OF THE 



jflaturaJ Itjistflrp anti 

 fidi Club. 



(FROM MAY, 1912, TO MAY, 1913.) 



FIRST SUMMER MEETING. 



BEAULIEU ABBEY. 



Tuesday, 18th June. 



In the unavoidable absence of the President, his place was 

 filled by Captain G. R. Elwes, who was accompanied by the 

 Hon. Secretary, the Hon. Treasurer, the Hon. Editor, and 

 about seventy members and visitors. 



The party assembled at Brockenhurst Station, after an 

 interval of sixteen years since the last visit of the Field Club 

 to that neighbourhood. The first objective was St. Leonard's 

 Abbey, where the Rev. H. Pentin read a letter from Mr. 

 Fisher-Rowe, in which the writer regretted his absence at 

 Bath. 



Captain ELWES observed that St. Leonard's was one of the series 

 of granges which belonged to Beaulieu, and although locally known 

 as " St. Leonard's Abbey," was never really an Abbey. The Abbey 

 grant extended a mile and a quarter, and conveyed a right of sanctuary, 

 which benefited not only those who took sanctuary, but also those 

 who gave it, since those taking sanctuary became labour tenants of 

 the Abbey. At the Dissolution there were in the Abbey domain 32 

 men, with their wives and families, and it was a matter of regret that 

 these men had to be turned out. They were there under sentence 

 for various crimes, and it seemed curious that any communal body 

 like the monks of Beaulieu should have had the power to retain these 

 criminals, and to screen them from justice. 



