Savernake Forest
| Savernake Forest | |
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Six of Savernake Forest's historic oak trees: Top row: Big Bellied Oak; New Queen Oak; Queen Oak. Bottom row: Saddle Oak 1; Saddle Oak 2; Spider Oak.
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| Coordinates | 51°23′N 1°41′W / 51.383°N 1.683°WCoordinates: 51°23′N 1°41′W / 51.383°N 1.683°W |
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 family, and is administered by trustees. Since 1939 the timber of the forest has been managed by the Forestry Commission on a 999-year lease. The private status of Savernake, Britain's only privately owned 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.
First mention of a woodland "Safernoc" was made in AD 934 in the written records of the King Athelstan, but the land passed into Norman ownership soon after the Norman invasion 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.
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