FORESTRY 



Forests, Chases, and Purlieus ; by the Assent of 

 the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and 

 the Commons in the said Parliament assembled, 

 and by the authority of the same, doth ordain, 

 enact, and establish. That if any of his Subjects 

 having Wood of his own growing in his own 

 ground, within any Forest, Chase, or Purlieu of 

 the same, within this realm of England, from the 

 first day of this Parliament, shall cut, or cause to 

 be cut the same wood, or Part thereof, by licence 

 of the King, or of his heirs, in his Forests, 

 Chases, or Purlieus, or without Licence in the 

 Forest, Chase, or Purlieu of any other person, to 

 make any sale of the same wood ; it shall be 

 lawful to the same Subjects, Owners of the same 

 ground whereupon the wood so cut did grow, 

 and to such other persons to whom such wood 

 shall happen to be sold, immediately after the 

 Wood so cut, to cope and inclose the same 

 ground with sufficient Hedges, able to keep out 

 all Manner of Beasts and Cattle forth of the 

 same ground, for the preserving of their young 

 Spring ; and the same Hedges so made the said 

 Subjects may keep them continually by the Space 

 of Seven Years after the same inclosing, and 

 repair and sustain the same as often as shall need 

 within the same Seven Years, without suing of 

 any other Licence of Him, or of his Heirs, or 

 other Persons, or any of their Officers of the same 

 Forests, Chases, and Purlieus.' 



The intention of this Act was, of course, to 

 preserve the woodlands, but the results after- 

 wards proved that it ultimately led to ' waste ' on 

 a large scale, since many of the tracts thus 

 denuded of old trees were subsequently converted 

 into arable and pasture land. 



Much of interest as to the forest officers may 

 be gleaned amongst the fifteenth -century 

 Ministers' Accounts, preserved at the Public 

 Record Office, whilst the proceedings at the later 

 eyres furnished numerous details as to the pro- 

 tection both of vert and venison. An excellent 

 resum^ of the more striking features of the 

 Rockingham Forest Pleas of 1490 will be found in 

 Dr. C. J. Cox's Royal Forests of England?- One 

 point may be cited here ; amongst the perqui- 

 sites of the foresters, besides special fence-timber, 

 we meet with ' fox stubbes ' and ' fox and var- 

 mint trees,' timber granted as a reward for the 

 zealous persecution of foxes and vermin gene- 

 rally. For example, John Holcot, forester of 

 Morehay in 1485, removed a tree called a 

 ' fox-tre ' for his own use, and in the following 

 year he had a ' fox-stubbe,'^ each of which was 

 valued at two shillings. 



There is a Statute of Henry VIIFs which has 

 a most special interest as regards the forests in 

 Northants, An Act concerning the Honour of 

 Grafton (33 Hen. VIII, cap. 36), passed in 1542, 



1 Chap. six. 

 * The term 

 pollard-oak. 



2 



' stubb ' was generally applied to n 



to the following effect : — ' The King's Hundreds 

 of IVimbersley and Aldords How, and his Forests 

 of IVhittlewood and Sawcey, and his Chases of 

 Yardley and IVhaddon, and all his Manors, Parks, 

 Sites of Monasteries, Lands, Tenements and Here- 

 ditaments, lying within the Towns Hamlets and 

 Parishes of Grafton, Hartwell, Ashton, Rood, 

 Cortnall, Alderton, Stoke-Brewern, Shittel-anger, 

 Shcreslev, Blisnuorth, Milton, Malleszvorth, Tif- 

 field, Pallispery, Tossetur, Eiston, Hulcot, Ahthorp, 

 Foscot, Greinsnorton, Blackesley, Wooden, Colchig- 

 ham, Grimscot, Parsot, Escot, Ascot, Dalescot, Bug- 

 broke, Ruddistrip, ColUngthrigh, Hardingston, 

 IVotton, Quinton, Slopton, Densanger, Yardley, 

 Potterspery, Furthoo, Cosgrave, Castle Ashley, 

 JViken, and Delaprey, in the CoMnty of Northamp- 

 ton, and in the Hamlet Towns and Parishes of 

 Luffield, Hansap, Castle-Thorp, Harsham,Shenley, 

 Little Harwood, Snelsoo, and Little Lidforth, in 

 the county of Buckingham, and elsewhere within 

 the Realm of England, belonging or appertaining 

 to any Manors or Hundreds, lying or being in 

 any of the Towns or Parishes above mentioned, 

 shall be annexed to the Manor of Grafton ; and 

 the said Manors and other the Premises shall be 

 called perpetually the Honour of Grafton, and 

 shall be in the Order and Survey of the Court of 

 Augmentations ; saving so much thereof as is 

 within the Duchy of Lancaster, or County 

 Palatine of Lancaster.' And, by chapter 39 of 

 the same Statute, 'The Master of the Woods 

 was made ex-officio a member of the Court of 

 Record now formed as "the Court of the General 

 Surveyors of the King's Lands." ' 



A report furnished by John Wake to the earl 

 of Leicester, on 8 Nov. 1571, after he had 

 ' perused the forest and walkes of Whittlewoode, 

 and parkes thereto adjoining,' is preser\'ed at the 

 British Museum.* He ' noted breefly the whole 

 summe and effect ' of what should be done, and 

 declared that the ' Queens Majestys woddes in 

 the said Forrest were never in better order by 

 reason of the newe Commysion of Survey* and 

 newe officers in that behalf. The game in the 

 said forrest seemeth to be in reasonable good 

 estate, all things considered, and as the keepers 

 do affirme was never in more quiett and rest from 

 anye hunters of the purleys withowt or trespassers 

 within. The Parkes of Grafton and Stoke seem 

 to be indifferent faire. Perry Parke not so faire, 

 and Hartwell the meanest of all, and good cause 

 whie I have geven the keepers as well of the 

 Forrest as of the Parkes, so many as were at 

 home a great chardge in your Lordshipes name 

 not only to look substantially to there several 

 chardgis, but also nether to kill nor serve any 

 deare until your furder pleashure therein be 

 knowne.' When this was written Wake was 

 apparently engaged on the survey of Salcey.' If 



3 Add. MS. 32,091, fol. 254. 



* See also Roger Taverner's 5«Dii of Survey, 1565. 



6 His letter is dated ' Salcey Forrest.' 



345 



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