26 FOREST -OF WOLMER LAKES. 



circumscribed. For, to say nothing of the farther 

 side, with which I am not so well acquainted, the 

 bounds on this side, in old times, came into Bins- 

 wood, and extended to the ditch of Ward-le-ham 

 Park, in which stands the curious mount called 

 King John's Hill and Lodge Hill, and to the 

 verge of Hartley Mauduit, called Mauduit-hatch ; 

 comprehending also Shortheath, Oakhanger, and 

 Oakwoods ; a large district, now private property, 

 though once belonging to the royal domain. 



It is remarkable, that the term purlieu is never 

 once mentioned in this long roll of parchment. 

 It contains, besides the perambulation, a rough 

 estimate of the value of the timbers, which were 

 considerable, growing at that time in the district 

 of the Holt; and enumerates the officers, superior 

 and inferior, of those joint forests, for the time 

 being, and their ostensible fees and perquisites. 

 In those days, as at present, there were hardly 

 any trees in Wolmer Forest. 



Within the present limits of the forest are 

 three considerable lakes, Hogmer, Cranmer, and 

 Wolmer; all of which are stocked with carp, 

 tench, eels, and perch : but the fish do not thrive 

 well, because the water is hungry, and the bottoms 

 are a naked sand. 



A circumstance respecting these ponds, though 

 by no means peculiar to them, I cannot pass over 

 in silence ; and that is, that instinct by which in 

 summer all the kine, whether oxen, cows, calves, 

 or heifers, retire constantly to the water during 

 the hotter hours ; where, being more exempt from 

 flies, and inhaling the coolness of that element, 

 some belly-deep, and some only to mid-leg, they 

 ruminate and solace themselves from about ten 

 in the morning till four in the afternoon, and 

 then return to their feeding. During this great 



