to be renewed. The
Surveyor-General declined complying with the request for renewal, upon
the ground that the Park was unfavourably situated for farming purposes,
and that the buildings on it were in very bad repair; whereas a large
quantity of very fine timber, valued at 11,736 pounds, had grown up on
the land, proving the excellence of the soil for that purpose; besides
which, it was situated in the midst of the Forest, and Mr. Fordyce
determined to plant the whole of it with oak at the earliest opportunity.
This circumstance appears to have stimulated the Government to commence
in good earnest the forming of plantations, in accordance with the
suggestions made in the Commissioners' Report of 1788, {89} which had
been kept in view ever since, and as authorized by the old Acts of the
20th of Charles II. c. 3, and 9 and 10 William III. c. 36.

The propriety, however, of acting upon these old enactments was now
doubted, as they had been so long overlooked or irregularly executed; and
hence the declaratory Act of the 48th of George III., c. 72, was passed
in 1808, confirming the original power to enclose 11,000 acres, as well
as legalizing the enclosures of Buckholt, Stapledge, Birchwood, and Acorn
Patch, formed a few years previously, containing altogether 676 acres,
and making it felony to persist in breaking down any of the fences
belonging to the same. The above-named enclosures were the only ones
then existing. The Buckholt principally contained beech; Stapledge was
thinly stocked with oak, except on the north side, and there called
Little Stapledge, on which there was plenty; and Birchwood had some
clusters of natural young oaks scattered about it. The Acorn Patch was
well filled with thriving young oaks about 25 years old. The same Act
likewise directed that the contemplated plantations should be marked out
under the supervision of not less than six Commissioners, who were named
as follows:--

Lord Glenbervie, Surveyor General
of Woods, &c.
R. Fanshaw, Esq., of Plymouth
Dockyard.

Right Hon. C. Bathurst, Lydney }
Park,
The Rev. Thomas Birt, Newland, } Magistrates
The Rev. Richard Wetherell, }
Westbury,

Sir William Guise, Highnam, }
Joseph Pyrke, Esq., Little Dean, } Verderers
Edmund Probyn, Esq., Newland, }
Roynon Jones, Esq., Hay Hill, }

Edward Kent, Esq., Itinerant
Deputy Surveyor.
Edward Machen, Esq., Deputy
Surveyor.

The connexion with the Fore