"Fresh" Forest of Dean.

[Carol]

Geoff wrote:
> As I said, it is one of the old "Forests" so named because they were
royal hunting areas which are often more heathland and open grassland
than woodland, especially land which can support deer.

Carol responds:
First, my apologies for not reading the whole thread before I
suggested that we ask Geoff for information! You anticipated my request.

Geoff: 
> The ones which spring most readily to mind for me are the New
Forest, which lies just north-west of Southampton, famous because
William II the second Norman king was killed by an arrow when hunting
here; this is commemorated by the Rufus Stone <snip>

Carol:
Oh, yes: William II, aka William Rufus, so-called for his ruddy
complexion, IIRC. I was thinking that he died from eating "a surfeit
of eels" (food poisoning after eating his favorite dish) but I guess
that was his younger brother, Henry I. Maybe Rufus Scrimgeour was
named after William Rufus (the original Red King?).

Geoff: 
> The Forest of Dean is a quite sparsely populated area, unusually for
English areas lying on the West (Welsh) side of the River Severn
between Gloucester on to the east and the Welsh toen of Monmouth on
its west. <snip> Then there are Royal Forests on the edge of London
such as Epping and Waltham in the North-east. But, if you investigate,
you will find that tere was a list as long as your arm of places so
designated.

Carol responds:

Wasn't poaching in the royal forests a crime punishable by death? I
know that at one time or another, some of them were "disafforested," 
 but whether that meant that others could hunt on those lands without
the king's permission or the land could be enclosed and trees cut
down, I'm not quites sure. ("Disafforest" only means "to return the
land to nonforest uses," which doesn't help much.)

To return to the Forest of Dean, I found this lovely shot online:

http://www.cinderfordbrassband.co.uk/Royal%20Forest%20Of%20Dean.jpg

I can picture the silver doe there, only in winter with snow on the
ground and bare branches. It would have been darker, too, IIRC.

Carol, who would love to get sidetracked on this topic but needs to
finish an editing project!