that the Earl of Winton granted for himself and his heirs a moiety of the said wood DEL'CHALENG, towards Barrow, within the underwritten metes and bounds, viz.: from the Heyway end to the rock of CERLEG', and from the rock of Cerleg' to Dunthorne-hull through the middle Burchewode-ley to the Holy Cross; so that the said Earl of Arundel may take, give away, fell and use, at his pleasure, his estovers of the said Wood of Chaleng' which belongs to him, and of all his other woods to the said manor of Barewe belonging, without the interruption of the said Earl of Winton or his heires, saving to the said Earl of Winton and his heires liberty to hunt in that part of the WOOD OF CHALENG' belonging to the said Earl of Arundel and his heires: and likewise in all other the woods of the said Earl belonging to the manor of Barewe, except the Park of Querendon. And that the said Earl of Arundel and his heires shall have Forresters in the said Wood of Chaleng', and in all other woods belonging to the manor of Barewe, to keep the same; and that it shall be lawful for them to carry bows and arrows in all the said woods, upon condition that such Forresters shall come every year, within eight days after St. Michael, to the Park ford, at the summons of the said Earl of Winton and his heires, or their Bayliffes of Groby, and shall take an oath faithfully to preserve the game and whatever else belongs to the Forest; and that the said Earl of Arundel and his heires shall have nine bows in the Forest of the said Earl of Winton, viz.: five of which Ranulph, formerly Earl of Chester, had there, of the gift of Robert, Earl of Leicester, and four given by the said Earl of Winton, to kill wild beasts; six small arrows, to take such as are wounded, without dogges, as often as the said Earl and his heirs shall think fit in his own person to goe there. And that it shall be lawful for them to go throughout, with the said bows and arrows, to the way which comes from Whytwyck to Groby; and if it happen that any beast be shott within the said bounds, and shall pass over the way towards Bardon, it shall be lawful for them to follow with the arrows untill they be taken. And for this Grant the said Earl of Arundel hath remised and quitt claimed from him and his heires to the said Earl of Winton and his heires, all that part of the Wood of Chaleng', towards Charley, and towards the wood of the Monks of Garendon, for ever, according to the said bounds; reserving liberty to the said Earl of Arundel and his heires to enter into any part of the said Forest with the said nine bows and arrows, as aforesaid."

"And the said Earl of Arundel granteth, for himself and his heires, that he will not permit any of his servants or tenants to commit any trespass in the said Forest, by destroying the game; and if any be convicted thereof, the said Earle granteth, for himself and his heires, that he will provide a reasonable punishment for such offence, without delay, to the utmost of his power."—(Fines Leic', 24 Hen. III.)—See Appendix.

In 1252, another agreement was entered into by the Earl of Winton and Roger de Somery, who, by his marriage with Nichola, second sister and co-heiress of Hugh, Earl of Arundel, was the then possessor of Barrow, to this effect:

"Rogerus de Quincy, Comes Winton, Roberto de Tateshall, juniori, Johanni filio Alani, Radulpho fil' Rogeri de Somery, Rogero de Monte-alto et Cecil' ux.: quod teneant finem inter Hugonem de Albiniaco Comitem Arundel, avunculum Roberti Johannis et Radulphi

et fratrem Cecilia, de libero introitu et exitu Comitis Arundel in boscum vocat' Challenge, estover et cursum canum ibidem.

"Rogerus de Somery, tenens manerium de Barewe post mortem Nicola, matris Radulphi, debeat fugare in Forestâ de Groby: Comes teneat Parcum de Bradgate, clausum cum saltatoribus. Comes dat licentiam Rogero de Somery quod fugat in Forestâ suâ; capiat duas damas temp. pinguedinis et duas damas temp. firmationis: et aliæ conventiones notatu perdignæ." (Placita divers' Comitat' apud Hunt', 32 Hen. III.)

Of such importance did these high and mighty Lords deem the right of hunting in Charnwood Forest, that another agreement was made by them at Leicester, "in the 31st year of King Henry, son of King John, before the Justices then there itinerant," reciting the "cyrograph before made between the aforesaid Earl of Winton and Hugh de Albiniaco, Earl of Arundel."-(Nichols, Vol. III., p. 661.)

Respecting their original agreement on this weighty matter, the late Dr. Vernon had taken also the following memoranda from some other national records in the Talley Court of the Exchequer :

"Comes Winton' concessit comiti Arundel medietatem bosci del Chalenge versus Barewe, cum boundariis; salvâ venatione totâ comiti Winton', &c., & omnibus aliis boscis manerii Barewe, excepto parco Qarendon.....Comes Arundel & heredes habeant forestarios, qui portarent arcus, sagittas, genderes, picettas, & bozones sive sagittas: cum aliis conventionibus notatu perdignis..... Chimina de Whitwick versus Groby & versus Berdon nomi

nantur."

I could produce at least twenty other Deeds from the Public Records, in which this wood is spoken of as "Kalengia," "Le Challenge," and "the Wood of Challenge;" from its total disappearance for several centuries, and the absence of its name from all modern documents as well as Forest maps, neither Burton nor Nichols made the least attempt to show where it was situated. I, too, should have had great difficulty in ascertaining its precise site, but for the assistance of a gentleman of such a knowledge of the Forest, and of its ancient history, as frequently to make me regret, while pursuing my researches, that he had not superseded my labours by being himself its Historian. I allude to the Rev. M. D. Babington, the Incumbent of the Oaks Chapel,

In reply to my inquiries, Mr. Babington says, "It is not so difficult as might be supposed to ascertain the locality of the long-forgotten Wood of Challenge, because, on comparing the line which divided it into two moieties, with the ancient boundaries of the parishes of Barrow and Sheepshed, given in Nichols, from 'Charyte's Rentale' of Leicester Abbey,* and with the more modern perambulations of Sheepshed, it is obvious that the

One of these Deeds is dated A.D. 1280. The other two have lost their dates, being imperfect: but they cannot be later than 1502, when Brother Charyte ended the task commenced by him in 1477, of copying the ancient Deeds relating to the possessions of the Abbey into the "Rentale."-(Nichols, Vol. I., App. p. 53.)—They are probably much older than either of those years.

D

same line is intended in them all, and that (with the exception of the first quarter of a mile) it is no other than the old Forest division between those parishes.

By placing them in juxta-position, their identity will be at once perceived.

*Here the turnpike-road from Loughborough to Ashby enters the Forest. The name "Heyway End" implies that, in 1240, there was no regular road to Ashby farther than this place. In the Barrow Inquisition no mention is made of this road, because at Nettle Hill the Barrow boundary turns off towards Beaumanor Park.

+From Snell's Lane to Nettle Hill, the Forest fence of the inclosures was formerly called "Holywell Dyke." Thence to Charley Lane it is still known by the name of the Earl's Dyke, traditionally said to have been dug by an early Earl of Leicester. In many parts, particularly near Charley, it can now be scarcely traced. Near the Five Trees it is very visible.

Whether there was formerly a stone set down as a boundary mark at the north end of Charley Lane, or whether the small adjacent rock in Mr. Dexter's garden be intended, it is impossible to ascertain.

as

§ The strong spring which rises here, and is the principal source of Blackbrook, is now merged in the dam formed by Mr. Gisborne at this spot, when he built Charley Mill. Its name, "Dunjack Well," probably has the same origin "Dunthorn Dyke." Possibly its other ancient appellation, "Rohay Well," may have been derived from some Charley Monk, a member of the family of Rohaud, or Rohaut, Lords of the Manors of Worthington and Newbold, and possessors of other estates in Leicestershire in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. No list of the Monks of Charley is extant, but Henry Rohaud was a Priest in 1309.-(Nichols, Vol. II., p. 211.)

met.

|| The present road from Whitwick to Groby does not adjoin, though within a short distance of, Wide-meer-pool, well known in the Forest perambulations as the point at which the parishes of Markfield, Sheepshed, and Whitwick Here three crosses were renewed, at each perambulation, till the inclosure. The name of the ancient cross, "Holy Cross," gives it a character of greater veneration than seems to have been enjoyed by the many other crosses spoken of in old Deeds as standing in the Forest; for instance, "Sir Robert's Cross," near Little Bawdon Castle, or that called "Acernus Lapis, ubi quædam crux stare solebat,” near Copt Oak. Perhaps its proximity to the Abbot's Oak (little more than one hundred yards) may, on some occasion of high solemnity, have caused it to be consecrated. Its other names, Conistonyes," and "Conston Cross," are probably derived from its situation, at the east end of the range of rocks (between High Towers and Green Hill) called "Warren Hills," denoting the Cross near the Coney Stones.

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In the present state of the Forest, the line may be thus described :-Commencing at Snell's Lane, on the Loughborough and Ashby turnpike-road, it skirts Holywell inclosures, whence it runs in a hollow way called the Earl's Dyke, over Five Tree Hill to the north end of Charley Lane, along which it proceeds some short distance, and passes by Charley Hall to Charley Mill. It then strikes off at nearly a right angle to Wide-meer-pool, in Mr. William Thurlby's homestead, at the back of the Green Hill public house, where it terminates. A person at all conversant with the disputes consequent on the Charnwood Forest Inclosure Act, cannot but observe, on looking at the table just given, that the parochiality of the land along this line, generally on both sides, but always on one, was not till then decided.

For instance, Charley proved to be extra-parochial, though the western side of it had always been perambulated by Sheepshed, and the Lordship had, from the time of the Conquest, been held by the three first Norman Earls of Chester, as an appendage of Barrow; and was, in the middle of the thirteenth century, described in a Grant as part of " the Waste of Barrow," meaning the part of the Forest in that lordship.*

Again, a plot called one hundred acres, but really much larger, on the west of Charley, proved to be in the liberty of Newtown Linford, though it had been demised as part of the parish of Sheepshed in the middle of the thirteenth century, by William de Ferrars, to the Lady Helen la Zouch, and was held by his grandson, Henry de Ferrars, in 1325, as in Sheepshed parish, yet parcel of the manor of Groby.†

The remainder of the large tract between Charley and the Hermitage, near the Reservoir, bounded by Blackbrook on the north and by Green Hill on the south, was decided to be in Whitwick, though at the time of the Inquisitions before recited, it was found to be in Sheepshed, and had been (together with the one hundred acres just mentioned) always included in the perambulations of that parish. So also, on the south of Charley, the land between that place and the turnpike-road from Markfield to Whitwick, was then found to be in Markfield parish, though the old Inquisitions place it in Barrow. A somewhat similar uncertainty prevailed respecting a long slip of land on the eastern side of the Earl's Dyke, till the land was allotted by the Commissioners of Inclosure, when it appeared that though it was in the liberty of Beaumanor, it lay under the burden of paying poors'-rates to Woodhouse.

Unfortunately no ancient Deed has been preserved, which shows what parts of the Wood of Challenge, to the south of the road from Whitwick to Groby, were claimed in ancient times by different Lords or Parishes; but it is pretty clear that such disputes had arisen, from the fact that a considerable portion of it is now in the liberty of Newtown Linford, though distant some miles from that place, and surrounded by other parishes.

Connecting these circumstances with the name of the wood in question, we may very fairly conjecture that it was called the Wood of Challenge from still more ancient disputes

* Domesday Book, Vol. I., p. 237. Nichols, Vol. III., p. 120, 121, 129, and 1011.—The whole Forest is spoken of by Leland as the Forest of Charley, commonly called the Waste.

† Nichols, Vol. III., p. 1011.-Inquis ad quod damnum.

as to the proprietors or parishes to which it belonged, the old legal term on such occasions being "challenged."*

But, though the situation of the Wood of Challenge can be ascertained, its limits cannot be exactly defined. Besides the tracts already mentioned, it may have included other considerable parts of the Forest, and perhaps of the adjacent country. At all events, it may be safely asserted, that it contained, inter alia, the narrow slip of Beaumanor liberty on the east side of the Earl's Dyke;† that it widened considerably on reaching Charley (of which a small part only was insulated by it);‡ that it embraced the large tract already described on the western side of Charley, as far as the reservoir; while to the south of Charley Hall it included Charley Wood, together with Timberwood and Birchwood Hills, and to the east of Bardon a greater territory on the south of the road from Groby to Whitwick. I am inclined to think that this was considerable; for it cannot be supposed that the part reserved for his own exclusive use by the Earl of Winton, the superior Lord of the Wood, was smaller than the part in which he allowed the Earl of Arundel the privilege of hunting."

Such is Mr. Babington's answer. He has not only clearly pointed out the situation of this wood, but has, perhaps, satisfactorily accounted for its name, from the frequent disputes respecting it though another antiquarian and eminent scholar is of opinion that Challenge, or Challenge (as it is found in some old documents), is evidently of kindred signification with Stone-henge, and he deduces from the word strong grounds for belief that a Druidical Temple stood somewhere near the spot now called Stony Stumps, and that the wood was a grove belonging to it, or leading to it.

My readers will thank me for adding a passage of great interest from Sir Oswald Mosley's History of Tutbury." It shows that a wood in Needwood Forest derived its name from a cause somewhat similar to that which Mr. Babington assigns as the origin of the name of the "Wood of Challenge."

“Thurstan, Archbishop of York [at the Battle of the Standard, 1107,] had recourse to a new mode of encouraging the forces under the command of these nobles [Peverel and Ferrars]: he caused a famous standard to be erected, bearing banners dedicated to St. Peter, St. John, and St. Wilfrid, with a portion of the consecrated host thereon: and his deputy, the Bishop of Durham, addressed the army from beneath it. Robert de Ferrars adopted another plan of animating the troops he had brought with him out of Derbyshire [another passage adds " and Leicestershire"], and from his other estates around his Castle.

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He promised a grant of land on the most frequented side of his forest of Needwood, to that man who should perform the greatest feats of valour. These methods had the desired effect; the hostile armies met in conflict near North Allerton, and, after an obstinate resistance, the Scotch forces were defeated with great loss. The Derbyshire men were con

The Abbot of Leicester challenged Alderman's Haw as his, from the Prior of Bermondsey.—(Nich., Vol. III.,1
p. 168.*)
This is called in the Fine "the part towards the wood of the Monks of Garendon," to whom it was granted by
Thomas Dispensator.-Nichols, Vol. III., p. 811.

In a Grant to the Monks of Charley, for the purpose of enlarging the court-yard of their Priory, the ditch of the Wood of Challenge is described as adjoining the south wall of their Priory, where the manors of Barrow and Sheepshed met.-(Nichols, Vol. III., p. 121, compared with Vol. III. p. 61, column 2.)