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Hub AI
Savernake Forest AI simulator
(@Savernake Forest_simulator)
Hub AI
Savernake Forest AI simulator
(@Savernake Forest_simulator)
Savernake Forest
Savernake Forest stands on a Cretaceous chalk plateau between Marlborough and Great Bedwyn in Wiltshire, England. Its area is approximately 4,500 acres (18 km2; 7.0 sq mi).
Most of the forest lies within the civil parish of Savernake. It is privately owned by the Marquess of Ailesbury and his son the Earl of Cardigan, and is administered by trustees. Since 1939 the timber of the forest has been managed by Forestry England on a 999-year lease. The private status of Savernake Forest is maintained by shutting the forest to the public one day per year.
Savernake's landform is rolling downland, dissected by both dry and wet valleys. The valleys within the forest, of which there are four, are all dry, and the presence of Cretaceous deposits of Clay-with-Flints creates the damp, heavy soils suited to dense cover of oak and beech. There are patches of poor drainage and wet soil.
The first mention of a woodland "Safernoc" was made in AD 934 in the written records of King Æthelstan, but the land passed into Norman ownership soon after the Norman Conquest of 1066.
The royal forest established in the 12th century covered an area of some 150 square miles (390 km2); it extended to the villages of East Kennett, Inkpen and the Collingbournes (west, east and south) while the River Kennet formed its northern limit. Savernake Forest was not continuously wooded: Royal forests were a mixture of woodland, copses, common land and rough pasture.
This was the area of land put into the care of Richard Esturmy after the Norman Conquest. Since then Savernake estate and forest has passed down from father to son (or daughter, on four occasions) in an unbroken line of hereditary "forest wardens". In 31 generations, it has never once been bought or sold in a thousand years, and today it is the only ancient forest in Britain still in private hands.
One early high point of the estate's fortunes was in Tudor times. The head of the family (Sir John Seymour) was used to welcoming Henry VIII to the forest, where the king was very keen on deer-hunting. King Henry stayed at Savernake in 1535, where it is believed that his eye was then taken by his host's daughter, Jane Seymour. After the execution of Anne Boleyn in May 1536, they were subsequently married, and Jane was crowned Queen just months later, causing the head of the family at Savernake to suddenly find himself father-in-law to Henry VIII.
Jane died in childbirth and after marrying a further three wives, Henry died ten years later. So it fell to Jane's brother Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset to leave his estate of Savernake Forest in 1547 and to go up to Hampton Court, where for the next five years with the title 'Lord Protector' he was King of England in all but name, until his late sister's young child Edward VI grew old enough to reign alone.
Savernake Forest
Savernake Forest stands on a Cretaceous chalk plateau between Marlborough and Great Bedwyn in Wiltshire, England. Its area is approximately 4,500 acres (18 km2; 7.0 sq mi).
Most of the forest lies within the civil parish of Savernake. It is privately owned by the Marquess of Ailesbury and his son the Earl of Cardigan, and is administered by trustees. Since 1939 the timber of the forest has been managed by Forestry England on a 999-year lease. The private status of Savernake Forest is maintained by shutting the forest to the public one day per year.
Savernake's landform is rolling downland, dissected by both dry and wet valleys. The valleys within the forest, of which there are four, are all dry, and the presence of Cretaceous deposits of Clay-with-Flints creates the damp, heavy soils suited to dense cover of oak and beech. There are patches of poor drainage and wet soil.
The first mention of a woodland "Safernoc" was made in AD 934 in the written records of King Æthelstan, but the land passed into Norman ownership soon after the Norman Conquest of 1066.
The royal forest established in the 12th century covered an area of some 150 square miles (390 km2); it extended to the villages of East Kennett, Inkpen and the Collingbournes (west, east and south) while the River Kennet formed its northern limit. Savernake Forest was not continuously wooded: Royal forests were a mixture of woodland, copses, common land and rough pasture.
This was the area of land put into the care of Richard Esturmy after the Norman Conquest. Since then Savernake estate and forest has passed down from father to son (or daughter, on four occasions) in an unbroken line of hereditary "forest wardens". In 31 generations, it has never once been bought or sold in a thousand years, and today it is the only ancient forest in Britain still in private hands.
One early high point of the estate's fortunes was in Tudor times. The head of the family (Sir John Seymour) was used to welcoming Henry VIII to the forest, where the king was very keen on deer-hunting. King Henry stayed at Savernake in 1535, where it is believed that his eye was then taken by his host's daughter, Jane Seymour. After the execution of Anne Boleyn in May 1536, they were subsequently married, and Jane was crowned Queen just months later, causing the head of the family at Savernake to suddenly find himself father-in-law to Henry VIII.
Jane died in childbirth and after marrying a further three wives, Henry died ten years later. So it fell to Jane's brother Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset to leave his estate of Savernake Forest in 1547 and to go up to Hampton Court, where for the next five years with the title 'Lord Protector' he was King of England in all but name, until his late sister's young child Edward VI grew old enough to reign alone.
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