A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



and Seignory within the said County and the wastes and sales in them 

 made etc., but also to make sale to the King's use at the best price you 

 can before Easter next coming of as many Coppice Woods of 14 years' 

 growth and upwards in the said County a Yearly Sale, Provided that in 

 your Sale you suffer no Timber or great trees to be felled or sold Enclos- 

 ing the same sufficiently at the King's charge for preservation of the 

 spring for 6 years next after each such Sale making returns of your 

 proceedings in Easter and Midsummer terms next following etc. And 

 this writing subscribed with my hand shall be a sufficient warrant and 

 discharge to you and your Deputies etc.' 



Even this great ' Statute of Woods ' was soon found to be so in- 

 sufficient that in 1570, during Elizabeth's reign (anno 13, cap. xxv. 

 sec. 1 8, 19) the time of enclosure ordered for the different classes of 

 woods had each to be increased by two years, ' for that by experience 

 it is found, that the space and time of the said several years of in- 

 closure or preservation is not sufficient.' 



Some of the ' encoppicements ' or enclosures then made are now 

 among the most beautiful portions of the New Forest, as, for example, 

 Ridley Wood, which dates from 1571 or shortly before that, Bratley, 

 Bramble Hill, Malwood, Bignell, and others. But apparently the 

 natural regeneration thus provided for was assisted by planting, as 

 woods are often spoken of, in Roger Taverner's catalogue of the 

 woods in 1565, as 'set' with oak and beech or thorns. In John 

 Taverner's Book of Survey (vide ante p. 4 2 7) those woods which were 

 under fence were not uniformly distinguished from those that were open 

 to grazing and deer, but there are in the list no less than thirty-five 

 separate woods where it appears from previous or subsequent records 

 that an enclosed coppice existed. Most of these ancient coppices have 

 since that date been included in the enclosures made in subsequent reigns 

 for the growth of timber after the ancient crop had been realized. This 

 would obviously be the case, for the land in New Forest which is cap- 

 able of growing hardwood timber is of very limited extent. Hence, 

 before the introduction of the Scots pine, the land suitable for hardwood 

 must have been enclosed and replanted again and again. In the cases of 

 the ' North and South Bemley ' encoppicements they are both described 

 in Taverner's Survey as being ' set with under wood ' of thirty years' 

 growth. In 1700 the existing crop (which must have been renewed 

 many times if underwood were grown, and at least once if timber were 

 planted) was all cleared off and realized, and a crop of oak planted which 

 now stands, but is past its best and getting towards the stage of decay. 

 So that for over 300 years these particular plots of land have been under 

 regular cultivation for woodland produce, and if the results of former 

 years were equal to those of the last fifty years the average return per 

 acre must have been a very good one. 



There is hardly an ancient wood now existing in the forest which 

 does not appear in this survey, in many cases by the present name ; 

 those which do not so appear have nearly all been included in more 



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