[2] A rural relict is the 5 100 ha of the protected Forêt Domaniale de la Londe-Rouvray, at Les Essarts, Normandy, near Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray, south of Rouen, on an upland massif above the left bank of the Seine, which makes a wide arc enclosing it.
In 1613 a decree from the Conseil du Roi specified that the products of Rouvray and other woods nearby should be limited to the uses of Rouen, but in the seventeenth century, tile-works and pottery kilns[7] set up round the edges of the forest were consuming its timber for fuel.
Little was done to stem the erosion of the forests; the wars of Louis XIV took their share of timber of any size, and the cold winters of the "Little Ice Age" required firewood for Rouen.
In the twentieth century, the Second World War, the construction of highways, the new phenomena of forest fires[9] and acid rain, which selectively weakened conifers, have also taken their toll.
[12] A public, informative demonstration Maison des forêts, built by Agglo de Rouen (the agglomération rouennaise)[13] to Haute qualité environnementale (HQE, "High environmental quality") standards, was opened in March 2008.