Forêt de Rouvray
Encyclopedia
The once vast Forêt de Rouvray ("Forest of Rouvray", from Latin roboretum, 'oak forest') was a forest
that extended from west of Paris
in the Île-de-France
region westwards into Normandy
, virtually unbroken, threaded by the winding loops of the River Seine
, traversed by forest traces and dotted with isolated woodland hamlets, as far as Rouen
. A rural relict is the 2893 ha of the protected Forêt Domanial de la Londe-Rouvray, at Les Essarts, Haute-Normandie
, near Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray
, south of Rouen
, on an upland massif
above the left bank of the Seine, which makes a wide arc enclosing it. At its former eastern end, the tract of heavily-used urban woodland, trails, and man-made lakes of the Bois de Boulogne
, Paris, once formed the part of the forest of Rouvray that was closest to the capital. The remnants of the forest have been reduced even as recently as the last few decades, prey to urban sprawl
, highway construction and pollution.
According to his early biographers, it was while riding in the forest of Rouvray that William the Norman decided to assert his rights to the throne of England.
The old-growth forest that extended to the floodplain of the Seine was incrementally cleared by the monks of a congregation established about 1154 at the priory of Grammont, facing the city from the left bank of the Seine. Forest was cleared also at the abbey of Saint-Julien and others. At the end near Paris, in 1424 the abbess of Montmartre defended the abbey's traditional right to forest products in the stretch of "forêt de Rouvray" that is now the Bois de Boulogne.
From a decree of 14 February 1488, Hector de Chartres was named maître des eaux et des forêts de Normandie et de Picardie by Charles VI of France
, charged with simplifying the old customs of the forested lands. He had the charge of the forests of Rouvray and Toumare, but the Forêt verte, donated by the archbishop of Rouen
to the monks of Saint-Ouen, eluded his care. However, by the beginning of the sixteenth century, the forest had been decimated: a municipal decree of Rouen, of 24 April 1506, estimated, perhaps with some exaggeration, that if demands were met, within the space of three years the forest of Rouvray would be gone; the pressures came from timber needed for house construction and shipbuilding downstream, and for charcoal. In 1613 a decree from the Conseil du Roi specified that the products of Rouvray and other woods nearby should be limited to the uses of Rouen, but in the seventeenth century, tile-works and pottery kilns set up round the edges of the forest were consuming its timber for fuel. The oaks were replaced by birch
; but fern, bracken
and broom invaded the depleted soils, and the aristocratic owners were replaced by local bourgeois who saw the woodlands as a resource.
At the time of the reordering of the badly cut-over forest in 1669, it was estimated that the oldest of the trees was about twenty years old, with most growth ranging from eight to fourteen years. Little was done to stem the erosion of the forests; the wars of Louis XIV
took their share of timber of any size, and the cold winters of the "Little Ice Age
" required firewood for Rouen. By 1750, three of every eight arpents (8 arpent) of "forest" was actually irremediably turned to open wasteland and heath
on the impoverished soils. That was the year that Nicolas Roneau, Grand maître des eaux et de forêts began planting open heath with chestnut
s and pines— the first planted pine woodlands in Normandy— as a first step towards a managed forest
.
The Revolution saw the woodlands informally exploited once more, as a "public good", but the introduction of British coal for industrial purposes in the nineteenth century was what really saved the remaining reserves of woodland. In the twentieth century, the Second World War, the construction of highways, the new phenomena of forest fires and acid rain
, which selectively weakened conifers, have also taken their toll. Nevertheless, a third of the territory of the Rouennais (12150 hectares or 30,023.3 acre) is wooded, in one of the most densely forested regions of northwest France.
Today the remant termed the forêt de La Londe-Rouvray, "La Londe" reserved for the western section, is protected by a decree of 18 March 1993, supplemented by a decree of 14 September 2006.
A public, informative demonstration Maison des forêts, built by Agglo de Rouen (the agglomération rouennaise) to Haute qualité environnementale (HQE, "High environmental quality") standards, was opened in March 2008.
Forest
A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...
that extended from west of Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
in the Île-de-France
Île-de-France (région)
Île-de-France is the wealthiest and most populated of the twenty-two administrative regions of France, composed mostly of the Paris metropolitan area....
region westwards into Normandy
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
, virtually unbroken, threaded by the winding loops of the River Seine
Seine
The Seine is a -long river and an important commercial waterway within the Paris Basin in the north of France. It rises at Saint-Seine near Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plateau, flowing through Paris and into the English Channel at Le Havre . It is navigable by ocean-going vessels...
, traversed by forest traces and dotted with isolated woodland hamlets, as far as Rouen
Rouen
Rouen , in northern France on the River Seine, is the capital of the Haute-Normandie region and the historic capital city of Normandy. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe , it was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages...
. A rural relict is the 2893 ha of the protected Forêt Domanial de la Londe-Rouvray, at Les Essarts, Haute-Normandie
Haute-Normandie
Upper Normandy is one of the 27 regions of France. It was created in 1984 from two départements: Seine-Maritime and Eure, when Normandy was divided into Lower Normandy and Upper Normandy. This division continues to provoke controversy, and some continue to call for reuniting the two regions...
, near Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray
Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray
-Population:-Twin towns:Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray is twinned with Nordenham , Nova Kakhovka , and Gateshead, Tyne and Wear .-Places of interest:* The sixteenth century church of St.Étienne.* The church of St...
, south of Rouen
Rouen
Rouen , in northern France on the River Seine, is the capital of the Haute-Normandie region and the historic capital city of Normandy. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe , it was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages...
, on an upland massif
Massif
In geology, a massif is a section of a planet's crust that is demarcated by faults or flexures. In the movement of the crust, a massif tends to retain its internal structure while being displaced as a whole...
above the left bank of the Seine, which makes a wide arc enclosing it. At its former eastern end, the tract of heavily-used urban woodland, trails, and man-made lakes of the Bois de Boulogne
Bois de Boulogne
The Bois de Boulogne is a park located along the western edge of the 16th arrondissement of Paris, near the suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt and Neuilly-sur-Seine...
, Paris, once formed the part of the forest of Rouvray that was closest to the capital. The remnants of the forest have been reduced even as recently as the last few decades, prey to urban sprawl
Urban sprawl
Urban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is a multifaceted concept, which includes the spreading outwards of a city and its suburbs to its outskirts to low-density and auto-dependent development on rural land, high segregation of uses Urban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is a...
, highway construction and pollution.
According to his early biographers, it was while riding in the forest of Rouvray that William the Norman decided to assert his rights to the throne of England.
The old-growth forest that extended to the floodplain of the Seine was incrementally cleared by the monks of a congregation established about 1154 at the priory of Grammont, facing the city from the left bank of the Seine. Forest was cleared also at the abbey of Saint-Julien and others. At the end near Paris, in 1424 the abbess of Montmartre defended the abbey's traditional right to forest products in the stretch of "forêt de Rouvray" that is now the Bois de Boulogne.
From a decree of 14 February 1488, Hector de Chartres was named maître des eaux et des forêts de Normandie et de Picardie by Charles VI of France
Charles VI of France
Charles VI , called the Beloved and the Mad , was the King of France from 1380 to 1422, as a member of the House of Valois. His bouts with madness, which seem to have begun in 1392, led to quarrels among the French royal family, which were exploited by the neighbouring powers of England and Burgundy...
, charged with simplifying the old customs of the forested lands. He had the charge of the forests of Rouvray and Toumare, but the Forêt verte, donated by the archbishop of Rouen
Archbishop of Rouen
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Rouen is an Archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in France. As one of the fifteen Archbishops of France, the ecclesiastical province of the archdiocese comprises the majority of Normandy....
to the monks of Saint-Ouen, eluded his care. However, by the beginning of the sixteenth century, the forest had been decimated: a municipal decree of Rouen, of 24 April 1506, estimated, perhaps with some exaggeration, that if demands were met, within the space of three years the forest of Rouvray would be gone; the pressures came from timber needed for house construction and shipbuilding downstream, and for charcoal. In 1613 a decree from the Conseil du Roi specified that the products of Rouvray and other woods nearby should be limited to the uses of Rouen, but in the seventeenth century, tile-works and pottery kilns set up round the edges of the forest were consuming its timber for fuel. The oaks were replaced by birch
Birch
Birch is a tree or shrub of the genus Betula , in the family Betulaceae, closely related to the beech/oak family, Fagaceae. The Betula genus contains 30–60 known taxa...
; but fern, bracken
Bracken
Bracken are several species of large, coarse ferns of the genus Pteridium. Ferns are vascular plants that have alternating generations, large plants that produce spores and small plants that produce sex cells . Brackens are in the family Dennstaedtiaceae, which are noted for their large, highly...
and broom invaded the depleted soils, and the aristocratic owners were replaced by local bourgeois who saw the woodlands as a resource.
At the time of the reordering of the badly cut-over forest in 1669, it was estimated that the oldest of the trees was about twenty years old, with most growth ranging from eight to fourteen years. Little was done to stem the erosion of the forests; the wars of Louis XIV
War of the Grand Alliance
The Nine Years' War – often called the War of the Grand Alliance, the War of the Palatine Succession, or the War of the League of Augsburg – was a major war of the late 17th century fought between King Louis XIV of France, and a European-wide coalition, the Grand Alliance, led by the Anglo-Dutch...
took their share of timber of any size, and the cold winters of the "Little Ice Age
Little Ice Age
The Little Ice Age was a period of cooling that occurred after the Medieval Warm Period . While not a true ice age, the term was introduced into the scientific literature by François E. Matthes in 1939...
" required firewood for Rouen. By 1750, three of every eight arpents (8 arpent) of "forest" was actually irremediably turned to open wasteland and heath
Heath (habitat)
A heath or heathland is a dwarf-shrub habitat found on mainly low quality acidic soils, characterised by open, low growing woody vegetation, often dominated by plants of the Ericaceae. There are some clear differences between heath and moorland...
on the impoverished soils. That was the year that Nicolas Roneau, Grand maître des eaux et de forêts began planting open heath with chestnut
Chestnut
Chestnut , some species called chinkapin or chinquapin, is a genus of eight or nine species of deciduous trees and shrubs in the beech family Fagaceae, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce.-Species:The chestnut belongs to the...
s and pines— the first planted pine woodlands in Normandy— as a first step towards a managed forest
Forest management
200px|thumb|right|[[Sustainable development|Sustainable]] forest management carried out by [[Complejo Forestal y Maderero Panguipulli|Complejo Panguipulli]] has contributed to the preservation of the forested landscape around [[Neltume]], a sawmill town in Chile...
.
The Revolution saw the woodlands informally exploited once more, as a "public good", but the introduction of British coal for industrial purposes in the nineteenth century was what really saved the remaining reserves of woodland. In the twentieth century, the Second World War, the construction of highways, the new phenomena of forest fires and acid rain
Acid rain
Acid rain is a rain or any other form of precipitation that is unusually acidic, meaning that it possesses elevated levels of hydrogen ions . It can have harmful effects on plants, aquatic animals, and infrastructure. Acid rain is caused by emissions of carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen...
, which selectively weakened conifers, have also taken their toll. Nevertheless, a third of the territory of the Rouennais (12150 hectares or 30,023.3 acre) is wooded, in one of the most densely forested regions of northwest France.
Today the remant termed the forêt de La Londe-Rouvray, "La Londe" reserved for the western section, is protected by a decree of 18 March 1993, supplemented by a decree of 14 September 2006.
A public, informative demonstration Maison des forêts, built by Agglo de Rouen (the agglomération rouennaise) to Haute qualité environnementale (HQE, "High environmental quality") standards, was opened in March 2008.