FORESTRY 



Every three years a thorough inspection not only of the woods but also of every part or 

 the forest was expected to be made, which was termed the Regard. The duty of the twelve 

 or more knights who were called the Regarders was to draw up answers to a long set of 

 interrogatories termed the Chapter, which covered almost every possible particular as to the 

 condition of the forest demesnes, even as to wild honey ; but the most important function the 

 Regarders discharged were with regard to enclosures of waste with or without warrant, and to 

 encroachments made by the building of houses or the like. In practice, the full formal regard 

 with its complete roll of answers was usually only made shortly before the holding of each 

 eyre, when the sheriff, as was the case in Derbyshire, was ordered by the crown to see to the 

 regard being duly held. 



The swainmote proper, about which Manwood is much mistaken, 1 was practically the 

 same as the attachment court ; the two terms 'swainmote' and 'attachment' (and occasionally 

 ' woodmote ') are used interchangeably in various local forest proceedings of which full records 

 remain, as is the case with Sherwood, Windsor, Clarendon, and Duffield Frith. These courts 

 if regularly kept, as was often the case, met every forty-two days in each of the several 

 bailiwicks or wards into which a forest was divided, but on different days of the week. There 

 are, unfortunately, too few records left of the smaller forest courts of the Peak to speak with 

 confidence as to the regular holding of the frequent swainmotes in all the bailiwicks for any 

 long period ; but there are sufficient incidental references to show that such swainmotes were 

 held in the thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries for Campana at the Chamber of the 

 Forest, for Longdendale at Chapel-en-le-Frith, and for Hopedale at Hope. Subsequently the 

 great courts of attachment, as well as the occasional smaller courts or swainmotes, were held 

 at Tideswell and at Chapel-en-le-Frith, though sometimes at Campana lodge or Chamber of 

 the Forest instead of at Tideswell. 



The jurisdiction of the true swainmote was but small, and was chiefly concerned with 

 minor vert offences, as will be seen under Duffield. 



The chief local authority over a forest was the keeper or warden (custos), who was also 

 variously known as steward, bailiff, and chief or master-forester. In no two forests were the 

 terms for the various ministers exactly similar, and the nomenclature often varied for the same 

 forest at different periods. Some forests were ruled by hereditary wardens or keepers, as were 

 those of Cheshire, but they were more usually appointed by the crown, during pleasure, under 

 letters patent. The Peak was an instance of the latter class, and the title usually given to 

 the chief administrator was bailiff. For the most part he held this office in conjunction with 

 that of keeper of the castle. Generally speaking, as in Peak forest, the bailiff or keeper was 

 held responsible for the annual accounts rendered to the crown or duchy. 



The verderers were other forest officers directly responsible to the crown. Like 

 coroners they were elected by the freeholders in the county court on a writ addressed to the 

 sheriff. They held office, as a rule, for life, but could be removed by the crown for 

 incapacity for their duties, or for lack of due property qualification within the forest. In 

 the Peak forest, however, the verderers were for a time hereditary, which was a highly 

 exceptional, if not unique, usage. The verderers were always men of some position and 

 frequently knights ; there was no salary and usually no perquisites attached to the office. 

 The number varied ; in smaller forests there were only two, but four, as in the Peak, was 

 the usual number ; there were six for Sherwood. It was the verderer's duty to view, receive, 

 and enroll all manner of attachments for vert or venison trespass ; and he had to attend all 

 forest courts and to take the leading part, under the steward or keeper, at the swainmotes. 

 In the swainmotes the verderers were the judges in all vert cases of the value of 2d. or under, 

 which was afterwards raised to 4^. The verderer's symbol of office was an axe ; at a later 

 period, in several forests, as in the Peak and Duffield, there was a chief verderer, styled the 

 axe-bearer, appointed directly by the crown, and the recipient of certain perquisites. 



Foresters were officers sworn to preserve the vert and venison in the forest in their 

 own divisions or walks or wards, usually termed bailiwicks in Peak forest. They had to 

 attach offenders and present them at the forest courts. The legal term ' attachment ' (differing 

 from 'arrest,' which only applied to the body) had a threefold operation in the forest as at 

 common law; a man might be attached by (i) his goods and chattels, or (2) by pledges 

 and mainprize, or (3) by his body. The usual proceeding was that if the foresters found 

 a man trespassing on the vert they might attach him by his body, and cause him to find 

 two pledges or bail to appear at the next attachment court. On his appearance at that 



1 Turner, Select Pleas of the Forest (Selden Soc.), xxviii-xxx. 

 399 



