| Oaks. | Firs. | |
| In Whitemead Park | 51,000 | 50,000 |
| Shutcastle Enclosure | 25,500 | |
| Ellwood | 8,000 | 16,000 |
| Bromeley | 80,000 | 3,500 |
| Nagshead | 460,000 | 5,000 |
| Aston Bridge | 81,000 | |
| Ruerdean Hill | 120,000 | 63,000 |
| Haywood | 240,000 | |
| Edge Hills | 10,000 | 70,000 |
| Crab-tree Hill | 115,000 | |
| Russells | 25,000 | |
| Kensley Ridge | 210,000 | 80,000 |
| Yew-tree Brake | 125,000 | 35,000 |
| Blakeney Hill | 100,000 | 13,000 |
| --------- | --------- | |
| 1,625,500 | 360,500 |
Under the usual official permission, the Howler Slade Colliery was connected, by a tramway 350 yards in length, with the Severn and Wye Railways at Cannop, and Mr. J. Scott was permitted to lay down 102 yards of tramway to his coal-works at the Moorwood, and Mr. Thomas Phillips to put up a steam engine at the Union Colliery, in Oaken Hill Enclosure. There was also another tramway extension by the Bullo Pill Company to the Folly and Whimsey Collieries at the head of the Dam Pool. A junction was effected in 1823 between the Severn and Wye, and the Bullo Pill Tramway, by means of the Churchway Summit, parallel to Serridge, thus connecting the eastern and western lines of traffic.
In the year 1822 the consecration of the third of the Forest Churches, St. Paul’s, for which a site had been given by the Crown on Mason’s Tump, at Park End, took place on the 25th of April, Bishop Ryder attending.
The Fourth Triennial Report of the Commissioners of Woods, dated 1823, intimates disappointment at the
little growth made by the new plantations, now eight or nine years old; but, on the other hand, it was observed that “they were doing well, and that slowness of growth was inseparable from their nature, particularly at that age.” We learn from Mr. Machen’s Notes that at this time, and again in the two succeeding years, very severe frosts, in one instance as late as the 23rd of June, greatly injured the young trees, more especially such as grew in low, moist situations, although in some degree it also touched those on higher lands.
The property known as “the Great Doward Estate” was purchased by the Crown, in 1824, from the Miss Griffins, for £15,000. Although separated by the river Wye, and situated in Herefordshire, and never before included within the limits of the Forest, it certainly groups with the High Meadow Woods, clothing the same valley; and it moreover forms a definite part of the geological basin of the district.
In March, 1825, the well-known and prosperous Nelson Colliery was commenced by Messrs. Bennett and Meek. A branch line of tramway was also made up to Mr. Mushet’s Mine, near the Shute Castle Hill Enclosure, from the Severn and Wye line at Park End.
In each of the seasons of 1824–25 and 1825–26, Mr. Machen states that about 500 acres of the High Meadow property was planted with oak, Scotch fir, and larch, in proportions varying with the nature of the soil and openness of the situation. In the parts where shelter was most requisite, two-thirds of fir and one-third of oak were planted, in others half of each, and in sheltered situations oak alone. A great many of these plants perished in the spring and summer of 1825 from heat and drought, and still more in 1826, which was the driest spring and summer ever remembered. In some high and shallow parts nearly every tree died; a great many also were eaten off and destroyed by the hares and rabbits. There were now 3,000 acres of wood on the High Meadow estate, viz. 2,000 acres of old woods, and 1,000 acres lately planted. In the year last mentioned the Fifth Triennial Report of the Commissioners of Woods, &c.,
was issued, signed by Charles Arbuthnot, Wm. Dacres Adams, and Henry Dawkins.
By the spring of 1827 Mr. Edward Protheroe effected the opening of collieries at Ivy Moore Head, Park End Main, Park End Royal Pits, and at Birch Well, at most of which pumping and winding engines were put up, a tramway 1,500 yards in length connecting them with the main road of the Severn and Wye Company. The same year saw a reduction of the landed property of the Crown by the sale of its rights in the Fence Woods, Mawkins Hazels, and Hudnalls, comprising a total of 1,273 acres 3 roods 9 poles, for £925. The Crown’s right in Hudnalls, although it contained 1,200 acres, was of little value, as the inhabitants of St. Briavel’s had the right of cutting wood on it.