ANTIQUITIES OF SELBORNE. 
203 
What probably first drew the attention of the Saxons to this spot 
was the beautiful spring or fountain called Well Head,* which induced 
them to build by the banks of that perennial current ; for ancient 
settlers loved to reside by brooks and rivulets, where they could dip for 
their water without the trouble and expense of digging wells and of 
drawing. 
It remains still unsettled among the antiquaries at what time tracts 
of land were first appropriated to the chase alone for the amusement 
of the sovereign. Whether our Saxon monarchs had any royal forests, 
does not, I believe, appear on record ; but the " Constitutiones de 
Foresta," of Canute, the Dane, are come down to us. We shall not, 
therefore, pretend to say whether Woolmer Forest existed as a royal 
domain before the conquest. If it did not, we may suppose it was laid 
out by some of our earliest Norman kings, who were exceedingly 
attached to the pleasures of the chase, and resided much at Winchester, 
which lies at a moderate distance from this district. The Plantagenet 
princes seem to have been pleased with Woolmer, for tradition says 
that King John resided just upon the verge, at Ward-le-ham, on a 
regular and remarkable mount, still called King John's Hill, and 
Lodge Hill ; and Edward III. had a chapel in his park, or enclosure, at 
Kingsley.f Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, and Eichard, Duke of 
York, say my evidences, were both, in their turns, wardens of Woolmer 
Forest, which seems to have served for an appointment for the younger 
princes of the royal family, as it may again. 
I have intentionally mentioned Edward III. and the dukes Hum- 
phrey and Richard, before King Edward IL, because I have reserved, 
for the entertainment of my readers, a pleasant anecdote respecting 
that prince, with which I shall close this letter. 
As Edward 11. was hunting on Woolmer Forest, Morris Ken, of the 
kitchen, fell from his horse several times, at which accidents the king 
laughed immoderately ; and, when the chase was over, ordered him 
twenty shillings,^ an enormous sum for those days ! Proper allowances 
ought to be made for the youth of this monarch, whose spirits also, we 
may suppose, were much exhilarated by the sport of the day ; but, at 
the same time, it is reasonable to remark, that, whatever might be the 
occasions of Ken's first fall, the subsequent ones seem to have been 
designed. The scullion appears to have been an artful fellow, and to 
have seen the king's foible, which furnishes an early specimen of that 
his easy softness and facility of temper, of which the infamous 
Gaveston took such advantages, as brought innumerable calamities 
on the nation, and involved the prince at last in misfortunes and 
suflferings too deplorable to be mentioned, without horror and 
amazement. 
* Well-head signifies spring-head, and not a deep pit from whence wa draw 
water. For particulars about which see Letter I. to Mr. Pennant. 
t The parish of Kingsley lies between, and divides Wolmer Forest from Ayles 
Holt Forest. See Letter IX. to Mr. I'ennant. 
X "Item, paid at the lodge at Woolmer, when the king was stag-hunting there, 
to Morris Ken, of the kitchen, because he rode before the king and often fell from 
his horse, at which the king laughed exceedingly — a gift, by command, of twenty 
shillings." — A MS. in possession of Thomas Astle, Esq., containing the private 
expenses of Edward II. 
