A HISTORY OF SURREY 



the Surrey side of the Thames valley, and 

 many horns and bones from the London clay 

 (in lit.). Mr. J. E. Harting gives us some 

 very interesting information relating to the 

 introduction of roe deer into Surrey in the 

 reign of Charles I. He says : ' The king 

 had expressed a wish to have some turned 

 out at Wimbledon in one of the royal parks, 

 and application was made to Lord William 

 Howard of Naworth Castle, Cumberland 

 (where we may presume the roe deer was 

 then common), to have some caught and sent 

 up.' Directions for the> purpose were accord- 

 ingly given, and what followed may be gathered 

 from the following entries in the Household 

 Book of the Owner of Naworth : 



1633, June 29. To severall persons for 

 Takeinge 31 Roekidds as appeareth by bill 



vijV;. xi. and vjV. 



They were no doubt taken in a haie with nets 

 and kept there according to the ancient custom 

 until they had become more tame and accus- 

 tomed to confinement, and were ready to be 

 removed to London. 1 This was accomplished 

 by means of three carts, as we learn from the 

 next entry : 



July 1 6, 1633. To William Lancaster the 

 Smith For binding three payre of wheeles 

 with iron which conveyed Roes to London 



v/f. xvjV. 



1 ' Haie ' signifies fence or hedge enclosing a 

 forest or park, and after a time came to mean the 

 enclosed space into which deer were driven, having 

 outlets across which nets were placed for their en- 

 tanglement and subsequent capture. A picture of 

 a boar hunt, attributed to Velasquez, in the Hert- 

 ford House collection, gives a good idea of the haie. 



and subsequently on the return of the 

 carts : 



For repairinge three cartes sent with Roes 

 to London to King Charles thether and home 

 again xv*. *J. 



Mr. Harting goes on to say : ' How far 

 these animals fared in their new home in 

 Surrey we are not accurately informed, but it 

 may be surmised that they throve and did 

 well, for a few years later, viz. January 1 7, 

 1639, a warrant was issued to Sir Henry 

 Hungate for the preservation of roe deer, 

 broken out of Half Moon Park, Wimbledon, 

 and now lying in the wood adjoining thereto, 

 and to take care that no person hunt, course, 

 or use any net or gun within four miles of 

 the said park.' 2 



In recent years the roe deer does not seem 

 to have done well in Surrey, as it is very shy 

 and the county has become too thickly popu- 

 lated for an animal of such retiring habits. 

 Mr. H. Sawyer, the junior ranger of Rich- 

 mond Park, says : ' At one time a few roe 

 deer were kept in Richmond Park, but they 

 never did well ' (in lit.). Mr. John Millais, 

 in his British Deer and Horns, writing in 

 1897, says: 'There are a few roe in the 

 woods by Virginia Water as well as at Pet- 

 worth in Sussex, and there were certainly 

 some in the heather and fir country near 

 Swinley in Surrey as late as 1894, for Mr. 

 Garth's hounds killed two bucks in that year, 

 whilst another was seen.' 



8 J. E. Harting, Essays en Sport and Natural 

 History. 



226 



