OF SBLBOBNE. 
27 
frequented by foxes, and sometimes by pheasants ; and tbe 
bogs produce many curious plants.^ [For whichj consult 
Letter XLI. to Mr. Barrington.] 
By a perambulation of Wolmer Forest and The Holt, 
made in 1635, and in the eleventh year of Charles the First 
(which now lies before me), it appears that the limits of the 
former are much 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 Binswood ; and 
extended to the ditch of Ward le ham Park, in which stands 
the curious mount called Kiog John^s Hill, and Lodge Hill ; 
and to the verge of Hartley Mauduit, called Mauduit-hatch ; 
comprehending also Short-heath, Oakhanger, and Oak- 
woods ; 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 con- 
siderable lakes, Hogmer, Cranmer, and Wolmer;"^ all of 
^ This pond has long smce been drained, and cattle now graze in its 
bed. The covert in which wild ducks and foxes formerly abounded has 
almost entirely disappeared. — Ed. 
^ In the beginning of the summer (1787), the royal forests of Wolmer 
and Holt were measured by persons sent down by government. — G. W. 
Wolmer, with but two enclosures within its precincts, extended over 
5,949 acres. The royal forest of The Holt, with its enclosures, was 
then found to comprehend 2,744 acres. — Ed. 
^ At the date of the survey referred to in the preceding note, the 
timber of The Holt was valued at £61,100. — Ed. 
The name Wolmer is doubtless a corruption of Wolf-mere, or Wolve- 
mere : and it is not a little remarkable that the thi-ee great meres of 
that district — Hogmer, Cranmer, and Wolmer — were named after wild 
animals, which are all now extinct in Britain, namely, the hog, or wild 
boar, the crane, and the wolf — Ed. 
