savernake forest a report for the national mapping ... - English Heritage

was then passed down through the generations until in 1676 it passed by marriage to the
Bruce family and so to the present owner, the Marquis of Ailesbury, whose mansion, the
present Tottenham House, was begun in 1781 by the first Earl of Ailesbury.
Whilst there are several thousand ancient oaks and ancient beeches, as well as over a
hundred ancient chestnut trees in the present forest, it must be remembered that a
medieval forest was a legal designation rather than a description and did not necessarily
imply an abundance of trees. Given the importance of hunting in forests it is likely that in
the medieval period it would have been made up of sporadic copses and coverts for
game. It was also likely to have been largely unenclosed until it passed into private hands
in the 16th century at which point its deer were not protected by royal forest law and so
a park pale was built (completed c 1600), some of which still survives.
In the early 18 th century there was a vigorous planting regime followed by extensive
landscaping under the First Earl of Ailesbury, Thomas Bruce. After marrying Susanna
Hoare (1761), the daughter of Henry Hoare (who had laid out the gardens at Stourhead)
the Earl took the advice of his father-in-law and engaged the great 18th century
landscaper 'Capability' Brown. One of Brown's major features is The Grand Avenue,
which was laid out in the late 1790s and at over five kilometres (three miles) long is the
longest avenue in Britain. At its centre Eight Walks radiate out into the surrounding forest.
At the beginning of July 1940 the area was requisitioned by the War Office which quickly
set to work turning the forest into an ammunition dump that eventually became one of
the largest of its type. It saw occupation by the Royal Army Ordnance Corps and the
American Army both of whom used it for storage, including large numbers of
conventional and chemical weapons (Day 2007). Savernake Forest is now private
property owned by the Earl of Cardigan who since 1938 has leased it to the Forestry
Commission who manage the Estate.
Geology, topography and modern land use
The forest lies on the Savernake Plateau, a high plateau of rolling downland dissected by
small valleys, founded on Upper Chalk overlain with deposits of Clay with Flints. To the
east of the area the Chalk is overlain by London Clay, the Reading Beds, Bagshot Beds
and Plateau Gravel. It is these drift deposits that create the heavier soils supporting the
highly wooded character of this area. The underlying chalk creates a karst landscape with
a number of swallet holes both within the confines of the forest and in surrounding arable
fields. These features can easily be confused with features of archaeological origin and
special care had to be taken when dealing with them (see below). The Forest sits within a
wider woodland farmland mosaic that includes some more open arable areas and is
knitted together by hedgerows with many hedgerow trees.
Today the Forest consists of extensive tracts of semi-natural ancient woodland, wood
pasture with majestic veteran trees, and 18th and 19th century beech plantations, as well
as more modern coniferous plantations (Fig 3). The southern end of the project area is
dominated by the historic parkland and designed landscape features with Tottenham Park
containing permanent pasture, parkland trees, avenues and rides. Reflecting its origins as a
Royal hunting forest, settlement is limited to a concentration of villages in the valley of the
River Dun including Great Bedwyn and Little Bedwyn.
©ENGLISH HERITAGE 3 29-2009