The 1808 Dean Forest Timber Act, signed on 18th June in that year, sealed the protection of the Royal Forest for the nation by giving Inclosure Commissioners a legal mandate to enclose 11,000 acres land in the forest in order to establish plantations of oak as a strategic resource for future generations.

The Dean Forest Timber Act had its foundations in the visit to the area by Lord Nelson in 1802. His report to Parliament a year later urged the government to urgently act to replant the Forest to provide oak for naval warships; this Act was the key to achieve this. This coincided with the appointment of Edward Davies, (later renamed Edward Machen), as ‘Deputy Surveyor’, a tradition continuing today in the person of Rob Guest at the Forestry Commission. Rob is now the public face of the Forestry Commission in the Forest of Dean, acting as the main representative for issues effecting this jewel in the crown of the pubic forested estate.

Machen oversaw a massive planting boom which resulted in the fine stands of ancient oaks in the Dean which we still value so much today, although no longer solely as a timber resource any more.

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Ἀριστοτέλης A Gloster Boy in the Forest of Dean ><((((*>