25r 



to find money and guns for the combatants, and to pay the heavy contribations 

 imposed successively by the Bang and by the Parliament. Contemporary te8_ 

 timony asserts that between the cutting of timber by the laadowners to raise 

 money for the King's cause, and the repetition of the same destructive process 

 by the sequestrators appointed by Parliament, anxious to realise the amount of 

 the fines imposed on the Royalist delinquents, it came to pass that most parts 

 of the countrj' were very bare of timber trees at the time of the restoration. 

 We have shown that on a visit into Herefordshire 20 years before this time, the 

 sharp eyes of the Royalists coxild see even then but "Little Timber in the 

 Shire," 



The district of the county in which the estate of Whitfield is situated, 

 and, indeed, the estate itself, was at that time for the most part a mere wilder- 

 ness of brushwood and scrub, fit only for fuel, and which formed hunting 

 grounds for the gentry of the district. A considerable portion of the Whit- 

 field estate was formerly the forest of Trevil, extending as far as TrevU brook, 

 as the small rill is called which rises in the Whitfield Liwn, supplies the pool, 

 and joins the Worm brook at St. Devereux ; and this tract formerly belonged, 

 by a grant of Bang John, to the Abbey of Dore. It remained in its forest 

 condition, and supplied its contributions liberally to the furnaces of the district. 

 Doubtless, in their day, it supplied venison to the monks at Dore, but at the 

 time to which it is now more particularly referred, the falcons from More- 

 hampton may have coursed their quarry here, or it may have supplied the stag 

 for a royal hunt. The adjoining estate of Morehampton, three miles away west- 

 ward as the crow flies, was then in its glory. It is now gone, divided and sold. 

 The mansion itself was a timber structure. The last portion of it was destroyed 

 about twenty years in order to build the present farmhouse on its site. The 

 moat surrounding the old garden alone remains to show its former importance. 

 Here, in the early part of the 17 th century. Sergeant Hoskyns entertained King 

 James I. The autograph letter of Jlr. Sergeant Hoskyns to his housekeeper, 

 with reference to the preparations for the royal visit, is still extant. It was 

 contained in the collection of the late Rev. C. J. Bird, of MoVJiford, and has 

 passed into the possession of W. H. Cooke, Esq., Q.C. It is so little known* 

 and is so singularly interesting, that it is quoted here at full length. It gives 

 incidentally an admirable insight into the state of the country at that time, and 

 the difficulty of travelling : — 



Letter from Mr. Sergeant Boskyn^ (\), in London, to Mrs. Bonme (V, at Morehampton. 



" Dec. 10, 1627. 



" Pray God to bless us and yourselves. 1 think the matter will be so far settled to- 

 morrow that we shall need no other help than God's blessing, which is drawn down by the 

 prayers of those that fear Him. 



" Provide all things as well as you can : 11 it please God, we will be at Eoss on 

 Friday night. Thither must be brought some good coach with four horses, for I know not 

 how we shall proceed further. We are in hope of my Lady Cornwall's (4) coach for part 

 of the way. I had brought one down from London had not a foolish report caused a 

 doubtful letter to be written to me, but now I will cut off all possabiUtye of rumours, and 

 therefore I must make sudden provision. Sir Samuel Aubrey (5), Mrs. Candish, Sir Glleg 

 Brydges 6 , and every friend must be tried. My sister Kempe (.3) hath a good coach, so 

 hath my Lady Bodenham 7), but who hath horses? If any one knows of any noble gen- 

 tleman that now would furnish me, I would truly requite him, and in such a case never 



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