FORESTRY 



THE woodlands of Northamptonshire 

 are full of interest, though the three 

 ancient forests of Rockingham,^ Sal- 

 cey, and Whittlewood^ can claim 

 neither the unique historic position of 

 the New Forest, nor the legendary associations of 

 Sherwood and Windsor. And from the economic 

 point of view, Northampton and the adjoining 

 county of Leicester have long been famed for the 

 finest ash-timber in England.^ 



Northamptonshire can hardly, however, at the 

 present time be regarded as a richly wooded 

 county. Of the total acreage, the woods and 

 plantations furnish about I4"4 per cent. The 

 land is too rich and valuable for tillage and 

 meadow, to be left under wood to any great 

 extent. And a concomitant feature may be 

 noted — the scarcity of mountain and heath-land 

 suitable for rough grazing. There are only 

 148 acres of this character in the whole county. 



It is possible that the Romans cleared some of 

 the denser fastnesses which sheltered the British 

 tribes ; but the progress of tillage and the re- 

 quirements of iron-smelting would naturally 

 account for a considerable decrease in the wood- 

 land area. However, through the Saxon era, and 

 at the date of the Conquest, dense forests re- 

 mained between the Welland and the Nene in 

 the northern portion of the county. 



We have very few notices which particularly 

 concern the woodlands of Northamptonshire 

 during the period from the Conquest to the year 

 121 7, the date of the granting of the Charter of 

 the Forest. Many of the Saxon and Danish 



1 As early as the reign of Henry III. Rockingham 

 was divided into the three bailiwicks of Rockingham, 

 Brigstock, and KingsclifFor Clyve. 



2 Or Whittlebury. 



' John Morton in his Natural History of Northamp- 

 tonskire (17 1 2) refers to the high repute of the ash- 

 timber of the county, and after describing the ancient 

 forests, thus proceeds (p. 12):' By this Account of the 

 Woods it appears that 'Northamptonshire is not so desti- 

 tute as 'tis commonly im.igined. The Northern Part 

 of the County, betwixt the U'eland and Nyne is suffi- 

 ciently stored, and several parts of the &outh are well 

 Wooded. If one part of the County is thin of Wood, 

 another Part is copiously furnished therewith. The 

 County in the Western Part and upon both sides of 

 the Nyne from Northampton down to Higham appears 

 the barest. And notwithstanding the Scarcity of 

 Wood in the Western part of the County, the Smiths 

 of Brumicham do usually once in the year make a 

 Journey thither for Ash-Timber for the Doors of 

 Bellows.' 



kings had loved the chase, but with William the 

 Conqueror and his immediate successors it was a 

 veritable passion, and we find a consequent de- 

 velopment of the royal forests and an increased 

 rigour in the forest law. Some estimate of the 

 amount of woodland in the county in the 

 eleventh century may be derived from the entries 

 in Domesday, which will be found in the first 

 volume of this history. The afforestation of at 

 least three large tracts in Northamptonshire 

 seems to have been one outcome of the Norman 

 Forest Law, but precise details are lacking. The 

 largest and most important forest was Rocking- 

 ham, in the north of the county, chiefly in the 

 Corby and Willowbrook hundreds, with its 

 castle far away from the ancient lines of road, a 

 favourite hunting-seat of the English kings.* 

 Whittlewood or Whittlebury Forest lay in the 

 south-east, in the Norton, Towcester, and Cleley 

 hundreds, whilst towards the centre of the county 

 the forest of Salcey belonged partly to Cleley and 

 partly to Wimersley hundred ; and portions both 

 of Whittlewood and Salcey extended into the 

 county of Buckingham, Of the original extent 

 and boundaries of each of these we have no exact 

 account. In the reign of the Conqueror, or a little 

 later, a fourth large tract was formed into the 

 forest of Nassaburgh, but this was disafiforested in 

 the reign of King John.' It may be legitimately 

 regarded as an extension of Rockingham. 



A very early notice of Whittlebury is furnished 

 by the chartulary of Luffield Priory. Osulf the 

 forester is one of the witnesses to the earl of 

 Leicester's foundation charter in the reign of 

 Henry I., and the king commanded all his 

 foresters of Whittlewood to permit the prior 

 and monks of Luffield to have all convenient 

 easements in his forest without waste.* Also an 

 early record ^ of Pleas of the Forest is still extant, 

 relating to the Northampton Eyre of 1209. 

 Amongst many interesting cases we hear that 

 the foresters found in Nassington Wood a doe 

 with its throat cut, and lurking under a bush 

 hard by was one Henry, the son of Benselin. 



* F.C.H. Northants, i. pp. 295 and 307^ ; Eng. Hist. 

 Rev. xix. p. 428. 



6 Morton, Nat. Hist. 0/ Northants, p. 12. 



* Dugdale, Monasticon, iv. 348. 



7 Forest Proc. Treas. of Receipt, No. 62, printed by 

 Mr. G. J. Turner in Se/ect Pfcas of the Forest (Sclden 

 See), p. I. Our exact knowledge of the working of 

 the Forest Laws has been greatly increased by 

 Mr. Turner's researches, and we are indebted to him 

 for many references. 



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