Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
1230. There is also a mention of the 'Park-de-Breoz' in 1306 and the 'parcus de Bruz' in 1319. Although
itistraditional toassignthecreation oftheparktoWilliam deBreos,documentary evidence suggests itis
morelikelytobetheworkofhissonJohn.In1439itwasdescribedas'aParksidecalledyeParkofPrys',
but some time during the fifteenth century it was 'disparked' and divided into fields and closes. In the
1580s, for example, Rice Merrick, the Elizabethan chronicler of Glamorgan, described it as 'an ancient
lodgehousecalledParkyPrice…sometimeemparkedwithawallandpalebutlongtimepastdis-parked'
(James, 1983).Adisused park usually reverted to being a woodand often permanently acquired the name
'Park Wood', or in this case 'Park Woods'.
Whateverthesportingvalueofthearea,deerparksalsohadanumberofeconomicusesandthisseems
to have been the case at Parc le Breos. Several financial accounts for the lordship are available, the earli-
est relating to 1337/8 when the park was included in the account for Lunnon; there is also one for 1366/7
when the park had a separate account. The pasture of livestock, or 'agistment', was clearly important as
it constituted most of the income in 1367, for example. There are also entries for pannage (the pasture of
pigs in oak woods in the autumn for winter fattening) and for the sale of wild honey and ferns. Almost
as important was the sale of timber, and the recorded sale of underwood implies the management of trees
for the purpose of providing a regular crop. While pollarding and lopping may have taken place, direct
evidence has survived for a coppicing tradition in what is now Park Woods. Although today they com-
prise a single expanse of woodland, they once consisted of several individual woods, each of which was
separately enclosed. This arrangement is characteristic of coppices, where rotational cutting required new
growth to be protected, and was a well-documented feature of deer parks, where the production of tim-
ber was maximised by keeping it separate from pasture. Because of the importance of timber for fuel and
building, coppice rotation, once established, usually continued for several centuries. The compartmented
nature of Park Woods was still noticeable in the nineteenth century.
In the medieval period the supervision of felling and removal of forest products by the appointed for-
esters was an important feature and the rules concerning such activities were explicit. For example, in the
charter of William de Breos to the people of Gower in 1306, wood could be taken under the watch of the
forester, but if the forester was not present the applicant had to blow a horn three times, or if they had no
horn, strike a tree three times with an axe and await the arrival of the forester. If the forester did not ar-
rive in a reasonable time, the necessary wood could be taken without obstruction. The Book of Llandaff,
writteninthesecondhalfofthetwelfthcenturytounderlinethediocesanclaimtoterritoryandprivileges,
mentions many woods, but names only a few, including Luhin Latron, Thieves Wood, Gower, which is
thought to refer to Clyne Wood, or woodland near Three Crosses.
Ashuntinganddeerhusbandrydeclined inimportance, partial 'disparkment' tookplaceintheeastern
portion to make way for cultivation. It is not entirely clear when this reduction of the park took place, but
around Lunnon a pattern of elongated and rectilinear fields represents the remains of a strip field system
created, probably, in the thirteenth century. The economy at the beginning of the fourteenth century was
weak. Bad weather had resulted in poor harvests, there had been a series of animal plagues and the Black
Death, in the second quarter of the century, decimated the human population. Although there are no de-
tails of the Black Death in Gower, evidence of its effects can still be seen today. A significant proportion
of the population was lost, fields were untended, farms became vacant and food prices unstable. Gower
wasalsonotsparedthedevastationthatfollowed,andinlessthanacenturyhadbeenseverelyaffectedby
war, famine and pestilence.
Despite these pressures, the western portion of the deer park continued to function until the end of the
fourteenth century,as suggested byarecord ofrepairs made tothe pale fromfallen oaktrees in1400.Itis
notclear whenthekeepingofdeerfinally ceased, butafterthedemise ofthedeBreosfamily inthe1320s
the need for them would have gradually diminished. By 1650 the Cromwellian survey named the owner
