Ixviii TNTRODUCTIOir. 



grounds, thrortgliout their march from Hethersett to 

 Eaton wood, and thence to the great camp on Mouse- 

 hold-heath. Thorpe wood was demohshed, at the same 

 time, in order to prevent any surprise from that quarter, 

 and the timber used for huts, tents, and fuel.* No 

 wonder, after so serious a check as was experienced by 

 this formidable rising, and the long and sanguinary 

 struggle that ensued between the King's troops and 

 the rebels, if, for a long period the enclosure system 

 progressed but slowly. Even as late as the reign of 

 Charles II., as Mr. Trimmer states in his "Flora of 

 Norfolk," " a heath, extending, with little interruption, 

 from Dunston, south of Norwich, northward, to Heving- 

 ham, and from thence, westward, to Lynn, was computed 

 to be a hundred miles in circumference," and from this 

 we may infer the general condition of the county in 

 1671, when that *' witty monarch" made a Royal pro- 

 gress from Yarmouth to Norwich, and passing thence 

 to Oxnead, Blickling, and Rainham, formed the quaint 

 idea " that it was fit only to be cut into roads for the 

 rest of the kingdom." 



Of its ornithology in those days, we fortunately 

 possess the most valuable records in the writings of that 

 learned Dr. Browne, who, for his great and varied 

 accomphshments, was knighted by the King during his 

 short stay in Norwich ; and from his notes we arrive at 

 the rather startling conclusion that, with the exception 

 only of the Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia) and the 

 Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carho), the same species 

 found nesting here in 1671 were still residents up 

 to the commencement of the present century. Yet 

 such, undoubtedly, was the fact, since, as ^Mr. 

 Lubbock remarks, it was not ^^ until the extravasrant 



* See note from Norw. Roll in Blomefield's History of iN'orwich, 

 vol. 1., p. 226. 



