FOREST OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 267 



the Thames, round the Oxfordshire borders of Berks, back 

 again to the inflow of the Kennet at Reading. 



Maps and records of all kinds have been consulted in vain 

 in the endeavour to identify the name Lenta ; but it seems 

 practically certain that it was an early name for the river or 

 stream long known as the Cole, which forms for several miles 

 the boundary between Berks and Wilts, passing by Coleshill ; 

 it falls into the Thames near Inglesham at the extreme north- 

 west of the county. It thus follows that practically the whole 

 of Berks was at this time under forest jurisdiction ; for the 

 part to the east of Reading and the Kennet came within the 

 forest district of Windsor, or, as it was then occasionally 

 called, the forest of Oakingham or Wokingham. 



All of Berkshire save the Windsor district was soon after- 

 wards disafforested. 



BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 



The western part of the county was occupied by part of the 

 forest of Bernwood, on the confines of Oxfordshire, whilst 

 part of the Northamptonshire forests of Whittlewood and 

 Salcey overlapped its northern boundary. Early in Henry III.'s 

 reign mention is made on several occasions of the forest of 

 Buckinghamshire ; but it was evidently the term used for 

 those parts of the county attached to the forests just named. 



King John gave to the canons of the abbey of Nutley the 

 right to use freely two carts to obtain firewood throughout the 

 forest of Bernwood between Easter and All Saints, save 

 during the fence month, and this right was confirmed by 

 Henry III. in 1228 and in 1230. In 1229 Ralph Briton 

 obtained the royal licence to hunt with running dogs the hare 

 and the fox throughout the whole forest bailiwick of Hugh de 

 Neville, in the counties of Bucks and Northants. The forest 

 of Brill, though generally known in the twelfth and thirteenth 

 centuries by the separate title, was more usually considered 

 part of the forest of Bernwood. It was part of the demesnes 

 of the Crown, and tradition has it that Brill was a residence of 

 Edward the Confessor. Henry II. held his court here in 1160, 

 and Henry III. in 1224. Brill forest was well supplied with 

 fallow deer ; fourteen does from here were amongst the king's 

 venison gifts in 1229. Out of this forest, in 1231, Henry III. 



