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CHAPTEE IX. 



Ashdown Forest and Malvern Hills. 



Another very important case in the South of England, 

 but beyond the limits of London, was that of Ashdown 

 Forest in Sussex. 



This ancient Chase is undoubtedly one of the remain- 

 ing part of the great Forest of Anderida, which in very 

 early times covered a large part of Kent, Sussex, Surrey, 

 and Hampshire, extending from the Romney Marshes 

 nearly to Portsmouth, and comprising the greater part 

 of the district known as the Weald. In the time of 

 Edward III., 1372, so much of it as then remained 

 forest, consisting of about 14,000 acres, and lying 

 between Tunbridge Wells and East Grinstead, was 

 granted by the name of the Free Chase of Ashdown, 

 together with the Castle of Pevensey, to John of Gaunt, 

 Duke of Lancaster, and thenceforth, till after the 

 Restoration, was attached to the Duchy of Lancaster. 



In 1560, the Mastership of the Forest, together with 

 the keepership of the "wild beasts" therein, was granted 

 to Sir Richard Sackville, the ancestor, through the 

 Dukes of Dorset, of the present Earl De la Warr, and 

 the owner of several Manors in the neighbourhood of 

 the Forest, including that of Buckhurst. This was the 

 first connection of the family with the Forest. 



Shortly after the accession of Charles I., the Earl of 



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