[ 3 ] 



To the Right Honourable the Lords Commiffionccs 

 of His Majefty's Treafuiy. 



THE SECOND REPORT of the Commiffioners appointed 



by His Majefty's Commiflion, in purfuance of an Aft of Parliament, 

 paifed in the 46th year of His reign, chap. 143. intituled, " An Ad: 

 " for enquiring into the State of Windfor Foreft, in the County of 

 " Berks, and for afcertaining the Boundaries of the faid Foreft, 

 " and of the Lands of the Crown within the fame ;" which Acl 

 was varied by an Aft parted in the 4;th year of His Majefty's 

 reign, chap. 46. 



THE Commifli oners having on the 2oth of January 1807, made their firft 

 Report to the then Lords of the Treafuiy, and therein Hated the proo-reft 

 they had then made in the inquiry directed by the Act of the 461)1 year of His 

 Majefty, and fuggefted fome ineafures, that, in the opinion they then ventured to 

 entertain, feomed. calculated to facilitate and advance the principal object of the 

 inquiry ; propofe now to enter more fully into the fieps they have taken to pro- 

 fecute the inquiry, from the palling of the firft-nicntioncd Act to the preft-nt time, 

 and to lay before your Lordlhips the refult thereof, according to fuch means as 

 have been afforded to them of procuring latisfactory information on the feveral 

 iubjects of their inquiry. 



The firft-mentioncd Aa pafled the Royal Aflcnt on the zad of July 1806 ; the 

 fame was foon afterwards ofiicially communicated to the Commifiioners, by' the 

 Sun-cyor General of His Majefty's" Woods, whieh was the firft knowledge they had 

 of the proviiions it contained ; and they were informed that His Majcfiy would 

 forthwith illue his Commiflion, in purfuance of the A6t, for carryino- it into 

 execution. 



The Commiflipnere met in Windfor Foreft in the month of Augufl 1806, before 

 the Commiffion iffued, and before they were authorized to appoint any public 

 Meetings, with a view to gain fome general information relative to the Foreft, and 

 the nature of the Claims they lliould have to invcftigatc, and to infpect fucli' Re- 

 cords and Papers belonging to the Foreft as were depolited in the cuftodv of the 

 Steward of tin; Foreft Courts. 



Though the Commiffioners found many papers in the hands of the Steward, 

 they were all of a modern date, few extending beyond the laftcenturv, and many 

 of thofe had been collected from various fources of information by the induftrv of 

 the prefent Steward, few of the papers -then in his pofleHiou having been handed 

 down to him from his predccellbr in that oflice. 



In an inquiry into the ftatc of this Foreft, that has exifted beyond all hiftory 

 and record, having within its boundary a Caftlc that has been the regal refidenco 

 for many centuries paft, and affording a depofitory ftrikingly fit for every record 

 and paper which might be fuppofed to exift concerning Windfor Caftle and all 

 the Royal pofleflious around it, the Commiflioners were much difappointed, to 

 find not a fmgle record or paper in the Caftle that afforded anv complete infor- 

 mation on any one right of the Foreft or of the Crown within "it ; and, with the 

 exception of fome books containing the proceedings of the Courts of Swaiiiimote 

 and Attachment, and of entries of appointments of various officers in the Foreft 

 to the prefent time, not a fmgle original document was to be found : and the carlieft 

 proceedings in the Courts of Swainimote and Attachment contained in thole books 

 are of the years 1606 and 1607. 



On inquiry into the caufe of this deficiency, the Commiflloners were informed 

 that there had been within the memory of perfons now living, a great quantity of 

 Looks, parchments and papers fuppofed to relate to the Forclt, which were depo- 



frtod 



