 Although the three royal forests remained protected wooded areas, by the mid-15th century, some areas had been cleared for use as pasture, especially in the upland regions of Macclesfield Forest, and all the forests continued to be used to pasture pigs and goats.Although mixed farming remained the norm across the county throughout the medieval period, cattle farming increased during the 15th and early 16th centuries, with dairy cattle predominating in the south and west, and beef cattle in the north.The dissolution of the monasteries saw the land farmed by the religious houses across the county being forfeit to the Crown between 1536 and 1540.