FORESTRY 



A survey 1 of the trees in the Forest of Dean, taken in 1633 by John Broughton, showed that 

 there were then 166,848, worth on an average a pound apiece, and if very small trees and brush- 

 wood were included the whole of the wood might be valued at ,177,681 61. 8d. George Dunning, 

 an experienced 'ship-timber man,' assured the surveyor that there was timber enough there to 

 furnish the kingdom with shipping, but Broughton evidently thought that the wood was most 

 profitably employed for the king's iron-works. Unauthorized private persons, however, were fully 

 aware of the excellence of Dean timber, and John Purnell, 1 in the autumn of the same year, was 

 building a ship* of wood cut in the forest without leave or order, and had actually taken for her keel a 

 beech 60 ft. long which was sealed with His Majesty's mark. 



The king's financial necessities had now become insistent, and there is evidence, 4 as in the 

 parallel case of the Forest of Essex, that the disafforestation of Dean was being considered, and 

 propositions were eagerly made by interested parties. However, in Gloucester as well as Essex, 

 it was determined instead to hold an eyre or justice-seat and claim boldly the ancient limits of 

 1228 and 1282, which would prepare the way for a harvest of heavy fines. Care was taken that 

 the jury of regarders* should be packed with persons well-affected to the prerogative. When the 

 justice-seat was held in 1634 at Gloucester Castle before the Earl of Holland, the Lord Chief 

 Justice in eyre south of Trent and his fellows, not only were the extended bounds of 1228 and 

 1282 re-established and fines imposed to the amount of some ,100,000,* but apparently even the 

 claims of the free miners to their customary rights were rejected. 7 The old limits were, however, 

 soon to be restored by the Act 1 6 Chas. I, cap. 1 6, one of the measures of the Long Parliament. 



In the autumn * of the same year, on 1 1 October, a fierce gale wrought havoc in the forest. 

 In hardly more than two hours at least one thousand trees were blown down, and the ' rude country 

 people ' claimed the windfallen trees as their due, so that the king's surveyor had some difficulty in 

 preserving them. A few months after this certain contractors,' in forwarding proposals to the 

 government with regard to the timber in Dean Forest suitable for the Navy, offered to plant new 

 trees in the room of those they shall be licensed to fell, while almost contemporaneously the Lords 

 of the Treasury resolved 10 to preserve the forest for a perpetual revenue by enclosing, to put down 

 all iron-works 11 within the precincts of the forest, to preserve the timber trees for the Navy, and to 

 allow no oaks to be felled, and further 'to acquaint the king with the improvement of the lease, 

 which will hinder all propounders.' They saw that the shifts of the king to raise money, and the 

 rapacity of commercial speculators, were ruining the forest. 



In 1638, however, an elaborate survey 12 was made of the greater part of the forest, and the 

 total number of trees in Dean, the Lea Bailey 13 excepted, was returned at 70,971 oaks, of which 

 24,549 were timber trees, 20,823 beeches, and 13,763 ' stogalls,' 14 containing 61,928 tons of timber 

 and 150,808 cords 1 * of wood, besides the underwood furnishing some 2,401 cords. The total value 

 of this timber and underwood was estimated at ,120,261 2s. id. Upon this survey an entire sale 

 was made by the Crown to Sir John Winter of all woods and waste ground belonging to the Forest 

 of Dean except the Lea Bailey, with the wood, timber, mines, and quarries, in consideration of 

 ,106,000 to be paid by instalments, and a fee-farm rent of ,1,950 I2J. 8d. for ever. 16 Winter 

 aroused intense opposition by his enclosures and by grubbing up trees and underwood, and during 

 the Civil War the people of the forest took the law into their own hands, threw down his fences, 

 and for a time local anarchy prevailed, order being ultimately restored by the strong action of the 

 Parliamentary Government. Four years 17 before the Restoration an Act was passed annulling 

 Winter's grant, and the Forest of Dean was vested in the Protector for the use of the Common- 



1 Cal. S.P. Dam. Chat. I, 1633, p. 191. ' S.P. Dom. Chas. I, ccl, 80. 



I At a later time ships were built at Bullo for the Crown from the forest wood and iron (ex Informatlone 

 Sir Charles Dilke, bait.) Many details as to shipbuilding at Lydncy and elsewhere will be found in Cal. S. P. 

 Dom. Interregnum and Chas. II, 



I Cf. S.P. Dom. Chas. I, cclvii, 93. 4 Cal. S.P. Dom. Cbai.I, 1634, p. 576. 

 S.P. Dom. Chas. I, cclxxiii, 13. 



7 Third Rep. of Com. of Woods and forests (1788), p. 12. 



8 Cal. S.P. Dom. Chas. I, 1634, p. 237. ' S.P. Dom. Chas. I, 1634-5, cchuiv, 22. 

 10 Cal. S.P. Dom. Chas. I, 1635, p. 607. 



II Sir Sackville Crow, in the January of this year, had declared most of these to be unauthorized ; Cal. 

 S.P. Dom. Chas. /, 1634-5, P- 4 8 7- 



" Forest Proc. K.R. fa (P.R.O.). 



II A recent estimate cited by the surveyor allowed 23,220 oaks and beeches for the Lea Bailey, and not 

 above 120 had been cut or blown down since it was taken. About a quarter were beeches. 



14 A ' stogall ' was a tree cut short or broken down with the wind. 



" A ' cord ' of wood as reckoned by this surveyor was in height 4 ft. 3 in., in length 8 ft. 3 in., in breadth 

 4 ft. 4 in. The statute cord now contains 128 cubic ft. viz. 4ft. by 8 ft. by 4 ft. Mr. Philip Baylis kindly 

 points out that in the Forest of Dean wood is cut by a cord of 128^5 ft., viz. 4ft. 6*75 in. by 13 ft. by 2ft. 2 in. 



" Third Rep. of Com. of Woods and forests (1788), 13. " Ibid. 14. 



2 273 35 



