spicuous for their bravery during the battle; and upon their return from the campaign, the promised land was claimed by one Ralph, to whom and his heirs the grant of it was confirmed under the name of Boscum Calumpniatum-Callingwood, or the Claimed Wood."*

This long explanation of points that have often been the subject of much doubt, will at least be interesting to proprietors of the Forest: and the general reader, it is hoped, will find in it some information that will amply repay the perusal.

Having now given a view of what may be called the quadripartite division of the Forest, viz.: into Barrow, Groby, Whitwick, and Sheepshed, I proceed to notice some subsequent subdivisions of these portions, for which I am chiefly indebted to Nichols' History.

After the death of Sir William de Ferrariis, in 1288, it was found that he held the wood (boscum) of Charnwood, and that William de Ferrars, his son, was then aged seventeen.†

About this period, Alexander Comyn, Earl of Buchan, obtained a Grant of a market and fair at Whitwick, and held lands in Charnwood. How he obtained possessions in the Forest has already been pointed out. Many curious particulars of this remarkable Scotch family will be found in a subsequent chapter.

In 1306, John Comyn, Earl of Buchan, son of Alexander Comyn and Elizabeth de Quincy, gave to the Nuns of Gracedieu one hundred acres of waste appertaining to Whytwyk and Shepeshed.§

In 1349, Alice de Beaumont, Constabulatrix of Scotland, widow of Henry Lord Beaumont, daughter of the second Alexander Comyn, and niece of John, confirmed to the Monks of Garendon, for the health of her soul and that of her husband, and of John Comyn, Earl of Buchan, her uncle, "Totum boscum et solum cujusdam bosci, cum situ, chaceâ et venatione et alias res et possessiones in villâ et campis de Shepeshevede et de Gerendon et in Forestâ nostrâ de Charnewode."

In 1422, Maud, widow of Sir John Lovell, Knt., died seised of a third part of a certain Chace called Charnewood, parcel of the manor of Sheepshed; and in 1451, Sir William Lovell died seised of the same, and also of several Knights' fees, held of the King, as of the honour of Leicester, by fealty only. These possessions devolved on the Lovells by the marriage of John Lord Lovell with Joan Beaumont.

In 1461, says the author of the Beauties of England, Sir William Hastings was appointed Ranger of Barrow Park. (?)

In 1540, John de Vere, Earl of Oxford, held portions of the Forest; and the Receiver of Gracedieu Priory charges himself with payment to the said Earl for common of pasture in Charnwood for the tenants of Belton.¶

The de Veres appear to have obtained possessions on the Forest by the marriage of Hawise, daughter of Saher de Quincy, Earl of Winton, to Hugh de Vere, Earl of Oxford,** or by the marriage of Elizabeth, widow of William Lord Beaumont, to this John de Vere.

* Sir Oswald Mosley kindly informs me that he derived this interesting fact from Records in the Duchy of Lancaster Office, and that the Norman French name of the wood was Bors-chalenge. Esch. 1 Henry VI. Esch. 31 Henry VIII.

Esch. 16 Edward I. § Esch. Edward I.

Esch. Edward I. ** The aunt of this Hawise de Quincy, also named Hawise, has been more ill-used by antiquarians, even of great name, than any lady who has come under their notice. In the pedigree of the Norman Earls of Leicester (Nichols, Vol. I., p. 18) she is altogether passed over in silence, while her three sisters and their alliances are duly enumerated;

In 1583, Thomas Pasquen held parts of the Forest by Crown lease.

Queen Elizabeth also leased lands in Charnwood to William Acton and others, at a yearly rent of 11s. 8d.; and Sir George Hastings, in 1587, held certain woods in the Forest, as parcel of the manor of Beaumanor, under a lease from the Crown, at a yearly rent of 30s.*

"Sir Henry Hastings, of Humberstone (who was knighted by King James, at Belvoir, April 23, 1603), obtained from that King, for £4,000., the manor of Whitwick, with the lands thereto belonging, formerly the property of the Duke of Suffolk, attainted, together with Bardon Park, and all the messuages, lands, &c., on Charnwood Forest belonging to the manor of Whitwick."+

annum.

In 1604-5, Henry, the fifth Earl of Huntingdon, obtained from James the First a Royal Grant, under the Duchy seal, of the office of Chief Forester of Leicester Forest, with a fee of 2d. per diem, and also the office of keeping the ward called the Thwayt, fee 30s. 4d. per He had also the office of Keeper of Heathly Ward (there is no spot in either Forest now so called), in the same Forest, fee 1d. per diem, with agistment for twelve kine, one bull, and sixteen loads of wood yearly, on the same ward. Also the office of Keeper of Burned Lodge (within the said Forest), with agistment for twelve kine, one bull, two horses, and sixteen loads of wood yearly. The Earl's own valuation of these privileges was :—

Besides this, the Earl had the killing of eighty bucks and forty does yearly, and the fishing of his Majesty's ponds; the pleasure and command of taking pheasants and partridges; the oversight and command of the wood, where no lord could fell any without licence.‡

Some circumstances concur to render it somewhat probable, that the Forest here called "Leicester Forest" was, in fact, that of Charnwood, viz. :-Burton's assertion that there was, in reality, “no other Forest in Leicestershire"-" the Thwayt" being undoubtedly situated in Charnwood (see under Garendon)—the contiguity of the latter to Ashby-de-la-Zouch— and lastly, because the Earl's immediate predecessor was "Chief Forester of Leicestershire."§ and though mentioned in the de Quincy pedigree (Nichols, Vol. III., p. 66), she is at one time called the wife, and in the next line the daughter-in-law of Saher de Quincy, Earl of Winton. This seems to have originated in her being known by two names, Hawise daughter of Hugh, and Hawise sister of Ranulph, successively Earls of Chester. In another place (Nichols, Vol. III, p. 128) she is married to Roger de Quincy, having been before called the wife of his brother Robert. Lastly, the compiler of the index to the first volume of Nichols, considers her the sister-in-law of Ranulph de Blondeville. There is a Deed extant which settles the point, and demonstrates that she was the wife of Robert, son of Saher, Earl of Winton (Nichols, Vol. I., App. p. 40, No. 23); and another Deed (Nichols, Vol. III., p. 120) shows that Robert was the eldest son of Saher and Margaret, and that he was married during his father's life. Hence I have differed (page 13) from the pedigree, &c., in Nichols, taken, I believe, from Dugdale and Burton.--Part of the difficulty may have arisen from Robert not succeeding his father Saher in his title and estates, which is accounted for by his having been absent in Palestine at his father's death.

* In 1609, Thomas Hood held in capite the lands called Shifferman Hills.

+ Harleian Manuscript.

Carte's Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, F.F.F., No. 3.

§ William Lord Hastings is also stated, in an Inquisit. post mortem 1467, to have had "officium Capitalis Forestarum et Chaceae Leic'."-(Nichols, Vol. III., p. 141.)

Whether this conjecture is right or wrong, the reader will at least think the passage historically interesting, as showing the worth of Forest privileges at that time.

"In 1653, an Act was passed to enable Ferdinando, Earl of Huntingdon, to sell some lands, in which it was declared that he was seised of 'an immediate and entire estate in the manor of Loughborough, with the rights, members, and appurtenances thereof, &c., in Loughborough, Knight-Thorpe, Searle-Thorpe, Wood-Thorpe, &c., &c., &c., and also of and in the wood called Buddon Wood, in fee simple, (expectant upon the lives of his brother Henry and of such woman as shall be his wife at the time of his death)-and licence of sale of these estates was granted by the said Act."*

From this period, about which, as has already been shown, the last Swanimote Court was held, the Forest seems to have gradually declined in importance. The little timber it still contained, and its well-stocked rabbit warrens, were the chief things that gave it value. Even the right of common had become a very precarious and questionable advantage. It has, indeed, been stated by an authority on agricultural subjects, that this right was actually a dead loss to those persons who availed themselves of it.†

Having given this cursory view of the chief Forest possessions of the wealthy, it seems right, in this territorial description, not to forget what the poor man considered his territory. The small commoners and cottagers of the various townships around enjoyed the privileges which the free Forest afforded. They had their fern harvests, at which the fern was gathered and burnt to make ash-balls—they had their little pickings of gorse, brush-wood, fire-wood, turf, and peat-they had the minor "waifs and strays" of the warren-more than all, they had "fleet foot on the Correi." Some had a few stunted cows and Forest sheepa horse, it may be, or a few asses, which carried coals or besoms to the surrounding towns. Regarding the Forest as their inalienable right, they greatly resented the encroachments that seemed to be extending wider and wider, from the increased vigilance with which the warreners found it necessary to guard the lands in the neighbourhood of the warrens. A spirit of dissatisfaction at these inroads into what they called their "Maker's manor" (I have the expression from a very old forester), first began to develope itself among the cottagers of Sheepshed and Whitwick. The Jack Cades and Wat Tylers of the district fanned the sparks of this dissatisfaction into a flame, which soon reached the colliers at Cole-Orton.

The outbreak that shortly after arose, in consequence of this state of feeling, is thus noticed by Nichols :

"After the Forest had been well cleared of wood," as described in the preceding chapter, "it abounded for a considerable time in rabbits, there being then at least five wellstocked warrens: Lord Stamford's, Lord Huntingdon's, Mr. Herrick's, Mr. Phillipps', and Mr. Bosville's; besides three smaller ones-Mr. Barber's, of Mapplewell, and two others. In January, 1748-9, however, the inhabitants of all the neighbouring villages assembled at This is given to account for considerable alienations from the Hastings family of property connected with the Forest. Their chief Forest possessions were, however, lost much earlier.

† Mr. Bakewell.

The Rabbit-warrens in Charnwood.—1. Gracedieu Park. 2. Tin Meadow. 3. Black Brook and Ferny or Finny Hill. 4. Cliff Hill. 5. Goat-house Hill and Nan Pantan. 6. Green Hill, &c., near Ulvescroft. 7. Hunter's Hill and Benscliff. 8. Nan Hill, &c., near Mapplewell.

Charley Knoll, and after a formal consultation began to pull down fences, where encroachments had been made upon the Forest, at Woodhouse Eaves, Newtown Linford, and other places. Afterwards the rabble of the country, principally colliers from Cole-Orton, proceeded to dig up and destroy the rabbits, which occasioned great disturbance. Persevering in their resolution, the persons who claimed the right of protecting what they called their property, raised help, and went to such lengths that it was found necessary to guard themselves with fire-arms. William Whittle, a warrener, and four or five of his assistants, were attacked by the rabble on the Warren Hill. These defending themselves, a scuffle ensued with pitchforks, spades, pickaxes, &c., the warrener being the only person having a gun. In this affray William Stevenson, one of the rioters, received a wound in his forehead, of which he died in a few hours. It was the opinion of Mr. Hunt, the surgeon who dressed the wound, that it was not gun-shot (though such a rumour had gained ground from the firing of a gun in the air), but occasioned by a pitchfork grain having entered his head. It was never known who killed him. Whittle and five or six others were indicted for the murder at the Lent Assizes, at Leicester, in 1749, but no positive evidence appearing to convict any of them, and Mr. Herrick's Grant of free warren being produced in Court, they were of course acquitted. Yet the resolution of destroying continued, although there came two troops of dragoons, who took great numbers of the rioters prisoners, so that the gaols at Leicester were filled with them; and after much controversy, the Forest was proved to be free common for twenty-six neighbouring towns and villages; and thus the matter rested. But there is now scarcely a rabbit to be seen except in Bradgate Park.

"When the tumults had entirely subsided, the following respectful memorial was drawn up by a considerable number of the inhabitants of the neighbouring townships, and signed respectively by the officiating Clergyman of each place:

"TO WILLIAM HERRICK, ESQ., OF BEAUMANOR.

"We, the freeholders, farmers, and commoners of the several towns hereto annexed, having a right of common upon a large common called Charnwood, alias Charley Forest, desire, in behalf of ourselves and great numbers of commoners, in the first place, to express our concern and abhorrence of the manner of the late proceedings on the said commons; and, in the second place, we desire to represent the great oppressions we and all the commoners have lain under, for several years past, by the enlarging and extending the supposed ancient bounds of the warrens which have been kept upon the said commons, by which the grass and herbage of the said commons has been spoiled, and rendered unfit for depasturing of cattle and sheep; and many poor tenants and commoners have and do suffer grievously by the said supposed bounds being so enlarged, and by the warreners disturbing and driving their sheep and cattle off, or when near the said warrens. It is therefore our request that you will take the said condition of the commoners into consideration. And, agreeable to your goodness in proposing to reform all grievances, we desire that a jury of the most ancient persons nearest to those commons may be convened, and by their verdict such mere-dykes or stones may be fixed as may prevent any future disputes; and hope you in consequence

can receive no damage, as your tenants, together with the rest of the commoners, will likewise find their account and benefit by it, and be thereby enabled to pay their rents. And we farther desire to recommend to your mercy those commoners that have incurred your displeasure by defacing the said commons; it being their first offence of this nature, to which many were betrayed either by rumours without foundation, or led by curiosity, or irritated by others' murmurs, or excited by sensibly experiencing themselves the decay of their own commons. All which is hereby submitted."

This very temperate representation and remonstrance was signed by the Ministers of twenty-two out of the twenty-six townships, viz :—

What were the immediate results from this very proper address, Nichols does not inform us; nor does he state why it was solely addressed to Mr. Herrick, and not also to the other owners of warrens. The reason may have been, that Mr. Herrick's warrener was the person who resisted the rioters. The document, signed as it was, carries on the face of it the general conviction that encroachments had been made on the commoners' rights, and the circumstance probably had some weight in directing people's thoughts to inclosure.

The circumference of the Forest, according to Wild's survey (taken in 1754), appears to be thirty-three miles: but he has taken the boundaries in an angular form, or indeed in any form they presented; perhaps it might be encircled in a fence of twenty-five miles.Leland says it was "XX miles in cumpace."

To the proprietors of Forest property, at least to those who have not access to Nichols, it may not be uninteresting to describe the boundaries of this perambulation.