FORESTRY 



so that all men might cultivate their lands and inclose their woods 

 therein, without let or hindrance as to vert or venison, etc., from any 

 warrener, forester or justice of the forest. 7 It was clearly some mis- 

 reading of this charter that led Stow astray, and hence caused a crop of 

 subsequent errors. 



With regard to the warren of mediaeval England, it is well to 

 recollect that the public had a right to hunt wild animals in any un- 

 inclosed lands outside forest limits, unless such right had been restricted 

 by some special royal charter or grant. The word warren was used to 

 denote both the exclusive right of hunting and taking certain wild 

 animals, and also the land over which such right existed. Grants of 

 free warren over lands or manors outside forests were frequently made by 

 our earlier kings to private individuals and to religious foundations. 

 Such a grant prevented anyone entering on such lands to hunt or take 

 any warrenable animal without the owner's licence, under the very 

 heavy penalty of 10. No one might, therefore, follow the hunt of 

 hare, fox, or other vermin into warrenable land ; but, strange to say, 

 following the hunt of deer into such land was held to be no trespass, 

 inasmuch as deer were not beasts of the warren. The beasts of the 

 warren included the hare, rabbit, and fox, and in the fourteenth 

 century (in certain parts) the roe deer ; there were also birds of the 

 warren, including pheasants, partridges, woodcocks, and herons. Lords 

 of warren had the power of impounding dogs as well as the snares and 

 traps of trespassers. Royalty had other warrens, apart from forests, in 

 addition to that of Staines, such as the warren of Ashdown, Sussex. 

 It was only in royal warrens that the lawing or mutilating of the fore- 

 feet of dogs obtained. 8 



There can scarcely have been timber of any size at Staines in 

 the middle of the thirteenth century, for Henry III, in 1262, gave 

 oaks out of Windsor Forest for the repair of the bridge at Staines. 9 



ENFIELD CHASE 



It was at Enfield, in the north-east of the county, bordering on the 

 Essex forest of Waltham, that the woodland of Middlesex chiefly pre- 

 vailed for several centuries. A park at Enfield is mentioned, as we have 

 seen, as early as the eleventh century ; and there is a record in 1220 of 

 Henry III obtaining oak shingles from this park to roof certain of the 

 royal houses at Westminster. 10 Immediately to the north of the town 

 lay an extensive tract of land termed Enfield Chase, which included por- 

 tions of the adjoining parishes of Edmonton, Hadley, and South Mimms. 

 It extended about 8j miles from east to west, and from 3J to 6 miles 

 in width. 



A chase was, like a forest, uninclosed, and only defined by metes 

 and bounds ; but it could be held by a subject. Offences committed 



'Chart R. 1 1 Hen. Ill, pt. 2, m. 5 ; Close, 1 1 Hen. Ill, m. 4. 



* Turner, Pleas of the Forest, cxxiii-cxxiv ; Cox, Royal Fereits, 2-3, 26. 



* Close, 46 Hen. Ill, m. 12. "> Close, 4 Hen. HI, m. 1 1. 



2 22$ 29 



