View source for Royal forest

{{Hatnote|For other uses of 'kingswood', see [[Kingswood (disambiguation)]].}}
{{Short description|Areas of land in the British Isles}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2025}}
[[File:Malmsmead Hill, Exmoor - geograph.org.uk - 80944.jpg|thumb|The Royal Forest of [[Exmoor]] in Devon. Royal forests do not necessarily include woodland.]]

A '''royal forest''', occasionally known as a '''kingswood''' ({{Langx|la|silva regis}}),<ref>{{harvp|Darby|1986}}{{page needed|date=November 2023}}</ref><ref>{{harvp|Dugdale|1846}}{{page needed|date=November 2023}}</ref> is an area of land with different definitions in [[England]], [[Wales]], [[Scotland]] and [[Ireland]]. The term ''forest'' in the ordinary modern understanding refers to an area of wooded land; however, the original medieval sense was closer to the modern idea of a "preserve" – i.e. land legally set aside for specific purposes such as royal hunting – with less emphasis on its composition. There are also differing and contextual interpretations in [[Continental Europe]] derived from the [[Government of the Carolingian Empire|Carolingian]] and [[Merovingian dynasty|Merovingian]] legal systems.<ref>{{harvp|Braunstein|1990}}{{page needed|date=November 2023}}</ref>

In [[Anglo-Saxon England]], though the kings were great huntsmen, they never set aside areas declared to be "outside" (Latin ''foris'') the law of the land.<ref name="Loyn">{{harvp|Loyn|1991|pp=378-382}}</ref> Historians find no evidence of the Anglo-Saxon monarchs (c. 500 to 1066) creating forests.<ref>{{harvp|Henderson|1896}}</ref> However, under the Norman kings (after 1066), by royal prerogative forest law was widely applied.<ref>{{harvp|Grant|1991|loc=Chapter 1}}</ref> The law was designed to protect the "[[venison]] and the vert". In this sense, ''venison'' meant "noble" animals of the chase&nbsp;– notably [[Red deer|red]] and [[fallow deer]], the [[roe deer]], and [[wild boar]] – and ''vert'' meant the greenery that sustained them. Forests were designed as [[Medieval hunting|hunting areas]] reserved for the monarch or (by invitation) the [[aristocracy]]. The concept was introduced by the [[Normans]] to England in the 11th century, and at the height of this practice in the late 12th and early 13th centuries, fully one-third of the land area of [[Southern England]] was designated as royal forest. At one stage in the 12th century, all of [[Essex]] was afforested. On accession [[Henry II of England|Henry II]] declared all of [[Huntingdonshire]] to be a royal forest.<ref name="Loyn" />

[[Afforestation]], in particular the creation of the [[New Forest]], figured large in the folk history of the "[[Norman yoke]]", which magnified what was already a grave social ill: "the picture of prosperous settlements disrupted, houses burned, [[peasant]]s evicted, all to serve the pleasure of the foreign tyrant, is a familiar element in the English national story&nbsp;.... The extent and intensity of hardship and of depopulation have been exaggerated", [[H. R. Loyn]] observed.<ref name="Loyn" /> Forest law prescribed harsh punishment for anyone who committed any of a range of offences within the forests; by the mid-17th century, enforcement of this law had died out, but many of England's woodlands still bore the title "Royal Forest". During the [[Middle Ages]], the practice of reserving areas of land for the sole use of the aristocracy was common throughout Europe.

Royal forests usually included large areas of [[heath (habitat)|heath]], [[grassland]] and [[wetland]]&nbsp;– anywhere that supported [[deer]] and other [[game (food)|game]]. In addition, when an area was initially designated forest, any villages, towns and fields that lay within it were also subject to forest law. This could foster resentment as the local inhabitants were then restricted in the use of land they had previously relied upon for their livelihoods; however, common rights were not extinguished, but merely curtailed.<ref>{{harvp|Young|1979}}{{page needed|date=November 2023}}</ref>

==Areas chosen for royal forests==

The areas that became royal forests were already relatively wild and sparsely populated, and can be related to specific geographic features that made them harder to work as farmland.

In the [[South West England|South West]] of England, forests extended across the [[Late Jurassic|Upper Jurassic]] Clay Vale.<ref name="Grant, p5">{{harvp|Grant|1991|p=5}}</ref> In [[the Midlands]], the clay plain surrounding the [[River Severn]] was heavily wooded. Clay soils in [[Oxfordshire]], Buckinghamshire, [[Huntingdonshire]] and [[Northamptonshire]] formed another belt of woodlands. In [[Hampshire]], Berkshire and [[Surrey]], woodlands were established on sandy, gravelly, acid soils. In the Scots Highlands, a "deer forest" generally has no trees at all.

Marshlands in [[Lincolnshire]] were afforested.<ref name="Grant, p 6"/> Upland moors too were chosen, such as [[Dartmoor]] and [[Exmoor]] in the South West, and the Peak Forest of [[Derbyshire]]. [[North York Moors|The North Yorkshire moors]], a sandstone plateau, had a number of royal forests.<ref name="Grant, p5" />

== Forest law ==
[[File:Medieval forest.jpg|thumb|Medieval forest scene, from the ''Livre de chasse'' (1387)]]
[[William I of England|William the Conqueror]], a great lover of hunting, established the system of forest law. This operated outside the [[common law]], and served to protect [[game animals]] and their forest habitat from destruction. In the year of his death, 1087, a poem, "[[The Rime of King William]]", inserted in the [[Peterborough Chronicle]], expresses English indignation at the forest laws.

=== Offences ===
Offences in forest law were divided into two categories: trespass against the vert (the vegetation of the forest) and trespass against the [[venison]] (the game).

The five animals of the forest protected by law were given by [[John Manwood|Manwood]] as the [[hart (deer)|hart]] and [[Red deer|hind]] (i.e. male and female red deer), [[boar]], [[European hare|hare]] and [[wolf]]. (In England, the boar became extinct in the wild by the 13th century, and the wolf by the late 15th century.) Protection was also said to be extended to the beasts of [[chase (land)|chase]], namely the [[Deer|buck]] and [[wiktionary:doe#Noun|doe]] ([[European fallow deer|fallow deer]]), fox, [[European pine marten|marten]], and [[roe deer]], and the beasts and fowls of [[Free warren|warren]]: the [[hare]], [[European rabbit|coney]], [[Common pheasant|pheasant]], and [[partridge]].<ref name="manwood">{{harvp|Manwood|1598|loc=Chapter 1}}</ref> In addition, inhabitants of the forest were forbidden to bear hunting weapons, and dogs were banned from the forest; [[English Mastiff|mastiffs]] were permitted as watchdogs, but they had to have their front claws removed to prevent them from hunting game. The rights of chase and of warren (i.e. to hunt such beasts) were often granted to local nobility for a fee, but were a separate concept.

Trespasses against the vert were extensive: they included ''purpresture'', ''[[assarting]]'', clearing forest land for agriculture, and felling trees or clearing shrubs, among others. These laws applied to any land within the boundary of the forest, even if it were freely owned; although the [[Charter of the Forest]] in 1217 established that all freemen owning land within the forest enjoyed the rights of ''[[agistment]]'' and ''[[pannage]]''. Under the forest laws, bloody hand was a kind of trespass by which the offender, being apprehended and found with his hands or other body part stained with blood, is judged to have killed the deer, even though he was not found hunting or chasing.<ref>{{harvp|Chambers|1728}}</ref>

[[Afforested|Disafforested]] lands on the edge of the forest were known as [[purlieus]]; agriculture was permitted here and deer escaping from the forest into them were permitted to be killed if causing damage.

=== Rights and privileges ===
Payment for access to certain rights could provide a useful source of income. Local nobles could be granted a royal licence to take a certain amount of game. The common inhabitants of the forest might, depending on their location, possess a variety of rights: ''[[Estovers|estover]]'', the right of taking firewood; ''[[pannage]]'', the right to pasture swine in the forest; ''[[turbary]]'', the right to cut turf (as fuel); and various other rights of pasturage (''[[agistment]]'') and harvesting the products of the forest. Land might be disafforested entirely, or permission given for [[assart]] and {{linktext|purpresture}}.

=== Officers ===
The justices of the forest were the [[justice in eyre|justices in eyre]] and the [[verderer]]s.

The chief royal official was the warden. As he was often an eminent and preoccupied magnate, his powers were frequently exercised by a deputy. He supervised the [[forester]]s and under-foresters, who personally went about preserving the forest and game and apprehending offenders against the law. The [[agister]]s supervised pannage and agistment and collected any fees thereto appertaining. The nomenclature of the officers can be somewhat confusing: the rank immediately below the constable was referred to as foresters-in-fee, or, later, ''woodwards'', who held land in the forest in exchange for rent, and advised the warden. They exercised various privileges within their [[bailiwick]]s. Their subordinates were the under-foresters, later referred to as [[forest ranger|rangers]]. The rangers are sometimes said to be patrollers of the purlieu.

Another group, called [[serjeanty|serjeants]]-in-fee, and later, foresters-in-fee (not to be confused with the above), held small estates in return for their service in patrolling the forest and apprehending offenders.

The forests also had [[surveyor (surveying)|surveyors]], who determined the boundaries of the forest, and ''regarders''. These last reported to the court of justice-seat and investigated encroachments on the forest and invasion of royal rights, such as assarting. While their visits were infrequent, due to the interval of time between courts, they provided a check against collusion between the foresters and local offenders.

=== Courts ===
[[Commentaries on the Laws of England|Blackstone]] gives the following outline of the '''forest courts''', as theoretically constructed:
*'''Court of attachment''', sometimes called the ''Forty-Day Court'' or ''Woodmote''. This court was held every forty days, and was presided over by verderers and the Warden, or his deputy. The foresters [[attachment (law)|attached]] persons who had committed crimes against the forest law and brought them before this court to have them enrolled; however, it did not possess the power to try or convict individuals, and such cases had to be passed upwards to the swainmote or the court of justice seat.
*'''Court of regard''', held every third year to enforce the law requiring declawing of dogs within the forest.
*'''Swainmote''' or ''Sweinmote'' was held three times a year: the fortnight before the feast of St. Michael, about the feast of St. Martin, and the fortnight before the feast of St. John the Baptist. It was presided over by the Warden and verderers, the foresters and [[agister]]s being in attendance. The first two occasions were to regulate agistment and pannage, respectively; the third was for the purpose of trying offenders before a jury of [[wikt:swain|swains]], or freemen of the forest. The name of the court is sometimes said to be derived from [[swine]], probably a misapprehension through its regulation of pannage.
*'''Court of justice-seat''' or ''eyre'' was the highest of the forest courts. It was to be held every three years, to be announced forty days in advance, and was presided over by a [[justice in eyre]]. It was, in theory, the only court that could pass sentence upon offenders of the forest laws.

In practice, these fine distinctions were not always observed. In the [[Forest of Dean]], swainmote and the court of attachment seem to have been one and the same throughout most of its history. As the courts of justice-seat were held less frequently, the lower courts assumed the power to fine offenders against the forest laws, according to a fixed schedule. The courts of justice-seat crept into disuse, and in 1817, the office of justice in eyre was abolished and its powers transferred to the [[First Commissioner of Woods and Forests]]. Courts of swainmote and attachment went out of existence at various dates in the different forests. A Court of Swainmote was re-established in the [[New Forest]] in 1877.

== History ==
Since the [[Norman Conquest]] of England, the forest, chase and warren lands had been exempted from the [[common law]] and subject only to the authority of the king, but these customs had faded into obscurity by the time of [[Stuart Restoration|The Restoration]].<ref>{{harvp|Samson|2012|p=6}}</ref>

===William the Conqueror===
[[William the Conqueror|William I]], original enactor of the Forest Law in England, did not harshly penalise offenders. The accusation that he "laid a law upon it, that whoever slew hart or hind should be [[Blinding (punishment)|blinded]]," according to the ''[[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]'' is little more than propaganda. [[William Rufus]], also a keen hunter, increased the severity of the penalties for various offences to include death and mutilation. The laws were in part codified under the Assize of the Forest (1184)<ref>{{harvp|Henry II}}</ref> of [[Henry II of England|Henry II]].

===Magna Carta===
{{main|Magna Carta}}
[[Magna Carta]], the [[charter]] forced upon King [[John of England]] by the English barons in 1215, contained five clauses relating to royal forests. They aimed to limit, and even reduce, the King's sole rights as enshrined in forest law. The clauses were as follows (taken from translation of the great charter that is the ''Magna Carta''):<ref name="Magna Carta">{{harvp|Magna Carta}}</ref>

* (44) People who live outside the forest need not in future appear before the '''Royal Justices of the Forest''' in answer to general summonses, unless they are actually involved in proceedings or are [[sureties]] for someone who has been seized for a forest offence.
* (47) All forests that have been created in our reign shall at once be disafforested. River-banks that have been enclosed in our reign shall be treated similarly.
* (48) All evil customs relating to forests and warrens, foresters, warreners, sheriffs and their servants, or river-banks and their wardens, are at once to be investigated in every county by twelve sworn knights of the county, and within forty days of their enquiry the evil customs are to be abolished completely and irrevocably. But we, or our chief justice if we are not in England, are first to be informed.
* (52) To any man whom we have deprived or dispossessed of lands, castles, liberties, or rights, without the lawful judgement of his equals, we will at once restore these. In cases of dispute the matter shall be resolved by the judgement of the twenty-five barons referred to below in the clause for securing the peace (§&nbsp;61). In cases, however, where a man was deprived or dispossessed of something without the lawful judgement of his equals by our father [[Henry II of England|King Henry]] or our brother [[Richard I of England|King Richard]], and it remains in our hands or is held by others under our warranty, we shall have respite for the period commonly allowed to [[Crusades|Crusaders]], unless a lawsuit had been begun, or an enquiry had been made at our order, before we took the Cross as a Crusader. On our return from the Crusade, or if we abandon it, we will at once render justice in full.
* (53) We shall have similar respite [to that in clause 52] in rendering justice in connexion with forests that are to be disafforested, or to remain forests, when these were first afforested by our father Henry or our brother Richard; with the guardianship of lands in another person's `[[Fee (feudal tenure)|fee]]', when we have hitherto had this by virtue of a `fee' held of us for knight's service by a third party; and with abbeys founded in another person's `fee', in which the lord of the `fee' claims to own a right. On our return from the Crusade, or if we abandon it, we will at once do full justice to complaints about these matters.

===Charter of the Forest===
{{main|Charter of the Forest}}
After the death of John, [[Henry III of England|Henry III]] was compelled to grant the [[Charter of the Forest]] (1217), which further reformed the forest law and established the rights of agistment and pannage on private land within the forests. It also checked certain of the extortions of the foresters. An "Ordinance of the Forest" under [[Edward I of England|Edward I]] again checked the oppression of the officers and introduced sworn juries in the forest courts.

=== Great Perambulation and after ===
In 1300 many (if not all) forests were [[wikt:perambulation|perambulated]] and reduced greatly in their extent, in theory to their extent in the time of [[Henry II of England|Henry II]]. However, this depended on the determination of local juries, whose decisions often excluded from the Forest lands described in [[Domesday Book]] as within the forest. Successive kings tried to recover the "purlieus" excluded from a forest by the Great Perambulation of 1300. Forest officers periodically fined the inhabitants of the purlieus for failing to attend Forest Court or for forest offences. This led to complaints in Parliament. The king promised to remedy the grievances, but usually did nothing.

Several forests were alienated by [[Richard II of England|Richard II]] and his successors, but generally the system decayed. [[Henry VII of England|Henry VII]] revived "Swainmotes" (forest courts) for several forests and held Forest Eyres in some of them. [[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]] in 1547 placed the forests under the [[Court of Augmentations]] with two Masters and two Surveyors-General. On the abolition of that court, the two surveyors-general became responsible to the Exchequer. Their respective divisions were north and south of the [[River Trent]].

The last serious exercise of forest law by a court of justice-seat (Forest Eyre) seems to have been in about 1635, in an attempt to raise money.

=== Disafforestation, sale of forest lands and the Western Rising {{anchor|Delimitation of Forests Act 1640}}===
{{see also|Western Rising and disafforestation riots}}{{Infobox UK legislation
| short_title           = Delimitation of Forests Act 1640{{efn|name=st|The citation of this act by this [[short title]] was authorised by section 5 of, and the second schedule to, the [[Statute Law Revision Act 1948]]. Due to the repeal of those provisions, it is now authorised by section 19(2) of the [[Interpretation Act 1978]].}}
| type                  = Act
| parliament            = Parliament of England
| long_title            = An Act for the caertainty of Forrests and of the Meers Meets Limits & Bounds of the Forrests.{{efn|These words are printed against this act in the second column of the second schedule to the [[Statute Law Revision Act 1948]], which is headed "Title".}}
| year                  = 1640
| citation              = [[16 Cha. 1]]. c. 16
| territorial_extent    = [[England and Wales]]
| royal_assent          = 7 August 1641<ref>{{harvp|House of Lords|1641|p=349}}</ref><ref name=natarc/>
| commencement          = 3 November 1640{{efn|Start of session.}}
| repeal_date           = 1 July 1971{{efn|The whole act was repealed by section 1(4) of, and the schedule to, the Wild Creatures and Forest Laws Act 1971, which took effect on the date of its royal assent.}}
| repealing_legislation = [[Wild Creatures and Forest Laws Act 1971]]
| related_legislation   = 
| status                = Repealed
| original_text         = https://www.british-history.ac.uk/statutes-realm/vol5/pp119-120
| collapsed             = yes
}}By the [[Tudor period]] and after, forest law had largely become anachronistic, and served primarily to protect timber in the royal forests. [[James VI and I|James I]] and his ministers [[Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury|Robert Cecil]] and [[Lionel Cranfield, 1st Earl of Middlesex|Lionel Cranfield]] pursued a policy of increasing revenues from the forests and starting the process of disafforestation.<ref name="Sharp, p56">{{harvp|Sharp|1980|p=56}}</ref>

Cecil made the first steps towards abolition of the forests, as part of James I's policy of increasing his income independently of Parliament. Cecil investigated forests that were unused for royal hunting and provided little revenue from timber sales. [[Knaresborough Forest]] in Yorkshire was abolished. Revenues in the Forest of Dean were increased through sales of wood for iron smelting. Enclosures were made in Chippenham and Blackmore for herbage and pannage.<ref name="Sharp, p56"/>

Cranfield commissioned surveys into [[assart]] lands of various forests, including Feckenham, Sedgemoor and Selwood, laying the foundations of the wide-scale abolition of forests under [[Charles I of England|Charles I]]. The commissioners appointed raised over £25,000 by compounding with occupiers, whose ownership was confirmed, subject to a fixed rent. Cranfield's work led directly to the disafforestation of Gillingham Forest in Dorset and Chippenham and Blackmore in Wiltshire. Additionally, he created the model for the abolition of the forests followed throughout the 1630s.<ref name="Sharp, p56-57">{{harvp|Sharp|1980|pp=56–57}}</ref>

Each disafforestation would start with a commission from the Exchequer, which would survey the forest, determine the lands belonging to the crown, and negotiate compensation for landowners and tenants whose now-traditional rights to use of the land as commons would be revoked. A legal action by the Attorney General would then proceed in the Court of Exchequer against the forest residents for intrusion, which would confirm the settlement negotiated by the commission. Crown lands would then be granted (leased), usually to prominent courtiers, and often the same figures that had undertaken the commission surveys. Legal complaints about the imposed settlements and compensation were frequent.<ref name="Sharp, p56-57"/>

The disafforestations caused riots and [[Skimmington]] processions resulting in the destruction of enclosures and reoccupation of grazing lands in a number of West Country forests, including Gillingham, Braydon and Dean, known as the Western Rising. Riots also took place in Feckenham, Leicester and Malvern. The riots followed the physical enclosure of lands previously used as commons, and frequently led to the destruction of fencing and hedges. Some were said to have had a "warlike" character, with armed mobs numbering hundreds, for instance in Feckenham. The rioters in Dean fully destroyed the enclosures surrounding 3,000 acres in groups that numbered thousands of participants.

The disturbances tended to involve artisans and cottagers who were not entitled to compensation. The riots were hard to enforce against, due to the lack of efficient militia, and the low-born nature of the participants.<ref>{{harvp|Sharp|1980}}</ref> Ultimately, however, enclosure succeeded, with the exceptions of Dean and Malvern Chase.

In 1641, Parliament passed the Delimitation of Forests Act 1640 ([[16 Cha. 1]]. c. 16, also known as [[John Selden|Selden]]'s Act) to revert the forest boundaries to the positions they had held at the end of the reign of James I.<ref name=natarc>{{harvp|National Archives}}</ref>

=== After the Restoration ===
{{More sources section|date=March 2025}}
The Forest of Dean was legally re-established in 1668 by the [[Dean Forest Act 1667]].<ref>{{harvp|Sharp|1980|p=164}}</ref> A Forest Eyre was held for the [[New Forest]] in 1670, and a few for other forests in the 1660s and 1670s, but these were the last. From 1715, both surveyors' posts (covering England north and south of the Trent respectively) were held by the same person. The remaining royal forests continued to be managed (in theory, at least) on behalf of the Crown. However, the commoners' rights of grazing often seem to have been more important than the rights of the Crown.

In the late 1780s, a [[Royal Commission]] was appointed to inquire into which Crown woods were surviving, and their condition. It found only one north of the Trent, [[Sherwood Forest]].  South of the Trent, it found the [[New Forest]], three others in [[Hampshire]], Windsor Forest in [[Berkshire]], the [[Forest of Dean]] in Gloucestershire, Waltham or [[Epping Forest]] in Essex, three forests in [[Northamptonshire]], and [[Wychwood]] in Oxfordshire. Some of these no longer had swainmote courts, and thus had no official supervision. The Commission divided the remaining forests into two classes, those with the Crown as major landowner, and those without. In certain Hampshire forests and in the Forest of Dean most of the soil belonged to the Crown, and these became reserved to grow timber to meet the need for [[oak]] for [[shipbuilding]]. The others would be enclosed, the Crown receiving an "allotment" (compensation) in lieu of its rights.

In 1810, responsibility for woods was moved from Surveyors-General (who accounted to the Auditors of Land Revenue) to a new [[First Commissioner of Woods and Forests|Commission of Woods, Forests, and Land Revenues]]. In 1832 "Works and Buildings" were added to their responsibilities, but removed in 1851. In 1924, the Royal Forests were transferred to the new [[Forestry Commission]] (later to become [[Forestry England]]).

== Surviving ancient forests ==
[[File:The Long Walk, Windsor - geograph.org.uk - 3103539.jpg|right|thumb|The Long Walk to [[Windsor Castle]]]]

=== Forest of Dean ===
{{Main article|Forest of Dean}}
The Forest of Dean was used as a source of [[charcoal]] for [[blast furnace|ironmaking]] within the Forest from 1612 until about 1670. It was the subject of a Reafforestation Act in 1667. Courts continued to be held at the [[Speech House]], for example, to regulate the activities of the [[Freeminer]]s. The sale of [[cordwood]] for charcoal continued until at least the late 18th century. Deer were removed in 1850. The forest is today heavily wooded, as is a substantial formerly privately owned area to the west, now treated as part of the forest. It is managed by [[Forestry England]].

=== Epping & Hainault Forests ===

{{Main|Epping Forest|Hainault Forest}}

Epping and Hainault Forest are surviving remnants of the Royal Forest of Waltham.<ref>{{harvp|Rackham|1990|pp=176-177}}</ref> The extent of Epping and Hainault Forests was greatly reduced by inclosure by landowners. The Hainault Forest Act 1851 was passed by Parliament, ending the Royal protection for Hainault Forest. Within six weeks 3000 acres of woodland was cleared.<ref>{{harvp|Martin|2017}}</ref> The [[Corporation of London]] wished to see Epping Forest preserved as an [[Open space reserve|open space]] and obtained an [[injunction]] in 1874<ref>{{harvp|City of London|1878}}</ref> to throw open some {{convert|3000|acre|km2}} that had been inclosed in the preceding 20 years. In 1875 and 1876, the corporation bought {{convert|3000|acre|km2}} of open wasteland. Under the [[Epping Forest Act 1878]], the forest was disafforested and forest law was abolished in respect of it. Instead, the corporation was appointed as Conservators of the Forest. The forest is managed through the Epping Forest Committee.

=== New Forest ===
{{Main article|New Forest}}
The New Forest is home to the British cultural minority known as [[New Forest Commoner]]s. An Act was passed to remove the deer in 1851, but abandoned when it was realised that the deer were needed to keep open the unwooded "lawns" of the forest. An attempt was made to develop the forest for growing wood by a rolling programme of inclosures. In 1875, a [[Select committee (United Kingdom)|Select committee]] of the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]] recommended against this, leading to the passage of the New Forest Act 1877, which limited the Crown's right to inclose, regulated common rights, and reconstituted the Court of Verderers. A further [[New Forest Act 1964|Act]] was passed in 1964. This forest is also managed by [[Forestry England]].

===Sherwood Forest===
{{Main article| Sherwood Forest}}
A forest since the end of the [[Last Glacial Period|Ice Age]] (as attested by [[palynology|pollen sampling cores]]), [[Sherwood Forest]] [[national nature reserve (United Kingdom)|National Nature Reserve]] today encompasses 423.2 hectares,<ref>{{harvp|Natural England}}</ref> (1,045 acres) surrounding the [[Nottinghamshire]] village of [[Edwinstowe]]. The reserve has the highest concentration of ancient trees in Europe.<ref>{{harvp|Natural England}}</ref>

[[File:Sherwood Forest, May, 2017-5.jpg|thumb|[[Sherwood Forest]]]]

It is a remnant of an older, much larger, royal hunting forest, which derived its name from its status as the ''[[shire]] (or sher) wood'' of Nottinghamshire, which extended into several neighbouring counties, bordered on the west along the [[River Erewash]] and the [[Forest of East Derbyshire]]. When the [[Domesday Book]] was compiled in 1086, the forest covered perhaps a quarter of Nottinghamshire in woodland and heath subject to the forest laws. Sherwood Forest has historic associations with [[Robin Hood]].<ref>{{Cite web |date= 23 May 2018|title=About Sherwood Forest |url=https://visitsherwood.co.uk/about-sherwood-forest/ |access-date=2025-03-30 |website=visitsherwood.co.uk}}</ref>

A {{Convert|506|ha|4=0|adj=on|order=flip}} fragment of the forest is designated as [[Birklands And Bilhaugh]], a [[Site of Special Scientific Interest]]. This ancient oak-birch woodland is home to the [[Major Oak]] and has an exceptional diversity of invertebrate species associated with old trees and dead wood.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Birklands and Bilhaugh SSSI |url=https://designatedsites.naturalengland.org.uk/SiteDetail.aspx?SiteCode=S1003476&SiteName=birklands%20and%20bilhaugh&countyCode=&responsiblePerson=&SeaArea=&IFCAArea= |access-date=30 March 2025 |website=Natural England}}</ref>

== Royal forests by county ==

===England===
[[File:Royal.Forests.1327.1336.annotated.jpg|frameless|left|300px]]
{{clear}}
{{Incomplete list|date=August 2008}}

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Name of forest !! County !! Disafforestation date !! Notes || Soil or landscape
|- 
| [[Aconbury]]<ref name="Grant, p 221">{{harvp|Grant|1991|loc=Appendix: Table of Forests|p=221}}</ref> || [[Herefordshire]] || 1216, part<ref name=aconbury>{{harvp|Lovelace|2001}}, {{harvp|Herefordshire Council}}</ref> || 360 acres [[Assarting|assarted]] to support a nunnery in 1216<ref name=aconbury/> ||
|-
| [[Accrington]] || [[Lancashire]] ||  || ||
|-
| [[Alice Holt Forest|Alice Holt]] and [[Woolmer Forest]]s || [[Hampshire]] || 1812 || <ref name="Grant, p 221"/> || Sandy, gravelly acid soils; dry oak, birch wood<ref name="Grant, p5"/>
|-
| [[Allerdale]] Forest || [[Cumberland]] ||  ||  <ref name="Grant, p 221"/> ||
|- 
| Alnwick || [[Northumberland]] || 1280 || <ref name="Grant, p 221"/> ||
|-
| Alveston || [[Gloucestershire]] || || <ref name="Grant, p 221"/> ||
|- [[Amounderness]]  ||[[Lancashire]] || || Including [[Bleasdale]], [[Fulwood, Lancashire|Fulwood]] and [[Myerscough]]<ref name="Grant, p 221"/>||
|- 
| Archenfield|| [[Herefordshire]] || 1251 || <ref name="Grant, p 221"/>||
|- [[Ashdown Forest]] || East Sussex || ||||
|-
| Ashurst || [[Sussex]] || || <ref name="Grant, p 221"/>||
|-
| [[Bagshot]] || [[Surrey]] || || Part of [[Windsor Forest]]<ref name="Grant, p 221"/> || Sandy, gravelly acid soils; dry oak, birch wood<ref name="Grant, p5"/>
|-
| Becontree || [[Essex]] ||  || <ref name="Grant, p 221"/>||
|-
| Bedfordshire || [[Bedfordshire]] || 1191, Part disafforested  || <ref name="Grant, p 221"/>||
|- 
| [[Forest of Bere|Bere Forest]] including Bere Ashley|| [[Hampshire]] and [[Dorset]] || 1269, in Dorset || <ref name="Grant, p 221"/> || Sandy, gravelly acid soils; dry oak, birch wood<ref name="Grant, p5"/>
|-
| Bere Porchester || [[Hampshire]] || 1810 || <ref name="Grant, p 222">{{harvp|Grant|1991|loc=Appendix Table of Forests|p=222}}</ref> || Sandy, gravelly acid soils; dry oak, birch wood<ref name="Grant, p5"/>
|-
| Berkshire || [[Berkshire]] || 1227 || <ref name="Grant, p 222"/>||
|-
| [[Bernwood Forest]] || [[Buckinghamshire]] || 1622 || Including [[Brill, Buckinghamshire|Brill]] and [[Panshill Forest|Panshill]]<ref name="Grant, p 222"/> || Clay soils, woodlands<ref name="Grant, p5"/>
|-
| [[Bernwood Forest]] || [[Oxfordshire]] || 1622 || Partly in Bucks<ref name="Grant, p 222"/> || Clay soils, woodlands<ref name="Grant, p5"/>
|-
| [[Blackmoor Forest]] || [[Dorset]] || 1277 || <ref name="Grant, p 222"/>|| Heavy clay soils, dense oak forest<ref name="Grant, p5"/>
|-
| [[Melksham|Blackmore]] || [[Wiltshire]] || || Alias [[Melksham]]<ref name="Grant, p 222"/>||
|-
| [[Bolsover]] Forest || [[Derbyshire]] || || <ref name="Grant, p 222"/>||
|-
| [[Forest of Bowland|Bowland]] || [[Lancashire]] and [[Yorkshire]] || ||||
|-
| [[Braydon|Braydon Forest]] or Forest of Braden || [[Wiltshire]] || 1630 || Included parish of [[Minety]], at that time in [[Gloucestershire]];<ref name="Grant, p 222"/> disafforested with [[Western Rising and disafforestation riots|riots]]<ref>{{harvp|Sharp|1980||pp=59–60}}</ref>|| Heavy clay soils, dense oak forest<ref name="Grant, p5"/>
|-
| [[Brewood]] Forest || [[Staffordshire]] or [[Shropshire]] || 1204 || <ref name="Grant, p 222"/>||
|- 
| [[Brigstock]]|| [[Northamptonshire]] || 1638 || Part of [[Rockingham Forest]]<ref name="Grant, p 222"/>||
|- 
| [[Brill, Buckinghamshire|Brill]] || [[Buckinghamshire]] || || Part of [[Bernwood Forest]]<ref name="Grant, p 222"/>||
|-
| Burrington Forest || [[Somerset]] || ||||
|-
| [[Carlisle, Cumbria|Carlisle]] || [[Cumberland]] || || or [[Inglewood Forest]]<ref name="Grant, p 222"/>||
|-
| [[Cannock Chase]] || [[Staffordshire]] || 1290, in part || 1290 partially given to the Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield for a Chase<ref>{{harvp|Cannock Chase District Council}}</ref>||
|-
| [[Charnwood Forest]] || [[Leicestershire]] || || ||
|-
| [[Chelmsford]] || Essex || ||||
|-
| [[Chippenham]] || [[Wiltshire]] || 1618–23 || Perhaps excepting [[Bowood]] or Pewsham New Park<ref name="Grant, p 223">Grant, p. 223</ref>|| Heavy clay soils, dense oak forest<ref name="Grant, p5"/>
|-
| [[Chute Forest]] || [[Hampshire]] and [[Wiltshire]] || 1639–61 || Included [[Finkley]] and [[Digerley]] Forests<ref name="Grant, p 223"/>||
|-
| [[Cirencester]] || [[Gloucestershire]] || || Possibly [[Braydon]]<ref name="Grant, p 223"/>||
|-
| [[Clarendon Park, Wiltshire|Clarendon Forest]] || Wiltshire || 1664 (Clarendon) || Including Panchet Wood and Milchet Park, with the associated Forest of [[Buckholt, Hampshire]]<ref name="Grant, p 223"/>||
|-
| [[Claverley]] and [[Worfield]] || [[Shropshire]] || || <ref name="Grant, p 223"/>||
|-
| [[Cornbury]] || [[Oxfordshire]] || || Or [[Wychwood]]<ref name="Grant, p 223"/>||
|-
| [[Cornwall]] || [[Cornwall]] || 1204 || Two woods and two moors, disafforested 1215<ref name="Grant, p 223"/>||
|-
| [[Forest of Dartmoor|Dartmoor]] || [[Devon]] || 1204 || Annexed to [[Duchy of Cornwall]] 1337<ref name="Grant, p 223"/> || High moorlands<ref name="Grant, p5"/>
|-
| [[Forest of Dean|Dean]] || [[Gloucestershire]] and [[Herefordshire]] || || <ref name="Grant, p 223"/>|| Midland clay plain, oak forest<ref name="Grant, p5"/>
|-
| [[Delamere Forest|Delamere]] || [[Cheshire]] || 1812 || Remains of the [[Forests of Mara and Mondrem]]; outside of normal forest administration<ref name="Grant, p 223"/>||[[Sandstone]] with glacial sands and gravels and fertile clay;[[Kettle (landform)|wetlands]]
|-
|  [[Duffield Frith]]  || [[Derbyshire]] || ||  A group of six royal forests||
|-
| [[East Derbyshire]]<ref>{{harvp|Turbutt|1999}}{{page needed|date=November 2023}}</ref> || [[Derbyshire]] || ||||
|-
|  [[Epping Forest]] part of [[Waltham Forest]] || [[Essex]] || 1878 || Epping Forest Act 1878 established preservation and common rights||
|-
| [[Forest of Essex]] || [[Essex]] || 1204 || Entire county afforested to 1204<ref name="Grant, p 224">{{harvp|Grant|1991|p=224}}</ref> ||
|-
| Essex, north || [[Essex]] || 1204 || "North of the Stanestreet",<ref name="Grant, p 6">{{harvp|Grant|1991|p=6}}</ref><ref name="Grant, p 224"/> Tendring Hundred 1228 || Boulder clay, fertile lands<ref name="Grant, p 6"/>
|-
| [[Exmoor]] Forest || [[Devon]] and [[Somerset]] || 1815 || <ref name="Grant, p 224"/>|| High moorlands<ref name="Grant, p5"/>
|-
| [[Farndale]] Forest || Yorkshire || 1209 || <ref name="Grant, p 224"/>||
|-
| [[Feckenham Forest]]  || [[Worcestershire]] and [[Warwickshire]] || 1622–31 || <ref name="Grant, p 224"/> Riots on disafforestation 1630–31<ref>{{harvp|Sharp|1980|pp=61, 63}}</ref>|| Midland clay plain, woodlands<ref name="Grant, p5"/>
|-
| Filwood || [[Somerset]] || || Part of [[Kingswood, Somerset|Kingswood]]<ref name="Grant, p 224"/>||
|-
| [[Freemantle]] Forest ||  Hampshire || || <ref name="Grant, p 224"/>||
|-
| [[Galtres]] ||  Yorkshire || 1629 || <ref name="Grant, p 224"/>||
|-
| [[Geddington]] || [[Northamptonshire]] || 1676 || Part of [[Rockingham Forest]]<ref name="Grant, p 224"/>||
|-
| [[Gillingham, Dorset|Gillingham Forest]] ||  Dorset || 1625 || <ref name="Grant, p 224"/> || Heavy clay soils, dense oak forest<ref name="Grant, p5"/>
|-
| [[Grovely Wood|Groveley Forest]] ||  Wiltshire || 1500s || <ref name="Grant, p 224"/>||
|-
| [[Haughmond]] || [[Shropshire]] || || <ref name="Grant, p 224"/>||
|-
| [[Hainault Forest|Hainault]] || [[Essex]] || 1851 || Part of [[Essex Forest]] ||
|-
| [[Hartforth]] || [[Yorkshire]] || 1203 || <ref name="Grant, p 224"/>||
|-
| [[Harewood, Herefordshire|Harewood]] || [[Herefordshire]] || || <ref name="Grant, p 224"/>|| Midlands clay plain
|-
| [[Hastings]], Rape of || [[Sussex]] || 1206–07 || <ref name="Grant, p 224"/>||
|-
| [[Hatfield Forest]] || [[Essex]] || || Part of former [[Essex Forest]]||
|-
| [[Haywood, Herefordshire|Hay of Hereford]] || [[Herefordshire]] || || || Midlands clay plain
|-
| [[Forest of High Peak]] ||  [[Derbyshire]] || ||||
|-
| Horwood || [[Herefordshire]] || || <ref name="Grant, p 225">{{harvp|Grant|1991|p=225}}</ref>||
|-
| [[Huntingdonshire|Forest of Huntingdonshire]] || [[Huntingdonshire]] || || Mainly Forests of Weybridge, Sapley and Herthey. Whole small county in {{Abbreviation|C|century}}13th.<ref name="Grant, p 225"/>||
|-
| [[Inglewood Forest]] ||  Cumberland || || Sometimes including [[Allerdale]]<ref name="Grant, p 225"/>||
|-
| [[Irchenfield Forest]] ||  Herefordshire || 1251 || ||
|-
| [[Isle of Wight]] Forest || [[Hampshire]] || || <ref name="Grant, p 225"/>||
|-
| [http://info.sjc.ox.ac.uk/forests/ForestsMapTileSheet123.html Kesteven Forest] || [[Lincolnshire]] [[The Fens|Fens]] || 1230 || 'Forest of the March'<ref name="Grant, p 225"/> NB: this is not the modern [https://web.archive.org/web/20120218114001/http://www.forestry.gov.uk/kestevenforest forestry management district] of the same name|| Marsh, fens<ref name="Grant, p 6">{{harvp|Grant|1991|p=6}}</ref>
|-
| [[Keynsham]] Forest ||  [[Somerset]] || || Alias [[Kingswood, Somerset|Kingswood]]<ref name="Grant, p 225"/>||
|-
| [[Kingswood, Stroud District|Kingswood]] ||  [[Gloucestershire]] || || Alias Keynsham<ref name="Grant, p 225"/>||
|- 
| [[Kilpeck]] || [[Herefordshire]] || || <ref name="Grant, p 225"/>||
|-
| King's Cliffe || [[Northamptonshire]] || || Part of [[Rockingham Forest]]<ref name="Grant, p 225"/>||
|-
| [[Kinver Forest]] ||  [[Staffordshire]] formerly extending into [[Worcestershire]] || || <ref name="Grant, p 225"/> || Midland clay plain, woodlands<ref name="Grant, p5"/>
|-
| [[Knaresborough Forest]] ||  Yorkshire || || <ref name="Grant, p 225"/>||
|-
| [[Leighfield Forest|Lee]] || [[Rutland]] || || Or Leighfield<ref name="Grant, p 225"/>||
|-
| [[Langwith Hay]] ||  Yorkshire || ||||
|-
| [[Leicester Forest]] ||  Leicestershire || 1628 || Riots occurred at disafforestation.<ref>{{harvp|Sharp|1980|pp=70–71}}</ref>||
|-
| [[Long Forest]] ||  Shropshire || || Included Longmynd, Stapelwood, Burswood, Lythwood and Stapleton<ref name="Grant, p 225"/> || Midland clay plain, woodlands<ref name="Grant, p5"/>
|-
| [[Long Mynd]] or Strattondale ||  Shropshire || ||||
|-
| [[Lonsdale (hundred)|Lonsdale]] (including Wyresdale and Quernsmore) ||  Lancashire || 1267 || <ref name="Grant, p 226">{{harvp|Grant|1991|p=226}}</ref>||
|-
| Linwood || [[Hampshire]] || || Part of the [[New Forest]]<ref name="Grant, p 226"/>||
|-
| [[Macclesfield Forest]] ||  Cheshire || || See [[Delamere Forest]]<ref name="Grant, p 226"/>||
|-
| [[Malvern Chase|Malvern Forest]] ||  [[Worcestershire]] || 1290 || Later listed as a chase<ref name="Grant, p 226"/> || Midland clay plain, woodlands;<ref name="Grant, p5"/> upland moors
|-
| [[Malvern Chase]] ||  [[Worcestershire]] || 1632, 1676 || Strictly a chase, but 'disaforrested' with riots,<ref name=Lees>{{harvp|Lees|1877|pp=16-17}}</ref> confirmed 1676;<ref>An Act for Confirmation of the Inclosure and Improvement of Malvern "Chase" 1676, cited in 1884 Act</ref> Malvern Hills Act 1884 established preservation and common rights || Midland clay plain, woodlands;<ref name="Grant, p5"/> upland moors
|-
| [[Mara et Mondrum]] ||  [[Cheshire]] || 1812 || [[Delamere Forest]] is a remnant||
|-
| [[Melchet]] || [[Wiltshire]] || 1577–1614 || In southeast of county, between Clarendon and Hampshire border<ref>{{harvp|Crittall|1959}}{{page needed|date=November 2023}}</ref><ref name="Grant, p 226"/>||
|-
| [[Melksham]] and [[Chippenham]] Forest ||  Wiltshire || 1623 || <ref name="Grant, p 226"/>|| Heavy clay soils, dense oak forest<ref name="Grant, p5"/>
|-
| [[Mendip Hills|Mendip]] Forest ||  Somerset || || Also known as [[Cheddar, Somerset|Cheddar]]<ref name="Grant, p 226"/>||
|-
| [[Forest of Middlesex]] || [[Middlesex]] and part of modern [[Hertfordshire]] || 1218 || <ref>{{harvp|A Topographical Dictionary of England|1848}}</ref> ||
|-
| [[Morfe Forest]] ||  Shropshire || || lying east and southeast of Bridgnorth || Midland clay plain, woodlands<ref name="Grant, p5"/>
|-
| [[Needwood Forest]] || [[Staffordshire]], east || || was parcel of the [[Duchy of Lancaster]]; Chase?||
|-
| [[Neroche Forest]] ||  Somerset || 1627–29 || <ref name="Grant, p 226"/>||
|-
| [[New Forest]] ||  Hampshire || 1877 || New Forest Act 1877 established preservation and rights of common || Sandy, gravelly acid soils; dry oak, birch wood<ref name="Grant, p5"/>
|-
| [[New Forest, Staffordshire]] ||  Staffordshire || 1204 || <ref name="Grant, p 226"/>||
|-
| [[North Petherton]] ||  Somerset || || <ref name="Grant, p 226"/>||
|-
| [[Northumberland|Forest of Northumberland]] || [[Northumberland]] || 1280 || <ref name="Grant, p 226"/>||
|-
| [[Ombersley]] and [[Horewell Forest|Horewell]] || [[Worcestershire]] || 1229 || <ref name="Grant, p 227">{{harvp|Grant|1991|p=227}}</ref>|| Midland clay plain, woodlands<ref name="Grant, p5"/>
|-
| [[Ongar, Essex|Ongar]] || [[Essex]] || || <ref name="Grant, p 227"/>||
|-
| [[Ouse and Derwent]] || Yorkshire || 1234 || <ref name="Grant, p 227"/>||
|-
| Oxford and Stamford Bridges || [[Northamptonshire]], Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and [[Huntingdonshire]]|| || <ref name="Grant, p 227"/>||
|-
| [[Pamber Forest]] ||  Hampshire || 1614 || Granted to [[John Waller (fl. 1614)|John Waller]] and [[Thomas Pursell]]<ref name="Grant, p 227"/>||
|-
| [[Peak District|Peak]] || [[Derbyshire]] || 1639–1674 || <ref name="Grant, p 227"/> || Limestone uplands<ref name="Grant, p5"/>
|-
| Penchet || [[Wiltshire]] || || Part of [[Clarendon Park, Wiltshire|Clarendon Forest]]<ref name="Grant, p 227"/>||
|-
| [[Forest of Pendle|Pendle]] ||  [[Lancashire]] || ||||
|-
| [[Pickering, North Yorkshire|Pickering]] Forest ||  [[North Yorkshire]] || 1639 || <ref name="Grant, p 227"/> || Sandstone upland plateau<ref name="Grant, p5-6">{{harvp|Grant|1991|pp=5–6}}</ref>
|-
| [[Poorstock Forest]] ||  [[Dorset]] || || (see [[Powerstock]])<ref name="Grant, p 227"/>||
|-
| [[Isle of Purbeck|Purbeck]] ||  [[Dorset]] || 1550 || Granted to [[Duke of Somerset]]<ref name="Grant, p 227"/>||
|-
| [[Rockingham Forest]] || [[Northamptonshire]] || 1638 & 1795-6 || Including [[Brigstock]], [[Cliffe, Northamptonshire|Cliffe]], [[Geddington]] and Northampton Park; Bailiwicks disafforested 1790s<ref name="Grant, p 228">{{harvp|Grant|1991|p=228}}</ref> || Clay soils, woodlands<ref name="Grant, p5"/>
|-
| [[Rossendale Valley|Forest of Rossendale]] ||  [[Lancashire]] || ||||
|-
| [[Rutland|Forest of Rutland]], with [[Sauvey]] Forest ||  Leicestershire || 1398 || Granted to the [[Duke of Abermarle]]<ref name="Grant, p 228"/>||
|-
| [[Ryedale]] || [[Yorkshire]] || 1204 || <ref name="Grant, p 227"/>||
|-
| [[Salcey Forest]] ||  [[Buckinghamshire]] and [[Northamptonshire]] || 1825 || <ref name="Grant, p 228"/> || Clay soils, woodlands<ref name="Grant, p5"/>
|-
| [[Sauvey]] || [[Leicestershire]] || 1236 || Except [[Withcote]], 1627<ref name="Grant, p 228"/>||
|-
| [[Savernake Forest]] ||  Berkshire and Wiltshire || 1550 || Or Marlborough Forest; Granted to [[Duke of Somerset]]<ref name="Grant, p 228"/>||
|-
| [[Selwood Forest]] ||  Somerset and Wiltshire || 1627–29 || <ref name="Grant, p 228"/> || Heavy clay soils, dense oak forest<ref name="Grant, p5"/>
|-
| [[Sherwood Forest]] ||  [[Nottinghamshire]] || 1818 || Famous by its historic association with the legend of [[Robin Hood]].<ref name="Grant, p 228"/> || Clay plain, woodlands<ref name="Grant, p5"/>
|-
| [[Shirlett Forest]] ||  Shropshire ||  || Final extent was a small area northwest of [[Bridgnorth]]<ref name="Grant, p 228"/>||
|-
| [[Shotover]] Forest ||  Oxfordshire || ||  Including [[Stowood]]<ref name="Grant, p 228"/>|| Clay soils, woodlands<ref name="Grant, p5"/>
|-
| [[Skipton]] ||  Yorkshire || ||||
|-
| [[Somerton, Somerset|Somerton]] Warren ||  Somerset || ||||
|-
| [[Spaunton]] || [[Yorkshire]] || || <ref name="Grant, p 228"/>||
|-
| Stapelwood (including Buriwood, Lythewood and Stepelton) || [[Shropshire]] || ||||
|-
| [[Surrey]], south || [[Surrey]] || 1191 || South of the Guildford Road<ref name="Grant, p 228"/>||
|-
| [[Trawden]] ||  [[Lancashire]] || ||
||
|- 
| [[Treville, Herefordshire|Treville]] || [[Herefordshire]] || 1230 || Granted to [[John of Monmouth]]<ref name="Grant, p 229">{{harvp|Grant|1991|p=229}}</ref>||
|-
| [[Waltham Forest (Legal Forest)|Waltham Forest]] || [[Essex]] || || Last remnant of [[Forest of Essex]]<ref name="Grant, p 229"/>||
|-
| [[Windsor Great Park|Windsor Forest]] ||  [[Berkshire]], Surrey and negligibly Hampshire || 1813 || <ref name="Grant, p 229"/> || Sandy, gravelly acid soils; dry oak, birch wood<ref name="Grant, p5"/>
|-
| [[Wirral Peninsula|Forest of Wirral]] ||  Cheshire || 1376 || <ref name="Grant, p 229"/>||
|-
| [[Whittlewood Forest]] ||  Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire || || || Clay soils, woodlands<ref name="Grant, p5"/>
|-
| [[Woodstock, Oxfordshire|Woodstock Forest]] ||  Oxfordshire || || <ref name="Grant, p 229"/>||
|-
| [[Woolmer Forest]] || [[Hampshire]] || 1855 || <ref name="Grant, p 229"/> || Sandy, gravelly acid soils; dry oak, birch wood<ref name="Grant, p5"/>
|-
| [[The Wrekin|Wrekin]] Forest || [[Shropshire]] || || (more strictly [[Mount Gilbert Forest]]) (including [[Wellington, Shropshire|Wellington]] and [[Wombridge]]) and the associated Forest of Haughmond<ref name="Grant, p 229"/> || Midland clay plain, woodlands<ref name="Grant, p5"/>
|-
| [[Wychwood]] Forest ||  Oxfordshire || 1853 || <ref name="Grant, p 229"/>|| Heavy clay soils, dense oak forest<ref name="Grant, p5"/>
|-
| [[Wyre Forest]] ||  [[Worcestershire]] and [[Shropshire]] || || Strictly only a chase||
|- [[Wyresdale]] || [[Lancashire]] || 1204 || <ref name="Grant, p 229"/>||
|-
| [[Yardley Chase]] || [[Northants]] || || ||
|}

===Ireland===
Only one royal forest is known to have been formed in the [[Lordship of Ireland]].
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Name of forest !! County !! Disafforestation date !! Notes !! Soil or landscape
|-
| [[Glencree]] || [[County Wicklow|Wicklow]] || c. 1315 || Sir [[Thomas Fitzadam]] was Royal Forester of Glencree in 1219.<ref>{{harvp|Ball|1926}}{{page needed|date=November 2023}}</ref> In 1244, sixty does and twenty bucks were ordered to be "taken alive in the king's parks nearest to the port of [[Chester]] to be sent to the port of [[Dalkey]], Ireland, and delivered to the king's Treasurer in Dublin to stock the king's Park of Glencry."<ref>{{harvp|Falkiner|loc=Part 1}}</ref>

In 1282, [[William le Deveneys]] was granted 12 oaks from the King's forest of Glencree.<ref>{{harvp|Ball|1926|pp=60–61}}</ref> [[William de Meones]] was keeper of the forest and of "the Queen's timber works" in 1290.{{Citation needed|date=July 2023}}

It is last mentioned in the reign of [[Edward I of England|Edward I]] and is believed to have been destroyed during the [[Bruce campaign in Ireland]] (1315–18).<ref>{{harvp|Medcalf|2019}}</ref><ref>{{harvp|Le Fanu|1893|pp=268-280}}</ref>
||
[[Podzol]], oak trees
|}

== See also ==
*[[Ancient woodland]]
*[[Chase (land)]]
*[[Crown land]]
*[[Deer park (England)]]
*[[English land law]]
*[[English Lowlands beech forests]]
*[[History of the forest in Central Europe]]
*[[Hunting license]]
*[[Beating the bounds|Perambulation]]
*[[Verderer]]

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== Bibliography ==
{{refbegin}}
{{sfn whitelist|CITEREFChambers1728}}
*{{cite book|last=Ball|first=F. Elrington|title=The Judges in Ireland 1221–1921|location=London|publisher=John Murray|year=1926}}
* {{cite journal|last=Bazeley|first=Margaret Ley|title=The Extent of the English Forest in the Thirteenth Century|journal=Transactions of the Royal Historical Society|volume=4|year=1921|pages=140–172|doi=10.2307/3678331|jstor=3678331 |ref=none}}
* {{cite journal|last=Braunstein|first=Philippe|title=Forêts d'Europe au Moyen-Âge|journal= Les Cahiers du Centre de Recherches Historiques |year=1990|issue=6 |url=http://ccrh.revues.org/2859|access-date=22 August 2012|doi=10.4000/ccrh.2859|doi-access=free}}
*{{cite web|url=http://www.cannockchasedc.gov.uk/site/custom_scripts/heritagetrail/birches_valley.html|title=Cannock Chase at Birches Valley |publisher=[[Cannock Chase District Council]]|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923200302/http://www.cannockchasedc.gov.uk/site/custom_scripts/heritagetrail/birches_valley.html |archive-date=2015-09-23|ref={{harvid|Cannock Chase District Council}}}}
*{{cite web|url=https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/assets/Green-Spaces/epping-forest-act-1878.pdf|title=Epping Forest Act 1878|accessdate=9 February 2023|website=[[City of London Corporation]]|ref={{harvid|City of London|1878}}}}
*{{cite web|website=British History Online|title=Victoria County History: Wiltshire: Vol 4: Royal forests|editor-first=Elizabeth|editor-last=Crittall|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/wilts/vol4/pp391-433|publisher=University of London|year=1959|access-date=24 December 2017}}
*{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RomMkkeRg8oC&q=%22silva+regis%22&pg=PA196|title=Domesday England|first=H. C. |last=Darby |year=1986|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0521310260|via=Google Books}}
* {{1728|title=Bloody hand|volume=1 |page=110|url=http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/HistSciTech/HistSciTech-idx?type=turn&entity=HistSciTech.Cyclopaedia01.p0260&id=HistSciTech.Cyclopaedia01&isize=M |url-status=dead |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304022913/http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/HistSciTech/HistSciTech-idx?type=turn&entity=HistSciTech.Cyclopaedia01.p0260&id=HistSciTech.Cyclopaedia01&isize=M}}
* {{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RqinoBD-3pAC&q=%22silva+regis%22&pg=PA532|title=Monasticon Anglicanum...a History of the Abbies and Other Monasteries...and Cathedral and Collegiate Churches...in England and Wales|first=William|last=Dugdale|date=August 3, 1846 |publisher=Bohn|via=Google Books}}
*{{Cite book|url=https://celt.ucc.ie//published/E900000-001/text001.html|first=Caesar Litton|last=Falkiner|author-link=Caesar Litton Falkiner |title=The Woods of Ireland|publisher=[[Corpus of Electronic Texts]]}}
* {{cite book|last=Gilbert|first=J.M.|title=Hunting and Hunting Reserves in Medieval Scotland|location=Edinburgh|publisher=John Donald Ltd |year=1979|ref=none}}
*{{cite AV media | year=2004 | title=Grafton Regis History and Heritage |medium=CD ROM |publisher=Grafton Regis Millennium Project |ref=disc 1. in the Forests and Parks section gives information on the law and management of Whittlewood and Salcey forests}}
*{{cite book|publisher=Alan Sutton |isbn=0-86299-781-X |ol=1878197M |location=Wolfeboro Falls, NH |title=The royal forests of England |first=Raymond |last=Grant |date=1991}}
* {{cite web |url=http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/medieval/excheq.htm |title=The Dialogue Concerning the Exchequer. circa 1180 |access-date=2007-02-08|last=Henderson|first=Ernest F.|year=1896 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070208115037/http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/medieval/excheq.htm |archive-date=2007-02-08 }}
* {{cite web |url=http://www.constitution.org/sech/sech_035.htm |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060111182431/http://www.constitution.org:80/sech/sech_035.htm |archivedate=11 January 2006 |title=The Assize of the Forest (1184)|website=[[Constitution Society]]|ref={{harvid|Henry II}}}}
* {{cite journal|url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/lords-jrnl/vol4/pp347-350|title=House of Lords Journal Volume 4: 7 August 1641 |journal=Journal of the House of Lords: Volume 4, 1629-42|publisher=His Majesty's Stationery Office |page=349|ref={{harvid|House of Lords|1641}}}}
*{{cite web|url=http://jncc.defra.gov.uk/protectedsites/sacselection/sac.asp?EUCode=UK0012740|title=Birklands and Bilhaugh |work=defra.gov.uk|access-date=14 June 2014|archive-date=14 July 2014|publisher=Joint Nature Conservation Committee|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714130234/http://jncc.defra.gov.uk/protectedsites/sacselection/sac.asp?EUCode=UK0012740|url-status=dead|ref={{harvid|Joint Nature Conservation Committee}}}}
*{{cite journal |last1=Jørgensen |first1=Dolly |author1-link=Dolly Jørgensen |title=The roots of the English royal forest, in Proceedings of the Battle Conference 2009 |journal=Anglo-Norman Studies |date=2010 |volume=XXXII |pages=114–128 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/28D2C97B71217E8A902D0E90E85D066C/9781846158230c7_p114-128_CBO.pdf/roots_of_the_english_royal_forest.pdf |access-date=4 January 2025 |publisher=Boydell & Brewer |language=en}}
*{{Cite journal|title=The Royal Forest of Glencree|last=Le Fanu|first=T. P.|year=1893|journal=The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland|volume=3|issue=3|pages=268–280|jstor=25508042}}
*{{cite book| last=Lees| first=Edwin| url=https://archive.org/stream/forestandchacem00leesgoog/forestandchacem00leesgoog_djvu.txt| title = The Forest and Chase of Malvern| publisher=Transactions of the Malvern Naturalists' Field Club| year=1877| pages=16–17}}
*{{cite report|title=(Unpublished) History of Aconbury Woods |last=Lovelace|first=D.|year=2001}} As cited by {{cite web |title=Herefordshire Through Time|publisher=Herefordshire Council |url=http://htt.herefordshire.gov.uk/smrSearch/Monuments/Monument_Item.aspx?ID=4701|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150908201528/http://htt.herefordshire.gov.uk/smrSearch/Monuments/Monument_Item.aspx?ID=4701 |archive-date=2015-09-08|url-status=dead|ref={{harvid|Herefordshire Council}}}}
*{{cite book|last=Loyn|first=H.R.|author-link=H. R. Loyn |title=Anglo-Saxon England and the Norman Conquest |publisher=Longman |edition=2nd |year=1991 |pages=378–382}}
* {{cite web|title=The Text of Magna Carta |url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/magnacarta.html |publisher=Fordham University |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140910155351/http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/magnacarta.html |archive-date=10 September 2014 |url-status=dead |ref={{harvid|Magna Carta}}}}
* {{cite book |last=Manwood |first=John |author-link=John Manwood |title=A Treatise and Discourse of the Lawes of the Forrest |chapter=Chapter 1 |url=https://archive.org/details/bim_early-english-books-1475-1640_a-treatise-and-discourse_manwood-john_1598 |year=1598}}
*{{Citation |publisher=In the Savoy, Printed by E. Nutt (executrix of J . Nutt, assignee of E . Sayer) for B. Lintott [etc.] |title=Manwood's Treatise of the Forest Laws: Shewing Not Only the Laws Now in Force, But the Original .. |first=John |last=Manwood |date=1717 |oclc=67402678 |ol=20449254M|ref=none}}
* {{cite web |url=https://www.ilfordrecorder.co.uk/lifestyle/21198194.oak-trees-gone/ |title=Where have all the Oak trees gone? |date=January 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230603143802/https://www.ilfordrecorder.co.uk/lifestyle/21198194.oak-trees-gone/ |archive-date=3 June 2023|last=Martin|first=David }}
*{{Cite news|newspaper=[[Irish Independent]] |url=https://www.independent.ie/regionals/wicklowpeople/lifestyle/ambling-through-the-oak-woods-38772510.html |title=Ambling through the oak woods|first=David|last=Medcalf|date=14 December 2019}}
* {{cite web |url=https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C3658 |title=Chief Justice of the Forests South of the Trent: Records of Forest Eyres, Charles I |website=National Archives|ref={{harvid|National Archives}}}}
*{{cite web |url=http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/ourwork/conservation/designations/nnr/1009468.aspx |title=Sherwood Forest NNR |publisher=Natural England |access-date=17 March 2013|ref={{harvid|Natural England}}}}
* {{Citation |publisher=Northumberland Press for the Northamptonshire Record Society |location=Gateshead |first=Philip Arthur John |last=Pettit |title=The Royal Forests of Northamptonshire |date=1968 |ol=19197766M|ref=none}}
*{{cite book|last1=Rackham|first1=Oliver|authorlink = Oliver Rackham|title=Trees and Woodland in the British Landscape |date=1990 |publisher=Phoenix Press|location=New York|isbn=978-1-8421-2469-7|pages=176–177}}
*{{cite book|last=Samson|first=Alexander|title=Locus Amoenus: Gardens and Horticulture in the Renaissance|year=2012|page=6}}
*{{cite book |publisher=University of California Press |isbn = 0-520-03681-6 |ol = 4742314M |location = Berkeley |title = In Contempt of all Authority |first=Buchanan |last=Sharp |date = 1980 |id = 0520036816 }}
*{{Cite web| url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51030#s26 | title=Hickling – Highgate | publisher=A Topographical Dictionary of England | year=1848 | access-date= 2008-02-11|ref={{harvid|A Topographical Dictionary of England|1848}}}}
*{{cite book|last=Turbutt|first=G|year=1999|title=A History of Derbyshire: Medieval Derbyshire|volume=2| publisher=Merton Priory Press|location=Cardiff}}
*{{Citation |publisher = B. Quaritch |location = London |title = Select pleas of the forest |first=G. J. |last=Turner |edition = Select pleas of the forest |date = 1901 |ol = 13502647M|ref=none }}
* {{cite book |publisher = University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn = 0-8122-7760-0 |ol = 4747090M |location = Philadelphia |title = The royal forests of medieval England |last= Young|first= Charles R. |date = 1979 |id = 0812277600 }}
{{refend}}

== External links ==
{{EB1911 poster|Forest Laws}}
*[http://info.sjc.ox.ac.uk/forests/ St. John's College project: Forests and Chases in England and Wales, c. 1000 to c. 1850.]
*{{cite NIE|wstitle=Forest Laws|year=1906|short=x}}
*{{cite Americana|wstitle=Forest Laws|short=x}}
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=AmU3AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA405 The Gentleman's Magazine. Expeditating or Lawing the feet of dogs.]
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=iIE1AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA214 Les Termes de la Ley: Expeditate.]
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=H7guAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA11 Charta Forestae.]

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Landscape history]]
[[Category:Forests and woodlands of England]]
[[Category:Landscape design history]]
[[Category:Land management in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:English royal forests| ]]
[[Category:English forest law]]
[[Category:Types of formally designated forests]]
[[Category:History of forestry]]