28 



The Eleventh General Meeting. 



of the lines of tho old Roman roads; thus showing the foresight | 

 displayed by tho ancient conquerors of England in taking the samei 

 routes as were now required by the necessities of modern commer- 

 cial enterprise. Ho then observed that portions of the Bokerly 

 Dyke and Grimsditch passed through this district. Vern Ditch 

 was next referred to, as forming part of Cranborne Chace, and 

 some particulars connected with its disforesting were related. The 

 owners of Cranborne Chace contended that it was in length from 

 20 to 25 miles, and in breadth from 15 to 20 miles, making a 

 circuit of nearly 100 miles, extending from Harnham Bridge, by 

 the edge of Wilton, westward, by the river Nadder, thence south- 

 ward to Shaftesbury, and to the banks of the Stour, near Stur- 

 minster, thence to Blandford, following the Stour near Wimborne, 

 then by Ringwood Bridge, Fordingbridge, and Downton, to 

 Harnham Bridge, including a very large portion of the county of 

 Dorset, no inconsiderable portion of the counties of Wilts and 

 Hants, and the whole of the land within the Hundred of Chalk. 

 On the other hand it was contended by those who thought that 

 these extensive boundaries were usurpations on the rights of the 

 owners and occupiers of lands in Wiltshire and Hampshire, that 

 the utmost extent of the Chase could not exceed the bounds of the 

 county of Dorset. Throughout a long period of history the 

 extensive rights claimed by the owners of Cranborne Chase, were 

 objected to. In the 7th year of Edward I., an inquisition was 

 taken, when it was found that the Chase did not belong to Wilts. 

 Other instances were mentioned as showing the struggles which 

 had been made in former days to prevent the operation of the 

 forest laws in this part of Wiltshire. Somewhere about the years 

 1813 or 1814, Lord Rivers, the owner of the Chase, attempted to 

 put the ancient forest laws in force. It was asserted that Cran- 

 borne Chase, though called a chase, was in truth a forest, and that 

 it had all the rights that could belong to a forest attached to it ; 

 in consequence of which, in one part of the chase the inclosures 

 which had been made on Pimperne Down, with fences no higher 

 than those which a rabbit could easily have leapt over, were broken 

 down. In the neighbourhood of Chalk, too, notices were given to 



