54 A TOPOGRAPHICAL 



In the survey of Tutbury, taken in the first year of the reign of 

 Queen Elizabeth, the following account is given of the extent of 

 Needwood Forest. " The forest, or chace of Needwood, is in com- 

 passe by estimation 23 miles and a half, and the nearest part thereof 

 is distant from the castle of Tutbury but one mile. In it are 7869 

 yards and a halfe, and very forest-like ground, thinly set with old 

 oakes and timber trees, well replenished with coverts of underwood 

 and thornes, which might be copiced in divers parts thereof, for in? 

 crease of wood and timber, lately sore decayed and spoyled. It is 

 divided into four wards, viz. Tutbury ward, Marehington ward, 

 Yoxall ward, and Barton ward, each containing five miles or more 

 in compasse." 



According to a survey made in 1656, this forest was found to 

 contain 9220 acres of land, and by an examination of the timber in 

 1684, it contained 47150 trees, and 10,000 cord of hollies and un- 

 derwood, valued at o30,700. 



Needwood Forest presents to the eye a great variety of pictu- 

 resque beauty. In the more fertile part, or the middle and southern 

 divisions, it is diversified by hills and valleys, watered by clear 

 brooks, with here and there a bolder eminence. In the northern 

 part, it is broken into deep glens and lofty precipices, covered with 

 a variety of beautiful trees, particularly the oak, which here 

 flourishes in great perfection. It has been asserted that the forest 

 does not contain less than one thousand acres occupied with oaks,* 

 among which an oak named the Swilcar, is considered the monarch. 

 This tree is of great antiquity, but still fruitful in acorns ; it 

 measures twenty-one feet round the trunk, at the height of five 

 feet ; the lower stem is ten feet high ; the whole height 65, and 

 the extent of the arms 45 feet. It contains at least one thousand 

 feet of solid timber, and has been celebrated by poets and botanists. 



The uneven part of the forest, comprising upwards of 1200 acres, 

 consisting of abrupt hills and dells, will probably be appropriated to 

 the growth of timber, and the remaining 8000 acres added to the 

 cultivated land of the country. One-eighth of this quantity consists 

 of light sound loam, adapted to the culture of turnips ; and the rest, 



The owners and inhabitants of some of the circumjacent villages, however, en- 

 joyed certain privileges of common, of which they were eventually deprived by 

 an Act of Parliament, obtained and acted upon for enclosing this extensive and 

 fertile tract. In consequence of this Act, part of the oak timber, and the holly, 

 has been sold and cleared off, and the deer destroyed. 



* Marshall's Rural Economy of the Midland Counties, Vol. II. p. 360. 



