A HISTORY OF GLOUCESTERSHIRE 



published on 26 July 1889, and 30 July 1890. With regard to the Forest of Dean (18,710 



acres) 1 



The Committee are of opinion that having proper regard to the rights of commoners and the 

 convenience of those engaged in mining industries, the best available income is obtained from the 

 surface whilst, as in the New Forest, regard is paid to the preservation of the natural beauty of the 

 woods. 



Possibly a large income might be obtained by the sale of the surface and the re-investment of the 

 proceeds ; but a difficult question would have to be dealt with in the purchase of the right of 

 commonage enjoyed by tenants and freeholders of certain parishes. This would be detrimental to the 

 welfare of, and repugnant to the feelings of, the inhabitants of the district ; whilst the destruction of 

 the forest would be most regrettable. 



The first forty-one pages of the report of 1889 deal entirely with Dean Forest, and in that 

 much interesting evidence is given by the Commissioner of Woods and Gaveller (Mr. Culley), the 

 Deputy Surveyor (Sir James Campbell, bart.), and the Deputy Gaveller (Mr. Brown). Some of 

 the chief points of interest regarding the timber were that the previous planting had chiefly been of 

 oak, there being very little larch ; that most of the mature timber had been cut for the navy between 

 1854 and 1864, and that consequently the growing stock was still immature, fellings being limited 

 to the cutting of decayed trees ; that the soil of Dean was superior to that of New Forest for 

 growing oak, while two-thirds of it would also grow good larch ; that very great care was taken in 

 the management in order to preserve the beauty of the district ; and that game was scarce in the 

 forest, as it was considered better to give up the deer 2 than to risk the lives of the keepers 

 against poachers. 



From the remarks made by this Select Committee about a possible sale of the Forest of 

 Dean, it may be presumed that some such idea had perhaps then been entertained. But at any 

 rate, ever since then the endeavour has been made to manage the forest upon business principles as a 

 timber-producing property. With this object in view, the late Mr. H. C. Hill was employed 

 in 1897 to draw up a 'working plan* based more or less on the lines of the modern continental 

 system, for the 20 years 1897-1917, which now forms the scheme of management adopted. 3 A 

 few short extracts from Mr. Hill's report can alone be given here. After a description of the 

 forest and of the rights of the crown and a review of its past history he points out that 



to maintain the Forest of Dean permanently under timber, the II,ooo acres which the Crown has 

 the right to enclose ought to be placed under favourable conditions of growth with the view of esta- 

 blishing a complete crop of mixed beech and oak in 'high forest,' with scattered larch, chestnut, 

 sycamore, and other trees. If this is done, its natural character will be restored and handed down to 

 posterity, and the fine oak timber for which the forest is renowned may again be grown, and eventually 

 harvested with other woods in the shape of a regular annual yield. The lower value of beech as 

 compared with oak should in no way prevent its being grown in proper proportion, because it is only 

 by the aid of the beech that fine oak can be grown, and the increased price which should be commanded 

 by the latter over that of oak grown in pure open woods will more than compensate for the low price 

 of the beech. The treatment now proposed has already been introduced by Mr. Philip Baylis, the present 

 Deputy Surveyor, who at once realized that the whole of the forest was immature, and that con- 

 sequently nothing of good size and quality was ripe for the axe. He further observed that the open 

 woods were not growing satisfactorily, and entered on a scheme for re-enclosing as fast as possible up to 

 the limit of ll,oooacres. He has opened out new nurseries, has extended planting operations, has 

 stopped heavy thinnings in the young woods, and has projected new roads. These are all steps in the 

 right direction, and the suggestions now made are more with a view of systematizing work than of 

 introducing any new general scheme of management. 



The chief work of the next twenty years. With the exception of the Lining Wood (80 acres, see 

 also below) and some parts where oak is making no growth, the whole of the woods will have to be 

 allowed to stand till they attain maturity some 45 or 55 years. In the oldest woods a natural under- 

 growth exists (as in Russels, Chestnuts, and Lea Bailey enclosures) which should be allowed to grow 

 up and complete the woods. The oaks are already too far apart, and for the next 1 5 years these 



1 Since 1896 the Crown lands (though not the 'Forest' area) have been increased by the purchase of 

 the Abbot Wood estate (666J acres) in the East Dean township and forming part of the Forest of Dean 

 district of Gloucestershire, for 8,800 in December, 1899, but the wooded area thereon is not stated in the 

 Report of the Commissioners of Woods and Forests (29 June, 1900, p. 74). 



' It is said that 150 bucks and 300 does were either killed or removed from the forest in 1850 ; Cox, 

 Royal Forests of England, 282. Dr. Cox is of opinion that in the first half of the thirteenth century red deer 

 predominated in the forest, though there was a small admixture of fallow deer ; but the proportions were 

 reversed before Edw. I came to the throne ; op. cit. 276. For details as to the deer in the forest during the 

 nineteenth century the reader must be referred to Nicholls, Forest of Dean, 202. In 1855 Mr. Machen records 

 ' there is not now a deer left in the Forest, and only a few stragglers in the High Meadow Woods.' 



3 H. C. Hill, Report on the Forest of Dean, with Suggestions for its Management. 19 Julv, 1897. London : 

 H. M. Stationery Office. 



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