HISTORY OF BRITISH WOODLANDS 



forests in Ireland, particularly in the County 

 Wicklow, stretched in an almost unbroken 

 line from the Atlantic to the Irish Sea. In 

 the Domesday Book (1081-1086) mention is 

 made of forests in Berks, Hants, Dorset, Wilts, 

 and Gloucestershire; while no less than 156 

 forests are described in the Royal Forests of 

 England. 



When the early Britons settled in London, 

 thick, almost impenetrable forests of oak and 

 scrubwood covered the high ground where 

 St. Paul's Cathedral now stands, and extended 

 away towards the Tower on one side and to 

 Highgate, Hampstead, and St. John's Wood 

 on the other. Previous to the Great Fire of 

 London in 1666 most of the 65,000 picturesque 

 old framework houses were built of wood, and 

 in order to accommodate some 400,000 souls 

 and their belongings large quantities of timber 

 must have been requisitioned, not only for 

 the erection, but in the repairs to these un- 

 pretentious structures. As little or no foreign 

 wood was imported at that early date, it is 

 only reasonable to suppose that home-grown 



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