EXTINCT IN BRITAIN WITHIN HISTORIC TIMES. 17 



or lodg'O of that aueient house or castle, and the arms arc now to 

 be seen iu the \yin(lows, and in other parts. And, what is of 

 greatest authority, the original horn tipped at each end with silver 

 gilt, fitted with wreaths of leather to hang about the neck, with 

 an old brass seal-ring, a plate of brass with the sculpture of a 

 horn and several lesser plates of silver gilt, with fleur de hjs, has 

 been all along preserved by the Lords of Borestall, under the 

 name of Nigell's horn, and was in the year 1773 in the possession 

 of John Aubrey, Esq. (son and heir of Sir Thomas Aubrey, Bart.), 

 to whom this estate descended, without alienation or forfeiture, 

 from before the Conquest, by several heirs female from the family 

 of Nigell to that of Aubrey.* 



At the Conquest, Inglewood Forest was held by the Scots, from 

 whom it was taken by the Conqueror and given to Ranulph de 

 Meschincs, who made a survey of the whole country, and gave his 

 followers all the frontiers bordering on Scotland and Northumber- 

 land, retaining to himself the central part between the east and 

 west mountains, described as a goodly great forest, full of woods, 

 red-deer and fallow, wild boars, and all manner of wild beasts. f 



Henry the First was especially fond of boar-hunting, as we learn 

 from Holinshed, who stigmatises it as "a verie dangerous exercise " ; 

 and Edward the First made several grants of land which was held 

 by the serjeanty of keeping or providing boar-hounds. The boar 

 was a badge of Edward the Third,:]: and might therefore have been 

 borne by any of his descendants, but Richard the Third is the only 

 one to whom we can trace its adoption. § 



To notice all the localities where remains of this animal have 

 been discovered would be unnecessary, but we ruay mention the 

 ossiferous caverns of Derbyshire and Devonshire, the peat-mosses of 

 Northumberland and Westmoreland, and the peat at Newbury, 

 Berks, and Romsey, Hants. Some remarkably tine tusks of the 

 boar found in Cresswell Moss are preserved at Middleton Hall, near 

 "Wooler, the seat of Mr. G. H. Hughes. 



To judge by the remains of the animal which have been found in 

 various parts of the British Islands, wild boars at one time must 

 have completely over-run the country. They were hunted in all 

 the great forests, and in ancient surveys they are often mentioned 

 amongst the wild animals of the district surveyed. 



Swindon, Swinford, Swinfield, Swindale in Westmoreland, Wild 

 Boar Fell in the same county, particularly described by Pennant, || 

 and Wild Boar Clough in Cheshire, are names all equally suggestive 

 of the ancient haunts of this animal ; as also are Eversham and 

 Eversley, from eofer, a boar. 



On the west side of Benin-glo, Perthshire, are two places called 



* ' Archaeologia,' vol. iii, pp. 3, 15; Kennett, 'Paroch. Antiq. ;' and Blount, 

 'Ancient Tenures,' p. 243. 



t Lonfjstaffe, ' Durham before the Conquest.' 

 % ' Arch;c'oiogia,' vol. v, p. 17. 

 § Hawkins, ' English Silver Coins,' p. 278. 

 II ' Tour to Alston Moor,' p. 134. 



VOL. I. — PART I. 2 



