57 



stone" there by Milfride, and the stone for it is mentioned in both cases as 

 having been supplied from the king's quarries at Haywood. An excellent quarry 

 of stone, precisely similar to that of which the cathedral and bridge at Hereford 

 are built, exi-ts there still. Indeed, F. E. Wegg Trosser, Esq. , the present owner of 

 Haywood Forest, is at this time refacing his house at Belmont with stone, 

 chiefly from the same quarry. 



Hereford and Haywood Forest were so dependant upon each other in very 

 early times that it is almost impossible to give a sketch of the history of the one 

 without including the other. As many families at Maiden or Harden held 

 their right of citizenship in Sutton by supplying grass for the king's horses there ; 

 so every house in Hereford, AD. 1017, in the reign of Edward the Confessor, 

 was obliged by similar tenure " to furnish one man to assist in taking the game 

 when the king hunted in the Forest of Haywood," and there is not a doubt that 

 the attraction of hunting in Haywood Forest was the chief cause of the not 

 unfrequent residence at Hereford of several of our early kings. 



The same law or custom of scrviture of the citizens of Hereford to assist 

 when the king hunted in Haywood Forest continued in force under William 

 the 1st, and several other of the Norman kings after the conquest in 10CG. 



The present extra-parochial " Liberty of Haywood " does not much exceed 

 fifteen hundred acres; but in early times, besides this, the forest contained 

 also, nearly, if not the whole, of the present parish of Allensmore, the common 

 of Coedmore, a large portion of the parishes of Callow and Dewsall, the 

 township of Grafton, and Belmont, down to the "Wye. I am inclined to think 

 also, from an entry in Blount's M.SS., that the manor of Warnham (Warham), 

 on the north side of the Wye, was likewise included in the Eoyal demesne of 

 the Forest of Haywood. 



Mr. Warrington, in his History of Wales, tells us that the chief game in 

 the Welsh and Border-forests was the Stags the Eoebuck, the Hare, the Wild 

 Boar, and the Bear, which were most sought after and best esteemed for eating ; 

 and the Wolf, Fox, Martin, Polecat, and Squirrel, which were occasionally 

 hunted for diversion. Of birds, the chief sought after were the Cock of the 

 wood or Capercaile, and the Wood-grouse, which latter were usually found on 

 the ground, and hunted with dogs ; as, although called the Wood-grouse, it does 

 not take to the trees until alaimed, and then flying only to the lower branches 

 is easily knocked down with sticks or poles.* 



Forest hunting in those days was a very clamorous diversion. It was 

 attended by a great many persons as actual hunters who carried homs, and these 

 had under them a number of beaters and markers. 



"When the Stag, Roebuck, or Wild Boar were objects of the chace, the 

 chief implements carried by the hunters were spears and nets ; and it was 

 carried on with the distinct intention of obtaining a supply of game for the 



* I have shot at Capercaile with a pistol out of the kabitka or carriage window when 

 travelling in the Government of Archangel in Russia. Stopped the kabitka and hallooed 

 at it without the creature flying away. 



