The Victoria History of the County of Lincoln/Forestry

by J. C. Cox

Layout 2

FORESTRY

IN remote times the fen districts of Lincolnshire, which lie chiefly in the Holland, or south-eastern, division of the county, were the site of great woods. Vast stores of bog timber have been found a few feet below the surface of the peaty soil, and are occasionally still discovered where new drainage works are undertaken. This buried forest has been known to the fen-men from time immemorial; but the stories, both ancient and modern, as to old bog-wood being found which showed traces of having been hewn by man, even in the rudest fashion, are fabulous. Mr. Skertchly, the geological expert, who began a thorough investigation of the peat-buried woods in 1874, failed to find a single instance that showed the hand of man. By an ingenious calculation he came to the conclusion that about B.C. 5000 is the latest possible date for the formation of the newest part of the peat. Among this buried timber he found many oaks that were 80 ft. long, whilst some were 90 ft., and attained to 70 ft. before throwing out a branch. Some of the firs were 3 ft. in diameter and 70 ft. in height.^[1]

The gradual change from the splendid woods of prehistoric days to the treeless swamps of the dreary undrained fens was a wonderful transformation. The scenery in the first half of the seventeenth century is well set out in the rhymes of John Taylor (1580–1654), 'the Water Poet':—

Near the Garrick^[2] milestone
Nothing there grew beneath the sky
But willows scarcely six feet high,
Or osiers barely three feet dry,
And those of only one year's crop
The flood did fairly overtop.

No less wonderful has been the subsequent change, wrought by successive drainage schemes, from water-logged morasses to fertile cornfields.

The record of Domesday Survey is of peculiar value in Lincolnshire as showing the amount of woodland in the county towards the close of the eleventh century. The Great Survey must have been carried out by different sets of commissioners, and it is therefore only reasonable to expect considerable variety in the manner of making these fiscal returns. In the majority of counties, as was the case with Norfolk and Suffolk, the amount of woodland on the different manors is roughly estimated by the numbers of swine that could obtain pannage under its shelter. In Lincolnshire, on the contrary, as is also the case with Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, the actual size of the woods is set forth. These two midland counties, however, have the measure of most of their round numbers by the length and breadth in miles (leuca) or furlongs; whereas by far the greater part of the wood measurements of Lincolnshire are set forth according to their precise acreage, varying from two or three acres to several hundred. The reason for this exceptional treatment of Lincolnshire woods and underwoods probably arose from the greater value of every form of timber in a county which was on the whole but sparsely wooded. In many counties a few acres of wood, or a patch of brushwood were not worth entering.

It may fairly be assumed that the trees of that period in this county were almost entirely oak. In a single case, namely at Spalding, is the nature of the wood mentioned; on that manor there was a wood of alders worth 8s. a year.

From the different methods adopted in computation, it is difficult to draw any accurate comparison between the woodland of one county and another but on broad lines it seems safe to assume that there was less timber in the eleventh century in Lincolnshire than in almost any other English shire. It is also exceedingly probable that Lincolnshire stands alone as a county that has at the present day a considerably larger wooded area than was the case in the days of the Conqueror.

Notwithstanding, however, the comparative paucity of timber under the Domesday Survey, it will be found that there were numerous woods of fair dimensions the immediate neighbourhood of Grantham, Sleaford, and Horncastle, and that a large number of parishes in other parts of the shire, saving in the actual fens, had their tracts of wood or underwood of varying size.

The total acreage of underwood recorded in the Survey for the whole county is, in round numbers, 9,000 acres; and the total of wood for pannage is 11,900 acres. To these must be added conjectural estimates for the comparatively few cases in which woods are measured by the mile or furlong. These probably increase the underwood to about 14,000 acres, and the wood to 20,000 acres, giving a rough total of 34,000 acres of woodland as opposed to the 44,000 of the present day. Among the largest of these woods estimated by lineal measure was one at Doddington, belonging to the abbey of St. Peter's, Westminster, measuring 1½ miles long by 1 mile broad, and and a stretch of underwood at Broughton by Lincoln, which was 2 miles long by 1 mile broad. There were also woods in the Isle of Axholme, at Epworth, Owston, and Upperthorpe, each of which are entered as a square mile. The largest wooded area entered by acres was that of Corby in the south of the county, where the Bishop of Lincoln had a wood of 1,100 acres. Next to this came Bitchfield, between Grantham and Corby, where one proprietor had a wood of 700 acres and another of 200 acres.

The southern part of the Kesteven Division was a forest (using the word in its old signification as a great preserve of wild game) in pre-Conquest days. This forest of Kesteven included a great stretch of the Deeping Fens, as well as a fringe of woods and much brushwood; it formed part of the possessions of Leofric, Earl of Mercia, who was lord of Brune and the adjoining marshes. In the time of Henry I the bounds of this forest were much enlarged. The extent, according to Dugdale—

was from the bridge of East Deeping, now Market Deeping, to the church of Swinston, on the one side; and from the bridge of Bicker, and Wragmere Stake, on the other side; which metes divided the north parts, and the river of Weland the south; excepting the fen of Goggisland, in regard it was a sanctuary of holy Church, as belonging to the abbey of Crouland; which fen the monks of that house, having license from the said king, did cloze for their own use; making the ditches about it bigger than ordinary, for the avoyding of discord.^[3]

The northern part of this forest was discharged from its obligations in 1204; for in May of that year King John disafforested the marshes pertaining to the four adjacent towns of Donington, Quadring, Gosberton, and Surfleet.^[4]

The rest of this wide extent of country remained under forest law until April 1230, when Henry III granted the complete disafforesting of all lands, marshes and turbaries within the Kesteven division, declaring it altogether free from regarders, foresters, verderers or other forest ministers.^[5]

Many of the foundation and other twelfth and thirteenth century charters of the religious houses of the county bear evidence of woodlands scattered in small plots throughout the shire. Thus the foundation charter of Kirkstead abbey mentions totum boscum in one place, and altum boscum in another; the early charters of Revesby abbey, and of the priories of Greenfield, Elsham and Nocton contain specific mention of woods; those of Swineshead abbey name woods on three of the adjacent manors; whilst Louth Park abbey held much brushwood (terra bruscosa), and Sempringham priory 20 acres of wood at Aslackby.^[6]

Various Ministers' Accounts among the national muniments also yield woodland information, of which the following must serve as examples. The accounts of Willoughton and other manors, formerly held by the Knights Templars, for the year 1309, mention, under Gainsborough, the custom of paying a forester for warding the wood of Thonock for ten weeks, from 30 March to 30 July.^[7]

The accounts of the manor of Bolingbroke seem to show that there was considerable clearance of coppice wood on that estate from time to time. In the year 1399 the large sum of 20s. 11d. was paid costage del fagottes.^[8]

At Grayingham there must have been a large wood fit for swine pannage. The accounts for 1404 name William Hopkinson as the 'Takman' there, and enter a payment at Michaelmas of 1d. for 'Wodehalpens.'^[9] The tackman or takman was one who entered the number of pigs turned into the manor wood at the appointed season by the tenants.^[10]

A report on the agriculture of the county was drawn up for the Board of Agriculture in 1794. It is there stated that it was customary to have the woodland cleared in rotation, and the underwood cut without the vacant places being supplied with young plants. The woods of Sir Peter Burrell are commended as judiciously managed. Various improvements in timber-growing and in underwood are noted, and there are some interesting observations as to the advantages or otherwise of growing timber trees and coppice together. It was considered that fifteen oak trees, of sufficient size to produce 80 to 100 ft. of timber, would occupy an acre of land.^[11]

A much longer report was made to the same Board by the celebrated Arthur Young in 1799; he was then acting as secretary to the Board.^[12] In the section on Woods and Plantations (212–222) he speaks of the success attending the planting in the fens of 'the berry-bearing poplar,' which thrives very greatly, and much exceeds the growth of the Lombardy poplar, attaining to 18 or 20 feet in six years. At Osbournby, to the south of Sleaford, he noticed small plantations of the Dishley willow doing very well, and realizing twelve guineas an acre. Sir Cecil Wray had planted 260 acres, chiefly with Scotch firs, between 1760 and 1794, with profitable results. The Duke of Ancaster's woods (about four or five hundred acres) were cut at eighteen years' growth, realizing from £14 to £16 an acre. The Earl of Exeter's woods about Bourne paid him by underwood and timber about 20s. per acre per annum.

Particular information is supplied with respect to Sir Joseph Banks' woods (Revesby), which had been very carefully managed since 1727, in a rotation of twenty-three years. The produce per acre of timber, bark, poles, and brush was estimated at an average of £45 7s., cut once in twenty-three years, or £1 19s. 5d. per acre per annum. It was considered that the same land would not produce in an arable farm more than 10s. or 12s. an acre.

Lincolnshire now possesses the following seven deer parks:^[13]—Brocklesby Park (the Earl of Yarborough) has an acreage of 1,000 acres, and is about three miles in length by one in breadth. It is well-timbered, and is bordered by various plantations. The fallow deer number about 350.

Belton Park (Earl Brownlow), near Grantham, which encloses about 800 acres, was formed under royal licence of 1690 out of lands in Belton, Londonthorpe, and Telthorpe, and enclosed with a wall five miles in circumference.^[14] It contains some good timber and plantations, as well as two fine avenues. There is a herd of about 300 fallow deer.

Grimsthorpe Park (the Earl of Ancaster) is of ancient origin. Saxton, in 1576, marks here two parks, called respectively 'The Red-dere pk' and 'The Fallow-dere pk.' The great park, which lies chiefly to the south-west of the castle, embraces nearly 2,000 acres, and is 16 miles in circumference. The actual deer park, with some 400 fallow deer, is about 800 acres. There are also about fifty red deer, said to be the descendants of the original race that for centuries graced this ancient park. Much of the centre of the park is bare of trees, but elsewhere there is an abundance of good oaks and hornbeams, as well as many fine old mistletoe-bearing hawthorns.

Haverholme Priory Park (the Earl of Winchilsea), on the borders of the fen country near Sleaford, was enclosed between 1786 and 1790. It includes about 401 acres, and has a herd of 250 fallow deer. It is well wooded; the principal trees are oak, elm, horse-chestnut, ash and hawthorn. The park contains a willow tree (salix alba) supposed to be the largest in England; it has a girth of 26 ft. at 5 ft. from the ground. Haverholme was one of the best wooded parts of the county at the time of the Domesday Survey.

Normanby Park (Sir B. D. G. Sheffield, bart.), in the parish of Burton-upon-Stather, was enclosed in 1804. It has an acreage of 320 acres, and a herd of about 120 fallow deer. Most of the park is well timbered, but about 60 acres are covered with bracken, and serve as a rabbit warren.

Scrivelsby Park (F. S. Dymoke, esq.) covers about 300 acres, and feeds some sixty fallow deer. It is well wooded.

Irnham Park (Mrs. Wobrige-Gordon) contains 223 acres, and a herd of about seventy fallow deer. It is well planted, and possesses some exceptionally fine elm trees. This park is marked on Saxton's map.

There is also a large finely-wooded park at Syston (Sir J. H. Thorold, bart.), and one of smaller extent at Easton (Sir M. A. R. Cholmeley, bart.), equally well timbered; both of these were deer parks when Mr. Shirley wrote in 1867. There were 440 acres of woodland at Easton at the time of the Domesday Survey.

Six other parks, all fairly timbered, should be named—Aswarby, and Stoke, in the Kesteven Division, and Revesby, Ormsby, Hainton, and Riby in Lindsey.

The chief scientific planting in Lincolnshire during the eighteenth century was that accomplished by Sir Joseph Banks at Revesby. But this has been far surpassed in the nineteenth century, both in quantity and in tabulated results by successive earls of Yarborough. On the Brocklesby and Manby estates, in 119 years, namely, from 1787 to 1905 inclusive, upwards of 23¼ millions of trees have been planted. During the whole of this period an accurate record of every detail of arboriculture has been kept. In a large number of years, such as 1793, 1795, 1797, 1808, 1816, and 1821–3, the numbers planted exceeded half a million. During the present century the yearly average has been 246,080.

At the exhibition of the Royal Agricultural Society at Park Royal in June, 1905, the astonishing total of 157 specimens of different timbers grown on the Earl of Yarborough's Lincolnshire property was shown. This included every variety of indigenous tree, together with a great number of foreign trees, such as the Japanese Juniper and Cypress, the Swiss Stone Pine, the Californian Redwood, the Carolina Poplar and the Venetian Sumach.^[15]

Most of the woodlands on Lord Yarborough's property were evidently planted with the idea of producing landscape effects on what must have been bare wolds. The timber has been at its best for some years past; it is therefore now being taken down and replanted so much every year, in order to get it into a rotation of about 90 or 100 years growth. There is no coppice or underwood work on these estates, and but little in any part of Lincolnshire.

There has been a creosote plant in use at Brocklesby for the last few years, which enables a great deal of timber, which would make very little money if sold, to be used for fencing on the estate. An interesting table of the result of tests, showing the absorption of creosote oil by various kinds of timber,—such as posts of Scotch spruce and silver fir, larch, and hornbeam, as well as rails of spruce and larch and hunting gates of oak and larch hurdles—was presented last year with examples to the Royal Agricultural Society. The timber is naturally dried, and the oil subjected to a pressure of seventy to eighty lb. per inch for three or four hours.^[16]

The official agricultural returns show how steady has been the growth of arboriculture in this county during the last quarter of a century. In 1891 the woods of Lincolnshire, excepting recent plantations, covered 39,490 acres; the plantations of the last ten years occupied 1,342 acres, giving the total for 1891 of 40,832. In 1895 the woods, excepting young plantations, covered 41,425 acres; the plantations since 1881 had an area of 1,702 acres, bringing up the full total to 43,127. A return of the woodlands was again made in 1905 on a better plan. Lincolnshire is entered as having 4,779 acres of coppice; 2,154 of plantations, and 37,242 of other woods, yielding a total of 44,174 acres, or an increase of 1,000 acres in the last decade.

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1. Miller and Skertchly, The Fenland Past and Present (1878), 557, 566–71.
2. Garrick or Garwick, now in Heckington.
3. Dugdale, Hist. of Imbanking (1662), 194–5.
4. Cal. Rot. Chart. (P.R.O.), p. 128.
5. Close, 14 Hen. III, m. 9.
6. Dugdale, Mon. (orig. ed.), i, 776, 805, 806, 822, 881; ii, 211, 421, 791.
7. Gen. Mins. Accts. 914/16.
8. Duchy of Lane. Mins. Accts. 11987/728.
9. Gen. Mins. Accts. 910/18.
10. Cox, Royal Forests, 42, 200.
11. T. Stone, General View of Agriculture, Lincoln (1794), 23, 34, 91–4.
12. A. Young, General View of Agriculture, Lincoln (1799), an octavo vol. of 450 pages.
13. The brief information given of each of these parks is chiefly taken from Shirley's Deer and Deer Parks (1867), 85–7 and Whitaker's Deer Parks of England (1892), 94–6, supplemented by local information.
14. Saunders, History of County Lincoln, ii, 309.
15. A new departure was made by the Royal Agricultural Society in 1904, when the annual exhibition included the subject of British Forestry.—(Catalogue 65th Annual Exhibition, 267–73; Catalogue 66th Annual Exhibition, 267–73).
16. We desire to express our particular obligations to Mr. C. B. Hankey, Lord Yarborough's agent, and to Mr. Havelock, the forester, for much information, of which the above is a brief abstract.