176 



purcliased it for the sura of .£38,000 in 1S4G. Immediately on 

 enterin r the Castle, ijennission to visit it having been granted to 

 the Society by the owner, the Rev. J. H. Cross read a paper, 

 which, he first explaine 1, had no claim whatever to originality, 

 and .vviiich was a risumi iii brief of the full accounts to be found 

 in the books referred to. The following is the paper on 



HURSTMONCEUX. 



Archseology is not the proper pursuit of a Natural History 

 Society, but when on a day like this vvc are paying delightful 

 obedience to that rule of our Society No. 16, which directs 

 " that on one day in each year the members, with their friends, 

 be iuvite I to join in an excursion to some interesting locality," 

 anil we find ourselves in a locality so rich in interest as Hurst- 

 monceux, it is natural and quite legitimate that we should wish 

 to know something of the venerable remains we have come to see, 

 so I proceed to make the best use I can of the ten minutes which 

 the President has assigned me. The Saxon syllable hurst, which 

 forms the first half of the name, means a forest — Midhurst, 

 Wodhurst, Hurstpierpoint, and many otiier names of which 

 hurst I'orais a part, may remind us that they occupy a position in 

 that extensive forest whicli stretched in ancient times through 

 Kent, Surrey, and Sussex, and into Hampshire, and was 130 

 miles long by 30 miles broad — theSilva Anderidaof theEomans. 

 At the time of the earliest record we find the manor in possession 

 of a priest named Edmer, who is distinguisheil as owing no leudal 

 service to a particular lord, and who " ipse cum terra potuit ire 

 quo voluit." This was in the ri;ign of Edward the Confessor, and 

 the fact is mentioned in Domesday Book. " Soon after the 

 Norman invasion it became the see of a noble family called, from 

 it, de Herst. A descendant of this family was Waleran de Herst, 

 and he it was who added to his appellation the surname of 

 Monceux. Whence he derived tliis surname seems very uncertain, 

 though there was a Norman family of that name Avhich belonged 

 to the district of Bayeux. The name Hurstmouceux has been 



