THE FOREST OF PICKERING 113 



on the previous day. The king tarried there till 3oth 

 May, and the eyre that was held a few months later was 

 probably brought about as the result of this wholesale poach- 

 ing by men of position. 



None of the transgressors put in an appearance before the 

 justices, and a writ was directed to the sheriff to compel their 

 attendance. Eventually certain of them appeared, were con- 

 victed, imprisoned in the castle, and ransomed on finding 

 pledges and paying fines Nicholas Meynell 13 6^. 8d. , Peter 

 de Manley and William Wyvill 10 each, Robert Colville 6, 

 Robert Staynton and two more i each, whilst twenty others 

 were fined in sums varying from 13$. 4^. to 5^. Three more 

 appeared later before the justices at Hackness, and were im- 

 prisoned and ransomed ; the rest did not appear, and as the 

 sheriff failed to find them, and they had no goods in his baili- 

 wick, they were outlawed. 



Sir Ralph Hastings, the then constable and keeper, was 

 himself charged with venison trespass in 1327, but he produced 

 a pardon from the Earl of Lancaster, dated I3th August, 1334. 



Another trespasser who produced a pardon was Edmund 

 Hastings, who, with certain of his household, hunted a hare 

 by night on Midsummer Eve, 1316, and carried it home to 

 Roxby. Edmund appeared and produced a pardon signed by 

 Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, soon after the offence, as well as 

 from his nephew Henry, the present earl. 



A considerable proportion of the venison trespassers were 

 men of good family, such as Moryns, Acclams, and Boyntons, 

 in addition to those already named. 



Here, as elsewhere, a certain number of the secular clergy 

 were found to be culprits. Walter Wirksall, chaplain of 

 Westerdale, was convicted of twice joining a poaching party 

 in 1328, and was fined 1 6s. 8d. Robert Hampton, rector of 

 Middleton, kept four greyhounds, and often hunted hares ; as 

 he did not put in an appearance and could not be found, the 

 rector was outlawed. John, the chaplain of Hackness, in 1312, 

 and again in 1314, knowingly received unlawfully hunted 

 venison ; on his conviction he was fined i 6.r. 3d. During 

 the time of the sitting of the eyre, John Shepherd, parson of 

 Levisham, was caught by Edmund Hastings, forester-in-fee, 

 in the act of killing a hart with bow and arrow in Haughdale ; 



