CHAPTER XXII 

 THE FOREST OF DEAN 



THE history of this important forest has received far 

 more attention at the hands of local historians 

 than has usually been the case with the ancient wastes 

 of other counties. In Atkyn's Ancient and Present State 

 of Gloucestershire (1768), it is accounted the third in size of 

 the forty-eight ancient forests of England, and a fair outline 

 of its history is given. This account is materially supple- 

 mented in Rudder's New History of Gloucestershire (1779), 

 and was further followed up in Bigland's Historical Collections 

 (1741). The third report (115 folio pages) of the Commis- 

 sioners of Woods and Forests, 1783-97, is almost wholly given 

 up to the consideration of Dean Forest. Many of these facts 

 are to be found in Fosbroke's Record of Gloucestershire 

 (1807). The Rev. H. G. Nicholls, in 1858, published an 

 An Historical and Descriptive Account of the Forest of Dean, 

 which covered 286 pages, and to this he added, in 1863, a 

 supplementary volume on The Personalities of the forest of 

 Dean, containing much fresh information. 



There is still, however, so large an amount of unused 

 material extant with regard to the history of this forest, that a 

 monograph, which promises to be of an exhaustive character, 

 is now (1905) in course of preparation. All that can be here 

 attempted is to give a very brief outline of the forest annals, 

 citing a variety of information that has not hitherto been 

 published. 



The forest of Dean forms a considerable division in the 

 west of Gloucestershire, and comprises about 30,000 acres 

 between the rivers Severn and Wye. Of its great dimensions 

 Michael Drayton thus sings in his Polyolbion : 



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