Today’s "Tale from Watnall Hall" looks at this coloured picture of a "woodman" and his dog that hung in Watnall Hall until it was auctioned off in 1954. The picture is an echo of the hall's own history. It takes us back to the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1st in 1600 when the old hall was still entwined in the verdant arms and forest laws of ancient Sherwood Forest...
The woodman is heading off into the forest to carry out his daily duties. Watnall Hall's resident back then was the first Lancelot Rolleston (there's been 8 of them over the years) and he was an important part of Sherwood Forest's administration team. Men like the woodman pictured here were employed by the forest officials to patrol and care for the forest. It was an illustration for William Cowper's "Tasks" poem part of which describes a woodman with his pipe and his hound. His dog's antics will sound familiar even to today's dog walkers!
A fine stipple engraving by Francesco Bartolozzi after the painting by
Barker of Bath, illustrating Cowper's fifth task book. English circa 1800.
"The Woodman"
Forth goes the woodman, leaving unconcerned
The cheerful haunts of man ; to wield the axe
And drive the wedge in yonder forest drear,
From morn to eve his solitary task.
Shaggy, and lean, and shrewd, with pointed ears
And tail cropp'd short, half lurcher and half cur,
His dog attends him. Close behind his heel
Now creeps he slow ; and now, with many a frisk
Wide scampering, snatches up the drifted snow
With ivory teeth, or ploughs it with his snout ;
Then shakes his powder' d coat, and barks for joy.
Heedless of all his pranks, the sturdy churl
Moves right toward the mark ; nor stops for aught,
But now and then with pressure of his thumb
To adjust the fragrant charge of a short tube,
That fumes beneath his nose : the trailing cloud
Streams far behind him, scenting all the air.
In 1600, the forest would have been an important source of work and resources for the residents of Watnall (or "Watnowe" as it was called then). The new Lord of the Manor, Lancelot Rolleston, had just moved into Watnall Hall. He was an important part of the admin team in the forest. In 1598 he had been a member of...
"a Commission [that] sat in Mansfield to enquire into the condition of Sherwood Forest. The Commissioners were Mr. William Cartwright, Mr. Lancelot Rolleston, Mr. James Leake, Mr.William Lyndesby, and Mr. Gervase Wyeld [a Verderer of the forest]. At this time, Mansfield Wood [a sub-division of Sherwood Forest] contained 480 oaks of more than 200 years’ growth".
Lancelot's everyday life was intimately governed by the ancient laws and rituals of the forest. "Forest" was a legal term, and meant an area subject to special Royal laws designed to protect the valuable resources of timber and game (Vert and Venison) within its boundaries. These laws were strictly and severely imposed by agisters, foresters, verderers, wardens and rangers, who were all were employed by the Crown. Notorious or persistent law breakers could be punished by being placed outside the protection of the law so becoming that most famous of Sherwood rogues, an "outlaw". Lancelot also carried out stock checks of the deer in the local area as part of his responsibilities.
Another famous image of a woodman/hunter, from the same period, can be found in Annesley. A brass rubbing from Annesley old church shows a picture of a typical woodman of the period, called William Breton, out hunting with longbow, arrows, knife and trusty hound. He lived to almost 100 years of age. Obviously it was a healthy life out in the woods!
The rare brass was analysed in an early Thoroton article... "This brass is in many respects unique and possesses features of special interest. Taken as a whole it falls into a class of brasses that illustrate incident; such brasses are by no means common. The brass represents William Breton on a hunting expedition accompanied by his hound. He is habited in a long skirted coat with tight fitting breeches and I should suppose hose, (but unfortunately the brass is in but an indifferent condition and some of the details are not quite clear), boots and a stiff felt hat. The hat is very similar to that sometimes represented on brasses as worn by ladies of this period. In his left hand he carries a long bow, a weapon much used in the chase even in the days when firearms were becoming generally used, on account of its silent discharge. In his right hand he holds an arrow which he is about to fit to the bow. Three other arrows are shown stuck through his belt. On the left side he carries a curved, broad-bladed couteau-de-chase, and on a long leash, also attached to his belt, is his dog.
One naturally compares this brass with that to John Selwyn, 1587, at Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, who was "Gentleman., Keeper of her Majestie's Park of Otelande" (Oatland Palace), who, on a separate plate between the figure of himself and wife, is represented seated on a stag which he is about to kill with his hunting sword. He is dressed in precisely the same manner as Breton with the exception of the hat, which, in Selwyn’s case, has a flat crown. This costume was evidently that of a huntsman, as contemporary brasses to civilians show the ordinary dress which is entirely different. The representation of the long bow is also of interest. I can call to mind no other example in which the principal figure is shown armed with this weapon. Other brasses to hunters are at Baldock, Herts., c. 1420, and Hunsdon, Herts., 1591, to James Grey."
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| John Selwyn, 1587, at Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, who was "Gentleman., Keeper of her Majestie's Park of Otelande" (Oatland Palace) |
The full story of Watnall Hall and Lancelot Rolleston's links to Sherwood Forest can be read here...
Lancelot's own life story can be read here in the Rolleston family tree article...
Sources and notes
1954 auction catalogue https://watnallhall.blogspot.com/2024/02/the-1954-watnall-hall-auction.html; Watnall Hall and the Rollestons - T.Horton 2000; Laws of the Forest and officials https://www.mercian-as.co.uk/1287.html; Thoroton Society online articles resource provided by the Archaeology Data Service https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/library/browse/series.xhtml?recordId=244&recordType=Journal
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