THE FOREST OF EXMOOR. 141 



helped Arthur Heal to take the deer and draw him 

 ashore. 



However valuable may have been the greater 

 freedom and ease with which he could manage and 

 cultivate his own estate, it is clear that the sporting 

 rights of a purlieuman in a country like that around 

 Exmoor did not amount to much, especially when it 

 is remembered that he was restricted to hunting 

 fairly, which presumably meant coursing with grey- 

 hounds, or hunting " at force " with a pack of 

 " raches." Nothing in the nature of " forestalling" 

 was allowed — that is, using any artificial means of 

 trapping deer, or preventing their return to the forest. 

 Standing behind a tree and slipping greyhounds on a 

 deer as it was driven by towards the forest was illegal, 

 as being " forestalling." 



At a Forest Court held at Somerton in 1364 it was 

 presented by the forest officers that : — 



" Robert Hacche, Abbot of Athelneye, and Henry^ 

 his brother, made a stable in a wood called Lefhangre 

 and took one calf of a stag called unum boriculum 

 servi {sic). Also they say that Nicolas Corun, 

 Knight, on Tuesday next after the feast of St. 

 Leonard, took, in the wood called Burrow Wood, 

 near Winsford, outside the forest, one stag whose 

 peace was proclaimed, and made a stable contrary 

 to the assize of the forest." These, be it noted, 

 were purlieus. 



- A " stable" was a stand from which to shoot when 

 deer were driven by ; it was in common use in 



