APPENDIX D 

 FOREST GARDENS 



Non omnes arbusta juvant, humilesque myricae ; 



Si canimus sylvas, sylvae sint consule dignae. VIRGIL, Georgics. 



The Oxford country used to be very well wooded. In the 

 earliest days the Forest of Bagley stretched down almost to 

 the river on the north and enveloped Abingdon on the south. 

 When sea-coal was scarce, the woods were put to the hard 

 task of finding " fuel for all the houses in, and many out of, 

 the shire." The woods of Shotover were held in such high 

 esteem in the University, that when Charles I. gave them to 

 a person of note who was likely to cut them down, letters 

 on behalf of their preservation were written, one urging " that 

 Oxford was one of the eyes of the land, and Shotover woods 

 the hair of the eyelids, the loss whereof must needs prejudice 

 the sight with too much moisture flowing therein " (Fuller). 

 One of the disasters of the Great Rebellion was the cutting 

 down of the woods. 



Parts, however, of the old forests survived, and extensive 

 areas have been afforested. According to the returns pub- 

 lished in the IC Victoria County History," in 1905, there were : 



Coppice 4,464 acres. 



Plantations (under 10 years old) . 1,385 ,, 

 Other woods 18,528 ,, 



Total woodland . . 24,377 



So that the woodlands of Oxfordshire and Berkshire are still 



197 



