (_palatiarii_), who were responsible for the due upholding of the park fence.

On 21st August, 1487, the forest pleas for this forest and its members was held at New Sarum before Justices Ratcliffe and Grey.

An interval of eighteen years had elapsed since the pleas had been held, for the last justice seat was in 9 Edward IV. (1469). The attendance of officials of Clarendon forest or park was considerable: Thomas Arundell, the keeper; Sir T. Milborne, the lieutenant, and Walter Parker his deputy; Roger Holes, the ranger, and John Mue his deputy; John Shotter, the launder, and William Foster his deputy; the four foresters, one for each of the four bailies; the two verderers, Roger Bulkeley and Druce Mompesson, both entered as esquires; four woodwards; and twelve regarders.

For the forest or park of Milchet there were a separate set of officials: Edmund Earl of Arundel was the keeper, and there were also a deputy lieutenant, two verderers, two rangers and a forester, as well as woodwards and regarders.

There were also present woodwards of three outlying districts, and one for the forest of Groveley, together with the bailiffs of five different hundreds wherein parts of the forests of Clarendon and Milchet were situated. The whole list was signed by Sir John Turbervyle, the sheriff, who was, of course, bound to meet the justices.

The customary perquisites of the officials were enumerated. The keeper of Clarendon was entitled each year to one roer and two bucks, and each forester and ranger to a roer and two oaks. For Milchet the verderers had two roers and a buck, the forester one roer and his deputy the same, the ranger one roer, the regarders a buck and a roer to be divided among them, and the clerk of the _iter_ two roers.

The Austin priory of Ivychurch, founded by Henry II. within the forest of Clarendon, appears to have been established for the twofold object of providing a spiritual centre for the denizens of the forest, and for the needs of the royal household at their Clarendon seat. Various early charters provide for the canons being held responsible for the religious services in the several Clarendon chapels. In addition to early general grants of pasturage which the canons enjoyed throughout the forest, Henry III., in 1252, provided that they should have in every year that the forest was agisted twenty swine with their litters to feed on the mast, free of pannage charges, provided they were ringed; but there were to be no pigs allowed in the forest during those years when it was not agisted. Four years later the king granted them a piece of ground of considerable size adjoining their priory, known by the unattractive name of Filthycroft, with leave to enclose it with ditch and hedge, but only in accord with the fixed custom of the forest that permitted of the entrance and return of a deer and her fawns at due seasons. Edward II., in 1317, granted the priory right of pasturage in the forest for forty bulls and cows at a rental of 56_s._

The following interesting memorandum of warrant venison and vert since the last _iter_ was presented to the justices at the 1487 pleas by the lieutenant of the forest:—

Mᵈ of waruntes shewed by the leuetenaunte of Claryngdon for
veneson and verde in Claryngdon

by waruntes of King Edward [iv]

j buk the xᵗʰ yere of his reygne
ij bukkes the xiiij ”
xij doyn the xvj ”
ij bukkes the xvij ”
iij bukkes the xviij ”
j buk yᵉ xxᵗʰ ”
ij bukes the same yere
iiij bukkes the same yer
j buk the same yere
XX/iij (60) quicke dere ye xxjᵗʰ yere
xix doyn the same yere
M/ij ccix (2209) ded in moreyn the same yere
A buk by warante wᵗout date
vj lodes of quicke dere the xxijᵗʰ yere
ij bukkes the xxjᵗʰ yere
xx doys the xxij yere
j herte and ij bukkes yᵉ xiiijᵗʰ yere

By warant of the Erle of Essex, Justice of Forest
in Claryngdon and the members to yᵉ same

xij Rowers by severall warrantes ye xvij yere of K. E.
j warante for the home copis in Claryngdon Aᵒ xviij
j warante for the old parke Aᵒ xxi
j warante for xˡⁱ of trees in Claryngdon Aᵒ xxij
j warante for viij marke of trees in Claryngdon Aᵒ xix
j warante for vjˡⁱ [worth of trees] Bukholte Aᵒ xiiij

By warant of William Erle of Arundell, Justice of Foreste

j warante for Calumhill copis Aᵒ prᵒ Ric tercij
j warante for ye logiis of Assheldy and Cheveley Aᵒ ij R.
j warante for xˡⁱ of trees in Claryndon Aᵒ ij H. vij
j warante for yᵉ copis of vij Rales in Claryngdon Aᵒ ij H. vij

By warantey of Kyng Richard.

xx doys the ijᵈ yere of his reigne
c trees for to make Salte peter and Gunepowder

By warantes of Kyng Harry the vijᵗʰ

xij doys the firste yere of his reigne
xviij doys the same yer
xx doys the iijᵈ yer of his reigne
As many trees as drawith to xxˡⁱ

The Crown, in 1576, called upon the regarders of Milchet, Richard Bacon and Thomas Gauntlett, to return certificates in reply to articles of interrogation which had been forwarded to them. The following are their answers, the more important or interesting parts being cited verbatim:—

“We do saye that ther ys remaynynge in the Custody of one of us
one Sealynge axe withe a peculye mark and one Bagge wheryn the
Same Axe ys Kepte.

“That Richard Audley Esquire, the Keeper of the Forest of
Milchet, claims the windfall, and hath also taken five
‘rotefall’ trees, about 12 loads in all; that he hath taken
the rotefall trees without any marking with the sealing axe;
and that he hath also taken several dead oak trees similarly
unmarked.

“That the Keeper caused an oak to be fallen to make ‘dogge
stakes for the Savegarde of the deere,’ which oak was fallen
and carried befor any view consideration or allowance of us
the regarders, the stem of which oak we have marked with the
sealing axe.

“That none were sworn for the falling of deer brouse last
winter, though the Keeper had promised that one of his men
should come before us the regarders to be duly sworne; and yet
did appoint three men who never appeared before us to ‘cutte
deere brouse of the bowes of okes in the Queenes Wooddes in
the Forest of Mylchett where they dyd cutte and fall the bowes
of okes of greter quantyte and bygger then a bucke was able to
turne over with his hedde in Wynter and that they did cutt very
lyttle other Woodde of the Queenes for deere browse but of the
bowes of okes whereas ther ys hasell bysche, wethy, maple, and
thorne.’

“That in our judgement 33 loads of brouse and fire wood were
cut.

“That no cattle hath been put into the Queen’s coppice, but 11
swine the which we impounded.

“That we have a book wherin we write offences in the Queens
woods if any be committed.”

James I., by letters patent dated 13th December, 1606, granted to William, Earl of Pembroke, the whole of the offices of keeper, warden, lieutenant, and bailiff of the forest and park of Clarendon, with all its members, together with the appointment of all foresters, rangers, launders, palers, and stewards of courts of swainmote. By this comprehensive patent the earl obtained the most absolute control that probably any one subject ever possessed over a royal forest. As chief ranger of Clarendon Park, he was entitled to the whole of the herbage and pannage, stocking it either with his own cattle or letting the agistment to others; at the felling of any of the twenty-one coppices of this park the ranger had two acres of the best wood for his own use, which was worth, on an average, £20 per annum; the farming of the “conie berryes” in the park realised £200 a year. Moreover, the patent gave the earl all the Clarendon lodges, with their houses, offices, and barns; there were six of these, five termed “Innelodges” and one an “Outlodge.” The chief lodge, with its fees and profits, was worth £140 a year. The four keepers of the other inlodges, such keeperships being now vested in the earl, who need only put in deputies, had rights of grazing cows and horses, which with venison fees, wages, firewood, and lodgings, brought the total annual amount of the four to £358. The keepership of the outlodge was worth £42 11_s._ 8_d._ a year. Then, also, as bow-bearer the earl was entitled to various other fees and forest rights worth £49 13_s._ 4_d._ a year. And the whole of this was in addition to the venison and rootfallen, windfallen, and dead timber and general lop and crop that pertained to the general office of chief keeper or warden of a royal forest. Trees, coppice wood, and game still technically belonged to the king, but the Crown value was much reduced by this exceptionally generous patent.

An elaborate survey of Clarendon park was taken by the Commonwealth in 1650, which is cited in full by Hoare. The impaled ground of this park then included 4,293 acres, and was said to be worth £1,806 7_s._ 1_d._ per annum. It was divided into five parts of about equal value, the bounds of each of which are duly set forth. The names of the five divisions were the Ranger’s, Theobald’s, Fussell’s, Palmer’s, and Hunt’s. In addition to these divisions, which were in the parishes of Alderbury, St. Martin’s, Salisbury, and Laverstock, there was also a survey taken at the same time of the Outlodge district, on the east side of Clarendon park, in the parish of Pitton; it is described by the commissioners as being within “the disafforested forest of Pannsett, _alias_ Panshett,” and no part of Clarendon Park.

The deer of the park, distributed about the five divisions, numbered 500 “or thereabouts,” and were valued at 20_s._ apiece. The timber trees, in addition to saplings, numbered 14,919; they appear to have been all oaks. Many had been recently cut down and marked for the navy. The undergrowth was chiefly maple and thorn.

After the Restoration, in 1665, Charles II. granted Clarendon park to George Monk, Duke of Albemarle.

MELKSHAM AND PEWSHAM

The forest district nearest to the centre of the county was that of Melksham, which was about equally distant from Chippenham, Devizes, Calne, Trowbridge, and Cossham. During the later part of its history it was frequently termed the forest of Melksham and Pewsham, Pewsham being an extra-parochial district south of Chippenham, which is now included in the new parish of Derry Hill. But the more usual title in the reign of Henry III. was the forest of Melksham and Chippenham, Chippenham occasionally coming first.

In 1217, John Marshall, the keeper of the Melksham and Chippenham forest, was superseded by Richard de Samford, but the former was appointed constable of Devizes Castle, and the profits assigned for the upkeep of the castle. In 1219 Philip de Albiny was appointed by the Crown forest keeper and also constable of the castle. At the time of the general order as to cablish, after the great storm of 1222, the two appointments were also in the same hands. It was but very rarely that forest appointments were in clerical hands, but in 1225 the Crown nominated the Bishop of Salisbury to this forest keepership at pleasure.

The men of Melksham obtained certain pasture rights in the forest in 1229, when Richard de Gray was keeper and constable of Devizes. Chippenham and Melksham, though under the same rule, and probably united without any break of forest jurisdiction, were evidently regarded as two great wards of the same forest. There were several royal orders in Henry III.’s reign for so many oaks out of Chippenham and so many out of Melksham, made simultaneously, and addressed to the keeper of the two.

Forest pleas for Melksham and Pewsham were held at Devizes on 31st August, 1490. The officials present were: Sir Richard Beauchamp, keeper of the forest; Thomas Long, Esq., lieutenant; Walter Wrothesley, ranger; John, George and Thomas Barbour, foresters; Thomas Unwin and John Blake, esquires, verderers; thirteen regarders, five of whom are styled esquires; five woodwards, and the reeves and four-men of each of the five townships of Chippenham, Studley, Stanley, Melksham, and Stroud. A place is left in the schedule for agisters, but the return is _nulli_. There were also present a grand jury of seventeen, headed by William Bourchier, sen., Esq., and twenty-five jurymen from each of the hundreds of Chippenham and Melksham. Of the five woodwards, one was appointed by and represented the interests of the abbot of Stanley, another the abbess of Lacock, and a third Cecilia, Duchess of York. It was declared that the keeper was entitled to an oak from each baily; the lieutenant and ranger to an oak each; the forester and verderers to a roer each; the company of regarders to a roer and a buck between them; Richard Curson, the justices’ deputy, to six oaks and a male deer called a pricket; William Heyden and his assistants, for clerical labour and attendance at the sessions, to four roers; and Thomas Unwin, as sheriff of Wilts, a buck. The claims to liberties of the abbot of Stanley, the prioress of Ambresbury, the abbess of Lacock, the priors of Farley and Brodenstoke, the Bishop of Salisbury, the Duchess of York, the Countess of Warwick, and three others were enrolled.

The army of officials, however, reported _omnia bene_, and as the various claims were all of long standing, it may be said that the whole business was _nil_, save that the findings of the swainmote court held on the previous 9th of June were duly enrolled, recording the conviction of several transgressors for venison offences.

It was also recorded that in the first year of Henry VII.’s reign 82 deer died of murrain, namely, 27 bucks, 35 does, and 20 fawns; and in the second year the great number of 340, namely, 140 male, 200 female; and in the third year 140, of which number 50 were male and the rest female. There seem to have been no red deer in this forest at that date.

Most of this forest was disafforested in the days of James I., but the Crown at that time retained the liberty of Bowood, adjacent to Calne, which was part of Pewsham forest. This was one of the best timbered districts of the forest, and in 1649 the Commonwealth caused a great number of the finest trees to be felled to pay the expenses of the army, under the authority of an Act of the Parliament. Fortunately, however, under the administration of the famous John Pym, who was for many years a representative of the borough of Calne, the destruction was stayed. In 1653, Bowood, “late parcel of the possessions of Charles Stewart late King of England,” was surveyed, when it was found to consist of 958 acres, bearing 10,921 trees. At the Restoration, Bowood reverted to the Crown, but Charles II. sold it to Sir Orlando Bridgman, and thus the last remnant of this once great forest jurisdiction came to an end.

Bowood, which is now the seat and property of the Marquis of Lansdowne, still preserves large tracts of wood and finely timbered lands outside the immediate park. The park of 254 acres has a herd of 200 fallow deer, and has many well-grown trees—beech, oak, elm, and chestnut. To the immediate south of Bowood is Captain Spicer’s fine park of 500 acres, with a herd of 300 fallow deer. It consists of beautiful rough, broken ground, and is also within the old forest area, and but little changed in appearance from its condition in medieval days.

BRADEN

In the extreme north of the county, a little to the south of Cricklade, stretched the considerable forest of Braden, which was anciently of great extent and abounding in both red and fallow deer. It was entirely separate from the other Wilts forests, and is named second in the list when orders relative to the cablish of all English tree-bearing forests were sent to the foresters and verderers in 1222. Its keeper at that date was Hugh de Samford. Warner de Samford had been the keeper in the previous year. In 1231, when Henry III. was at Marlborough early in March, Hugh, the keeper, was ordered to supply Isabel, the king’s sister, with two hinds against Easter, as the lady was tarrying at Marlborough. In the same year Thomas de Samford, one of the royal chaplains, was made warden of Cricklade hospital, and the king bestowed on him and his successors full way-leave without any interference from foresters or verderers throughout the whole forest for horses and carts to obtain fuel whenever needed for the brethren and poor of the hospital. In August of the same year Henry III. sent his huntsman, John the Fool, with his companions, to hunt Braden forest with dogs, and to take thence for the royal use ten harts and fifteen bucks.

There are various rolls extant of swainmote courts held in this forest in the reign of James I. The records of the swainmote held on 6th July, 1609, before Edmund Lough, esquire, verderer, and Richard Digge, esquire, steward, mentions Thomas Howard, Earl of Suffolk, as keeper, and Henry Baynton, esquire, as ranger. There were present 4 foresters, 11 regarders, 41 agisters, 14 woodwards, 2 herdsmen of Ashton, and many jurymen. The foresters presented the taking of 16 bucks, 12 does, 1 soare, and 1 tegge, all by due licence. Among the regarders’ presentments were the cutting down of a green oak, value 4_s._, by an unknown person. It was stated that thirty load of deer-browse ought to be cut yearly for relief of the king’s game in winter, but “many yeres heretofore no deer Browse hath been allowed or cattle for releafe of the deare, whereby they have been forced in dead tyme of winter to forsake the Foreste, and to seeke their releife in the Borderers house groundes to the dammage and spoyle of his Matʸᵉˢ game.”

Braden was disafforested in the time of Charles II.

SAVERNAKE

The important Wiltshire forest of Savernake lay to the south of Marlborough, and was divided into two bailiwicks, the one in the hundred of Selkley, and the other in the hundred of Kinwardstone.

The references to this forest in the rolls of Henry III. and subsequent reigns, concerning royal gifts therefrom of deer, roe deer, and timber, as well as appointments of keepers, foresters, verderers, etc., are of very frequent occurrence. Much, too, can be gleaned from the forest pleas and other forest rolls. The following instances are reproduced as examples of twenty-nine presentments of venison trespasses before the forest justices, _temp_ Henry VII, chiefly against the Wroughton and Darrell families. The pleas were held at Amesbury on 25th August, 1490:—

“William Tailor vnderkeper of the verme bayle presentith that
John Wroughton esquier Thomas Wroughton John Perot William
Belson David Welshman John Barowe John Longden with other the
Thursday next after the feast of the Trinite the first yere of
our sovraigne Lord Kyng Henry the VIIᵗʰ hunted Cobham Fryth
Holt Lese and the Lityll ffrithe and there kylled a Sower with
bowys and arowes.

“Thomas Kyng vnderforster of Iwode presentith that Sir Edward
Darell Knyght John Baynton gent John Cradeley David Walsman
John a Wood and John Langden with other of his servantes the
morowe after the feast of Seint John Baptiste the vᵗʰ yere of
our seid sovraign Lord out of Monttisfonte Copys a Doo and a
fawne kylled in the cheif of the fense monyth and their houndes
thorough ranne the forest to the great distrucion of the Kynge
peace.”

An interesting portion of the old forest of Savernake, about 4,000 acres, containing much fine old timber, has been preserved, as it forms the noble park round Tottenham House, the seat of the Marquis of Ailesbury. Outside the actual deer park, on the east, is a considerable extent of heavily timbered open ground.

CHUTE

Chute forest lay to the south-west of that of Savernake, and extended some distance into Hampshire, though always considered to be in the main a Wiltshire forest. In early days it seemed to have joined Savernake forest, and was at times under the same chief keepership. The entries as to royal gifts from this forest by Henry III. are numerous. Red deer (both harts and hinds) were presented to royal favourites, and also dispatched hence for the king’s table; oaks were bestowed, _inter alia_, on the abbess of St. Mary’s, Winchester, and on the prioress of Amesbury for building purposes, and on the Countess of Pembroke for repairing the mills at Newbury.

The original records relative to this forest, _temp._ Edward IV. and Henry VII., are numerous. The presentments at the swainmote courts of 1485-6 include one for creating “a pyggyshouse” by the boundary oak within the forest. The forester of the west baily reported the death, through murrain, during that year, of two bucks, four does, and a sorrel, whilst the forester of the east baily returned the death, through a like cause, of three bucks, one sore, eight does, and three fawns. Sir Nicholas Lysle was the warden or keeper, and under him were three foresters for the respective wards of the west baily, the east baily, and Hippingscomb, as well as one riding or itinerant forester. The ministers also included two verderers and two agisters.

These forest pleas for Chute were heard at Andover by Justices Ratcliffe and Gray, on 4th September, 1490. Sir Nicholas Lysle, “warden by olde inheritaunce of ye Forest of Chutte,” petitioned the king, complaining of interruption of his privileges by the forest justices. Among his vert claims were an acre with its bear of the coppice wood set to sale, and all wood felled and not carried away before the fence month, which had hitherto been always allowed to him and his ancestors for the guarding and safe keeping of the forest; he asked for privy seal confirming his claims to be directed to the justices itinerant.

The verderers and regarders presented at this eyre that Nicholas, the warden, had killed, since the last _iter_, twenty deer, male and female; also that William Colwych, one of the foresters, had taken within his baily two stalls of bees with their wax, of the value of 5_s._

Various forest offences alleged against the warden at this eyre were held by the justices to be proved, and he was removed from his office. In 1497 various trespasses and hurts to the forest done by Sir Nicholas were presented before Roger Cheyne (late lieutenant of the forest) who had succeeded him as warden, and the verderers, when he was charged with killing the deer at Christmas.

“Item the said Sir Nicholas, abbot of Misrule, came into the
said forest on New Yeres Eve and there made chase and rechase
and kylled ij dere, and also servauntes of the said Sir
Nicholas Lyles commyth dayly into the forest and makyth chase
and rechase that the dere may not lye in rest.”

In a further statement to the king, Sir Nicholas claimed that his ancestors had for a long time held the wardenship of Chute forest on payment of a rent of 10_s._, and finding seven foresters at his own cost to walk and keep the forest; that all the time there had been a forest lodge for the petitioner to rest and live in for sure keeping until lately, when Sir William Sandes entered upon it, and he prayed to be restored to it or have a new one built; and that the charges against him had been made by malicious and evil-disposed persons.

The king’s lodge here referred to was at “Fyckele” or “Fynkeley” within the forest. It underwent considerable repair at the beginning of this reign. For the new roofing 7,000 shingles were provided at a cost of 20_s._, and 500 shingle nails at 8_d._

On payment of certain fines, Sir Nicholas Lysle was at length, in 1501, granted a royal pardon and restored to his wardenship.

GROVELEY

The Wiltshire forest of Groveley was half in the hundred of Cadworth and half in the hundred of Branch and Dole. It was divided into north and south bailiwicks under a single keeper. Documentary evidence from the beginning of Henry III.’s reign is abundant with regard to this forest. The perambulation _temp._ Edward I. and certain later particulars are set forth in Hoare’s _Wilts_ (iv. 183-190).

SELWOOD

The ancient forest of Selwood covered the south-western confines of Wiltshire at the extremity of the hundred of Westbury, together with a large portion of East Somersetshire, and extended itself southward from Frome just across the borders into Dorsetshire. Collinson (_Somerset_, ii. 195-6) gives a list of keepers of this forest from John to Henry VI. Special privileges in this forest were granted to the house of leprous women of Maiden Bradley in the thirteenth century. The material for its history, as yet unwritten, is abundant. It was disafforested in the time of Charles I.