Forestry Commission and predecessors: Director of Forestry for England, Correspondence...

F 10

1666-1958

This series comprises files illustrating the administration of the Forest and covers a variety of subjects from the building of roads and military manoeuvres to the hunting of squirrels and collecting of moss.

Public Record(s)

English

• Forestry Commission, 1919-1919
• Office of Woods, Forests and Land Revenues, 1810-1832
• Office of Woods, Forests and Land Revenues, 1851-1924
• Office of Woods, Forests, Land Revenues, Works and Buildings, 1832-1851
• Surveyor General of Woods and Forests, 1715-1810

511 file(s)

Subject to 30 year closure unless otherwise stated

Topics

Forestry

The New Forest was a Royal Forest as early as the reign of Canute and in 1079 William I greatly extended its boundaries and appointed it a place of sanctuary for the King's deer. From 1554 until the end of the eighteenth century the management of Royal Forests was the concern of a Surveyor General of Woods, Forests, Parks and Chases. From the 17th century up to the middle of the nineteenth century the chief interest of the Forests lay in its capacity to produce timber for the shipyards of Hampshire. The New Forest Act of 1877 was the first to make statutory provision for preserving the amenities of the Forest.