A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



exchange for land at Middleham. Furthermore 

 as Ralf had consented in a friendly manner to 

 the exchange at the bishop's request, he and his 

 heirs were to have firewood and other easements 

 from the bishop's forest for their buildings at 

 Painshaw under the regulation of the foresters, 

 and should be quit of the pannage of the pigs 

 'de propria nutritura sua quos non adquisierint 

 contra pannagium nostrum.' 



Other charters contain similar provisions ; the 

 forest rights of the bishop are carefully guarded, 

 or exemptions given as a special favour or for a 

 fixed consideration. In a grant 1 of Cornsay and 

 Hedley to the nephews of Simon the chamber- 

 lain, we find the clause ' Salva nobis in omnibus 

 foresta nostra.' But firewood and wood for 

 repairs could be taken by view of the foresters 

 sine vasto. And as to the payment of pannage 

 they were to be quit thereof in respect to the 

 swine of their demense ' sicut alii barones et 

 milites nostri quieti sunt et esse debent.' The 

 under-tenants as other charters prove 2 were how- 

 ever liable to pay pannage-money for their pigs. 

 Again in a grant 3 to the monks of Durham the 

 saving clause as to the forest is explained, ' quan- 

 tum ad feras et sartationem ultra quod predictum 

 est.' 



There is no Domesday Survey to refer to for 

 Durham, but the Boldon Book, 4 of the close of 

 the twelfth century, throws much incidental 

 light on the question of the trees and forestry by 

 the details of the customary services from villeins 

 and tenants of the bishop on his different manors. 

 In two cases, namely, at Winlaton and Tursdale, 

 particular mention is made of woods (nemus). 

 On the manor of Darlington there were 48 

 bovates, and the service of each of these involved 

 the carrying of a cartload of wood to Auckland, 

 as the chief residence of the bishop. At Heigh- 

 ington each of the six villeins had to carry eight 

 cartloads ; at Thickley each of the eight villeins 

 was responsible for four loads ; whilst single 

 cartloads had to be carried from Houghton and 

 Whessoe. There were fourteen villeins at 

 Killerby, near Durham, each of whom had to 

 carry seven loads, and the twelve of North 

 Auckland were responsible for three loads apiece. 

 Mention is made of swine pannage under Lan- 

 chester. Wolsingham had to supply the bishop 

 with no less than I2O loads of wood yearly. 

 Probably in all these cases these loads were for 

 fuel. The tenants of the vills of Bedlington- 

 shire had to cart timber for the bishops. 



Particulars have already been given of the 

 highly interesting service due from the tenants 

 of the forest vills of Weardale of erecting a series 



1 Boldon Bk. App. p. xliv. 



1 Ibid. xlv. ' Et homines sui debunt pannagium 

 de porcis suis sicut alii homines militum nostrorum 

 qui in foresta manent.' 



3 Boldon Bk. App. p. xlvi. 



* Boldon Bk. see V.C.H. Dur. i, 257-341. 



of booths for the bishop's magna caza, or great 

 autumn hunt, and of furnishing dogs and horses,. 

 &c., for the same occasion. 6 In most instances- 

 ropes or cords had also to be furnished, which 

 affords fair proof that the sport largely consisted 

 in the taking of the small roe deer, which were 

 usually caught in nets ; indeed this fact is estab- 

 lished by the great hunt being twice characterized 

 as the rahunt or roe hunt in the Boldon Book. 6 

 The prevalence of roe deer in the county at a 

 much later date is further established by the 

 entry of considerable sums on three different 

 occasions in the fourteenth century in the priory 

 accounts for the purchase of cords for repairing 

 or making of roe-nets. 7 



It is not certain that there were any regularly 

 appointed foresters for Weardale in the twelfth, 

 century who gave their whole time to that 

 office, as was the case at a later date. Entries 

 in the Boldon Book show that Wolsingham,. 

 Stanhope, and Holmside, had each to find a man 

 to act as forester for forty days during the fawn- 

 ing and rutting season ; and Hunstanworth and 

 Edmondbyers were also held under the service 

 of finding a man for the forest, probably under 

 like conditions. 8 



The occasional entries relating to the bishopric 

 of Durham found on the Pipe Rolls of Richard I 

 and John afford some notion of the value of 

 the forest regulations as an aid to revenue. In 

 1 197 is mentioned a sum of jT^j iSs. zd. arising 

 from pannage and perquisites of the forest, while 

 eleven years after, in the next reign, the amount 

 derived from the same source was ^87 y. ^d. 

 The sums enrolled in the three years following 

 seem to show that the issues of the forest were 

 increasing, and furthermore the accountants of 

 121 1 return no less than ^1,196 3*. $d. in fines 

 for assarts and purprestures and in payments by 

 women to avoid marriage. But what proportion 

 this last item bore to the rest of the account is 

 unknown. 



Early in the reign of Henry III the forest of 

 Durham was in the king's hands through the 

 vacancy of the see. Thus, in 1226, Master Guy 

 the royal huntsman, who had been visiting with 

 his hounds the forests north and south of Trent, 

 naturally crossed the borders of the bishopric 

 and hunted therein. The venison he took was 

 ordered to be well salted and delivered to Stephen 

 de Lucy for the benefit of the famous Martin de 

 Pateshull and his fellow-justices, and other the 

 king's lieges. 8 Again, in the last month of the 

 following year, we hear of twelve oaks assigned 

 to the warden of the bridges of Durham for 



6 V.C.H. Dur. i, 271-99. 



'Ibid. 333-4 1 - 



7 Dur. Acct. R. (Surtees Soc. xcix-ciii), 555, 588, 



593- 



8 V.C.H. Dur. i, 333-5. 



9 Close, 10 Hen. Ill, mm. i, 7 ; Pat. 10 Hen. 

 Ill, m. i. 



376 



