felled, and in which any
considerable quantity of useful timber may now be found."

On the 28th of September, 1675, at the recommendation of Sir Charles
Harbord, to whom the plan was probably suggested by the precedent of the
ten bailiwicks into which the district had been anciently divided, the
Forest was formed into six "walks," or districts, a keeper being
appointed to each. Six lodges were built for their use in convenient
situations, with 30 acres of land attached, "for the better encouragement
and enabling of the said keepers to attend and watch over the said
enclosures within their several walks, and to preserve the same, and the
young springs of wood and trees thereon growing, and to grow from time to
time, from spoil and harm." The names given to each of the six divisions
were derived from some of the most eminent living characters of that day.
Thus, the Speech House, or King's Walk, was so called after Charles II.;
York Walk and Lodge after the Duke of York; Danby Walk and Lodge after
the Earl of Danby, prime Minister at the time; Worcester Walk and Lodge
after Henry Marquis of Worcester, the then constable of the Castle of St.
Briavel's, and warden of the Forest; Latimer Walk and Lodge after
Viscount Latimer; and Herbert Walk and Lodge after Lord Herbert; in the
two last instances, out of compliment to the Worcester family apparently.
The Speech House was so called from its being intended for the use of the
ancient Court of "the Speech," as mentioned in the Laws and Franchises of
the Mine. Now also a grant of sixty tons of timber was made by the King
towards rebuilding the parish church of Newent, as a tablet therein
declares.

How strictly the enclosures were preserved at this time against all
mining operations, is shown by the refusal which Sir Charles Harbord gave
to a petition presented to the Treasury by several gentlemen and
freeholders of the parish of Newland, for leave to make a coal level
through an enclosure, although they were backed by Sir Baynham
Throckmorton, Deputy-Governor of St. Briavel's Castle, who had also been
one of the Commissioners first appointed for carrying out the Act of
1668, and who gave it as his opinion that agreeing to the prayer of the
petition would conduce to the preservation of the woods in the Forest,
and the convenience and advantage of the country. The wording of the
refusal was very peremptory, to the effect that "the enclosures could
only be preserved for timber