26 The New Forest : its History and its Scenery. 



has related each minute event of his reign, exposed each short- 

 coming, and branded each crime — say of the cruelty of the affo- 

 restation. Evidence like this, coming from such an authority, 

 is in the highest degree important. The silence is most 

 suggestive. It is impossible to believe, that so faithful an 

 historian, had it been committed, should never have hinted 

 at the devastation of so much property, and the double crime 

 of cruelty and profanity in destroying alike the inhabitants and 

 their churches. 



But the briefest analysis of Domesday, and a conaparison 

 of its contents with those of the survey made in Edward the 

 Confessor's reign, will more clearly show the nature and extent 

 of the afforestation than any of the Chroniclers* Erom it 

 we find that about two-thirds of the district, including some 

 thirty manors, Avas entirely afforested. But it by no means 

 carries out the account that the villages were destroyed and 

 the inhabitants banished, or, according to others, murdered. 

 In some cases, as on Eling manor, it is noted that the houses 

 are still standing and the inmates living in the King's Eorest. 

 Further, we find that some of the manors, as at Hordle and 

 Bashley, though considerably lessened, kept up their value. 

 Others, as at Efford, actually doubled their former assessments. 

 Still more remarkable, some againj as at Brockenhurst, Sway, 

 and Eling, though reduced in size, increased one-third and 

 two-thirds in value. One explanation can alone be given to 

 such facts — that only the waste lands were enclosed, and the 

 cultivated spared; 



That this was the case we know for certain, for it is 

 expressly stated that, in some instances, as at Walhamj)ton, 

 Lymington, and Eockford, only the woods are afforested, that 

 in many more the pastures are exempted, as at Wootton, 



26 



