COMMISSIONERS ON WINDSOR FOREST. 15 



made the encroachments, or the prcfent poflcflbr, as either could be difco- 

 vered, and whom the Commiffioners have called before them personally, are in 

 number 340; all of whom have been heard in fupport of any legal claim to fuch 

 alleged encroachments. 



Your Lordfliips will obferve, that the amount of the Encroachments, as flated 

 in the Map of 1789, differs very materially from that which has now been claimed 

 on the part of the Crown before the Commiffioners. This difference is occafioned 

 partly from Encroachments made within Bear Wood and Billingbear Walks (the 

 Head Keepers whereof are hereditary) not having been prefented at the Foreft 

 Courts with the fame diligence obferved in the other Walks, and parti y from 

 the prefentments that have been made at the Foreft Courts being in cftimated, 

 not meafured quantities, which eftimatcd quantities are moftly found under 

 thofe afcertained by admeafurement; and many Encroachments have at various 

 times been made, that have not been prefented at the Foreft Courts. 



The prefentments in the Court of Attachments have in moft cafes been the 

 evidence produced before the Commiffioners in fupport of the claim of the Crown 

 to thofe Encroachments, in other cafes the parties have admitted them. The title 

 to the Crown to the remainder of the Encroachments found by the Map, as alfo 

 thofe that have been made fince, in the cafes where there are no prefentments or 

 other legal evidence of the Encroachments, the Commiffioners conceive can 

 alone be eftablifhed by informations againft the parties in poffeffion of fuch 

 Encroachments. 



The particulars of each Encroachment which has been claimed for the Crown 

 before the Commiffioners, the names of the Perfons now in pofieilion of them, 

 the quantity of Land, the Walk of the Foreft in which it is fituate, with a reference 

 to the Map in cafes where it is defcribed therein, and fome observations on each, 

 are ftated in the Appendix to this Report, N* 22 ; and for the better confideration Appendix, N 22, 

 of what regulation fhould be made relative thereto, the Commiflioners have divided 

 them into five Clafl'es, as follow: 



Encroachments that have been made 30 years and upwards, which amount in 

 number to 53, and in quantity 30 A. 3 R. 31 P. 



.Thofe that have been made more than 20 years and not 30 years, which are 107 

 in number, and in quantity 60 A. i R. 7 P. 



Thofe that have been made 15 years and upwards, and within 2.0 years, 

 amounting in number to 14, and in quantity to 8 A. 2 R. 23 P. 



Thofe that have been made 5 years and upwards, and within 15 years, amount- 

 ing in number to 112, and in quantity to 72 A. o R. 25 P. 



And thofe that have been made within the laft 5 years, amounting in number 

 to 54, and in quantity to 26 A. 3 R. 24 P.. 



It will !>e proper to obferve, that it has appeared on the examination into thefe 

 Encroachments, that feveral Perfons have for many years pad paid an annual 

 acknowledgment to the Lord of the Manor in refpecl of fuch Encroachment. 

 Thus fome of thofe payments have been made in Manors belonging to the Crown, 

 and in other inftances to the Lords of other Manors. 



Leave from the Parifh has in many cafes been alleged before the Com- 

 miflioners as an authority for the inclofure, which it will be proper here to 

 explain. 



A practice has of late years prevailed in feveral Parifhes within the Foreft, for 

 Perfons wifhing to inclofe fmall parcels of the Wafte, to apply to the Pariih 

 Officers for leave fo to do ; this is granted at a Veftry, and a price fet on this leave, 

 in all cafes equal to, and in many inftances far exceeding, the moft exaggerated 

 value of the Fee Simple and Inheritance of the Land ; the common price being 

 from 20 to 28 . an Acre of the moft barren heath. No reference is made to the 

 Officers of the Foreft ; the owner of the foil receives no compenfation, or is even 

 confulted on the occafion. Large futns have been raifed in this way in feveral 

 Parishes, to the amount of many hundred Pounds. The mode of application of 

 thefe fums has not appeared in evidence before the Commiffioners ; and they are 

 deprived, by the Aft of the 47th of His Majefty, from taking any effective means 

 of difcovering the truth ; the Commiffioners are precluded by that Aft from com- Sfie Qd fe 

 pelling the production of any written document, and no Perfon by that Act is ^ Geo^lll. 

 compelled to anfwer to any matter by which his intereft may be liable to be im- chap. 46, ' 

 peached. How far this may be a proper fubject for judicial inquiry, is fubmitted , 

 :to your Lordfhips. 



By 



