AND THEIR INHABITANTS. 169 



nine fathom, and the dog-rope one fathom ; and if the 

 stakes whereunto the dog-rope is attached be higher 

 in the water than to a man's knee, then the said netts 

 be forfaited." The size of the boats and length of 

 oars on the river was not to exceed 20 feet for the 

 boats, and 16 for the oars, so that the boat might 

 pass up the centre of the river without coming in 

 contact with the staves and nets on the banks and 

 sides of the river. 



There was an ancient office called the " Sergeancy 

 of the Dee," by which a man was appointed to see 

 that these rules were carried out. This dates as far 

 back as the Norman conquest. This office was here- 

 ditary. In the reign of Edward II., Robert Grosvenor 

 de Eton claimed this right, which had been neglected 

 in his family for some generations. " The Sergeancy 

 of the Dee, from Eton Weir to Arnoldshyre (a rock 

 opposite Chester, now called Arnold's eye), by the 

 service of clearing the rivers from all nets improperly 

 placed there ; and to have a moiety of all nets for- 

 feited and of all the fish therein as far as stall-nets 

 are placed, viz., from Dee Bridge to Blakene, thence 

 to Arnoldshyre, to have one out of all the nets taken, 

 and to have a ferry boat at Eton over the water 

 . . . and to have toll from every flotte at Eaton 

 passing through his weir; and to have waifs and 

 wrecks on his manor of Eton, and two stall-nets and 

 two free boats in Dee." 



These custodians of the river had not fulfilled their 

 offices very faithfully in early days, for even in the 

 thirteenth century there was a great falling-off in the 

 yield of fish. And in the days of Edward L, a Dee 



