FOREST OF

See also:

• FOREST OF ARDEN

ARDEN  , a district in the north of Warwickshire, England, the " woodland " as opposed to the " felden," or "fielden," i.e. open country, in the south, the river Avon separating the two . Originally it was part of a forest tract of far wider extent than that within the confines of the county, and now, though lacking the true character of a forest, it is still unusually well wooded . The undulating surface ranges for the most part from 250 to 500 ft. in elevation . Wide lands in this district were held in the time of Edward the Confessor by Alwin, whose son Thurkill of ,Warwick, or " of Arden," founded the family of the Warwickshire Ardens who in Queen Elizabeth's time still held several of the manors ascribed to Thurkill in Domesday . Shakespeare, whose mother Mary Arden claimed to be of this family, knew the district well, living as he did at Stratford; and its natural characteristics, then still unchanged, inspired his pictures of forest life in As You Like It . The name of the Forest of Arden, besides remaining a convenient designation of a well-marked physical area, is preserved in such place-names as Henley-in-Arden and Hampton-in-Arden .