FORESTRY 



Philippa, was in charge of the manor, he one day saw the four horse-loads being carried to the 

 abbey. Entirely ignorant of the privilege, Geoffrey ordered the foresters, in the name of his lady, 

 not to permit them to take the brushwood any longer. Whereupon the convent made suit to 

 the king, and their ancient privilege was speedily confirmed under privy seal."" 



Mandate was issued by Edward I, in 1273, to Alan de Plogenet to deliver to Eleanor, the 

 king's mother, the manor of Gillingham, with the hundred and forest and other appurtenances, then 

 in his custody."' About the same time writs were directed to the bailiffs, goodmen, and foresters of 

 Gillingham, informing them that Gillingham had been assigned in dower to the king's mother.^^ 



In 131 8, when a large assignment of dower was made to Queen Isabella, the manor and forest 

 of Gillingham, valued at ;r8o a year, formed a portion."' 



In 1275 an inquiry was instituted on behalf of Master Nicholas de Cranford, parson of the 

 church of Gillingham, touching his claim to the tithe of venison taken in the king's forest of Gilling- 

 ham, of the hay and herbage sold in the glades thereof, and of the pannage ; also to compensation 

 for the tithe of the glade of Marleye, whereof he asserted that his predecessors were possessed when 

 that glade was arable land and titheable to the church.^' 



The sheriff of Wilts was ordered in April, 1280, to deliver Peter de Esquidemor, imprisoned at 

 Old Sarum, for trespass in the king's forests of Dorset and Somerset, to twelve men who undertook 

 to have him before the king in the Parliament after Easter next.-' 



At the close of the year 1279 the king granted quittance of the common summons to 

 attend the pleas of the Dorset forests to William de Mohun, the bishop of Salisbury, the abbot of 

 Hyde, Matilda, widow of Robert Waleraund, Hildebrand of London, and Oliver de Ingham.^* 



In March, 1291, the sheriff of Dorset was instructed by the crown to cause a verderer to be 

 elected for the forest of Gillingham, in the place of Roger Anketil, deceased.-' 



Edward I, like his predecessor, made frequent gifts of both timber and venison from Gilling- 

 ham. Sarah de Merreth received seven oaks fit for timber in 1292, of the king's gift. Twelve oaks 

 fit for timber were given to Eustace de Hacche, in the same year, to rebuild his hall. In the following 

 year Walter de Aylesbury received six timber oaks. The constable of Corfe Castle, Richard de 

 Bosco, obtained six oaks for the works at the castle in July, 1293.-* 



The keeper of Gillingham was ordered in May, 1292, to present the bishop of Salisbury with 

 six bucks, of the king's gift ; in the following month a similar gift was made to Joan, wife of Alan 

 de Plukenet ; and in July a like gift was supplied to Eustace de Hacche."' 



In the following year Roger Lestrange, forest justice, was ordered to allow Peter de Chalone 

 to have six live bucks out of Gillingham forest.'"* In December, 1293, ^^^ keeper of this forest 

 was ordered to supply John Mautravers with ten does ; and in the following January Robert de 

 Bosco, of Corfe Castle, was supplied with four Gillingham does ; in July, 1294, Eleanor de Curtenay 

 had four bucks, and in August, Nicholas de Sancto Mauro three bucks.'' 



In August, 12 1 5, King John sent his huntsman Albert de Capell, with two horses and fourteen 

 buckhounds [damericii canet) to take bucks in his forest of Blackmoor.'" 



Henry III, in 1223, gave John de Erleigh eight does and two bucks or brockets out of Black- 

 moor towards stocking his park at Duston.'' In the following year William earl of Essex and 

 William Briwere had each the royal licence to take six bucks in Blackmoor,'* and venison gifts from 

 Blackmoor were fairly frequent throughout the reign of Henry III.'' 



About the same period the king made several gifts of roofing-timber and of brushwood for fuel 

 out of the Blackmoor Woods. Somewhat later, gifts including an oak in 1230 for the bridges of 

 Corfe Castle, ten oaks in 1232 to the Earl of Lincoln, and sixty oaks to the abbot of Bindon, in 

 1233, for the fabric of his church.'^ 



John de la Lynde, in 1266, had a grant from Henry III of the bailiwick of the forests of 

 Blackmoor, Gillingham, and Powerstock which he held for five years.'' 



Of this forest of Blackmoor, Leland [temp. Henry VIII) says that it ' streachid from Ivelle unto 

 the quarters of Shaftesbyri and touchid witte Gillingham forest that is nere Shaftesbyri.'^* The 

 earliest known perambulation of this forest, which seems to have been taken soon after the granting 



'" Pat. 14 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 6 ; Misc. Chan. Bdle. 1 1, file 8 (13). "' Pat. I Edw. I, m. 15. 



-' Ibid. m. 5. °^ Pat. 1 1 Edw. II, pt. 2, m. 30. " Pat. 4 Edw. I, m. 32 d. 



" Close, 8 Edw. I, m. 9. '"'' Ibid. m. w d. " Close, 19 Edw. I, m. 7. 



" Close, 20 Edw. I, m. 6 ; 21 Edw. I, m. 10, 9, 5. 

 '" Close, 20 Edw. I, m. 5, 4. '" Close, 21 Edw. I, m. 9. 



" Close, 22 Edw. I, m. 13, 12, 6, 5. 



'■ Close, 17 John, m. 24. '^ Close, 7 Hen. Ill, m. 15. »* Close, 8 Hen. Ill, m. 6. 



'''Close, 12 Hen. Ill, m. 4 ; 13 Hen. Ill, m. 8 ; 14 Hen. Ill, m. 14 and pt. 2,m. 2; 15 Hen. Ill, 

 m. 20, 17, I ; 16 Hen. Ill, m. 10, 6 ; 17 Hen. Ill, m. 17, 14. 



•" Close, passim. ^' Plac. For. 54 Hen. Ill, cited by Hutchins, op. cit. i, 188. 



'* Leland, liin. vi, loi. 



291 



