Forest of Braydon explained
The Forest of Braydon (anciently Bradon) is an historic royal hunting forest in Wiltshire, England, the remnant of which lies about 6 miles north-west of Swindon. In medieval times it encompassed about 30,000 acres.[1]
History
In the year 688 Caedwalla, king of the West Saxons, granted to Abbot Aldhelm of Malmesbury Abbey in Wiltshire, thirty hides on the eastern side of Braydon Wood (de orientali parte silve Bradon).[2]
At its greatest extent, Braydon Forest covered about a third of the area of the county of Wiltshire, but over the centuries most of it was gradually cleared.[3] A 108acres remnant south of Minety, known as Ravensroost Wood, was notified as a Site of Special Scientific Interest in 1989[4] and is managed as a nature reserve by Wiltshire Wildlife Trust.[5]
Keepers
Persons holding the office of "Keeper of the Forest of Bradon" include:
Notes and References
- Web site: Purton. Wiltshire Community History. Wiltshire Council. 21 October 2022.
- Book: S. E. Kelly . Charters of Malmesbury Abbey, Anglo-Saxon Charters 11 . Oxford . Oxford University Press for the British Academy . 2005 . S 234 . trin.cam.ac.uk . 2018-11-03 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110606125312/http://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/kemble/pelteret/Malm/Malm%207.htm . 2011-06-06 . dead .
- "Braydon: a study of settlement in a parish-edge forest", Paul Pattison, David Field, Stewart Ainsworth, Patterns of the Past: essays in landscape archaeology for Christopher Taylor (1999)
- Web site: Ravensroost Wood SSSI . 14 January 2023 . Natural England.
- Web site: Ravensroost Wood including Avis, Distillery and Warbler Meadows . 2023-01-14 . Wiltshire Wildlife Trust . en.
- Cokayne, The Complete Peerage, new edition, Vol. IX, p. 5, quoting Calendar of Patent Rolls, 1292-1301, p. 42"
- Ball, F.Elrington The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921 London John Murray 1926 p.164
