ICtNG JOHN S HOUSE AT TOLLAkD ROYAL. I I 



It has been too readily assumed that the King's " camera 

 apud Craneburn " in these documents was the manor house of 

 Cranborne, whereas from various circumstances it seems more 

 reasonable to suppose that the King's camera was in Cranborne 

 Chase, and was not Cranborne Manor, and that the word Crane- 

 burn was used indifferently to denote either. 



The King's "camera apud Craneburn" would be a sufficient 

 address wherever it was in the chase, for any one who lived at 

 the time and had business there would know where to look for it. 



That the "camera" was at Tollard, and not at Cranborne, 

 seems more than probable from its position. It was here in the 

 very heart of the chase, close to the spot where tradition affirms 

 that King John's hounds were accustomed to meet. At Cran- 

 borne it would have been altogether outside of the short bounds 

 of the chase, and on the very outskirts of its large bounds, and to 

 get into the midst of the chase the King would have had to ride 

 at least ten miles ; and further, if he wished to reach the more 

 distant walkes — (from the dates of the King's visits given at the 

 head of this paper it will be seen that the King was often only 

 a single day at Cranborne) — would he have chosen for his 

 residence a place where he would have twenty miles to ride, to 

 and fro, to attend the hunt, in addition to the many miles in 

 following the deer ? Besides, it seems more than doubtful 

 whether the King was in possession of the manor and manor 

 house at that time. That there was then a manor house at 

 Cranborne where the present one stands there is little doubt, for 

 the walls of the dungeon in it are built of " clunch " in the 

 characteristic style of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. But 

 the King had ceased to own it in the year of his first recorded visit 

 to Cranborne. As Prince John, Earl of Morton, he had married 

 Isabella, daughter of William, Earl of Gloucester, and through 

 her held the honor of Gloucester with its appendages, which 

 included the manor of Cranborne. He might have visited the 

 manor house then, but when as King he divorced Isabella, in the 

 second year of his reign, the manor of Cranborne passed from 

 him with the honor of Gloucester, and afterwards became the 



