MONK WOOD, IN LOUGHTON. 175 



part of I,oughton was called " Luketon Snarringe,"* as being, or 

 having been, the fee of one Cleoffrey de Snarring. He, we may say 

 in passing, was probably an under-tenant of the great Norman 

 barony of de Valoines in Essex, as in Norfolk ; from a place in the 

 latter county, now called Snoring, he seems to have derived his 

 name. It appears, however, that he had granted at any rate some 

 portion of his estate to three owners, who held a certain wood in 

 Luketon Snarrynge in common, though their shares were not equal. 

 But at this point it will be well to let two of them, Geoffrey Renitot 

 and Roger Fitz-Ailmar, speak for themselves through the medium of 

 an interpreter, their own words being recorded in monkish Latin : — 



" To all the faithful in Christ, Geoffrey de Renitot and Roger 

 Fitz-Ailmer send greeting in the Lord. Be it known unto all men 

 that Ralph de Assartis and we ourselves having measured of our 

 commonwood in the parish of Loughton, fifty-six acres and a-half, 

 and Ralph having demised his share to the Abbot and monks of 

 Stratford,^ we, for our own salvation and that of our [kinsfolk], 

 granted, gave, and by this charter have confirmed, to God and the 

 Church, and to the Canons Regular of the Holy Cross of Waltham, 

 all our part of the aforesaid wood with the land and all the right we 

 had therein, or could have, as in the felling and carrying-away of 

 trees, and in pannage at pannage-time, with everything else by any 

 right pertaining to us, to be had and held by the said church and 

 canons in free, pure, and perpetual alms, free and quit from all 

 secular service or demand from us and our heirs for ever. And it is 

 to be noted that of the aforesaid wood and land, fifty-six acres and 

 a-half by measure, our share was a fourth part in all the advantages 

 mentioned, and others which might casually accrue, to be received 

 in common between the said Ralph de Assartis and ourselves. And 

 we and our heirs will for ever guarantee against all men this part of 

 the wood and land, with the appurtenances thereof, as is aforesaid, 

 to the said church and canons, as our free, pure, and perpetual alms. 

 And for this grant, donation, and the confirmation of this our charter, 

 the aforesaid canons have received us for ever in the prayers and 

 other benefits of their house. These being witnesses, &c." 



Not content with this joint declaration of their gift, Geoffrey and 

 Roger proceeded to execute, each of them, separate deeds, couched 

 in much the same terms. The names of four witnesses are appended 

 to the charter of the former, viz., Nicholas de Barton. (Barrington) ; 



2 II may have been a small manor. That a hill on the southern border of Monk Wood is 

 still called " Court Hill," is a significant fact. 



3 Unfortunately no cartular>' of the Abbey of Stratford Langthorne, if it exist, is accessible- 

 That said to be preserved in Trin. Coll., Dublin, is a fragment of three pages only. 



