THE FORESTS OF DORSETSHIRE
GILLINGHAM
The county of Dorset had three royal forests at the time of the granting
of the Forest Charter of Henry III.—Gillingham, Blackmore, and Poorstock.
Gillingham was the most important of the three, in the extreme north
of the county; it was originally one of the divisions of the great
Somersetshire forest of Selwood. Leland gives its dimensions, in the
time of Henry VIII., as four miles long by one broad. Material for the
history of this and the other forests of the county is abundant. In the
third edition of Hutchins’ _History of Dorset_, the boundaries of several
perambulations of Gillingham forest, from Henry III. to Elizabeth, are
set forth, as well as abstracts of the proceedings relative to its
disafforestation (ii. 620-4, 649). It was disafforested and the deer
removed in 1625.
The wood sale accounts of Richard Cressebien and Mathew Vynyng of the
forest of Gillingham for 1402-3 are extant, still enclosed in the leather
pouch in which they were forwarded to London. Mention is made in these
accounts of the sale of many “rothers,” varying in price from 8_s._ to
16_d._; this term was a variant for roers or _robora_. Many details are
given of the expenses occurred in repairing lodges.
Pleas of the forest of Gillingham were held at Shaftesbury on 2nd
September, 1490, before Sir Reginald Gray, Edward Chaderton, clerk,
and Richard Empson, as justices of the forest of Elizabeth, Queen of
England, on both sides the Trent. Those appearing were Sir John Luttrell,
sheriff of the county; William Twynyho, esquire, lieutenant of the
forest; William Goodwyn, ranger; Gilbert Thomson, forester-of-fee;
two other foresters, the launder, the servant of the lieutenant, the
bailiff and his fellows of the hundred of Redlane, and also of the manor
of Gillingham, the two verderers, eight regarders, and the reeves and
“four-men” of each of the townships of Gillingham, Motcombe, and Brayton.
[Illustration: _PLATE XXIV_
A DEER-LEAP AT WOLSELEY PARK]
The business transacted chiefly consisted in assigning the perquisites of
oaks, roers, and bucks to the officials, and the registering of liberty
claims within the forest. The jury of the hundred of Redlane presented a
list of various persons who had felled oaks, but in almost each instance
they knew not the number nor the warrant.
One of the questions discussed at these pleas was the right to a
deer-leap, which formed part of the fence of a small park three miles
distant from the bounds of Gillingham Forest. The nature of the
_saltatorium_, or deer-leap, has been explained in the sixth chapter. In
this case the justices ordered its removal, as a jury, after an inquest,
decided that it had been erected since the last eyre, and without any
licence.
BLACKMORE
A large tract of the north and western parts of the county, comprising
several hundreds, known as the vale or forest of Blackmore, was all
forest in early Norman days; but much of it passed from under the forest
laws in the time of Henry II., and still more through the Forest Charter
of Henry III. Nevertheless, a considerable district remained forest,
and was known as Blackmore forest until a much later period. The Close
Rolls, etc., of Henry III. show that the king made many gifts of red,
fallow, and roe deer out of this forest, as well as timber. In 1230 an
oak was granted for the repair of the bridge of Corfe Castle. In the
same year the forest bailiff was instructed to supply the distant Bishop
of Durham with seven does against Christmas; and in the following year
to furnish the Bishop of Exeter with ten does towards stocking a park.
Camden says that it used to be known as the White Hart Forest, and gives
the following story to account for the name. Henry III., when hunting
here, ran down several deer, and finding a beautiful white hart amongst
them, caused its life to be spared. Shortly afterwards a neighbouring
gentleman, one Thomas de la Linde, with his companions, hunted this hart
and killed it at a bridge, thence called Kingstag bridge, in the parish
of Pulham. The king, in his wrath, not only punished the offenders by
imprisonment and fine, but severely taxed all their lands, “the owners
of which yearly, ever since to this day, pay a sum of money, by way of
fine or amercement, into the Exchequer, called White Hart Silver, in
memory of which this county needeth no better remembrance than this
annual payment.” Leland says: “This forest streatchid from Ivelle unto
the quarters of Shaftesbyri, and touchid with Gillingham Forest that is
nere Shaftesbyri.” The ancient bounds and a few other particulars are set
forth in the third edition of Hutchins’ _Dorset_ (iv. 516-19).
POORSTOCK
In the parish of Poorstock (between Beminster and Bridport) and the
adjacent country was the old royal forest of Poorstock. John de la Lynde
held the bailiwick of this forest in the time of Henry III. It was of
comparatively small extent; the perambulation of 1300 shows that it had
one forester-of-fee, Walter de la Lynde, and one verderer, Robert de
Byngham. This perambulation is set forth in Hutchins’ _Dorset_ (ii. 317).