Chase is a term used in theUnited Kingdom to define a type ofland reserved forhunting use by its owner. Similarly, aRoyal Chase is a type ofCrown Estate by the same description, where the hunting rights are reserved for a member of theBritish Royal Family.
The term ‘chase’ is also used inAustralia to describe some national parks.Flinders Chase National Park is on Kangaroo Island in South Australia andKu-ring-gai Chase National Park is in New South Wales.
TheVictoria County History describes a chase as:
"like a forest,uninclosed, and only defined by metes [houses and farmsteads within] and bounds [hills, highways, watercourses etc];[1] but it could be held by a subject. Offences committed therein were, as a rule, punishable by thecommon law and not by forest jurisdiction."[2]
Chases are often identified by open clearings, soil type, and retaining additionalheath rather than forests for hunting purposes.
Chases faced massenclosure byPrivate (specifically local) Acts of Parliament. This type of privatization primarily occurred through the heyday between 1600 and 1850. Enclosure converted many chases from public to private lands to some extent.[3] After these conversions, in many areas the private lands were converted for residential, commercial, industrial or transport infrastructure use. However, the chases listed (seeexamples) remain largely undiminished by staying a Common, or by a gift to a public body whether to avoidinheritance tax or motivated byphilanthropy.[4]
Some examples of chases inEngland includeWyre Forest, which straddlesWorcestershire andShropshire,Malvern Chase in Worcestershire,Pensnett Chase nearDudley andCranborne Chase spanning Hampshire, Dorset and Wiltshire.
Cannock Chase inStaffordshire had once been previously recognized during theMiddle Ages as aRoyal Forest;[5] however, it has since been reverted to a chase and merged withBeaudesert, a property originally belonging to theBishop of Lichfield.[6]
Chases and Royal Chases are beneath the status of forests designations and Royal Forests, respectively. Since the late Medieval Period, the word "forest" has come to mean any large woodland. Virtually all of theNational Parks,AONB forests or significant other forests have officers and laws that apply only to them.[6]