A HISTORY OF SUSSEX 



imparked a plough-land in his park of Shelley, which with the contiguous park of Beaubush con- 

 tained more than 400 acres of land ; the earl of Warenne had taken three holdings into a park, the 

 name of which is not given, while at Ovingdean his rabbits abounded to such an extent that they 

 had ' devastated ' no less than 100 acres of crops. 



King John was frequently in Sussex, and doubtless, upon occasion, he hunted therein. He 

 was particularly brought into relation with Knap (or Knepp) in the rape of Bramber, of which he 

 had dispossessed its owner William de Braose. Frequent were the demands he made upon the 

 contents of its well-stocked park, which was clearly of exceptional extent, since it was often 

 denominated a forest or chase. It must have contained, not only deer, but wild boars, for in 

 1215 Roland Blouet, the king's custos of Knepp, was ordered 'to suffer Wyot our huntsman 

 to hunt with our boarhounds in the park of Cnap, and to take two or three boars daily ' ; 81 on 

 another occasion several huntsmen were sent with no less than 200 hounds to hunt in ' the forest 

 of Cnepp.' 



It is clear that there was a certain amount of genuine forest, subject to the full forest law, in 

 the county at the beginning of the reign of Henry III, as in 1223 the sheriff was ordered to 

 summon the foresters and regarders to make a ' regard ' or report in preparation for the coming of 

 the justices. 323 Again, in 1225 justices were appointed to hold an assize and perambulation between 

 the parts which were to be disafforested and those which were to remain forest. 33 Indeed at thie- 

 very gates of Chichester lay the Broyle, a woodland tract which was disafforested and granted to 

 William St. John and by him given in 1227 'to God and the Church of Chichester.' 33a There 

 is also record of an enlargement of this forest by Henry II, who afforested four crofts which 

 formerly rendered 4*. 105^. in the farm of the city. 34 



There is evidence that Edward I hunted when sojourning at Bramber, for in the summer of 

 1299 there was paid ' to Walter Balle coming to the King with thirteen staghounds by gift of the 

 King 411.' But of all our mediaeval kings Edward II probably had the greatest experience of Sussex 

 woods and forests as hunting grounds. For prior to his accession he had been banished from court 

 for a hunting offence in the woods of a northern prelate. Betaking himself into Sussex he sojourned 

 at Ditchling, in a neighbourhood the great part of which was still forest land, with parks, warrens, 

 and chases abounding around him. Nor was his father forgetful of or indifferent to his pursuits, for a 

 Wardrobe account contains record of the payment of 'Thomas de Erlham going as far as Lewes by 

 command of the King with hounds for the King's son.' 



During the succeeding period of the Middle Ages the history of Sussex woodlands is little more 

 than a catalogue of licences for park enlargements, disputes concerning hunting rights, and of 

 poaching and affrays ' in parks, chaces, and coney-borrows,' as the phrase went. The total number 

 of parks in the county we do not know, but that they were extremely numerous is more than 

 probable. Doubtless great changes in the woodlands of Sussex took place in the reign of Henry VIII, 

 when the vast landed estates of the numerous religious corporations were annexed by the 

 crown, or granted to royal favourites, either outright or by means of exchange, as when William 

 Fitzalan exchanged with the crown for the manor of Michelham most of his ten parks mainly 

 constituents of Arundel Forest 35 as Bignor and Woolavington, others lying in the north of the 

 rape, as Shillinglee and Meadhome. This, too, was the period of the great development of the 

 iron-smelting industry, which was wholly carried on in the woodland districts, in which lay beneath 

 the surface a ferruginous ore containing as much as 33 per cent, of iron, while above ground grew 

 fuel in abundance for the furnaces. 



Two chief localities of this industry were Ashburnham, in a thickly-wooded district of East 

 Sussex, having the large Darum Wood, or Darvel Forest, as it was sometimes called, contiguous on 

 the north, with Dallington Forest lying to the north-west, and St. Leonard's Forest, occupying the 

 north of Bramber rape. The southern fringe of Ashdown Forest also was the seat of this industry, 

 as at Maresfield. The woodlands of the long lordship of South Mailing, stretching from Lamber- 

 hurst through Wadhurst, Mayfield, and Buxted to Cliffe-juxta-Lewes, also well knew the noise of 

 hammers and the flare of furnaces. The court rolls of these manors, besides containing an early 

 reference to the ' lern founders of Buxted,' 36 have numerous entries concerning charcoal-making, 

 felling and selling timber, and kindred matters. 



So great was the destruction of the woodland of Sussex, that in 1543 an Act of Parliament 

 was passed with the view to limit the process ; a wise proviso enjoining that in felling timber and 

 underwood of more than twenty-four years' growth twelve standard oaks, or as many ash, elm or 

 beech, were to be left standing in each acre. 87 



11 Close, 1 6 John, m. 13. n Close, 15 John, m. 3. 



* Pat. 7 Hen. Ill, m. t>d. Pat. 9 Hen. Ill, m. 6J. 



93 Cal. Chart R. i, 8. M Pipe R. 7 John. Pat. 33 Hen. VIII, p. I. 



36 Ct. R. Lambeth, Nos. 1352-7, temp. Hen. VII. Act of Parl. 35 Hen. VIII. 



296 



