The New Forest: its history and its scenery/Chapter 4

by John Richard de Capel Wise

 

CHAPTER IV.

ITS LATER HISTORY.

We need not dwell so long upon this as the former portion of the History, for in many cases it is nothing but a bare recital of perambulations and Acts of Parliament. The true history of a forest is rather an account of its trees and its flowers and birds, than an historical narrative. Yet even here there are some important facts connected with the nation's life, and illustrating the character of its kings.

We meet with no perambulation of the New Forest until the eighth year of Edward I.—the second ever made of an English forest—and, by comparing it with Domesday, we may see how, since the Conqueror's time, the Forest had gradually taken the natural limits of the country—the Avon and the Southampton Water bounding it on the east and west, and the sea on the south, and the chalk of Wiltshire on the north.^[1]

The next perambulation in the twenty-ninth year of the same realm is more noticeable,^[2] as it disafforests so much. It is the same perambulation which we find made in the twenty-second year of Charles II., and nominally the same which is followed to this day.

To understand the cause of the difference in these perambulations, we must, in fact, thoroughly understand the great movements which had been going on during the previous years, and the increasing power of the nobles and the people. From Henry III. had been wrung the Charta de Forestâ, the terms of which had been settled before John's death. Still, little, or scarcely anything, was put into practical effect. In 1297, however, the Earls of Hereford and Norfolk not only refused to accompany Edward I. to Flanders, but, upon their suspension from their offices, issued a proclamation, complaining that the two Charters of the liberties of the people were not observed. On the 10th of October, a Parliament was assembled, and his son passed the "Confirmatio Cartarum," to which Edward, now at Ghent, assented. Still the two earls, from various causes, were not satisfied; and in 1298 demanded that the perambulations of the different Forests should be made. In consequence, during the summer of the next year, the King issued writs to the sheriffs, promising that the commissioners should meet about Michaelmas at Northampton.^[3]

This was done: and the perambulation of the New Forest was carried out in strict accordance with the provisions of the Charta de Forestâ, for the jurors who were employed expressly state that the bounds which they have determined were those of the Forest before the reign of Henry II.; and that all those places mentioned in the perambulation of 1279 and now omitted, were afforested by his successors, though they cannot say to what extent or by whom.^[4] Most probably it had been reserved for John to show here, as in other cases, to what absolute madness selfishness will carry a man.

After this, nothing, with one exception, of any general importance occurs.^[5] Having in his prosperity incurred all the odium of attempting to revive the hated Forest Laws, in his adversity Charles I. granted as security the New Forest, and Sherwood, and other Crown lands to his creditors.^[6] He had still learnt no lesson from the Ship-money, and would have pawned England itself, rather than yield to that obstinacy, which was but the other side of his weakness of character.

With the decline of hawking and hunting, the Forest Laws fell into decay, and the Forests themselves were less regarded, and their boundaries less strictly observed. Under the Stuarts, we find the first traces of that system, which at last resulted in the almost entire devastation of the New Forest. James I. granted no less than twenty assart lands—agri exsariti—there having been previously only three;^[7] and gave the privilege of windfalls to various persons;^[8] whilst officers actually applied to him for trees in lieu of pay for their troops:^[9] and Charles II. bestowed the young woods of Brockenhurst to the maids of honour of his court.^[10]

Manwood, who wrote towards the end of Elizabeth's reign, had, long before this, predicted what must happen, and the straits to which the English navy, as we know was the case, would be reduced. In Charles I.'s time the Forests were in a shameful condition. The keepers were in arrears of wages, and paid themselves out of the timber.^[11] The consequences soon came. There was nothing left but wind-shaken and decayed trees in the New Forest, quite unfit for building ships,^[12] Charles II., however, in 1669, probably influenced by Evelyn's Silva, which appeared four years before, and had given a great impulse, throughout England, to planting, enclosed three hundred acres as a nursery for young oaks. But the waste and devastation still continued. At last, William III. legislated on the subject, for, to use the words of the Act, "the Forest was in danger of being destroyed;"^[13] and power was given to plant six thousand acres. In 1703 came the great hurricane, which Evelyn so deplores, uprooting some four thousand of the best oaks.

Nothing was done towards planting during the reigns of Anne and George I.;^[14] and Phillipson's and Pitt's plantations in 1755 and 1756 are the next, but they have never thrived, owing to the land not having been drained, and the trees not having been thinned out at the proper time.

In 1789 a Commission was appointed, and revealed a terrible state of things. William's provisions had not only been set aside, but defied. Cattle were turned out, the furze and heath cut, and the marl dug by those who had no privileges. The Forest was, in fact, robbed under every pretext. The deer, from being overstocked, died in the winter by hundreds from starvation. On every side, too, encroachments were made by those whose business it was to prevent them. The rabbits destroyed the young timber, whilst the old was stolen.^[15]

In 1800 there was fresh legislation,^[16] but it does not seem to have taken much effect; though, in 1808, a new system of planting upon a definite plan was introduced.

In 1848 another Commission was appointed, and showed that the old abuses still lingered, that depredations were still committed, and encroachments still made.^[17] Law was at last restored. A great number of the claims were disallowed, and the rights of the commoners defined. So many head of cattle may now be turned out, by those who have Forest rights, through the year, except during the fence-month, which lasts from the 20th of June to the 20th of July, and the winter-hayning, from the 22nd of November to the 4th of May. Pigs, too, upon a nominal payment, may also be turned out for the mast and acorns during the pannage-month, lasting from September the 25th to the 22nd of November, by those who have a right to common of pannage; whilst any person can, by applying to the woodmen, buy wood for fuel.

Lastly, in 1851, the deer, the cause of so much ill-feeling and crime, were abolished, and the Crown thereby acquired the right of planting 10,000 additional acres.^[18] These changes have already effected much good both for the district and the inhabitants. The enclosures are now systematically drained; and the Foresters find, in the works which are being carried forward, regular employment throughout the year.^[19] A large nursery has been formed at Rhinefield, and somewhere about 700 acres are annually planted, the young oaks being set between Scotch firs, which serve both as "nurses" to draw them up, and a screen to shelter them from the winds. Experiments, too, are being made to acclimatize several new trees, but it is premature to judge with what success.

Further, I need scarcely add that all sorts of schemes, from the day when Defoe proposed to colonize the district with the Palatine refugees from the Rhine to the present, have been suggested for reclaiming the Forest. None have ever, from the nature of the soil, been found to answer; and the present condition is certainly, for many reasons, the best. The time will some day arrive when, as England becomes more and more overcrowded,—as each heath and common are swallowed up,—the New Forest will be as much a necessity to the country as the parks are now to London. We talk about the duty of reclaiming waste lands, and making corn spring up where none before grew. But it is often as much a duty to leave them alone. Land has higher and nobler offices to perform than to support houses or grow corn—to nourish not so much the body as the mind of man, to gladden the eye with its loveliness, and to brace his soul with that strength which is alone to be gained in the solitude of the moors and the woods.

Footnotes

1. The following translation is made from the original in the Record Office. Southt Plĩta Foreste, A° viii.° E. I.^mi "The metes and boundaries of the New Forest from the first time it was afforested. First, from Hudeburwe to Folkewell; thence to the Redechowe; thence to the Bredewelle; thence to Brodenok; thence to the Chertihowe; thence to the Brygge; thence to Burnford; thence to Kademannesforde; thence to Selney Water; thence to Orebrugge; thence to the Wade as the water runs; thence to the Eldeburwe; thence to Meche; thence to Redebrugge as the bank of the Terste runs; thence to Kalkesore as the sea runs; thence to the Hurste, along the sea-shore; thence to Christ Church Bridge as the sea flows; thence as the Avene extends, as far as the bridge of Forthingebrugge; thence as the Avene flows to Moletone; thence as the Avene flows to Northchardeford and Sechemle; and so in length by a ditch, which stretches to Herdeberwe." It is this old natural boundary which, as stated in the preface, we have adopted for the limits of the book. A copy of the original may be found in the Journals of the House of Commons, vol. xliv., appendix, p. 574, 1789.
2. This may also be found, with the perambulation made in the twenty-second year of Charles II., in the Journal of the House of Commons, vol. xliv., appendix, pp. 574, 575, 1789. It is also given in Lewis's Historical Enquiries upon the New Forest, appendix ii. pp. 174-177.
3. This is not the place to say more on this most important chapter of English history. See, however, on the subject, The Great Charter: and the Charter of the Forest, by Blackstone, Introduction, pp. lx.-lxxii. 1759. For the oppressions which still existed under the shelter of the Forest Laws, see the preamble to the "Ordinatio Foreste," 34th Edward I., Statutes of the Realm, vol. i. p. 147.
4. "Quid et quantum temporibus cujuslibet regis nullo modo eis constare potest." The conclusion of the perambulation. Some little difficulty attends these perambulations. From Domesday, it is certain that the Conqueror afforested land on the west of the Avon at Holdenhurst, Breamore, and Harbridge. And amongst the MSS. of Lincoln's Inn Library we find a copy of a charter of William of Scotland, dated, curiously enough, "Hindhop Burnemuth, in meâ Novâ Forestâ, 10 Kal. Junii, 1171." (See Hunter's "Three Catalogues" &c, p. 278, No. 78, 1838.) It would seem, from what Edward's commissioners say, that these afforestations, which had taken place since Henry II.'s time, were all made inside the actual boundaries of the Forest. It has been generally supposed that the perambulation in the eighth year of Edward I. was the first ever made of an English forest. This is not the case; for in the Record Office, in the Plìta Foreste de Cõm. Southt. LIII^tio R. H. III., No. III., may be found the perambulation of a forest in the north of Hampshire.
5. For a good account of all details connected with the history of the New Forest, see the Sub-Report by the Secretary of the Royal New and Waltham Forest Commission, Reports from Commissioners (11), vol. xxx. pp. 267-309, 1850; and also the Fifth Report of the Land Revenue Commissioners in 1789, published July 24th of that year, to be found also in the Journals of the House of Commons, vol. xliv. pp. 552-571.
6. See "The humble petition of Richard Spencer, Esq., Sir Gervas Clifton, Knight and Baronet, and others, to enter upon the New Forest and Sherwood Forest," &c. &c. Record Office, Domestic Series, Charles II, No. 8. f. 26, July 21st, 1660.
7. MSS. prepared by Mr. Record-Keeper Fearnside, quoted in the Secretary's Sub-Report of the Royal New and Waltham Forest Commission, Reports from Commissioners (11), vol. xxx. p. 342.
8. See Grant Book at the Record Office, 1613, vol. 141, p. 127—"4th October, a Grant to Richard Kilborne, alias Hunt, and Thomas Tilsby (of) the benefitt of all Morefalls within the New Forest, for the terme of one and twenty years."
9. See "The humble petition of Captayne "Walter Neale" for "two thousand decayed trees out of the New Forest, in consideracion" of 460l., which he had advanced to his company engaged in Count Mansfeldt's expedition. Record Office. Domestic Series, No. 184, Feb., 1625, f. 62.
10. See warrant from Charles II. to the Lord Treasurer Southampton, that "Winefred Wells may take and receive for her own use" King's Coppice at Fawley, and New Coppice and Iron's Hill Coppice at Brockenhurst. Record Office. Domestic Series, No. 96, April 1st, 1664, f. 16. Three years before this there had been a petition from a Frances Wells "to bestowe upon her and her children for twenty-one yeares the Moorefall trees in three walks in the New Forest, . . . . and seven or eight acres of ground, and ten or twelve timber trees, to build a habitation." The petition was referred to Southampton, who wrote on the margin, "I conceive this an unfit way to gratify this petitioner, for under pretence of such Moorefall trees much waste is often committed." Record Office. Domestic Series, No. 34, April 2nd, 1661, f. 14. Hence the reason of Charles's warrant in the case of Winefred Wells, as he knew that the Lord Treasurer was so strongly opposed to any such grants.
11. See the report of Peter Pett, one of the King's master shipwrights, "Touching the fforests of Shottover and Stowood." Record Office. Domestic Series. No. 216, f. 56. i. May 10th, 1632. The New Forest, however, seems from this report to have been much better in this respect.
12. See "Necessarie Remembrances concerning the preservation of timber, &c." Record Office. Domestic Series. Charles I., No. 229, f. 114. Without date, but some time in 1632.
13. 9th and 10th of William III., chap, xxxvi., 1693. An abstract of the Act may be found in the Journals of the House of Commons, vol. xliv., appendix, pp. 576-578.
14. To show how for years the Forest was neglected and robbed, we find, from a survey made in James I.'s reign, 1608, that there were no less than 123,927 growing trees fit for felling, and decaying trees which would yield 118,000 loads of timber; whilst in Queen Anne's reign, in 1707, only 12,476 are reported as serviceable. See Fifth Report of the Land Revenue Commissioners, Journals of the House of Commons, vol. xliv. p. 563. The waste in James I. and Charles I.'s time must have been enormous, for from the "Necessarie Remembrances" before quoted we find that there were not in 1632 much above 2,000 serviceable trees in the whole Forest.
15. See, as before, Fifth Report of the Land Revenue Commissioners, pp. 561, 562, and especially the evidence of the under-steward, Appendix, 583. As far back as February 20th, 1619, we find that James I. gave the Earl of Southampton 1,200l. a year as compensation for the damage which the enormous quantity of deer in the Forest caused to his land. Letter from Gerrard to Carleton, Feb. 20, 1618/1619, Record Office. Domestic Series, No. 105, f. 120. Gilpin (vol. ii. pp. 32, 33, third edition) states that in his day two keepers alone robbed the Forest to the value of 50,000l.
16. Journals of the House of Commons, vol. xlvii. pp. 611-792; vol. lv. pp. 600-784.
17. See the evidence in the Parliamentary Papers, 1849, Nos. 513, 538. Of the Forest Rights and Privileges, the secretary to the New Forest Commission writes: "The present state of the New Forest in this respect is little less than absolute anarchy." (Reports of Commissioners (11), vol. xxx. p. 357, 1850.) It should be distinctly understood, as was shown in the last chapter, that these Rights had their origin as a compensation to those whose lands had been afforested by the King, and who were, in consequence, subject to the Forest Laws, and the injury done by the deer. Now that the injury is no longer sustained, and the exercise of the Prerogative has ceased, so ought also the privileges. The Crown, however, has not pressed this, and the Rights are thus still enjoyed. A Register of Decisions on Claims to Forest Rights, with each person's name, and the amount of his privileges, was published in 1858.
18. The present statistics of the Forest are—Freehold estates, being private property, within the Forest boundaries, 27,140 acres; copyhold, belonging to her Majesty's manor of Lyndhurst, 125; leasehold, under the Crown, 600; enclosures belonging to the lodges, 500; freeholds of the Crown, planted, 1,000; woods and wastes of the Forest, 63,000: total, 92,365 acres. The value of timber supplied to the navy during the last ten years has been, on the average, nearly 7,000l. a year. The receipts for the year ending 31st of March, 1860, derived from the sale of timber, bark, fagots, marl, and gravel, and rent of farms and cottages, &c., were 23,125l. 6s. 6d.; whilst the expenses for labour, trees, carriage of timber, and salaries, were 12,913l. 1s. 7d; thus showing a considerable profit. (From the Thirty-eighth Report of the Commissioners of her Majesty's Woods and Forests.) The management of the Forest is now in the hands of a deputy-surveyor, three assistants, and eight keepers; whilst four verderers try all cases of stealing timber, turf, and furze.
19. See further, on the condition of the Forest population, chapters xv. and xvi. When stripping bark and felling timber in the spring, the men can earn considerably more than at other times. The average wages are two shillings a day for ordinary labourers, but all work, which can be, is done by the piece.