Copy of `Forests and Chases - Forestry terms`

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Forests and Chases - Forestry terms Category: Animals and Nature > Forests in England and Wales Date & country: 27/09/2013, UK Words: 664

chair bodger
itinerant craftsman moving from place to place in the woods making nothing but the legs and stretchers of Windsor chairs (Je, 15), see

charcoal
charred wood used as fuel, made in woodland by burning rough wood cut into lengths of two to three feet, stacked for drying for several months, then piled into a pit of about 15 feet in diameter for burning, which took about 24 hours for dry, but much longer for green wood (Je, 37-38); black porous residue of partly burnt wood, bones, etc. (OED); see also

chark(e)
charcoal; to make charcoal (Ja, 298)

chart
common, q.v. (E, 1958, 108)

chase
(n) exclusive hunting reserve of landholder in which s/he had rights to hunt deer and boar, i.e. a private forest (R 165); hunting ground without officers and courts where forest laws, such as for the lawing of mastiffs, did not apply; the equivalent of a park without a fence (M (24 (r) and 115 (r)); tract of land reserved for hunting (L 236). Linnard, following Manwood, adds

chase
(v) act or process of hunting; a doublet of

chast, chat
winged seed of ash tree (Ja, 298)

cheminage
payment for passing through a forest during fence month (q.v.); specifically charged on carts and pack animals (Stagg). The Charter of the Forest (1217) limited the collection of cheminage to foresters in fee paying farms for their bailiwicks, and forbade its collection from people carrying material on their backs (M, 7 (v)). Compare 'thistletake'.

cheveronus
(Med. Lat.) rafters (Thomas, pers. comm.)

chief forester
see

chip
small piece of wood, used for fuel, pulp, and (in more modern times) pressed board manufacture. Off-cuts of felled trees; claimed by navy carpenters as their fees for felling timber (Reeves). See

cion
young shoot from root or stock of a tree (Reeves)

cipher
suppressed, thin or unsaleable stem (included with timber in a sale) (L 236)

clay-pit
hollowed place from which clay is extracted

close
small hedged or walled field for private as opposed to communal use (R 165)

close wood
see

coal
charcoal; to make charcoal (L 236)

coalfire
measure of wood, consisting of 6 fathoms; so much firewood as when it is burned contains a load of coals (Reeves)

cobbing
pollarding (Ja, 298)

coedcae
Welsh, literally 'enclosure of wood'. Alternatively name for areas in Wales known as 'ffridd', q.v.

cog
roundwood or squared wood used in building up a support for the roof of a mine (L 236)

collier
charcoal maker

common
area of land within a manor where its tenants or those of other manors had the right to graze livestock (R 165); right of occupiers of ancient forest tenements (all others being purprestures), of neighbouring townships by ancient custom, and of other persons given license, to graze forest herbage (q.v.). Four types of common were defined in Common Law:

commoning
see

compartment
area of variable extent forming a unit for forest management (E, 177)

composition
agreement to pay dues

compound
settle difference, dispute or claim by mutual concession

coney
rabbit (see also

conifer
tree belonging to the family Coniferae, usually evergreen with cones, needle-shaped leaves, and producing wood known commercially as

coniger
master of a rabbit warren (see

constable
officer, peace-officer, from Latin comes stabuli,

cooper
barrel maker (Je, 89)

coppice
small wood consisting of underwood and small trees grown for the purpose of periodic cutting (P 205); (v) cut back trees to their base so they will shoot again; (n) an area of wood so treated (E, 177); expanse of deciduous shrubs or trees which are cut back to near ground level at regular intervals to provide a crop of usuable and sustaniable timber. This is the meaning of silvia minutia in the Domesday Survey. An alternative word is

copyhold
status for property or land held according to agreed customs and terms written in the official records; subject to payments, e.g. on transfer or death (R 165); tenancy by possession of copy of such customs and terms

cord
measure of capacity for stacked branchwood, usually 128 cu ft or 4ft x 4ft x 8ft (E, 178); stacked measure of round or cleft wood (L 236); a stack of pieces of wood, usually from lop and top or branches of trees known as cordwood, generally measuring 4 feet high x 4 feet wide and 8 feet long, but 4ft 4in X 2ft 2in x 8ft 8in in Forest of Dean (Ja, 299) see offal wood, stack wood

cordwood
wood cut into short lengths and sold by the cord for charcoal-burning, fuel, etc. (L 236)

corf rod
coppice rod, 0.5

corf(e)
large basket used in northern coalmining (Ja 299)

coroner
officer of the crown, originally elected within a county, but with the consent of the crown; could also be elected or appointed within a borough, liberty, honor or manor; duties included

cossickle
house with a small area of land in Brigstock, Northamptonshire (Rockingham Forest) (P 205)

coursing
the chase of game, particularly the hare; from Latin cursus,

court baron
manorial court (q.v.) which enforced payment and services due to the lord (R 168)

court leet
manorial court (q.v.) which dealt with the administration of the communal agriculture, keeping law and order, and the customs of the manor (R 168)

covert
wood with thickets and closed canopy (M, 59 (r))

crate heading
rigid rods used for framework of crates for fragile wares (E, 140)

crate rods
flexible rods, chiefly hazel, for making crates to carry fragile ware such as pottery and glassware (E, 140)

crown
the upper branches and foliage of a tree (E, 178)

Crown
institutional power and authority of the monarch, as in

crust
slab, i.e. outer piece removed first in log conversion (L 237)

crutch
large ash or hazel pole, claimed in Beds. by woodmen inaddition to wages for every 10 poles of underwood cut (Ja, 299)

cur
the ceremony of rewarding hounds on the successful completion of a hunt (BG 208-9)

customary
(n) written collection of traditional rules and laws of the manor (P 205); (a) description of tenants holding by accepted custom in a particular manor (R 166)

deadwood(s)
kiln faggots, lowest grade woodland material such as dead coppice, brambles &c (Ja, 299)

dean
see

deer
ruminant mammal of the family Cervidae

deer leap
construction allowing deer access across a pale into a deer park, so built to prevent them from leaving the park, once in (R 166); also known as

deer, fallow
beast of the chase; species of deer

deer, red
beast of venery, that is, of the forest. See

deer, roe
beast of the warren, chases out other deer. See 'buck', 'doe', etc.

deforest
clear or strip forests of woodland (to be distinguished from

delph
excavation where stone or minerals were obtained (R 166)

demesne
land possessed or occupied by the owner himself

dene
wooded valley (L 237)

disafforest
free forest land from the operation of forest law (to be distinguished from

disbranch
remove branches from a tree before felling to protect falling bole (Ja, 299)

dislodge
disturb a buck from its lodging (M, 45 (v))

dodder
old pollard (senscent) (L 237)

doe
female fallow [or roe] deer, especially in its third or later year (M, 43 (v)); female rabbit

dogstake
stake used for paling in Keeper

dole
hurdle stake (Ja, 300)

dot(t)ard
decaying tree (R 166); normally a decaying oak or one so defective as to be unfit for naval timber (P 205); rot, decay (Ja, 299); rotten, decaying or decayed tree (Ja, 300); tree stripped of top or branches; a dead or topped tree (Reeves)

dotter(el)
see

dozen
charcoal measure (12 loads = 1 dozen) (L 237)

dress
reduce the number of coppice shoots or tree branches to improve the quality of its produce (Ja, 300)

drift
(1) the driving of cattle to one place on an appointed day to determine ownership (P 205); the gathering, impounding, registration and temporary clearance of all commoners

drive
act of rounding up and registering animals in the drift (q.v.)

eagle
bird of prey reserved for the use of emperors according to the

egress
see

elbow timber
see

elm
tree used for articles which must withstand soaking; base of trunk used to make wheel hubs (Je, 110)

enclosure
the act and process of enclosing areas of land previously part of the open woods or fields, including forests and commons. See 'inclosure'

encoppice
inclosing of a wood or coppice after the cutting of underwood so that the young spring may shoot (P 205); enclose an area of cut coppice to protect young shoots (Ja 300)

engine
industrial machine, hence

engross
buy up wholesale as much as possible so as to retail or regrate at monopoly prices; concentrate property in one

enrolment
according to the Charter of the Forest (1217), all attachments for forest offences must be enrolled under the seals of the verderers for presentation at the next eyre (M, 8 (r))

escape
a beast which found its way into a forbidden enclosure, liable to fine (T 140)

essart
see

estover
necessity allowed by law, especially wood which a tenant may take from the King or landlord for repairs of his property (P 205); tenants

evergreen
retaining a portion of its leaves throughout the year (E, 178)

evil wax
of poor growth, used in the context of woodland (R 166)

exotic
tree introduced from abroad (L 237)

expeditate
also

extent
detailed survey of the size and valuation of an estate (R 166); survey, measurement and evaluation of land (L 237)

eyre
see

eyrie, or aery
literally an eagle

faggot
bundle of sticks, twigs or small branches bound together (OED), usually of 6 ft long by 2 ft through, used eg to heat bakers

fair roebuck
a roe buck in its sixth or later year (M, 44 (r))

falcon
bird of prey, so-called from the shape of its tallons, from Latin falx,

falconer
keeper of birds of prey, see also

falconry
see