Bernwood Forest was one of several

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

s of the ancient

Kingdom of England The Kingdom of England (, ) was a sovereign state on the island of Great Britain from 12 July 927, when it emerged from various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, until 1 May 1707, when it united with Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain. On 1 ...

and was a Royal hunting forest. It is thought to have been set aside as Royal hunting land when the

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

kings had a

palace A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence, or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome which ...

Brill Brill may refer to: Places * Brielle (sometimes "Den Briel"), a town in the western Netherlands * Brill, Buckinghamshire, a village in England * Brill, Cornwall, a small village to the west of Constantine, Cornwall, UK * Brill, Wisconsin, an un ...

and church in Oakley, in the 10th century and was a particularly favoured place of

Edward the Confessor Edward the Confessor ; la, Eduardus Confessor , ; ( 1003 – 5 January 1066) was one of the last Anglo-Saxon English kings. Usually considered the last king of the House of Wessex, he ruled from 1042 to 1066. Edward was the son of Æth ...

, who was born in nearby

Islip Islip may refer to: Places England * Islip, Northamptonshire *Islip, Oxfordshire United States *Islip, New York, a town in Suffolk County ** Islip (hamlet), New York, located in the above town **Central Islip, New York, a hamlet and census-d ...

. From about 1217 through to the 17th century the forest went through a gradual period of

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated d ...

. King Henry II (reigned 1154–1189) prepared a map of the forest at the time which is an invaluable tool in helping define its ancient boundaries; however, his purpose for drawing up the map was to divide the forest amongst his nobles. By the 16th century, another map of the forest had been drawn up by which time it had been reduced greatly in size. Again, the map was drawn up under the aegis of

the Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...

as an audit to what revenue could be made from selling off the forest. By the reign of

King James I James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until ...

(reigned 1603–1625), the forest had lost its Royal status and had completely disappeared. Today the name refers to the area of

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

and

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

where the forest was at the time of King Henry II, covering 400 km². The approximate boundaries of the designated area today fall within the

River Great Ouse The River Great Ouse () is a river in England, the longest of several British rivers called "Ouse". From Syresham in Northamptonshire, the Great Ouse flows through Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk to drain into the Wa ...

, the Padbury Brook, the Claydon Brook and the

River Thame The River Thame is a river in Southern England. A tributary of the River Thames, the river runs generally south-westward for about from its source above the Buckinghamshire town of Aylesbury to the Thames in south-east Oxfordshire. Course Thr ...

. The small modern Bernwood Forest in Buckinghamshire is approximately 1 km² and is contiguous with Hell Coppice, York's Wood, Oakley Wood and Shabbington Wood.Google Maps over-labels the nearby Waterperry Woods as Bernwood Forest. The accurate view is represented by the Ordnance Survey maps (OS maps) displayed by Streetmap, which groups Oakley Wood, Shabbington Wood, York's Wood and Hell Coppice as Bernwood Forest. A

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...

(SSSI) called Shabbington Woods Complex, it supports a wide variety of wildlife and is one of the most important

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

sites in the United Kingdom. Its manager,

Forestry England Forestry England is a division of the Forestry Commission, responsible for managing and promoting publicly owned forests in England. It was formed as Forest Enterprise in 1996, before devolving to Forest Enterprise England on 31 March 2003 and ...

, originally had a more commercial approach.

Aerial spraying Aerial application, or what is informally referred to as crop dusting, involves spraying crops with crop protection products from an agricultural aircraft. Planting certain types of seed are also included in aerial application. The specific sp ...

of pesticides occurring up until the late 1960s:firstly

DDT Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, commonly known as DDT, is a colorless, tasteless, and almost odorless crystalline chemical compound, an organochloride. Originally developed as an insecticide, it became infamous for its environmental impacts. ...

to control ''

Hylobius abietis ''Hylobius abietis'' or the large pine weevil is a beetle belonging to family Curculionidae. This species is widely regarded as the most important pest of most commercially important coniferous trees in European plantations. Seedlings planted o ...

'' then 2,4,5-T to clear broad-leafed plants (including oak saplings) before planting commercial pine stands. Holly Wood, Holton Wood, Stanton Great Wood and Waterperry Wood, all in Oxfordshire, and

Ham Home-cum-Hamgreen Woods Ham Home-cum-Hamgreen Woods is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Kingswood near Grendon Underwood in Buckinghamshire. It is composed of two separate areas, Ham Home Wood and Hamgreen Wood, and is a small part of the formerly ...

in Buckinghamshire, are also remnants of Bernwood Forest which are SSSIs. Another fragment in Buckinghamshire is Rushbeds Wood, an SSSI which is managed by the

Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust The Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (BBOWT), is a wildlife trust covering the counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire in England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It sh ...

Notes

References

External links

Find out more about Bernwood Forest and the people who lived there in medieval times.

Bernwood Jubilee Way guide
{{Authority control Environment of Buckinghamshire Environment of Oxfordshire Forests and woodlands of Buckinghamshire History of Buckinghamshire History of Oxfordshire English royal forests Forests and woodlands of Oxfordshire