MY WORK, STAFF, AND CHIEFS 55 



them, might be leased by the Crown on certain 

 conditions. 



In this way arose such mansions built on 

 the desirable sites of some of the keepers' lodges 

 as Malwood Lodge, built by Sir William Harcourt ; 

 Bramble Hill Lodge ; Whitley Ridge, Rhine- 

 field, and Lady Cross Lodges. The tendency of 

 the tenant, as one succeeded another, has been 

 to overbuild, and some of these houses have 

 rather outgrown their sites. But they represent 

 valuable property, all of which reverts to the 

 Crown at the expiration of the lease, and they 

 are all very lovely residences. 



But as the lodges went, so also did the 

 keepers, regardless of the necessity for the pro- 

 tection of the Forest. Without doubt, soon after 

 the Deer Removal Act was seen to be a failure, 

 and long before the Report of the Lords' Com- 

 mittee of 1868, it had come to be looked on as 

 a foregone conclusion that disafforestation was to 

 overtake the New Forest, as it had done nearly 

 all the other forests of England. In those cir- 

 cumstances the area of the Crown property would 

 have been much reduced, its character would 

 have been materially altered, and a much smaller 

 staff would have been required. And so, in anti- 

 cipation of all this, the Office of Woods was 

 gradually letting the old out-door staff slip away. 



