FORESTRY 



The place is mentioned in grants of Stephen 

 and Matilda, and we know from charters that 

 Henry II was sojourning here in 1160, 1162, 

 and 1177. King John was at Brill on 

 23 October, 1205, and also kept the following 

 Christmas at the same royal seat. 7 Henry III 

 stayed here in 1224 and on several occasions 

 afterwards ; and Edward I was at Brill yearly 

 from 1273 to I2 8i, and again in 1293.* 



The Pipe Rolls of 1 169-70 record 31 4*. ^d. 

 from the wastes, assarts, and pleas of the forest 

 of Buckinghamshire, but in the following year 

 only 57*. icd. In 1172-3 the amount was 

 551. Sd. Only a mark was entered for the 

 forest in 1173-4 and 1174-5, and but half a 

 mark in 1176-7.* The very large amount 

 entered in 1169-70 probably arose from the 

 Pleas of the Forest before justices being held 

 in that year. 



In the first year of Richard I the sheriff of 

 Buckinghamshire was indebted in the sum of 

 24*. (>d. for the wastes, assarts, pleas, and pur- 

 prestures of the forest of Buckinghamshire. 

 Mention is made at the same time of Ralph the 

 forester. 10 



By the forest of Buckinghamshire, in these 

 Pipe Roll entries, is evidently meant the Buck- 

 inghamshire division of Bernwood Forest, which 

 was usually described in the thirteenth century 

 as the forest of Brill. 



In considering the question of the administra- 

 tion of the ancient royal forests of Buckingham- 

 shire, however briefly, it seems essential to 

 recollect that the use of the term ' forest ' as 

 applicable to a great wood is a comparatively 

 modern custom. Such a use came into fairly 

 general adoption in Elizabethan days, but origin- 

 ally and for several centuries the English word 

 * forest ' meant a waste tract of country reserved 

 for royal sport, and hence placed under special 

 laws and restrictions. Within the forest of 

 Bernwood or Brill there were many great woods 

 and thickets of undergrowth, far more, doubt- 

 less, than would be formed on such forests as 

 Dartmoor, Exmoor, or the High Peak, but there 

 would certainly be a considerable share of open 

 ground and heaths. Within this area, although 

 there would be a good deal of private property, 

 all such inclosures as were of sufficient height to 

 exclude the deer, did they desire to enter, were 

 forbidden, save under special licence. The 

 owners of woods that were in private hands 

 were bound to appoint woodwards, who were 

 to a great extent foresters of the king, for they 

 were sworn to arrest venison trespassers. Though 

 the owners of such woods could usually take 

 freely all wood they might require for their own 

 use, they could not fell to any considerable 



' Lipscombe, Bueks, \, 97-8. 

 * Close and Pat. R. passim. 

 1 Pipe K. Hen. II (Pipe R. Soc.). 

 " Magn. Rot. Pip. 35, 37. 



extent, or sell wood, or burn charcoal, or do any- 

 thing that might be prejudicial to the king's 

 deer, without a licence. 



The administration of a forest was partly 

 national and partly local. From time to time, 

 often at prolonged intervals, forest justices of the 

 crown came round to hold Pleas of the Forest 

 for inquiring into privilege claims, for exacting 

 fines for assarts and purprestures (the terms for 

 illegal inclosures or encroachments), and for 

 punishing trespasses against venison and vert. 

 Vert was a term for which the English form 

 of ' green hue ' was occasionally used, implying 

 all damage to trees, underwood, and forest 

 herbage. Local courts were also held at regular 

 and frequent intervals, when the minor vert 

 offences were dealt with, including illicit agist- 

 ment or feeding of cattle or pigs, and stray 

 animals ; and venison trespasses were enrolled, 

 and the commitment of offenders to prison oc- 

 casionally arranged. Over these local swain- 

 mote or attachment courts, the crown-appointed 

 warden or chief forester presided, with the 

 verdcrers (usually four in number) as assessors. 

 These were men of position elected in the 

 county court; they had no fees, but were entitled 

 to certain perquisites both of vert and venison. 



The foresters were those who had charge over 

 different sections or walks of the forest, and it 

 was their duty to present offenders at the courts, 

 and also under certain circumstances they were 

 expected instantly to arrest venison trespassers or 

 hunters and to convey them to prison. The 

 delinquents could, however, generally obtain 

 liberty without much difficulty on sufficient 

 bail from either the particular justice of the 

 forest or direct from the crown. They were 

 bound over to appear before the next eyre of the 

 justices of Forest Pleas ; but the delay was so 

 great in holding these eyres that not a few 

 offenders were usually dead before their case 

 came to trial. By the Forest Charter no one 

 could for any forest offence be imprisoned for 

 more than a year and a day. 11 



Robert de Drewes was entrusted with the 

 charge of the royal manor of Brill, at pleasure, 

 in 1217, together with the forest pertaining to 

 the manor." 



When the great storm of 1222 occurred 

 which devastated the woods throughout England 

 and caused the usual customs as to windfallen 

 timber in royal forests to be held in abeyance, 

 instructions as to the disposal of the cablish were 

 forwarded to the vcrderers and foresters of the 



11 It feems best to give this summary of forest pro- 

 cedure to help towards the understanding of some of 

 the extracts here cited ; those who desire to gain a 

 better understanding of the various processes and the 

 intricacy of administration are referred to Turner, 

 Select Pitas oftke Foreit (Selden Soc.), or to the more 

 popular Cox, Royal Forests. 



11 Pat. 2 Hen. Ill, m. II. 



'33 



