Dean Forest Encroachments Act

1 & 2 Wm. IV c.12 (1831)

The report relates to the rights and interests of persons occupying or claiming to be interested in lands or tenements within the bounds of the Forest. Appendix 1 is a perambulation of the Forest boundary. Appendix 2 is a summary of evidence as to encroachments, sometimes with interesting details; the witnesses are usually elderly inhabitants whose ages are often stated. Appendix 3 is a list of holders names with reference to the maps of the five Walks, which distinguish (a) the freeholds admitted by the commisssioners of Land Revenue in 1787, or then claimed as freehold, (b) the old encroachments described as such in 1787, (c) encroachments made between 1787 and 1812 and (d) those enclosed since 1812.

The Dean Forest Encroachments Act, 1 & 2 Wm. IV, c.12 (1831) set up the commission, and the Act of ! & 2 Vict; c.42 (1837-1838) put into effect the commissioners' recommendations for dealing with the squatters and others who had established themselves on Crown lands in the Forest over a long period of years. Old encroachments dating from before 1787 (1511 acres) were accepted as freehold, subject to building restrictions; encroachments made between 1787 and 1812 (573 a.) wre granted to their occupiers on Crown leases for 3 lives; and those made since 1812 (24a.) wre granted on shorter leases. Previously these encroachments were all theoretically illegal unless enclosed before the Dean Forest Act of 19 & 20 Chas. II, c.8 (1667-1668).

The Act of 1838 directed that one copy of the plans and appendixes was to be deposited with the clerk of the peace and another 'hung in the Speech House or some other convenient place within the said Forest'.