COTTINGTON'S HILL 257 



munication between the different towns and places 

 enumerated in the Itinerarium of King John, we are 

 inclined to think that the Park farmhouse has 

 preferable claims to be considered as the situation 

 of the ancient royal hunting lodge than the top of 

 Cottington's Hill. It would be necessary in the case 

 of hunting quarters such as Freemantle Park that 

 provision should be made for the accommodation of 

 the king's retinue and migratory court, particularly 

 in the way of stabling of some kind, which one can 

 scarcely think would have been placed on such an 

 exposed eminence as Cottington's Hill. On the 

 other hand, at Freemantle Park farmhouse all the 

 requisite conditions are present, there being not 

 only shelter, but a large enclosed yard in front, 

 which, with the house, forms a square or court such 

 as we generally find attached to such ancient houses 

 as we presume this to have been.' Those who 

 have climbed to the somewhat bleak summit in 

 question, and then made an inspection of the 

 historical farmhouse beneath, will have little hesita- 

 tion in admitting that Mr. Money's arguments on 

 this interesting point are conclusive. One notes, by 

 the way, that it was in the reign of the monarch 

 whom Sir Walter Scott has be-littled at the expense 

 of his brawny brother that ' running horses ' were 

 first mentioned in the annals. And, as a recent 

 historian of the Turf has pointed out, that the king 

 himself largely patronised horse-racing there is 

 reason to infer from his having founded an exten- 

 sive breeding stud at Eltham on the very pastures 



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