THE Commoners’ Association and the Forestry Commission are at odds as to whether the 800-year-old tradition of grazing sheep in the Dean is a right.

Mick Holder, the association’s chairman said there has been a right since 1217 when the Charter of the Forest was sealed.

However, the Forestry Commission dispute this and say that sheep grazing in the Forest is done under sufferance.

Mr Holder said: “It’s been a tradition that has continued for almost 800-years since the Charter of The Forest was signed in 1217.”

The Charter of the Forest, a complementary charter to the Magna Carta, was sealed by King Henry III and re-established rights of access to the forest for freemen that had been eroded by a succession of kings.

According to the Forestry Commission the organisation inherited the right from the Crown Office of Woods and Forests the ‘grant of sufferance of sheep grazing on the Crown Lands of the Forest of Dean.

A spokesperson for the Forestry Commission said: “We are not disputing the tradition of free roaming sheep in the Forest of Dean at all, in fact we positively support this tradition under the Responsible Shepherding Agreement.

“However the Commoners’ have never had a right to graze sheep on the Forest they do so under sufferance.”

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