22 THE FORESTS OP ENGLAND. 



the 30th of Henry VIII., and a third in the 14th of 

 Charles II. The forest is described in a survey made in 

 1609, as being divided into three parts or districts, called 

 the north, south, and middle parts. The whole quantity 

 of ground was as follows according to that survey :— 



A. R. P. 



Inclosures . . . 44,839 1 11 

 Woods .... 9,486 23 

 Wastes .... 35,080 2 6 



89,406 



Clipstone Park . . 1,583 1 25 



BeskwoodPark . . 3,672 



BulwellPark . . 326 3 2 



Nottingham Park . . 129 3 9 



95,117 3 36 



"According to this survey there were found to be in 

 1609, 21,000 oak trees in Berkland, and 28,000 in Bilhalgh, 

 and the trees in general, even at that time, were past 

 maturity. By another survey in 1686, there were in 

 Berkland 12,516 trees, and 923 decayed hollow trees, and 

 in Bilhalgh 21,080 trees, and 2,797 hollow trees. By a 

 survey in 1797, there were in Berkland and Bilhalgh 

 together, only 10,117 j these at the time were estimated 

 at £17,147, 15s. 4d., so that in seventy-seven years (from 

 1609 to 1686) 2,593 trees had been cut down, and in 104 

 years (from 1686 to 1.790) 27,199 trees were so dealt with, 

 but in so long a period many may have been laid low by 

 the effects of the wind." 



The whole history, I had almost said of every park in 

 the Sherwood Forest, is full of romance, comprising much 

 beside what relates to Robin Hood ; and scarcely can a 

 volume, great or small, which treats of it, be opened but it 

 is found teeming with details of romantic incident, all of 



