156 THE RED DEER OF EXMOOR. 



by the perambulation of 1298, any woods at all, and 

 this is specifically stated in an affidavit filed in 1622 in 

 an action regarding sheep trespassing on the forest. 

 Walter Dollen, husbandman of Stoke Pero, deposed : 

 " That there are no woods nor copses other than one 

 oake called Kite Oake and a few thornes growinge 

 here and there within the saide Forest, nor any other 

 shelter for deere other than sedgebusshes, rush- 

 busshyes, fearnes, heath, or such like." 



The Kite Oak was, no doubt, on Kittuck, the 

 green enclosure over which the field hardly ever 

 rides, between Manor Allotment and the head of the 

 Chalk Water. This absence of covert in the true 

 forest itself probably partly occasioned the continued 

 attempts on the part of the Crown and the foresters 

 to include within the "regard of the forest" the 

 immense coverts in the surrounding district. 



The forest laws imposed by the Norman Kings 

 were brutally cruel. Death, loss of eyes, limbs, and 

 other mutilations were the penalties exacted for the 

 crime of interfering with the King's red deer ; 

 some of the Kings mitigated the severity of the 

 law, but they exacted ruinous fines coupled with 

 imprisonment. 



The organisation of a Royal forest was a very 

 complete arrangement, and ensured not only the 

 safety of the game, but the collection of a good deal 

 of revenue, and the existence of a large body of 

 men, serving directly under the Crown, whose duties 

 would enable them to see and hear all that was 



