A further grant was made for the same purpose by Henry III. “On May
10, 1220, King Henry III., being at Worcester, orders the Sheriff of
Salop to aid the Burgesses of Bruges in the enclosure of their town,
allowing them out of the Royal Forest near Bruges, as much of old
stumps and dead timber as would suffice to make two stacks (rogos).
This was to be done with as little injury as possible to the Forest.”
(_Antiquities of Shropshire, Vol. 1, p. 299._) Notwithstanding this
caution, however, a good deal of damage was done, on account of the
large amount of timber which was required for this purpose; for in
the Sheriff’s report of the state of the Forest in 1235 there is the
following notice:—“Item. The _Bosc_ of Worfield was viewed—much wasted
by ancient waste, to wit, in the time of the great war [the Barons’
war], and also in the time of R., late Earl of Chester, who, whilst
he was sheriff, sold 1700 oak trees there, besides other wastes made
in his time for the Castle of Bruges, and besides delivery of timber
made for enclosing the _Vill_ of Bruges, before it was fortified with a
wall.” (_Ibid, Vol. 3, p. 215._)