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acter of the district was but little changed. The Forest of Deerfold had become 
a sort of outer park or hunting ground to Wigmore Castle, and still retained its 
wild and natural aspect ; its woods were valueless, its marshes undrained, and its 
grounds uncultivated. Trackings were made through it for the convenience of 
hunters, and verderers’ huts were to be found here and there. The chief verderer 
most probably built and occupied the house, which was soon known as the 
“‘Haven;” a refuge from bad weather, the trysting place for mid-day refresh- 
ments, and a hospitable refuge, perchance, for the lost and weary traveller. It 
says something for the zeal of the church in those days, that a small church had 
been erected in the seclusion of the forest, at which a priest attended at certain 
periods of the year to perform religious services for the benefit of the scattered 
people in the district, and for the nuns of the Priory and Convent of Lyngebrook. 
Five hundred years ago, less only by nine, that is in the year 1390, the Forest of 
Deerfold afforded a refuge to William Swynderby and some companions, fol- 
lowers of Wycliffe, who came here to avoid the violent persecution which set in 
against them on the death of John of Gaunt in 1389. It is highly probable that 
the very great seclusion of the Forest of Deerfold was pointed out to Swynderby 
by Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham. He knew the district well, and could 
obtain for him not only the protection of Roger Mortimer, Earl of March, who 
was at this time Lord of Wigmore and the Forest of Deerfold, but also of many 
other leading people. There can be little doubt but that he maintained Swyn- 
derby during his residence here, since it was one of the charges against that great 
and good man that he supported Lollard preachers at this time in the Diocese of 
London, Rochester, and Hereford. 
There is but little known as to the life of William de Swynderby, or William 
Swynderby. He first comes into notice as a priest in Leicestershire, and the 
earliest and fullest account of him is given in the chronicles of his contemporary, 
Henry of Knighton, a canon of Leicester Abbey. Knighton wrote in direct 
opposition to the views of the Wycliffites, and his chronicles cannot be expected 
therefore to show them any favour. Swynderby was a man of good abilities and 
highly educated, probably at Oxford, and he was a disciple and :sarsonal friend of 
Wycliffe, and one of his company of ‘‘ poor priests.” He was a gentleman, for he 
attracted many learned and able men, and kept them in close companionship with 
him for long periods of time. He seems to have gone to Leicester in a missionary 
spirit, without any cure of souls or other church appointment, and was allowed 
to reside in the Abbey for a time. He preached in the Chapel of St. John Baptist, 
without Leicester, near the Leper’s Hospital ; and in the churches of St. Martin 
and St. Margaret, in that town. He didnot remain long an inmate of the Abbey, 
most probably on account of the very decided manner in which he adopted and 
preached the new views for the reformation of the Church. 
He is next heard of as one of the many of Wycliffe’s ‘‘ poor priests,” who 
received the protection of the Duke of Lancaster, John of Gaunt; and he lived 
for several years as a recluse in his park near Leicester. Here he lived a life of 
great sanctity and self-denial, ‘‘refusing the gifts and presents,” says Knighton, 
‘‘ which were sent him by some devout people of Leicester,” and hence he became 
