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BURBAGE AND ITS RELATION TO SAVERNAKE FOREST (Map III)

The question may be asked why the consideration of Savernake Forest is relevant to the study of the development of the village. However, as C. Taylor showed in his study of Whiteparish (WAM 62:79-103), the presence of a forest does have an effect on the physical pattern of a settlement, perhaps more particularly on its fields and outlying dependencies. Since Savernake Forest at present stretches to within a mile of the village and geological evidence suggests it unlikely that this clay and flint area ever supported anything other than waste/woodland, some investigation should be made into its past influence on the village, insofar as this is possible.

Savernake is first mentioned in a charter of 933 A.D. as "the woodland called Safernoc", (Birch Cart. Sax. 6999). The boundaries are not given but it is unlikely that Savernake extended beyond the present limits and it probably consisted of scattered copses interspersed by stretches of wasteland rather than the results of two hundred years of intentional planting which we see today. It should be pointed out that the term "forest" does not necessarily imply woodland but refers to "an area of land which has been requisitioned by the Crown and which is administered under the Sovereign's direct authority, being used for the purposes of a game reserve", (Marquess of Ailesbury). Although Safernoc may not have held this status in 933 A.D., by the time of Edward, Aluric the Huntsman held land in Burbage of the king which suggests that by this time it had become a royal forest.

Certainly by the time of Domesday it had, since Richard Esturmy had been given the same lands and he was the ancestor of a long line of Forest wardens. At this point a concrete link with Burbage is established since the Warden's demesne land always lay in Burbage. In addition, by the end of the twelfth century, and perhaps earlier, Burbage lay within the boundaries of the forest so that its inhabitants were subject to Forest rather than Common Law. Thus, whether the proximity of the forest had an effect on the physical development of the village or not, it would certainly have affected the lives of those who lived there.

However, the physical form of the village and its surrounding fields gives little indication of the "taking-in" of forest land in the past. In Whiteparish, C. Taylor has cited examples of small settlements where he doubts that there ever were open fields but rather small irregular fields taken in from the forest as needed. In Burbage, although by the time of the Enclosure Awards there are no open fields in contrast to the surrounding villages, manorial accounts give the impression that the open field system did exist. Perhaps the pattern Taylor suggests can be seen to a greater extent around Durley. Nevertheless, the records of the Forest Court which was held at Morleigh (identifiable with the hamlet of Leigh Hill) show that assarting did occur, alongside with abuse of the royal hunting perogative and trespass, e.g. at the Eyre held in Salisbury in 1332 A.D. Henry Sturmy was accused of allowing his tenants from Burbage and Durley to turn out their cattle, sheep and pigs into the forest for grazing "to the destruction of the pasture of the beasts of the chase of the Lord King", (PROE 32:217). Although Burbage itself does not obviously reflect expansion into forest ground, the name Durley suggests a settlement arising from a gradual clearance. The suffix -leah is usually taken to denote a clearing and certainly Durley's position suggests that it is a secondary settlement. It is thought that the Esturmy family lived here before moving to Wolfhall in 1254 A.D. The only other settlement of significance within the forest is that of Leigh Hill, formerly Morleigh, which survives as a group of about ten 17th century cottages and which, in perhaps rather a fanciful moment, O.G.S. Crawford sees as the successors to the Romano-British potters' crofts, situated as they are so close to the kilns.

Finally, the bounds of the forest have had an effect on the bounds of Burbage. The parish of Savernake is a modern 19th century creation and there has never been a village or hamlet of Savernake. Previously the parish boundaries of Burbage extended into the forest and although no map of them in this form survives, it is likely that they followed closely the bounds given in the Saxon charter. H.C. Bentall has researched and traced out the various perambulations of the forest, all of which give topographical details and names useful in the interpretation of the earlier Saxon charter. The forest was divided into five bailiwicks and most of Burbage lay in La Verme Bailey which was the nucleus of the whole forest. The bounds of La Verme ran down the right-hand side of Burghstrete and therefore the village was apparently split in two for purposes of administration. The course of the eastern part boundary seems to have been influenced by division within the forest. For part of its length it follows closely the limits of Tottenham Park which was enclosed in 1548 A.D. so perhaps this gives some indication of the date at which the boundary was fixed although it could equally well be true that the park followed the line of the parish.

Thus, the Forest would have had a distinct bearing on the administrative, legal and economic history of Burbage: any land within the forest was of a much lower value because of the restrictions placed on tenants' rights. Its effect on the physical development of Burbage itself is not marked and its effect on the parish boundaries can only be postulated. It is reasonable to assume that its influence was considerable.

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