Thank you for this. From the notes which I have, pannage was allowed again in 1687, and the implication from the quote which I have noted below is that the collection of wood was only banned from a limited area. Probably the new verderers decided to ban it anyway so as to protect their private interests. Wishing you every success in your researches, Giles Colchester, researching family COLCHESTER, any place any time any spelling I had picked it up the references in respect of the 1668 Act from A R Warmington, Civil War, Interregnum and Restoration in Gloucestershire, 1997. The quote was as follows: "The gentry of the Forest area, headed by Worcester and Throckmorton, and supported by the surveyor-general, Sir Charles Harbord, and the Commons, took the offensive in November 1667. They suggested that the best way to preserve timber and satisfy the commoners would be to enclose a third and reafforest the rest, allowing the commoners the rights of pannage and estboot there. Wintour evidently saw the end coming, for he tried to smuggle his iron out, but Throckmorton and Harbord reported this and the stocks were seized.77 On 9 May 1668, the Dean Forest (Reafforestation) Act received the king's assent. Largely based on the 1667 proposals and citing as a motive the total destruction of timber in the forest, this enacted that 11 ,000 acres, including the Lea Baly, should be enclosed as a timber nursery and all common rights extinguished there. It was hoped that the sale of decayed and non-timber trees would finance the fencing. The Forest was reafforested within the 1634 perambulation and the traditional offices were reactivated. Pannage, a right most useful to the indigent poor, was extinguished until 1687. In compensa- tion, the rigours of Forest Law were not to be enforced. The inhabitants were allowed free rein on the lands outside the enclosure, without any need to procure licences to take wood.78 In practice, this meant that the Forest was handed back to the propertied inhabitants. The JPs gained the power to regulate felling and at least two had to be present before the enclosure commissioners could act. These men were, in any case, hand picked by Worcester from among the local gentry. Duncombe Colchester and the Cookes became the new verderers, while the regarders consisted of Pyrkes, Goughs, Worgans and other minor gentry of Dean. A mention of rioters pulling down hedges in June 1670 shows that, once again, not everyone was content. The riot was the result of moves towards enclosure, after a swanimote court agreed on a site to plant acorns. As early as July and August 1669, the Treasury remonstrated with the officials in Dean about the destruction of young trees by animals and the colliers' taking of wood, presum- ably from the enclosed area.79 The government evidently saw the act as another means to the end it had always pursed, that of making Dean profitable through careful management." References: 77 CTB ii. 131,268-70,275-6,284,287,289,301; Hart, Royal forest, 166. 78 Statutes of the realm, 19 & 20 Car. II c.8. 79 CTB ii. 428,439,446,448,452,454,459,467; iii. 112,170,262,457. ----- Original Message ----- From: slowhands <slowhands@onetel.net.uk> To: Giles Colchester <gsc@mydsq.freeserve.co.uk>; <ENG-GLOS-FOREST-DEAN-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, June 27, 2004 7:26 PM Subject: Re: [FoD] Pannage and estboot ( Background) > > The Forest of Dean is subject to ancient rights and customs. Management of > the Forest takes place in consultation with the Verderers, who are > responsible for overseeing the "vert and venison" (trees and deer). Meetings > of the Verderers Court have been held in the Speech House since 1218. In > practice, the Verderers are consulted about the whole range of management > issues affecting the statutory Forest. > > Though not officially regarded as a common, there is a tradition of open > grazing dating back at least five hundred years which means that > free-roaming sheep grazing is officially suffered as a privilege outside the > enclosures. > > There is a continuing tradition of estovers (firewood collection), although > formal rights to this were removed by the 1668 Dean Reafforestation Act and > the tradition of pannage (pig grazing) also continues. > > The other Common Rights frequently encountered are :- > > common of pasture : the right to turn stock on to the common to graze; > > common of pannage : the right to allow the commoner's pigs to enter a given > wood in order to eat the acorns or beech mast which there fall to the > ground; > > common of estovers : the right to take underwood and/or small branches, > bracken etc, either for fuel, for animal litter or for repairing the > commoner's fences or buildings; > > common of turbary : the right to dig turf or peat for use as fuel in the > commoner's house; > > common of piscary : the right to take, for consumption in the commoner's own > household, fish from a common pond or stream; and > > common in the soil : the right to take sand, gravel, stone or minerals for > use on the commoner's land. > > ----- Original Message ----- From: slowhands <slowhands@onetel.net.uk> To: Giles Colchester <gsc@mydsq.freeserve.co.uk>; <ENG-GLOS-FOREST-DEAN-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, June 27, 2004 5:10 PM Subject: Re: [FoD] Pannage and estboot > Estovers - the right to collect firewood > > > I guess a better link to Foresters Rights is required - I'll try to find > one - or maybe SKS can point the way > > ----- Original Message ----- From: slowhands <slowhands@onetel.net.uk> To: Giles Colchester <gsc@mydsq.freeserve.co.uk>; <ENG-GLOS-FOREST-DEAN-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, June 27, 2004 4:42 PM Subject: Re: [FoD] Pannage and estboot > Pannage is the right to graze - pigs I think - but anyone who drives the > Forest today would instantly think Sheep ! > > Estboot - got me there , what is the context? is this transcribed from a > legal doc ? > > S >