DHBlog001 · An article by Robert Sharp
The history of the Chase shows how the management of this land shaped its landscape and ecology over the last 1,000 years. It was, essentially, a giant Deer Park and every aspect of the land was tuned towards the benefit of the deer and therefore its hunters. And if deer husbandry shaped most of the land, then lesser sports shaped pretty much the rest of it.
Spread across 125,000 acres or more, the chase lies across a chalk water-shed bounded to the north by the river Nadder in Wiltshire, to the west by the Stour and Iwerne, to the south east by the River Allen, and by the Avon on the east. Like many other Forests, the chase lies in borderlands, the borders between Dorset and Wiltshire and Dorset and Hampshire. These lands were and still are sparsely populated (just 33,000 residents across the whole of the modern AONB).
The Royal Forest was first officially granted by William Rufus to a cousin. Such a grant meant it was no longer a Forest but rather a Chase. The sometimes draconian forest laws were replaced by more specific laws mainly concerning the rights to hunt deer across the whole chase and the rights to control the management of deer and the rural population within a smaller area. This was called the in-bounds while the larger area, the out-bounds. The Chase continued to be franchised to various court officials and favourites until James I sold it to the Earl of Salisbury in the early 17th century, at which point the rights of chase became hereditary.
Everything was focused on the management of deer. Within the in-bounds all of the woods were Hazel coppice under strict controls. Newly coppiced woods had to be enclosed with high wattle fences to keep the deer and cattle out so that the young shoots could get growing. After two years the fences had to be eased to allow deer access but keep out the cattle. Fences were lowered to allow deer to leap over and gaps forced so fawns and weaker deer could “creep” in, leading to the phrase “leaping and creeping” thought to be unique to the Chase. Nowadays it is likely that only the more adventurous botanist might be found leaping and creeping to access some interesting looking field or wood.
The Hazel coppices were interspersed with broad rides to allow deer and hunters access and opportunity. The rides where hedged in with trees chosen specifically for the benefit of the deer. Prime amongst these were “the Vert”; broadly, green plants capable of hiding an adult deer, but more specifically Holly and Ivy. Berry-bearing trees and shrubs were also encouraged to feed the deer in winter including Whitebeam, hawthorn etc. Field Maples, of no value to the deer were also encouraged because they could be made into hides.
At the end of three years the fences were torn down and both deer and cattle allowed free access until the coppice reached maturity 12-13 years later. Farmers often had right of pasturage but cattle had to be removed from the woods through August when the deer (Fallow) were fawning. Pigs were also allowed but sheep were discouraged and sometimes banned altogether.
Outside the in-bounds farmers were less restricted but being unable to defend themselves against the deer, farming was not easy. There were several deer parks, and perhaps many at times, which could be as large as Blagdon Park in the north east of the Chase, having a perimeter of 6 miles. The parks were exclusively for the deer, who could often jump in but seldom get out again due to the design of the fencing. Beyond these parks, the King also granted rights of Warren to many and there was a general prohibition on destroying Furze and Gorse, to support hawking of pheasants and the hunting of hares etc.
To ensure the smooth running of the Chase there were rangers and game keepers and others, and to support the hunters, lodges that later became stately homes, such as Rushmoor. By the late 18th Century the benefits of the chase were beginning to be outweighed by the burdens. Farmers within and around the chase were constantly at odds with the deer and the hunters and enforcing the rights of the chase was expensive and even dangerous. After several attempts to negotiate change the government intervened and an act was passed that disenfranchised the rights of the chase in return for an annual fee and considerable land.
Almost immediately the farmers started to convert the chase to agriculture, a process that has continued up to the present. Much of the woodland has now gone together with the furze, gorse and the warrens. But many of the woods still contain coppiced hazel and many of the rides are still lined with the trees and shrubs originally planted to feed the deer.
In 1983, Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty was officially designated. In Dorset, the AONB delimits the chalk bedrock more precisely than the original Chase. In medieval times the boundaries of the Chase had to be “perambulated” and presumably rivers made an easy to follow boundary.
Anyone with notions of the Chase being covered by gentle meadows with grazing sheep, and crossed by drover’s roads along which these sheep were driven, would have been in for a surprise if they could have glimpsed the historical realities. Coppices, rides, open rough ground and deer, deer everywhere. And plenty of locals who regarded them and probably their guardians as nothing more than a pest that they could legally do nothing about.
Geology
The chase lies across a plateau of chalk, rising from under the Poole Basin in the east, out to the scarp slopes to the north and west, none more defined than at Melbury and Fontmell. Most of the land is relatively flat with slight valleys along the Gussage and Tarrant valleys. The River Allen, running almost along the junction between the chalk and Poole Basin, has the least obvious vale of all. The chalk is consistent with the wider Downs, from Dorset through to Sussex and Kent, but with considerable exposure of the local Spetisbury and Tarrant formations as well as the Portsdown formation. These are all part of the Upper Chalk Group that tend to be softer smoother and have fewer flint nodules.
To the north of the chase, glaciation had a dramatic effect on the chalk with the ice cracking along vertical and horizontal seams so that when the ice receded and the melt waters drained away there were left a number of dry valleys. These are particularly noticeable at Fontmell and Melbury.
