Hunting wild animals and birds

							                                    FORESTS AND PARKS
                                         pages 561-562

Hunting wild animals and birds, and fishing in natural watercourses, has been
an occupation of man since prehistoric times. Initially a prime source of food,
the importance of wildlife for subsistence gradually lessened as man learnt the
art of farming and came to rely more on crops and domesticated livestock for
his food requirements. But the sporting element in hunting, which is apparent
in continental prehistoric cave drawings and which may be surmised from the
lifestyle of Neolithic and Bronze Age societies in Britain, has continued
uninterruptedly into historic times down to the present day. Indeed, the day this
is being written a national newspaper carried a photograph of a peregrine
falcon being used on a Scottish moor for grouse-hawking. In Anglo-Saxon
times anyone wishing to hunt could do so and there were no restrictive laws.
The stag, wild boar, hare, bear and beaver were all hunted in England, although
the bear and beaver were even then becoming scarce. After the Norman
Conquest, however, William I claimed the monopoly of hunting in England. He
arbitrarily established royal forests subject to special forest law, and the right to
hunt within the bounds of these forests was rigorously denied to all but the
Crown. The forest was—in Richard FitzNigel's words—'the sanctuary and
 special delight of kings, where, laying aside their cares, they withdraw to
refresh themselves with a little hunting; there, away from the turmoils inherent
 in a court, they breathe the pleasure of natural freedom'. Hunting lodges were
 built at convenient places within the forests where the sovereigns of England
 could both conduct state business as well as hunt (one of the best-known
 hunting lodges being situated at Clarendon, near Salisbury). The Anglo-Saxon
 Chronicle records of the Conqueror:
          He set up a vast deer preserve and imposed laws concerning it.
          Whoever slew a hart or a hind
          Was to be blinded.
          He forbade the killing of boars
          Even as the killing of harts.
          For he loved the stags as dearly
          As though he had been their father.
          Hares, also, he decreed should go unmolested.
          The rich complained and the poor lamented.
     Forests, from the time of their introduction by William the Conqueror, were
therefore essentially hunting reserves, where deer were allowed to roam freely,
and were only incidentally related to trees, although some woodland was
necessary for their shelter and food. In medieval times some 3 per cent of the
area of England was covered by forests, but less than half of this consisted of ,
wood-pasture. The situation of royal forests was usually determined by the
location of Crown estates and palaces, and could be on any type of terrain. The
forest of High Peak, for example, was predominantly a moorland forest, based
on the large Crown estates in the Peak District, while that of Sherwood in
Nottinghamshire lay on heathland. While kings themselves hunted in the
forests when opportunity allowed, much of the routine culling of deer to
provide venison for the royal table was left to professional huntsmen in
individual forests, who were instructed to provide the required number of
beasts on specific occasions, usually for royal feasts. Henry Ill's average
annual requirements of game from the royal forests up to 1260 consisted, for
example, of 607 fallow deer, 159 red deer, 45 roe deer and 88 wild swine.

      Kings also made extensive use of timber from the forests for building works at
their castles and palaces, and also made frequent gifts of timber to religious
houses and to individuals. The area of the country designated as forest
increased steadily under the Norman kings, and reached its maximum extent
under Henry II. Although John was much addicted to hunting, both he and his
brother Richard found the forests a convenient source of revenue to finance
their wars, and allowed certain areas to be disafforested for large sums of
money. However, new forests made by Henry II were condemned by the Forest
Charter of 1217 and disafforested in 1225.

      John Manwood, a sixteenth-century lawyer, defined a forest as 'a certain
territory of woody grounds and fruitful pastures, privileged for wild beasts and
fowls of forest, chase and warren to rest, and abide there in the safe protection
of the king, for his delight and pleasure.' He continued:
     'Tis necessary that there should be woods in every forest, both to shelter,
     and at some times to feed the deer; and, therefore, the laws of the forest
     have, in a particular manner, provided for the preservation of the trees and
     coverts there. But they make some difference between Woods and
     Coverts; for where the trees grow scattering, and at such a distance that
     they do not touch one another, such places are properly called 'Woods'.
     Coverts are those woods which are thickets, and full of trees touching one
     another. By this word they understand all those trees and woods which
     grow thick together—from the French word 'Convert', which signifies a
     covering or hiding-place for the deer.'