DOMESDAY SURVEY 



their head is the great lordship of Sonning, where they brought in 300 

 swine, for its ' hinterland,' as we have seen,' extended to the south 

 border. Whistley (Hurst) produced 50, Easthampstead 10, Clewer 70, 

 Pinkneys with Maidenhead 10, Hurley 5, and Dodworth 5. Stratfield 

 Mortimer on the southern border produced 40. As on the royal 

 demesne the figures on private fiefs imply woodlands in the Kennet 

 Valley. 



The actual forest of Windsor appears to have been extended since 

 the Conqueror's advent. The monks of Abingdon complained bitterly 

 that four hides of their manor of Winkfield had been enclosed within 

 the forest,* and Domesday admits the fact. 3 At Windsor itself additional 

 woodland had been enclosed in the forest (missa est in defensa), and at 

 Cookham apparently also.* Even at this early date the king's ' forest ' 

 was by no means limited to the immediate neighbourhood of Windsor. 

 At Bucklebury, where, we have seen, he possessed extensive woodland, 6 

 Walter Fitz Other, his forester for Berkshire,* had a small estate, of 

 which we read that ' it lies in the forest, and has never paid geld.' But 

 his headquarters must have been at Windsor, near which the monks 

 of Abingdon accuse him of robbing them of two woods belonging to 

 Winkfield. 



Valuable information is afforded by a charter of Henry II grant- 

 ing to the church of Salisbury the tithes of all his forests within the 

 diocese. For he specifies the sources of revenue from which the tithes 

 were to be paid, viz., the composition (Jirma) for pannage, grazing 

 (berbagio), cows, cheese, swine, and brood mares.' He further granted 

 it the tithes of the proceeds of his chace within them ' excepta venatione 

 quae capta erit cum stabilia in foresta de Windesores.' " This is 

 a specially notable phrase, because ' the customs of Berkshire ' recorded 

 at the commencement of the county survey close with the fine inflicted 

 on him who did not come ' ad stabilitionem venationis ' when sum- 

 moned. 9 The stabllitio is also found in Domesday under Herefordshire 

 and Shropshire as a royal due, and exemption from 'chacier establi' 10 was 

 among the liberties granted by Henry II to Merton Priory. 11 One 

 must not leave the woodlands without observing that they were indis- 

 pensable for building and for fuel in those days, and that even underwood 

 was valuable for fencing, the ' silva ad clausuram ' of the survey. 



1 p. 301 above. 



2 ' de villa Winkefeld, versus Wildesoram sita, regis arbitrio, ad forestam illic amplificandam, iiii 

 hidas tune exterminate sunt ' (Chron. Ab. ii. 7). 



3 ' De hac terra sunt iiii hide in foresta regis.' 



4 ' alia medietas est in foresta de Windesores.' 5 See p. 308 above. 



6 ' forestarum per comitatum Berkescire ubique consitarum primas et tutor ' (Cbron. Ab. ii. 7). 



7 The Pipe Rolls of his reign show that the revenue (census) from the forest in respect of all this 

 was .133 year. 



8 Sarum Charters, p. 249. 



9 ' qui monitus ad stabilitionem venationis non ibat 50 sol. regi emendabat.' The so-called laws 

 of Henry I include among offences against forest law ' si quis ad stabilitatem non venit.' William of 

 Malmesbury, cited by Ellis, speaks of the Confessor's wrath against a rustic, who ' stabulata ilia quibus 

 in casses cervi urgentur, confudisset.' 



10 The Norman French form. " Records of Merton Priory, App. p. xiv. 



309 



