THE FOREST AGISTMENTS 43 



insist upon all such cattle being branded for identification. 

 Thus, in the accounts of 1321-2 of Needwood forest occurs an 

 item of ^d. paid for an iron for branding the cattle. It was, 

 for the most part, the duty of the reeves of the forest parishes 

 to mark with some distinctive sign the cattle entitled to feed 

 upon the wastes. In the case of the Essex forest, the mark 

 consisted of a letter surmounted in each case by a crown. The 

 marking irons were usually eight inches in height ; Mr. Fisher 

 has given examples of a considerable number. Representa- 

 tion of the cattle marks of the different parishes of Pickering 

 forest are given in Home's Town of Pickering (1905). 



Dartmoor was the most conspicuous example of a vast forest 

 district given up chiefly to the pasturage of cattle. The ac- 

 counts and court rolls, from the time of Edward III. to James I., 

 give full details of the large amount of cattle turned out in each 

 of its four divisions. They numbered at times upwards of five 

 thousand head, and the charge right through this long period 

 was i^d. each. They came from all over Devonshire, and the 

 annual great drives, to see their correct marking and number- 

 ing, are described in the section on that forest. "Drifts" of cattle 

 for a like purpose also occur in the Needwood proceedings. 



Several of the forest rolls from the time of Edward I. to 

 Elizabeth, yield particulars of the vaccaries or great cowhouses 

 with pasturage attached, which were on the royal demesnes, 

 and were included in the forest accounts, whether under direct 

 management or let out to farm. Instances occur in the cases 

 of Duffield, Pickering, Clarendon, and Cheshire, and notably 

 in the later history of Peak Forest. 



It may here be noticed that the place-name Booth, by itself 

 or in combination, is usually indicative of the site of the 

 residence of those who acted as cowherds. This is particularly 

 noticeable in the neighbourhood of Edale, Derbyshire, where 

 there were five separate vaccaries in the time of Elizabeth. 



HORSES. The agistment of a limited number of horses, and 

 more particularly of mares with colts, was common throughout 

 England's forests. Records of their agistment in the parks of 

 Duffield forest occur in the accounts of several centuries. It 

 was generally recognised that they did more damage than 

 cattle or sheep, and therefore their escape fines were heavier. 

 Thus at a Belper (Duffield forest) woodmote court of 1304, 



