Needwood Forest
Encyclopedia
Needwood Forest was a large area of ancient woodland
in Staffordshire
which was largely lost at the end of the 18th century.
or royal forest
given to Henry III
's son Edmund Crouchback, 1st Earl of Lancaster
, in 1266. It was owned by the Duchy of Lancaster
until it passed into the possession of Henry IV
.
In 1776, Francis Noel Clarke Mundy
privately published a book of poetry called Needwood Forest which contained his own poem of the same name and supportive contributions from Sir Brooke Boothby Bt.
, Erasmus Darwin
and Anna Seward
. Anna Seward regarded this poem as "one of the most beautiful local poems". The purpose of Mundy's poems was to resist calls for the enclosure of the forest. Seward herself wrote a poem called "The fall of Needwood Forest".
From http://www.maggs.com/title/EA7255.asp:-
Needwood Forest.
MUNDY, (Francis Noel Clarke).
AUTHOR AND ARTIST PRESENTATION COPY
First Edition. 4to. 52 pp., steel engraved frontispiece of Needwood Forest by Landseer after Sneyd. Date:1808
Lichfield: by John Jackson, 1786
The Fall of Needwood First Edition. 4to. 45 pp., steel engraved frontispiece of The Fall of Needwood Forest by J. Landseer after M.E. Sneyd. Bound together in contemporary blue straight-grained morocco (extremities and spine rubbed). Some marginal staining to the first plate and a neat old repair to the margin of the second plate.
Derby: at the Office of J. Drewry, 1808
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Two poems and two engravings inspired by Needwood Forest.
Needwood Forest was a substantial and ancient Midlands forest. The enclosure Act of 1803 allowed for its disafforestation, which took until 1811 to complete. Thus the first poem was written before the Act and the second during the process of enclosure. There is a copy in the Houghton Library at Harvard annotated by Horace Walpole throughout and with notes identifying the author. The initials of the poems addressed to the author on pages 45 to 52 of the first work are thought to be those of Erasmus Darwin, Anna Seward, Sir Brooke Boothby, Bart., and Erasmus Darwin junior. The second poems includes the short work "My Grand Climetric, 1802", and a poem by Anna Seward entitled "To. F.N.C. Mundy, Esq., on his poem The Fall of Needwood." Presumably Mundy belonged to the literary circle at Lichfield that included the Sir Brooke Boothby, the Darwins, Richard Lovell Edgeworth, and Miss Seward, 'The Swan of Lichfield' or as Walpole put it another 'Harmonious Virgin'. Anna Seward's parents adopted Hannah Sneyd, who was probably related to the engraver, Mary Emma Sneyd. At the time Thomas Gisborne held the perpetual curacy of Barton-under-Needwood; Gisborne regarded Needwood much as Gilbert White
did Selborne, and the former wrote in the early 1790s his Walks in the Forest, then still unenclosed. Needwood Forest had been a chase of the Duchy of Lancaster until the reign of Henry IV when it became Crown property. It is commonly associated with Sir Gawain's Green Knight
.
Provenance: Presented from the author and the artist: "The Poem the Gift of the Author. - The Plates the Gift of Miss Sneyd" (inscribed on the verso of the front free endpaper) and 'From the Author' (inscribed on the title-page of the second work.)
Under an enclosure act of 1803, commissioners were allowed to deforest it. By 1811 the land had been divided amongst a number of claimants.
In 1851 Needwood Forest was described as forming "one of the most beautiful and highly cultivated territories in the honour of Tutbury
, which contains 9437 acres (38.2 km²) of land, in the five parishes of Hanbury
, Tutbury, Tatenhill
, Yoxall
, and Rolleston
, and subdivided into the four wards of Tutbury, Barton, Marchington
, and Yoxall
, which together form a district of over seven miles (11 km) in length and three in breadth, extending northwards from Wichnor to Marchington Woodlands."
Nowadays there are twenty farms, on which dairy farming is the principal enterprise; 490 acres (2 km²) of woodland remain. Some parts of the forest are still open to the public. Jackson Bank is a mature, mixed 80 acres (323,748.8 m²) woodland left from the ancient Needwood Forest. This woodland at Hoar Cross
near Burton upon Trent
is still owned by the Duchy of Lancaster
, which opens it to the public. Bagot's Wood
near Abbots Bromley
claims to be the largest remaining part of Needwood Forest.
Ancient woodland
Ancient woodland is a term used in the United Kingdom to refer specifically to woodland that has existed continuously since 1600 or before in England and Wales . Before those dates, planting of new woodland was uncommon, so a wood present in 1600 was likely to have developed naturally...
in Staffordshire
Staffordshire
Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...
which was largely lost at the end of the 18th century.
History
Needwood Forest was a chaseChase (land)
In the United Kingdom a chase is a type of common land used for hunting to which there are no specifically designated officers and laws, but there are reserved hunting rights for one or more persons. Similarly, a Royal Chase is a type of Crown Estate by the same description, but where certain...
or royal forest
Royal forest
A royal forest is an area of land with different meanings in England, Wales and Scotland; the term forest does not mean forest as it is understood today, as an area of densely wooded land...
given to Henry III
Henry III of England
Henry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for 56 years from 1216 until his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...
's son Edmund Crouchback, 1st Earl of Lancaster
Edmund Crouchback, 1st Earl of Lancaster
Edmund of Crouchback, 1st Earl of Leicester and Lancaster , was the second surviving son of King Henry III of England and Eleanor of Provence. In his childhood he had a claim on the Kingdom of Sicily. His nickname refers to his participation in the Ninth Crusade.-Childhood:Edmund was born in London...
, in 1266. It was owned by the Duchy of Lancaster
Duchy of Lancaster
The Duchy of Lancaster is one of the two royal duchies in England, the other being the Duchy of Cornwall. It is held in trust for the Sovereign, and is used to provide income for the use of the British monarch...
until it passed into the possession of Henry IV
Henry IV of England
Henry IV was King of England and Lord of Ireland . He was the ninth King of England of the House of Plantagenet and also asserted his grandfather's claim to the title King of France. He was born at Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire, hence his other name, Henry Bolingbroke...
.
In 1776, Francis Noel Clarke Mundy
Francis Noel Clarke Mundy
Francis Noel Clarke Mundy 1739 – 1815 was a poet who published with Anna Seward and Erasmus Darwin. His most noted work was written to defend Needwood Forest which was enclosed at the beginning of the 19th century...
privately published a book of poetry called Needwood Forest which contained his own poem of the same name and supportive contributions from Sir Brooke Boothby Bt.
Sir Brooke Boothby, 6th Baronet
Sir Brooke Boothby, 6th Baronet was an English linguist, translator, minor poet and landowner in Derbyshire. He was part of the intellectual and literary circle of Lichfield which included Anna Seward and Erasmus Darwin. He welcomed Jean-Jacques Rousseau to Ashbourne circles in 1766 when the...
, Erasmus Darwin
Erasmus Darwin
Erasmus Darwin was an English physician who turned down George III's invitation to be a physician to the King. One of the key thinkers of the Midlands Enlightenment, he was also a natural philosopher, physiologist, slave trade abolitionist,inventor and poet...
and Anna Seward
Anna Seward
Anna Seward was an English Romantic poet, often called the Swan of Lichfield.-Life:Seward was the elder daughter of Thomas Seward , prebendary of Lichfield and Salisbury, and author...
. Anna Seward regarded this poem as "one of the most beautiful local poems". The purpose of Mundy's poems was to resist calls for the enclosure of the forest. Seward herself wrote a poem called "The fall of Needwood Forest".
From http://www.maggs.com/title/EA7255.asp:-
Needwood Forest.
MUNDY, (Francis Noel Clarke).
AUTHOR AND ARTIST PRESENTATION COPY
First Edition. 4to. 52 pp., steel engraved frontispiece of Needwood Forest by Landseer after Sneyd. Date:1808
Lichfield: by John Jackson, 1786
The Fall of Needwood First Edition. 4to. 45 pp., steel engraved frontispiece of The Fall of Needwood Forest by J. Landseer after M.E. Sneyd. Bound together in contemporary blue straight-grained morocco (extremities and spine rubbed). Some marginal staining to the first plate and a neat old repair to the margin of the second plate.
Derby: at the Office of J. Drewry, 1808
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Two poems and two engravings inspired by Needwood Forest.
Needwood Forest was a substantial and ancient Midlands forest. The enclosure Act of 1803 allowed for its disafforestation, which took until 1811 to complete. Thus the first poem was written before the Act and the second during the process of enclosure. There is a copy in the Houghton Library at Harvard annotated by Horace Walpole throughout and with notes identifying the author. The initials of the poems addressed to the author on pages 45 to 52 of the first work are thought to be those of Erasmus Darwin, Anna Seward, Sir Brooke Boothby, Bart., and Erasmus Darwin junior. The second poems includes the short work "My Grand Climetric, 1802", and a poem by Anna Seward entitled "To. F.N.C. Mundy, Esq., on his poem The Fall of Needwood." Presumably Mundy belonged to the literary circle at Lichfield that included the Sir Brooke Boothby, the Darwins, Richard Lovell Edgeworth, and Miss Seward, 'The Swan of Lichfield' or as Walpole put it another 'Harmonious Virgin'. Anna Seward's parents adopted Hannah Sneyd, who was probably related to the engraver, Mary Emma Sneyd. At the time Thomas Gisborne held the perpetual curacy of Barton-under-Needwood; Gisborne regarded Needwood much as Gilbert White
Gilbert White
Gilbert White FRS was a pioneering English naturalist and ornithologist.-Life:White was born in his grandfather's vicarage at Selborne in Hampshire. He was educated at the Holy Ghost School and by a private tutor in Basingstoke before going to Oriel College, Oxford...
did Selborne, and the former wrote in the early 1790s his Walks in the Forest, then still unenclosed. Needwood Forest had been a chase of the Duchy of Lancaster until the reign of Henry IV when it became Crown property. It is commonly associated with Sir Gawain's Green Knight
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a late 14th-century Middle English alliterative romance outlining an adventure of Sir Gawain, a knight of King Arthur's Round Table. In the poem, Sir Gawain accepts a challenge from a mysterious warrior who is completely green, from his clothes and hair to his...
.
Provenance: Presented from the author and the artist: "The Poem the Gift of the Author. - The Plates the Gift of Miss Sneyd" (inscribed on the verso of the front free endpaper) and 'From the Author' (inscribed on the title-page of the second work.)
Under an enclosure act of 1803, commissioners were allowed to deforest it. By 1811 the land had been divided amongst a number of claimants.
In 1851 Needwood Forest was described as forming "one of the most beautiful and highly cultivated territories in the honour of Tutbury
Tutbury
Tutbury is a large village and civil parish of about 3,000 residents in the English county of Staffordshire.It is surrounded by the agricultural countryside of both Staffordshire and Derbyshire. The site has been inhabited for over 3000 years, with Iron Age defensive ditches encircling the main...
, which contains 9437 acres (38.2 km²) of land, in the five parishes of Hanbury
Hanbury, Staffordshire
Hanbury is a village near Burton-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England.It was the location of the 1944 RAF Fauld Explosion, one of the largest artificial non-nuclear explosions in the world.-References:*...
, Tutbury, Tatenhill
Tatenhill
Tatenhill is an ancient village and a civil parish located in a deep valley, between two hills, which gradually descend from the eastern border of Needwood Forest, three and a half miles west-southwest of Burton upon Trent....
, Yoxall
Yoxall
Yoxall is a large village in Staffordshire, England. It is on the banks of the River Swarbourn on the A515 road north of Lichfield and south west of Burton upon Trent...
, and Rolleston
Rolleston
Rolleston could be*Rolleston, New Zealand*Rolleston, Queensland in AustraliaIn England :*Rolleston, Devon*Rolleston, Leicestershire*Rolleston, Nottinghamshire**Rolleston railway station*Rolleston, Staffordshire-Surname:* Sir John Rolleston...
, and subdivided into the four wards of Tutbury, Barton, Marchington
Marchington
Marchington is a small village in East Staffordshire, England. It lies between the towns of Burton upon Trent and Uttoxeter. Marchington has a small shop, a first school, two churches and two pubs...
, and Yoxall
Yoxall
Yoxall is a large village in Staffordshire, England. It is on the banks of the River Swarbourn on the A515 road north of Lichfield and south west of Burton upon Trent...
, which together form a district of over seven miles (11 km) in length and three in breadth, extending northwards from Wichnor to Marchington Woodlands."
Nowadays there are twenty farms, on which dairy farming is the principal enterprise; 490 acres (2 km²) of woodland remain. Some parts of the forest are still open to the public. Jackson Bank is a mature, mixed 80 acres (323,748.8 m²) woodland left from the ancient Needwood Forest. This woodland at Hoar Cross
Hoar Cross
Hoar Cross is a small village and civil parish in the Borough of East Staffordshire, situated approximately seven miles west of Burton upon Trent....
near Burton upon Trent
Burton upon Trent
Burton upon Trent, also known as Burton-on-Trent or simply Burton, is a town straddling the River Trent in the east of Staffordshire, England. Its associated adjective is "Burtonian"....
is still owned by the Duchy of Lancaster
Duchy of Lancaster
The Duchy of Lancaster is one of the two royal duchies in England, the other being the Duchy of Cornwall. It is held in trust for the Sovereign, and is used to provide income for the use of the British monarch...
, which opens it to the public. Bagot's Wood
Bagot's Wood
Bagot's Wood is the largest extant piece of the ancient Needwood Forest, located near to Abbots Bromley, in Staffordshire, England. The forest derives its name from the Bagot family, seated for centuries at Blithfield Hall in Staffordshire....
near Abbots Bromley
Abbots Bromley
Abbots Bromley is a village in Staffordshire, England. It is famous for the annual Abbots Bromley Horn Dance. It is also the home of one of the Woodard Schools, Abbots Bromley School for Girls...
claims to be the largest remaining part of Needwood Forest.
Literature
- Needwood Forest, 1776, by Francis Noel Clarke MundyFrancis Noel Clarke MundyFrancis Noel Clarke Mundy 1739 – 1815 was a poet who published with Anna Seward and Erasmus Darwin. His most noted work was written to defend Needwood Forest which was enclosed at the beginning of the 19th century...
, Brooke BoothbySir Brooke Boothby, 6th BaronetSir Brooke Boothby, 6th Baronet was an English linguist, translator, minor poet and landowner in Derbyshire. He was part of the intellectual and literary circle of Lichfield which included Anna Seward and Erasmus Darwin. He welcomed Jean-Jacques Rousseau to Ashbourne circles in 1766 when the...
, Erasmus DarwinErasmus DarwinErasmus Darwin was an English physician who turned down George III's invitation to be a physician to the King. One of the key thinkers of the Midlands Enlightenment, he was also a natural philosopher, physiologist, slave trade abolitionist,inventor and poet...
and Anna SewardAnna SewardAnna Seward was an English Romantic poet, often called the Swan of Lichfield.-Life:Seward was the elder daughter of Thomas Seward , prebendary of Lichfield and Salisbury, and author...