Savernake Forest stands on a
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...
chalk
Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Chalk ...
plateau between
Marlborough
Marlborough may refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Marlborough, Wiltshire, England
** Marlborough College, public school
* Marlborough School, Woodstock in Oxfordshire, England
* The Marlborough Science Academy in Hertfordshire, England
Austral ...
and
Great Bedwyn
Great Bedwyn is a village and civil parish in east Wiltshire, England. The village is on the River Dun about southwest of Hungerford, southeast of Swindon and southeast of Marlborough.
The Kennet and Avon Canal and the Reading to Taunton ...
in
Wiltshire
Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
, England. Its area is approximately .
Most of the forest lies within the
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...
of
Savernake. It is privately owned by the
Earl of Cardigan
Earl of Cardigan is a title in the Peerage of England, currently held by the Marquesses of Ailesbury, and used as a courtesy title by the heir apparent to that Marquessate, currently David Brudenell-Bruce, Earl of Cardigan, son of the 8th M ...
and his son
Viscount Savernake
A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a Title#Aristocratic titles, title used in certain European countries for a nobility, noble of varying status.
In many countries a viscount, and its historical equivalents, was a non-he ...
, and is administered by trustees. Since 1939 the timber of the forest has been managed by
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 ...
on a 999-year lease. The private status of Savernake Forest is maintained by shutting the forest to the public one day per year.
Geography
Savernake's landform is rolling downland, dissected by both dry and wet valleys. The valleys within the forest, of which there are four, are all dry, and the presence of Cretaceous deposits of
Clay-with-Flints
In geology, clay-with-flints was the name given by William Whitaker in 1861 to a peculiar deposit of stiff red, brown or yellow clay containing unworn whole flints as well as angular shattered fragments, also with a variable admixture of rounded ...
creates the damp, heavy soils suited to dense cover of
oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...
and
beech
Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''Engle ...
. There are patches of poor drainage and wet soil.
History
First mention of a woodland ''"Safernoc"'' was made in AD 934 in the written records of the King
Athelstan, but the land passed into Norman ownership soon after the Norman invasion of 1066.
The
royal forest
A royal forest, occasionally known as a kingswood (), 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 ...
established in the 12th century covered an area of some ; it extended to the villages of
East Kennett,
Inkpen
Inkpen is a village and civil parish in West Berkshire southeast of Hungerford, most of the land of which is cultivated fields with scattered woodland was once part of a former forest of Savernake. Inkpen has boundaries with Wiltshire and Ha ...
and the Collingbournes (west, east and south) while the
River Kennet
The Kennet is a tributary of the River Thames in Southern England. Most of the river is straddled by the North Wessex Downs AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty). The lower reaches have been made navigable as the Kennet Navigation, which â ...
formed its northern limit. Savernake Forest was not continuously wooded:
Royal forest
A royal forest, occasionally known as a kingswood (), 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 ...
s were a mixture of woodland,
copse
Coppicing is a traditional method of woodland management which exploits the capacity of many species of trees to put out new shoots from their stump or roots if cut down. In a coppiced wood, which is called a copse, young tree stems are repeated ...
s, common land and rough pasture.
This was the area of land put into the care of Richard Esturmy after the Norman Conquest. Since then Savernake estate and forest has passed down from father to son (or daughter, on four occasions) in an unbroken line of hereditary "forest wardens". In 31 generations, it has never once been bought or sold in a thousand years, and today it is the only ancient forest in Britain still in private hands.
One early high point of the estate's fortunes was in
Tudor times
The Tudor period occurred between 1485 and 1603 in England and Wales and includes the Elizabethan period during the reign of Elizabeth I until 1603. The Tudor period coincides with the dynasty of the House of Tudor in England that began with t ...
. The head of the family (Sir
John Seymour) was used to welcoming King
Henry VIII
Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...
to the forest, where the king was very keen on deer-hunting. King Henry stayed at Savernake in 1535, where it is believed that his eye was then taken by his host's daughter,
Jane Seymour
Jane Seymour (c. 150824 October 1537) was List of English consorts, Queen of England as the third wife of King Henry VIII of England from their Wives of Henry VIII, marriage on 30 May 1536 until her death the next year. She became queen followi ...
. After the execution of
Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn (; 1501 or 1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and of her execution by beheading for treason and other charges made her a key ...
in May 1536, they were subsequently married, and Jane was crowned Queen just months later, causing the head of the family at Savernake to suddenly find himself father-in-law to Henry VIII.
Jane died in childbirth and after marrying a further three wives, Henry himself died ten years later. So it fell to Jane's brother
Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset
Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset (150022 January 1552) (also 1st Earl of Hertford, 1st Viscount Beauchamp), also known as Edward Semel, was the eldest surviving brother of Queen Jane Seymour (d. 1537), the third wife of King Henry VI ...
to leave his estate of Savernake Forest in 1547 and to go up to
Hampton Court
Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chief ...
, where for the next five years with the title '
Lord Protector
Lord Protector (plural: ''Lords Protector'') was a title that has been used in British constitutional law for the head of state. It was also a particular title for the British heads of state in respect to the established church. It was sometimes ...
' he was King of England in all but name, while his late sister's young child
Edward VI
Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. Edward was the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour and the first E ...
grew old enough to reign alone.
The mid 17th century to mid 18th century saw variations in the size of the forest. English deer parks were subject to ''dis-parking'' whereby sections of forest and parkland were converted to agriculture.
Note 1 During parts of this period it was reported that the King's naval officers were far from happy with the state of the forest, finding ''"but 3 or 4 trees fit for his
he king'suse"''. The open spaces were found to be ''"infested with heath, furze, fern
racken'' and had ''"coarse turfe"''.
![Ailesbury-monument-savernake-2005-04-26](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/Ailesbury-monument-savernake-2005-04-26.jpg)
In fact dis-parking was very much an on-off affair and it was only the
Battle of the Atlantic
The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, ran from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, covering a major part of the naval history of World War II. At its core was the Allied naval blockade ...
(commencing 1940) that saw the final dis-parking of England's old deer parks, a result of the need to grow more food during the attempted blockade of the UK by the German U-boat fleets.
A second high point for the forest was under the wardenship of Charles Bruce and his nephew Thomas Bruce-Brudenell (wardens from 1741 to 1814)
Thomas Bruce, Earl of Ailesbury, as head of the family, made a great success, and had risen at Court to be Governor to the King
George IV
George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten y ...
. The
Bruce Tunnel
The Bruce Tunnel is on the summit pound of the Kennet and Avon Canal between Wootton Top Lock and Crofton Locks in Wiltshire, England.
The tunnel is long. It is named after Thomas Brudenell-Bruce, 1st Earl of Ailesbury (1729–1814), the loc ...
which carries the
Kennet and Avon Canal
The Kennet and Avon Canal is a waterway in southern England with an overall length of , made up of two lengths of navigable river linked by a canal. The name is used to refer to the entire length of the navigation rather than solely to the cent ...
under the estate is named after him. He employed
Lancelot 'Capability' Brown
Lancelot Brown (born c. 1715–16, baptised 30 August 1716 – 6 February 1783), more commonly known as Capability Brown, was an English gardener and landscape architect, who remains the most famous figure in the history of the English lan ...
to plant great
beech
Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''Engle ...
avenues in Savernake Forest, which was then some , nearly ten times its present size. These included the Grand Avenue, running through the heart of the forest, and which at dead straight stands in the
Guinness Book of Records
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
as the longest tree-lined avenue in Britain.
Two large structures date from this time. First, and within the public access part of Savernake, there is the stone column some high, and erected by Lord Ailesbury as an impressive viewpoint at the end of a vista from
Tottenham House
Tottenham House is a large Grade I listed English country house in the parish of Great Bedwyn, Wiltshire, about five miles southeast of the town of Marlborough. It is separated from the town by Savernake Forest, which is part of the Tottenham ...
.
Large parts of the forest were used as a munitions depot between 1940 and 1949. Re-planting with conifer plantations was modest by 1950s' standards, and today the
Forestry Commission
The Forestry Commission is a non-ministerial government department responsible for the management of publicly owned forests and the regulation of both public and private forestry in England.
The Forestry Commission was previously also respon ...
has engaged in a programme more sympathetic to the restoration and preservation of the ancient trees.
David Brudenell-Bruce, Earl of Cardigan
David Michael James Brudenell-Bruce, Earl of Cardigan (born 12 November 1952), is the heir apparent to the marquessate of Ailesbury, and its subsidiary titles. These include Earl of Cardigan, which he currently uses as his courtesy title.
Bio ...
is the current and thirty-first warden of Savernake Forest. Tottenham House, which was designated as
Grade I listed
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
in 1966, was sold in 2014.
Inside the forest
The areas of broad-leaved woodland which dominate the Savernake Plateau are accompanied by a farmland mosaic. The plateau is within the
North Wessex Downs
The North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) is located in the English counties of Berkshire, Hampshire, Oxfordshire and Wiltshire. The name ''North Wessex Downs'' is not a traditional one, the area covered being better kno ...
Area of Outstanding Beauty.
The mosaic is emphasised by the
assarted character of the area east of the
Savernake (Coppices of Little Frith, Cobham Frith, Chisbury Wood, Haw Wood, ''etc.''), where farmland occurs as clearings in a wider forest, creating a distinctive and memorable, 'secret' landscape.
Capability Brown worked out a strategy for linking coppices with oak plantings, lining forest trails with beech trees, and providing vistas with "proper objects" on which the eye might rest. The forest would be made part of the parkland. The scattered coppices, meadows, scrub, and heath should be united, into "one great whole."
![ancient-pollarded-beech-savernake-2005-04-26](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/Ancient-pollarded-beech-savernake-2005-04-26.JPG)
As times changed, and social expectations altered, a later warden George Frederick was eager to show off his forest. There was much rearranging of copses and vistas and setting aside of grass rides so that visitors could see the woods as a whole and be impressed. He ordered that the entire estate be fenced and palings be placed around individual trees. That way, the deer might roam freely with a minimum of damage.
The fifth marquess recognized that the woodlands needed to be made commercially viable. Included among the 778,000 trees he planted were a high proportion of softwoods, placed outside the forest's core (e.g.: Birch Copse in the SE). This warden was too deeply imbued with tradition to contemplate industrialized forestry but he was the first of his family to introduce a measure of systematic management of larch and spruce plantations.
Chandos Bruce, the sixth marquess, did everything possible to carry on with this combination of systematic management and concern for amenity and symbolic representation. Eventually, however, he found the burden too heavy due to increasing costs, Lloyd George's taxes on inherited wealth, and the impossibility of hiring enough labour during and after the First World War. In 1930 he approached the government Forestry Commission but drew back when he recognised that surrendering control would probably bring on an invasion by ranks of straight-backed conifers. Eight years later the commission became more open to the suggestion that recreational uses might be as legitimate as commercial ones and agreed to the special conditions the sixth marquess had stubbornly laid down. As a result, after 800 years of wardenship, the family surrendered control and the public, because of Lord Ailesbury's dedication, gained a handsome amenity.
Savernake is a coppice-with-standards forest and an
Ancient Woodland
In the United Kingdom, an ancient woodland is a woodland that has existed continuously since 1600 or before in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (or 1750 in Scotland). Planting of woodland was uncommon before those dates, so a wood present in 16 ...
. A coppice is a wood where broad-leaved trees, typically hazel, grow out of the stumps or "stools" left from previous cuttings. Standards are trees allowed to grow to maturity. If these trees are allowed to grow in close proximity they grow straight and tall. If they have more room to grow then side branches become substantial.
![The_King_Of_Limbs_Tree](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/The_King_Of_Limbs_Tree.jpg)
In the past standardisation was not at all essential. Craft work and early mechanical industry, such as shipbuilding, wagon making, and furniture making all required "bends" and "knees," as well as other eccentrically shaped pieces which the side branches would provide. Trees such as beech and oak can be pollarded, a process whereby a standard is cut two-thirds up its trunk. Multiple boughs grow from the cut point and the life of the tree is extended and curved pieces of bough or trunk are often produced. Such trees become magnificent specimens and they live through generations of forest workers. Their base trunk attains great girth. Often the side boughs become too heavy and are broken in stormy weather. In other cases the bough weight (an outward force) begins to tear the lower trunk apart creating a cavity which can over decades become cavernous in size. The oldest of these pollarded trees is the "Big Belly Oak" beside the A346 road. Big Belly is one of Fifty Great British Trees named and honoured as part of the Queen's Golden Jubilee celebrations. It has a girth of and is 1000–1100 years old. In 2001 it was in danger of splitting in two, a fate that had already overtaken the similarly aged Duke's Vaunt. To prevent this, the tree was fitted with a metal corset. The 2011
Radiohead
Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Greenwood (bass) ...
album ''
The King of Limbs
''The King of Limbs'' is the eighth studio album by the English rock band Radiohead. It was self-released on 18 February 2011 as a download, followed by a physical release on 28 March through XL Recordings internationally and TBD Records in Nor ...
'' is named after the ancient King of Limbs tree in the forest near Tottenham House, where the band recorded part of their previous album, ''In Rainbows''.
It is thought that nowhere else in Europe is there such a concentration of "veteran" trees. Savernake has hundreds of such trees, beeches and oaks, some appearing singly, others in avenues, some amongst younger broad-leaved trees and others within coniferous plantations. Some of the historically important trees are named and their names appear upon local maps, and even upon the modern Ordnance Survey Explorer 157. Since about 2006 the Forestry Commission has been clearing space around well-known venerable trees, and naming them with green plaques. Elsewhere clearings have been created, revealing old ponds, long hidden by coniferous plantings but now opened up to the light. Standing water is essential for bio-diversity. Savernake has areas of damp soil, but no streams. Another best practice is to leave
dead wood
''Dead Wood'' is a 2007 British horror film, written, produced and directed by Richard Stiles and David Bryant and starring Emily Juniper, Fergus March, Rebecca Craven, Nina Kwok and John Samuel Worsey with Bryant appearing in a small role. ''D ...
lying, for the benefit of invertebrates. In Savernake fallen trees are left to decay and
dead standing trees (monoliths) are generally left standing.
In 2003 White Park cattle were introduced into Savernake Forest, to forage freely in the Red Vein Bottom area, a semi-open area of relict wood pasture which had not been grazed in more than 60 years. Such controlled grazing should recreate the naturally open glades ideal for the ancient oak and beech and their specialist lichen and fungal communities, as well as rare woodland and grassland flora; the exact wildlife features for which Savernake Forest is designated as 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 ...
.
Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) are regularly inspected and their health is monitored. Savernake has SSSI status primarily for rare lichens found on the bark of the older trees. There is also good representation of fungi types and mosses. However, the health of Savernake is not particularly good, partly because of the destruction wrought during World War II, and probably from wind-borne pollutants. The entire site is at condition 88% ''"unfavourable recovering"''. This is not a comment of the beauty of the forest, but a health statement on the lichens and mosses and invertebrates.
Forest features
Savernake Forest has many named drives and other landscape features. These are named on the Ordnance Survey Explorer map 157 ''Marlborough & Savernake Forest'', but few are named on the ground.
Postern Hill to Amity Oak
(About west to east)
Postern Hill
A postern is a secondary door or gate in a fortification such as a city wall or castle curtain wall (fortification), curtain wall. Posterns were often located in a concealed location which allowed the occupants to come and go inconspicuously. In th ...
is at
(). At this is the chalk plateau at its highest, and a north-facing scarp slope overlooks the town of Marlborough. On the hilltop is a small Forestry Commission Camp Site – Postern Hill Campsite – together with a public car park and barbecue area. Four tracks head southwards through oak forest, the principal one being ''Long Harry''
(). The track descends gradually, crossing ''White Road''
(). Tree cover is not dense and ancient oaks are plentiful here, including one named ''Saddle Oak'' on account of its near-horizontal boughs.
''Church Walk''
() bridle path is crossed next before reaching ''Great Lodge Bottom''
(). The bridle path connects the
A4 to Cadley hamlet on the
A346, and is the only public right of way in the main part of the forest. Great Lodge Bottom is an east-running dry valley, fairly open with
hawthorn
Hawthorn or Hawthorns may refer to:
Plants
* '' Crataegus'' (hawthorn), a large genus of shrubs and trees in the family Rosaceae
* ''Rhaphiolepis'' (hawthorn), a genus of about 15 species of evergreen shrubs and small trees in the family Rosace ...
and
blackthorn
''Prunus spinosa'', called blackthorn or sloe, is a species of flowering plant in the rose family Rosaceae. The species is native to Europe, western Asia, and regionally in northwest Africa. It is locally naturalized in New Zealand, Tasmania, ...
scrub. After crossing the Grand Avenue the valley runs into ''Red Vein Bottom''
() with its rough pasture and rabbit warrens. The path is joined by a small valley coming down from the ''pinetum'' (pine arboretum) at ''Braydon Hook''
() adjacent to Braydon Hook House. The path from Red Vein Bottom skirts the ''Ashdale Firs'' and passes some huge beeches before arriving at the ''Amity Oak''
(), an old tree which serves as a parish boundary marker. The valley continues east to
Hungerford
Hungerford is a historic market town and civil parish in Berkshire, England, west of Newbury, east of Marlborough, northeast of Salisbury and 60 miles (97 km) west of London. The Kennet and Avon Canal passes through the town alongside the ...
via Little Frith.
Leigh Hill to Crabtree Cottages
(About west to east) Leigh Hill
() is south of Postern Hill and is high.
There is a seasonal car park nearby. Three small valleys run northeast from this high point. ''Postwives Walk''
() begins with an ancient avenue of oaks and descends gently to cross ''Charcoal Burners Road''
() (
charcoal
Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, cal ...
is still made here) and so on to the heart of the forest, passing both the ''Queen Oak''
() and the ''King Oak''
(). A second valley, named ''Cheval Bottom'',
() starts in an avenue of mature
copper beeches and passes beside the ''Park Pale''
() which is an ancient bank-and-ditch feature which marked the perimeter of the Royal Park at one time. The third valley starts near the column at ''Three Oak Hill Drive''
() which, despite its name, has fine stands of
beech
Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''Engle ...
and also of
Scots pine
''Pinus sylvestris'', the Scots pine (UK), Scotch pine (US) or Baltic pine, is a species of tree in the pine family Pinaceae that is native to Eurasia. It can readily be identified by its combination of fairly short, blue-green leaves and orang ...
. The ground descends into ''Drury Lane''
() and passes a young plantation before joining the other two valleys and then, as a fine shallow-sided valley of meadow pasture, passes ''Savernake Lodge''
() on its way to ''Crabtree Cottages''
() and thence to ''Little Frith''
() with its carpets of
bluebells in May, and then finally joining the valley to Hungerford.
Grand Avenue to Strawgrove Copse
(About north to south.) The ''Grand Avenue''
() is a straight but narrow tarmaced road connecting the A4 to the Durley Road near Tottenham House. It is lined with beech trees, but few of them are survivors from the original plantings. The A4 was once a
toll road
A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road (almost always a controlled-access highway in the present day) for which a fee (or ''toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically implemented ...
through the forest, taking the Marlborough to Hungerford traffic. The ''Toll Road House''
() still stands today. The Grand Avenue continues southeast to ''Eight Walks''
() where Capability Brown laid out the hub to Savernake's eight radial drives. A little further on there is an unexplained ''Monument''
() on the western side of the road, rumoured to be a marker (or tomb?) to someone who suffered a fatal fall from a horse.
At the ''Three Oak Hill Drive'' crossroads, a track north-east points to ''Birch Copse''
(). ''Duke's Vaunt Oak''
() is a notable tree approximately 1,000 years old. It was once hollow and in girth. In 1760 it had a door and a lock and was capable of sheltering ''"twenty boys"''.
Note 2 The tree is badly split now, but survives. Here the ground is damp and parts of ''Birch Copse'' barely see daylight. While some of the tall pines seem senescent, other plantation firs are green and vibrant. Many varieties of fungi can be seen in profusion in October, but
dead-wood fungi are common enough throughout the year. At the southeast edge of the forest are good examples of
Sweet Chestnut
''Castanea sativa'', the sweet chestnut, Spanish chestnut or just chestnut, is a species of tree in the family Fagaceae, native to Southern Europe and Asia Minor, and widely cultivated throughout the temperate world. A substantial, long-lived ...
and
Yew. At ''Holt Pound''
() an avenue of oaks joins Birch Copse to ''Bedwyn Common''
(). This section of Savernake has its own avenue, ''London Ride'', which at runs from ''St Katherine's Church''
() to ''Upper Horsehall Hill Farm''
(). The ride is lined with oak in the south, and by
limes
Limes may refer to:
* the plural form of lime (disambiguation)
* the Latin word for ''limit'' which refers to:
** Limes (Roman Empire)
(Latin, singular; plural: ) is a modern term used primarily for the Germanic border defence or delimiting ...
in the north. Many old oaks and old
sweet chestnut
''Castanea sativa'', the sweet chestnut, Spanish chestnut or just chestnut, is a species of tree in the family Fagaceae, native to Southern Europe and Asia Minor, and widely cultivated throughout the temperate world. A substantial, long-lived ...
s are still standing, and foxgloves populate the forest edges. Forest tracks and bridleways lead southeast, and this is very much assarted
Note 3 countryside. When ''Stock Common''
() is reached there are footpaths to ''Shawgrove Copse''
(), within sight of Great Bedwyn, or south to the rear of Tottenham Park by way of ''Bloxham Lodge''
().
Notes
Note 1: Nevertheless, several private farms had been carved from Savernake Forest in these years, including
Levett
Levett is a surname of Anglo-Norman origin, deriving from eLivet, which is held particularly by families and individuals resident in England and British Commonwealth territories.
Origins
This surname comes from the village of Livet-en-Ouche, no ...
's Farm (1649), Culley's Farm (1649), and Compton's Farm. Levett's Farm was owned by
William Levett (sometimes spelled Levet) of
Swindon
Swindon () is a town and unitary authority with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Wiltshire, England. As of the 2021 Census, the population of Swindon was 201,669, making it the largest town in the county. The Swindon un ...
, Wiltshire, a
courtier
A courtier () is a person who attends the royal court of a monarch or other royalty. The earliest historical examples of courtiers were part of the retinues of rulers. Historically the court was the centre of government as well as the official r ...
to King
Charles I Charles I may refer to:
Kings and emperors
* Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings
* Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily
* Charles I of ...
and descendant of a
Sussex
Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...
family. By 1685, Levett's residence was given as "West Lodge, Savernake Parke". (Levett also acted as agent and surveyor for the
Duke of Somerset
Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are rank ...
.) These three farms, and many more which followed in later years, are shown on a map drawn in 1812. They are situated mainly to the west of the present day forest, at Clench Common. Levett's and Culley's are shown on the O.S. map of 1998, whilst Compton's is possibly marked as "The Old Chapel".
Note 2: The Duke's Vaunt was surrounded by a new planting of conifers in the 1980s. In 2007 more than 30 of these firs were cut down as part of the ''"haloing"'' process for the oldest of Savernake's trees. Haloing means taking out encroaching trees and undergrowth that might rob the old trees of the light and air they need.
Note 3: Assarted woodland: in general, woods were deemed to be assarted if their outline is sufficiently irregular. This is most evident where they are adjoined by assart field systems. Assarts are fields cut out of woodland and are identified as enclosures of very irregular form with wavy boundaries.
Nearby places
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Marlborough
Marlborough may refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Marlborough, Wiltshire, England
** Marlborough College, public school
* Marlborough School, Woodstock in Oxfordshire, England
* The Marlborough Science Academy in Hertfordshire, England
Austral ...
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Cadley
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Burbage and Durley
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Chisbury
Chisbury is a hamlet and prehistoric hill fort in the civil parish of Little Bedwyn in Wiltshire, England. Chisbury is about west of Hungerford and about south-east of Marlborough.
History
At above sea level, Chisbury hillfort is the highes ...
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Great Bedwyn
Great Bedwyn is a village and civil parish in east Wiltshire, England. The village is on the River Dun about southwest of Hungerford, southeast of Swindon and southeast of Marlborough.
The Kennet and Avon Canal and the Reading to Taunton ...
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Little Bedwyn
Little Bedwyn (also spelt Little Bedwin, and sometimes called Bedwyn Parva) is a village and civil parish on the River Dun in Wiltshire, England, about south-west of the market town of Hungerford in neighbouring Berkshire. The parish includes ...
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West Woods ()
* Collingbourne Woods
()
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Pewsey
Pewsey is a large village and civil parish at the centre of the Vale of Pewsey in Wiltshire, about south of Marlborough and west of London. It is within reach of the M4 motorway and the A303 and is served by Pewsey railway station on the Re ...
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Wootton Rivers
Wootton Rivers is a small village and civil parish in the Vale of Pewsey, Wiltshire, England. The village lies about northeast of Pewsey and south of Marlborough. During the 20th century its population halved and most of its facilities close ...
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Easton Royal
Easton Royal is a village in the civil parish of Easton in Wiltshire, England, about east of Pewsey and south of Marlborough. The village was the location of Easton Priory from 1234 to 1536. The village mistakenly gained the Royal suffix in ...
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Wolfhall
Wulfhall or Wolfhall is an early 17th-century manor house in Burbage parish, Wiltshire, England. It is north-east of Burbage village, and about south-east of Marlborough. A previous manor house on the same site, at that time in the parish of ...
References
Further reading
The ''
Victoria County History
The Victoria History of the Counties of England, commonly known as the Victoria County History or the VCH, is an English history project which began in 1899 with the aim of creating an encyclopaedic history of each of the historic counties of En ...
'' accounts of the Savernake parishes give a very full account of the settlements, estates, and economic history of the region.
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Burbage ParishGreat Bedwyn ParishLittle Bedwyn ParishSavernake Parish
For a definitive account of the lineage of the forest wardens see:
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Other reading on ancient forestry in England:
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External links
Savernake Parish CouncilForestry England's Savernake page
{{Authority control
English royal forests
Forests and woodlands of Wiltshire
Protected areas of Wiltshire
Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Wiltshire
Gardens by Capability Brown