Needwood Forest was a large area of ancient woodland in Staffordshire which was largely lost at the end of the 18th century.
Needwood Forest was a chase or royal forest given to Henry III's son Edmund Crouchback. 1st Earl of Lancaster, in 1266 accessed 30th May 2008. It was owned by the Duchy of Lancaster until it passed into the posssession of Henry IV.
Under the enclosure act of 1803, commissioners were allowed to deforest it. By 1811 the land has been divided amongst a number of claimants.
In 1851 Needwood Forest was described as forming "one of the most beautiful and highly cultivated territories in the honour of Tutbury, which contains convert/9437/acre/km2 of land, in the five parishes of Hanbury, Tutbury, Barton, Marchington, and Yoxall which altogether form a district of over seven miles (11km) in length and three in breadth, extending northwards from Wichnor to Marchington Woodlands".
Nowadays there are twenty farms, on which dairy farming is the principal enterprise; convert/490/acre/km2 of woodland remain. Some parts of the forest are still open to the public. "Jackson Bank" is a mature, mixed 80 acre woodland left from the ancient Needwood Forest. This woodland at Hoar Cross near Burton on Trent is still owned by the Duchy of Lancaster, which opens it to the public. (The National Forest accessed 30th May 2008 archives). Bagot's Wood near Abbots Bromley claims to be the largest remaining part of Needwood Forest.
In 1776, Francis Noel Clarke Mundy privately published a book of poetry called "Needwood Forest" which contained his own poem of the same name and supportive contributions from Sir Brooke Boothby Bt., Erasmus Darwin and Anna Seward. Anna Seward regarded this poem as"one of the most beautiful local poems". The purpose of Mundy's poems was to resist calls for the enclosure of the forest. Seward herself wrote a poem called "The Fall of Needwood Forest".
Some ancient evidence suggests the Robin Hood (Robyn Hode)'s origins lies here in Loxley, Staffordshire and not in Nottingham. It has been suggested that Robin Hood was the son of William Fitztooth who held land in Loxley and this is where the birthplace came from. (Please note that one manuscript says he was born in Lockesley, Nottinghamshire but there is no town named on record). Evidence says that Robin Hood lived in Needwood Forest.
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