 In the year 688, Caedwalla, king of the West Saxons, granted to Abbot Aldhelm of Malmesbury Abbey in Wiltshire, thirty hides on the eastern side of Braydon Wood ("de orientali parte silve Bradon").At its greatest extent, Braydon Forest covered about a third of the area of the county of Wiltshire, but over the centuries most of it was gradually cleared.Persons holding the office of "Keeper of the Forest of Bradon" include