hens, 40,000 dishes, 100 cakes, 100 gallons of vinegar, 4,000 onions, and 60 quarters of flour. The number of hens must have been very large to supply so great a quantity of eggs. The relative price of provisions in the county at this period is on record:19 for Richard le Waleys, who rented Terring manor, in 1277, had to supply his landlord, the Archbishop, with wheat at 18d. a quarter; oats at 8d.; four gallons of the best ale for a penny; the carcass of a fat ox for 16d.; a fat hog for 8d.; a fat sheep for 4d.; two fat geese for a penny; four fat hens for the same sum; and 100 eggs also for a penny. The Bishop's Stock, in his manors, had been fixed in 1227, by Bishop Ranulph (Ralph de Neville, Lord Chancellor), at 152 ploughing oxen, 100 cows, 10 bulls, 3150 sheep, 120 she-goats, 6 he-goats, and 10 cart horses; which were to be perpetually kept, lest a newly-appointed Bishop should exact anything from the poor of the manors for stock.20 Of fresh fish we find two not unimportant entries: 21 The King sold, in 1381, to Sir Edward Dalyngrugge, for five pounds, all the common fish in a fish-pond in the manor of Malling the temporalities of the See of Canterbury, then vacant, being in the King's hands. And on account of the great scarcity of eels and fresh fish, in 1391, at Chichester and on the coast between Dover and Portsmouth, the Collector of Customs was directed, till further orders, to allow them to be brought from abroad free." 22 AFFRAYS IN PARKS.-The Assize and other Rolls abound with records of prosecutions against those who broke into the parks, stole or shot the deer, and carried away the game; and the clandestine pursuit of game was, as it still is, accompanied by violence against the keepers. I give some examples of what took place in the 13th and 14th centuries: William de Stranes, Vicar of Cuckfield, was sentenced, in 1294, to three years' imprisonment for taking deer in John. 19 Pat., 5 Edw. I. 21 Pat., 5 Rich II. de Warren's park at Cuckfield;23 and he obtained his pardon and release only after he had been confined at Guildford from 2nd February till the Feast of the Holy Trinity, 13th June. Edward St. John had cause of complaint against Adam Parker, of Petworth, John de Dudelesfold, and William de Heresworth, for breaking into his parks and free warrens24 at Beugenet, Berlavington, Flexham, Lodegarshall, Sutton, Cotes, Egdean, and Fittleworth, driving away his deer, and taking his hares, rabbits, pheasants, and partridges. In 1344, not only did the Bishop of Chichester complain of John Bury, and others, for breaking into his parks, but Richard Earl of Arundel complained of John de Egeline of Crosham, John Pardieu, and others, for entering his warrens and chaces of Eastdean," Westdean, Charlton, and Singleton; the complaints of both being for driving away deer, and taking and carrying away hares, rabbits, pheasants, and partridges. Eleven years afterwards, a still worse raid was made in the Earl's seven parks, in his forest of Arundel, in his seven free chaces, and in his five free warrens;26 and the "malefactors," not content with driving away his deer, and taking and carrying away his hares, rabbits, pheasants, and partridges, ill-treated and imprisoned his Bondswoman, "nief," and servant Alice atte Mulle, whom they found at Keurdford, and then took her to Worminghurst, and there imprisoned her again; so that he lost her services for a long time. The Archbishop of Canterbury fared no better. In 1375, four men, named Cat of Rotherfield, and other malefactors of that place, Farenche (Frant) and Withyham, broke into his park of Franchame, in Wadhurst, took away some deer, and wounded others with arrows, and left them; and beat and wounded the park keeper and his servant so much that their lives were despaired of.28 7 HUNTING has yet its great attraction for Sussex men We have learnt from the papers of the Rev. Edward Turner 23 Rot. Cl.. 22 Edw. I. 24 Pat. 9 Edw. III. 25 Ibid, 18 Edw. III. 26 Ibid, 29 Edw. III. 27 The usual wages of a park keeper were 2d. a day, with sometimes a robe or a mark of silver in lieu of it: the wages increased to 3d. a day a century later. 28 Pat., 49 Edw. III. of the sports on Ashdowne Forest; and in the present volume of the Abbot of Battle's rights of hunting. The past glories of the Charlton Hunt have been recorded in our pages; and now I give some early notices of the sport: 29 So early as 1187, we find the Bishop of the Diocese, Seffrid II., not only hunting, but fined ten marks, for carrying his sport, without the licence of Henry II., into certain woods, which formed part of the King's escheats.30 When, some hundred years later, Richard Earl of Arundel hunted without licence in the then Bishop Gilbert de St. Leofardo's woods at Houghton, he did not escape so easily: for the Bishop threatened him with excommunication; and even, when the affair was arranged, obliged the Earl to observe a fast for his We have, in 1287, an account of an accident which happened to an over-zealous sportsman-Walter de la Marewhen he followed some dogs in Cuckfield park, running after a deer wounded by an arrow. Walter went naked into a pond after it, and swam to a weedy place, where he was drowned. 32 In August and September, 1303, the King's huntsmen, John Lovel and his fellows, were sent with his dogs to Ashdowne Forest to hunt for the King's use, and were allowed £10 2s. 6d. for their wages and for food for the dogs.33 These are still the months for hunting the red deer on Exmoor; and, till the recent enclosure of the New Forest, the Queen's stag hounds hunted there in these months. 34 Richard Earl of Arundel obtained, in 1345, licence to hunt in Worminghurst park, which Edward had taken into his hands. with other lands belonging to the Abbey Fecamp, and had granted to Alianor de Bellemonte, then the wife of the Earl.35 And John de Spyney, a huntsman, obtained of the Archbishop of Canterbury (1349) the custody of the park, warren, and foreign wood of Slyndon for life, receiving a bushel of wheat 29 Suss. Arch. Coll., vol. xv., p. 74. 33 Lib. roll, 32 Edw. I. This was before the royal hunting seat was built: see Suss. Arch. Coll., vol. xiv., p. 45. XVII. 34 See an excellent account of the Chace of Wild Deer in Devonshire and Somersetshire, published in 1862, under the name of C. P. Collyns, but the work of "one of Her Majesty's counsel learned in the law." 35 Pat., 19 Edw. III. R weekly out of the manor, and 13s. 4d. a-year for a robe and shoes; and for his boy, half-a-bushel weekly of the coarser grain-barley.36 A person of note, John Pelham, was appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury forester of the Forest of La Broille and of the woods of the Bailiwick of Southmalling, master of the game in the parks of the Plashet, More and Ringmere, and overseer of the fishery of Southmalling, for life; and had his appointment confirmed, in 1397, by the Crown.3 37 There are many entries of the appointments of keepers to other parks and forests whilst they were in the hands of the Crown, by forfeiture or otherwise. We have not many records of the HERONRIES, of which there must have been several in the county. Edward I. had one in his manor of Iden, which he reserved to the Crown, when, in 1297, he granted that manor to Robert Paulyn, one of the Barons of Winchelsey, for life.38 I might pursue my subject through the reigns of many subsequent Sovereigns; but the pages of our annual collections are not numerous enough to contain what would well fill an entire volume. 36 Rot. Cl., 23 Edw. III. 58 Ib., 26 Edw. I. 37 Pat., 21 Rich. II. NOTES ON RYE AND ITS INHABITANTS. EDITED BY G. SLADE BUTLER, F. S. A. THE valuable and full History of this Town, published by my friend, Mr. Holloway, in 1847, has still left several matters to be fully noted; and I avail myself of the free access to the wills and public records, to afford our members some hitherto unnoticed details. That wine was one of the principal imports in the 13th century, we learn from Madox (vol i., p. 568): the men of this town and Winchelsea being fined 10 casks for a contempt and trespass in 1246. King's Galleys were formerly built and repaired at this Port. In 1252, the Sheriff, William de Micheldovere, spent £20 in repairing these galleys here; and in the next year, the further sum of £39 17s. 1d. in their repair and in keeping them, and for the wages of 84 sailors, during 40 days, in taking them with the King to Gascony; but he waited for 13 years for the repayment. It A Fair was granted, in 1290, for three days: on the eve, day, and morrow of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin.2 is now held on 25th August; and the market (now held on Wednesday) was at first held on Friday; and was changed in 1405 to Saturday. Additional Town Walls were, we know from Camden, built in the reign of Edward III.; and they were commenced year in his time for we have, in 1336, a murage grant for three years to the Mayor, Barons, and Commonalty; and another Lib. roll, 45 Hen. III. 1 Pat., 18 Edw. I. 3 Chart., 6-7 Hen. IV. |