294 ANTIQUITIES OF SELBORNE. 



current; for ancient settlers loved to reside by brooks and 

 livulets, where they could dip for their water without the trouble 

 and expense of digging wells and of drawing. 



It remains still unsettled among the antiquaries at what time 

 tracts of land were first appropriated to the chase alone for the 

 amusement of the Sovereign. Whether our Saxon monarchs had 

 any royal forests, does not, I believe, appear on record ; but the 

 " Constitutiones de Foresta," of Canute, the Dane, are come 

 down to us. We shall not, therefore, pretend to say whether 

 Wolmer Forest existed as a royal domain before the conquest. 

 If it did not, we may suppose it was laid out by some of our 

 earliest Norman kings, who were exceedingly attached to the 

 pleasures of the chase, and resided much at Winchester, which 

 lies at a moderate distance from this district. The Plantagenet 

 princes seem to have been pleased with Wolmer, for tradition 

 says that King John resided just upon the verge, at Ward-le-ham, 

 on a regular and remarkable mount, still called King John's Hill, 

 and Lodge Hill; and Edward III. had a chapel in his park, or 

 enclosure, at Kingsley.* Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, and 

 Richard, Duke of York, say my evidences, were both, in their 

 turns, wardens of Wolmer Forest, which seems to have served 

 for an appointment for the younger princes of the royal family, as 

 it may again. 



I have intentionally mentioned Edward III. and the dukes 

 Humphrey and Richard, before King Edward II., because I have 

 reserved, for the entertainment of my readers, a pleasant anecdote 

 respecting that prince, with which I shall close this letter. 



As Edward II. was hunting on Wolmer Forest, Morris Ken, 

 of the kitchen, fell from his horse several times, at which accidents 

 the king laughed immoderately ; and, when the chase was over, 

 ordered him twenty shillings,t an enormous sum for those days ! 



* The parish of Kingsley lies between and divides Wolmer Forest from Ayles 

 Holt Forest. See Letter IX. to Mr. Pennant. 



f "Item, paid at the lodge at Wolmer, when the king was stag-hunting 

 there, to Morris Ken, of the kitchen, because he rode before the king and 

 often fell from his horse, at which the king laughed exceedingly a gift, by 

 command, of twenty shillings." A MS. in possession of Thomas Astle, Esq., 

 containing the private expenses of Edward II. : -.1 



