Great Yorkshire Forest
A drive through Dalby Forest, the
modern Pickering Forest, where our forebears took game in contravention of
forest laws, or were caught and punished by the verderers and regarders of the forest
The webpage
on Pickering and the Poachers of Pickering
Forest includes a chronology and source material.
A journey
into the forest world of early Farndale and our poaching ancestors
If you
follow the road north from Pickering for about six kilometres, you will come to
the entrance to the Great Yorkshire Forest, also called Dalby Forest today. It
comprises 8,500 acres of lovely forested reserve land, and will take you into
the heart of the ancient Pickering Forest, where you can experience the
landscape where so many of our forebears partook in poaching. It may
also give you a feel for our
forested family home of Farndale before the twelfth century when it started
to be cleared for farming.
There’s a charge to drive into
the reserve and you will experience the forest by driving through it, or follow
a trail on foot.
I recommend
it. It is a spectacular place, and you can immerse yourself in our medieval
history at the same time.
or
Go Straight to Chapter
7 – Poachers of Pickering Forest