Assize of the Forest | nichepoetryandprose

poetry and prose about place

Posts Tagged ‘Assize of the Forest’

naming the woods 7-25

Today’s bike trip took me past the ‘woods’. Almost any time I ‘bike’ through a wooded area in Cornwall, I find the wood has a name on the map. I think naming the various acreages of woodland makes them more precious. Giving a name to the woodland identifies it and acknowledges its right to exist.
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The names of the woodlands in the Caerhays area of Cornwall include: the Forty Acre Wood (reminds me of Winnie the Pooh!); Castle Wood; Kennel Close Wood; and Battery Walk Wood, among others. Each woodland has its own characteristics and I long to get off my virtual bike and explore some of the woodland plants.

on the right is the Forty Acre Wood (image from Street View)

I know from my history studies that forests and woodlands are strongly connected to the history of England. The nobility of post-Conquest England had a special love for the forest and the hunt, and protected park-like settings for the pursuit of wild game.

In the 12th century, the king protected the woodlands with the Assizes. These were formal rules governing both the public and officials. The purpose of the “Assize of the Forest” was to protect the forest and the game living there. The Assize described rules for conduct in the forest and for use of the land, wood and game. It also described the roles and responsibilities of those assigned to protect the forest, enforce the laws, and monitor and report on the state of the forest. The Assize further specified punishments for breaking the rules and for the forest administrators if they failed to meet their responsibilities.

road through Kennel Close Wood (image from Street View)

The rules of the Assize were designed to ensure the continued use of the forest.

For the King, one value of the forest was as a source of revenue from rents and fines. Rental income came from pannage (keeping of swine) and agist (pasturing). Fines were generated from illegal hunting and other uses, purprestures (encroachment such as building within the forest), and assarts (use of the forest clearings). Wood had value as fuel, or as timber for building boats, bridges, defenses and castles. Other values included the King’s own pleasure in hunting, and the favor he gained from gifts of venison or other wild game, or from granting others the privilege of hunting.

the secluded and cloistered Battery Walk Wood (image from Street View)

Medieval hunters had various words to describe the different parts of the woodlands. The ‘chase’, for example, referred to the open woods for hunting of deer, and the ‘warren’ described the unenclosed tracts where other wild game such as pheasant and partridge were hunted.