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CHAPTEE XIII. 



The New Forest and the Forest of Dean. 



the new forest. 



The origin of Koyal Forests in England (with two 

 exceptions) is lost in antiquity. They certainly existed 

 before the Norman Conquest, a. d. 1006. Whether they 

 were created or reserved as such by the early Saxon 

 kings, or even at some more distant time, we know not. 

 The only two of whose origin we know anything are 

 the New Forest, created by William the Conqueror, 

 and that of Hampton Court, due to Henry VIII. 

 There are said at one time, in England alone, to 

 have been sixty-eight Forests in the possession of 

 the Crown, and thirteen Chases, or Forests in private 

 hands. All the sixty-eight Forests have long ago 

 been disafforested, in the sense that the Sovereign 

 has no longer the privilege of maintaining deer and 

 other game in them for sport, protected by special laws 

 and tribunals. A few only exist in the popular sense 

 of the term, that the land is still uncultivated and 

 covered wholly or partially by woods such as the New 

 Forest, the Forest of Dean, Epping Forest, Windsor 

 Forest, Wolmer Forest, the Forest of Bere and Dart- 

 moor. Some of these, such as Windsor Forest and 

 Wolmer Forest, have been converted into the exclusive 

 property of the Crown, free from any common rights. 



