ning 1,611 acres, making up the 11,000, being partly fenced, and
would be shut in the next year, viz. 1816, making the total number of
enclosures upwards of thirty. Besides which 240 acres of Whitemead Park
had been appropriated (1809) to the growth of timber, as also 120 acres
adjoining the different lodges, as well as 120 acres of the open Forest,
where trees twenty-five or thirty feet high had been planted, and were
doing very well. The cost of these operations, since 1808, was 59,172
pounds 5s. 10d."

To this period belongs the interesting circumstance of the then Bishop of
Gloucester, the excellent Dr. Ryder, paying his first official visit to
the Forest, for the purpose of consecrating Christ Church at Berry Hill.
The building was commenced, in 1812, as a chapel schoolroom, by the Rev.
P. M. Procter, the Vicar of Newland, assisted by the Duke of Beaufort,
the Lord Bishop, and Mr. Ryder his secretary, aided by 100 pounds from
the National Society, being the first grant made by it. But the
structure was enlarged to twice the original size previous to its
consecration.

The next year (1817) the Bishop had the satisfaction of being called upon
in the month of April to repeat his visit to the Forest, for the purpose
of dedicating the Church of the Holy Trinity, on Quarry Hill, to divine
worship, for which it was first used on the previous 5th of February,
having been commenced the summer before. Its erection was principally
accomplished by the exertions of the Rev. H. Berkin, assisted by
contributions from the Earl of Liverpool, the Right Hon. N. Vansittart,
the Duke of Beaufort, Lord Kenyon, Lord Calthorpe, W. Wilberforce, Esq.,
M.P., and other benevolent persons. The site, comprising five acres, was
given by the Crown.

On the 15th of May this year the purchase of Lord Viscount Gage's estate,
adjoining the Forest and the Wye, was concluded, as stated in the
Commissioners' Report, which appeared on the 18th of June. It contained
2,229 acres of wood, which, "if preserved, would (they said) very soon be
stocked with a succession of trees of the first quality, as they were of
the most thriving description, the oldest being from sixty to eighty
years old." The whole property contained 4,257 acres 15 poles, and,
including all the timber and underwood, with certain forges, mills,
limekilns, iron and tin works, was valued by the referees at 155,863
pounds 3s. 2d., the timber being prised at 61,624 pounds 4s. This