166 ASHDOWN FOREST. 
On this report, the Council of the Duchy, by the 
advice of Sir John Turton and Sir John Powell, made a 
decree in accordance with it. Under these arrange- 
ments about 7,600 acres of the Forest were inclosed, or 
if already inclosed, were quieted in possession; and the 
residue, 6,400 acres, was declared to be set apart for the 
rights of the Commoners. Soon after the decree of 
1693, the interest of Sir Thomas Williams in what 
remained of the Forest was divided between three 
persons—Staples, Holland, and Lechmere—and passed 
from them through various hands, until Lord Dorset 
bought them out in 1730, and became possessed of 
whatever rights remained in the Crown grantees over 
the Forest. During the interval, the Forest appears to 
have been largely denuded of its trees, for when Lord 
Dorset purchased, the timber was valued at no more 
than £210. 
The Dorset family having thus become possessed of 
the Crown rights and of the Manor of Duddleswell, 
commenced a series of acts, which have been continued 
down to very recent times, for the purpose of curtailing 
and getting rid of the mnghts of the Commoners. 
With this object persons were warned not to cut turf 
or to trespass on the Forest. In 1795, the then Duke 
of Dorset submitted a case to Mr. Serjeant Hill, in 
which it was stated— 
“The farmers adjoining the Forest, many of whom are 
Copyholders of the Manor, and as such have right of Common- 
age, as well as many others who are not Copyholders and have 
no such right, have for many years past made a practice of 
