The Hordle Cliffs and the Avon. 13 



deer browsed ; masses of beech and chestnut, the haunts of the 

 wolf and the boar ; plains over which flocks of bustards 

 half-ran, half-flew ; swamps where the crane in the sedge laid 

 its buff and crimson-streaked eggs ; whilst above grey-headed 

 kites swam in circles ; and round the coast the sea-eagle slowly 

 flapped its heav}' bulk. Great oaks, shorn flat by the Channel 

 winds, fringed the high Hordle cliffs, towering above the sea ; 

 and opposite, as to this day, rose the white chalk rocks of 

 the Needles, and the Isle of Wight, where at AVatchingwell 

 stretched another forest of the King's. And the sun would set 

 as it now does, but upon all this further beauty, making a broad 

 path of glory across the bay, till at last it sank down over 

 the Priory Church of Christchurch, which Flambard was then 

 building. 



Gone, too, for ever all the scenes which they must have had 

 of the Avon, glimpses of it caught among the trees as they 

 galloped through the broad lawns, or under the sides of Godshill, 

 and Castle Hill crested with yews and oaks.* 



* For a justification of this general picture, I must refer the reader to 

 the next chapter, where references to Doviesdui/, as to the state of the dis- 

 trict before its atforestation by the Conqueror, and the evidence suppHed 

 by the names of places, are given. I may add, as showing the former 

 nature of the woods, that the charcoal found in the barrows, embankments, 

 and the Roman potteries, is made from oak and beech, but principally 

 the latter. Since, too, the deer have been destroyed, young shoots of 

 holly are springing up in all directions, and another generation ma}', 

 perhaps, see the Forest resembling its old condition. As a proof, beside 

 the entry in Domesday, that the Hordle Cliffs were covered with timber, 

 the fishermen dredging for the septariu in the Channel constantly drag up 

 large holes of oaks, locally known as " mootes." The existence of the 

 chestnut is shown by the large beams in some of the old Forest churches, 

 as at Fawley ; but none now exist, except a few, comparatively modern, 

 though very fine, at Boldrewood. Further, the Forest could never, except 



13 



