290 ANTIQUITIES OF SELBORNE. 



was the beautiful spring or fountain called Well Head,* which 

 induced them to build by the banks of that perennial current ; for 

 ancient settlers loved to reside by brooks and rivulets, where they 

 could dip for their water without the trouble and expense of digging 

 wells and of drawing. 



It remains still unsettled among the antiquaries at what time 

 tracts of land were first appropriated to the chase alone for the 

 amusement of the sovereign. Whether our Saxon monarchs had 

 any royal forests, does not, I believe appear on record ; but the 

 " Constitutiones de Foresta," of Canute, the Dane, are come down 

 to us. We shall not, therefore, pretend to say whether Woolmer 

 Forest existed as a royal domain before the Conquest. If it did 

 not, we may suppose it was laid out by some of our earliest 

 Norman kings, who were exceedingly attached to the pleasures of 

 the chase, and resided much at Winchester, which lies at a 

 moderate distance from this district. The Plantagenet princes 

 seem to have been pleased with Woolmer, for tradition says that 

 King John resided just upon the verge, at Ward-le-ham, on a 

 regular and remarkable mount, still called King John's Hill, and 

 Lodge hill; and Edward III. had a chapel in his park, or enclosure, 

 at Kingsley.f Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, and Richard, Duke 

 of York, says my evidences, were both, in their turns, wardens of 

 Woolmer Forest, which seems to have served for an appointment 

 for the younger princes of the royal family, as it may again. 



I have intentionally mentioned Edward III. and the dukes 

 Humphrey and Richard, before King Edward II., because I have 

 reserved, for the entertainment of my readers, a pleasant anecdote 

 respecting that prince, with which I shall close this letter. 



As Edward II. was hunting on Woolmer Forest, Morris Ken, of 

 the kitchen, fell from his horse several times, at which accidents 

 the king laughed immoderately ; and, when the chase was over, 

 ordered him twenty shillings,^ an enormous sum for those days ! 

 Proper allowances ought to be made for the youth of this monarch, 

 whose spirits also, we may suppose, were much exhilarated by the 

 sport of the day ; but, at the same time, it is reasonable to remark, 



* Well-head signifies spring-head, and not a deep pit from whence we draw water. 

 For particulars about which see Letter I. to Mr. Pennant. 



t The parish of Kingsley lies between, and divides Woolmer Forest from Ayles Holt 

 Forest. See Letter IX. to Mr. Pennant. 



\ "Item, paid at the lodge at Woolmer, when the king was stag -hunting there, to 

 Morris Ken, of the kitchen, because he rode before the king and often fell from his 

 horse, at which the king laughed exceedingly a gift by command, of twenty shillings." 



A. MS. in possession of Thomas Astle, Esq., containing the private expenses of 



Edward II. 



