CHAPTER II. 



I 



THE FOREST OF EXMOOR. 



The date whereat Exmoor was made a royal forest 

 will probably never be discovered. 



It would appear that in Saxon as well as In early 

 Norman times a great part of Devonshire was royal 

 forest, for there is a charter of the 1 8th of May, 1 204, 

 by which King John purported to disafforest all Devon- 

 shire up to the metes and bounds of Exmoor and 

 Dartmoor. This charter is the first authentic docu- 

 ment wherein the names of Exmoor and Dartmoor are 

 found. 



Of the extent of Exmoor Forest in Saxon times we 

 have no knowledge. In the 26th year of Edward I. 

 (1298) a commission was issued by the king to make 

 a perambulation of the Forest ; * those chosen for the 

 purpose being Sir Baldric de Nonyngton and Sir Hugh 

 de Popham, Knights, in the presence of Peter de 



* There was a similar perambulation of Dartmoor in 1240. 



