32 WOLMEB FOREST. 



taking the old materials for a perquisite. The farm 

 called Blackmoor, in this parish, is obliged to find the posts 

 and brushwood for the former ; while the farms at Greatham, 

 in rotation, furnish for the latter ; and are all enjoined to 

 cut and deliver the materials at the spot. This custom 

 I mention, because I look upon it to be of very remote 

 antiquity. 



LETTER VIII. 



TO THE SAME. 



ON the verge of the forest, as it is now circumscribed, are 

 three considerable lakes ; two in Oakhanger, of which I have 

 nothing particular to say ; and one called Bin's, or Bean's 

 Pond, which is worthy the attention of a naturalist or a 

 sportsman; for, being crowded at the upper end with 

 willows, and with the car ex cespitosa, " clumpy sedge,"* it 

 affords such a safe and pleasant shelter to wild ducks, teals, 

 snipes, &c. that they breed there. In the winter this covert 

 is also frequented by foxes, and sometimes by pheasants ; 

 and the bogs produce many curious plants.f 



By a perambulation of "Wolmer Forest and the Holt, 

 made in 1635, and the eleventh year of Charles the First, 

 (which now lies before me,) it appears that the limits of the 

 former are much circumscribed. For, to say nothing of the 

 farther side, with which I am not so well acquainted, the 

 bounds on this side, in old times, came into Binswood, and 

 extended to the ditch of Ward-le-ham Park, in which stands 

 the curious mount, called King John's Hill, and Lodge Hill, 

 and to the verge of Hartley Mauduit, called Mauduit-hatch ; 

 comprehending also Shortheath, Oakhanger, and Oak-woods ; 

 a large district, now private property, though once belonging 

 to the royal domain. 



* I mean that sort which, rising into tall hassocks, is called by the foresters 

 torrets ; a corruption I suppose of turrets. 



Wild ducks and teal also breed in the thick heather in the neighbour- 

 hood. ED. 



f For which consult Letter LXXXIV. to Mr. Barringtou. 



