A HISTORY OF BEDFORDSHIRE 



During the reign of Stephen it is possible ' that no rigorous attempt was made by the king to 

 enforce the unpopular forest law within the county, but there is little available evidence. It is 

 probable, however, that in Bedfordshire as in the rest of England during the anarchy the royal 

 forests suffered grievous harm, and that Henry Plantagenet on his accession turned these forest 

 trespasses to financial account. On the Pipe Roll of 13 Henry II are entered many fines in 

 connexion with the pleas of Alan de Nevill. Some of these at least would seem to have resulted 

 from forest cases, for in the only example where we are told the nature of the ofi'ence it was ' de 

 canibus,' possibly for keeping unlawed hounds. Three years later there is specific mention of a 

 forest eyre within the county : for the sheriff accounts for £2 1 3/. dd. for wastes, assarts, and the 

 pleas of the forest of Bedfordshire. From this time forward many of the Pipe Rolls of Henry II 

 contain some allusion to Forest Pleas held in the county and the resulting fines. The rolls for the 

 twenty-second and twenty-third years are especially significant, and indicate clearly that to this king 

 as to his grandfather the Forest Proceedings were an important aid to the raising of revenue. For 

 example, in the earlier of these two rolls in Bedfordshire Walter de Caisneto is held responsible for 

 as much as 150 marks 'de Misericordia pro foresta,' of which he pays £\^ 41. id. at once. Geoffrey 

 Fitz William accounts for 100 marks and pays down 50, while Robert the son of Ralph the 

 Forester owes 20 marks for a similar offence. And these are but a few examples from a long list. 

 In the roll 23 Henry II, the sheriff accounts amongst other fines for £^\^ ' de misericordia hominum 

 et villarum quorum nomina et debita annotantur in xxij rotulo. In thesauro liberavit in xv talliis.* 

 It seems quite clear from the names of persons and vills recorded on the rolls that the forest 

 law was in operation over a large portion of the county. But the financial necessities of the 

 Crusader king were soon to give the harassed men of Bedford some relief, for while the Pipe 

 Roll of Richard's second year contains notices of the forest eyre of Geoffrey Fitz Peter and his 

 fellows, a significant entry on the same roll informs us that the Barones of the county of Bedford 

 accounted for ;^200 for the disafforestation of that part of the county of Bedford which King 

 Henry I afforested, and of this a first instalment was paid to the amount of ;^53 lbs. Next year a 

 sum of j^68 more was delivered to the royal treasury, but in the year following apparently nothing 

 at all. Even in Richard's seventh year a small sum was still owing, ' super libertatibus,' which may 

 have formed part of this Bedfordshire liability. It would seem, however, that at the beginning of the 

 reign of John the landowners of Bedfordshire had neglected to procure the confirmation of their 

 charter by the new king, for among the amercements by Hugh de Nevill entered on the first Pipe 

 Roll of his reign, we read of 30 marks imposed on the ' knights residing in Bedfordshire because 

 they have hunted in Bedfordshire this side the water before they showed the charter of their liberties.' 

 But of this amount £■] 6s. 2^- was still returned as owing on the Pipe Roll three years afterwards. 

 Soon after John's accession also the vill of Harewud (Harrold) was fined 3 marks and WahuU 

 (Odell) 20r. for similar forest offences. 



There can be little doubt that the religious houses of the shire had participated with the laity 

 in the relaxations of the forest law bought from Richard, and this is proved in the case of Warden 

 (St. Mary de Sartis) by a charter ' granting them relief on their own lands from forest incidents, 

 while for their trespasses on the king's forest outside they were to make reasonable amends. 

 Remissions again both to the Templars and Hospitallers are occasionally met with much earlier, while 

 in the Pipe Roll i Richard I, when the sheriff accounted for 34^. gd. for wastes, assarts, pleas, and 

 purprestures in Bedfordshire the whole sum was remitted to the brethren of the hospital ' per 

 libertatem carte Regis.' 



By the reign of Henry III it is probable that the portion of Bedfordshire still afforested had 

 shrunk to very small proportions, though the young king's advisers ordered the inquisitors of assarts 

 therein to send in a return of the forest clearings made since his first coronation.' But as late as 

 the time of Edward II certain vills on the north-western borders of the shire were still, as noted 

 below, within the metes of the king's forest.'" 



The annals of the important priory of Dunstable, founded by Henry I, contain several refer- 

 ences to the timber of the county. In 1247 ^" agreement was drawn up between the canons and 

 the town of Dunstable to the effect that the latter should have a court for their tenants in fee. 

 This agreement contained a special clause as to ash trees. It was settled that the burgesses were 

 not to plant ash trees save on their own soil ; and if they were planted on the common land of the 



' Stephen in his great Charter of Liberties issued after his coronation had pledged himself to grant 

 universally the disafForestation of the extensions made by Henry I. But, as Mr. Round has shown with 

 regard to Essex, the promise was not kept. Journ. Brit. Arch. Asm. (New Ser.), 1897, iii, 38. 



' Cal. Chart. R. ii, 536. It may be noted here that the wood near Bedford belonging to this house was 

 seriously wasted during the siege of Bedford Castle in the early years of Henry III, and compensation was 

 accordingly granted by the crown. Close, 8 Hen. Ill, m. 6. 



' Pat. 3 Hen. Ill, m. 2 d. " See below. 



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