i8o THE RED DEER OF EXMOOR. 



Hole we know as an ancient manor, and the word 

 Yard, or Garth, signifies an enclosure. It will not 

 escape notice that Leland does not describe it as an 

 enclosed country, like he does the Porlock \'ale, but 

 says the hills were full of enclosures ; clearly the 

 patches of enclosure surrounding such old houses as 

 Lydcott, Grattan, and Hole. 



The old saying one has heard so many times that 

 in the time of the fathers of the present generation 

 there was not an enclosure between Dulverton and 

 Porlock, must be modified. There must always have 

 been islands of enclosure ; but it was probably true 

 that till the great rage for hedges set in, in the latter 

 years of the eighteenth century, there were only 

 islands, and that the deer could, and did, travel over 

 the whole country without crossing a fence. 



When the Black Death cleared away so large a 

 proportion of the population, there can be no doubt 

 that the outlying hamlets, such as Ashway, Bagley, 

 Badgworthy, and Chittisham must have been the 

 first to suffer from the draining away of the bordiers 

 and villeins to Dunster, Porlock, and other more 

 highly cultivated lands, where, for the first time in 

 the history of this country, wages came to be paid 

 for farm work. The whole course of agriculture and 

 country life was changed ; farm hands formed 

 themselves into associations to raise wages ; 

 Parliament declared such associations illegal, and 

 went so far as to punish with fine and imprisonment 

 those who paid the wages demanded. It was all to 



