THE FOREST OFFICERS 



not allowed to act save as sworn servants, taking oath to serve 

 the king in the matter of venison, and having power to attach 

 and present. 



The symbol of the woodward was a small hatchet or bill- 

 hook. 



In later forest days a kind of chief woodward was sometimes 

 termed the axe-bearer ; and we find a " sealing axe " mentioned 



J-c W*// 



WOODWARD'S SLAB 



TWELFTH CENTURY 



Newcastle-on-Tyne 



WOODWARD'S SLAB 

 FIFTEENTH CENTURY 



Papplewick, Notts 



in later forest accounts of Wiltshire, Worcestershire, and 

 Yorkshire, which was used for blazoning timber intended to 

 be felled. 



Agisters were the officers who were chiefly concerned with 

 the collection of money for the agistment or feeding of cattle 

 and pigs in the demesne woods or lands of the forest. Beasts 

 of the plough (for the most part oxen, but occasionally an 

 inferior breed of horse) were generally allowed such agistment 



