Bedford Purlieus National Nature Reserve - Royal Forest of Rockingham

Royal Forest of Rockingham

The woodland now called Bedford Purlieus was part of a large network of medieval woodland across eastern Northamptonshire. The 1086 Domesday Book records the area as 'Forest' but the term Forest of Rockingham is first recorded in 1157. The boundaries changed a great deal, although at its greatest extent, in the 12th Century, Rockingham covered a third of Northamptonshire from the walls of Northampton to Stamford, and included the whole of the Soke of Peterborough, including all the woodland around Bedford Purlieus. Everywhere within the Forest, whether woodland, open land or villages, was subject to particular Forest Laws, enforced by the Forester appointed by the King. The King might give away his rights to particular places, however, so that Rockingham Forest gradually reduced in size. King John dissaforested the area east of the Great North Road, leaving Thornhaugh still within the Forest. By 1299, however, it was specifically excluded in the 'Perambulation' (description of the Forest Boundaries).

The Thornhaugh Woods were almost certainly not felled or cleared by this process. There is no ridge and furrow within the woods, and the records of the Thornhaugh Woods continue through following centuries, so it is believed that, unlike most English woodland, it has been woodland continuously throughout the medieval period. Other nearby woods were in a similar situation. Collyweston Great Wood, Easton Hornstocks, Vigo Wood, Rogue Sale and Wittering Coppice are also remnants of this long-dissaforested rim of Rockingham Forest. During the 13th and 14th centuries the Thornhaugh Woods were owned by the Semarc family. When a member of the family married Anne of Folkesworth, her dowry included the adjoining woodland of Sir John of Folkesworth. This remained a separately taxed area of the woods until the 18th century, known as John's (and latterly St John's) Wood. It was an heiress of the Semarc lands who, in the 15th century brought the woods to the Russell family, Earls, and later Dukes of Bedford.