[42]See Domesday, as before, p. xxix. b., under Einforde.
[43]See chapters viii. [p. 87], and x. [p. 114].
[44]The following translation is made from the original in the Record Office. Southt Plitai Foreste, Ao viii.o E. I.mi “The metes and boundaries of the New Forest from the first time it was afforested. First, from Hudeburwe to Folkewell; thence to the Redechowe; thence to the Bredewelle; thence to Brodenok; thence to the Chertihowe; thence to the Brygge; thence to Burnford; thence to Kademannesforde; thence to Selney Water; thence to Orebrugge; thence to the Wade as the water runs; thence to the Eldeburwe; thence to Meche; thence to Redebrugge as the bank of the Terste runs; thence to Kalkesore as the sea runs; thence to the Hurste, along the sea-shore; thence to Christ Church Bridge as the sea flows; thence as the Avene extends, as far as the bridge of Forthingebrugge; thence as the Avene flows to Moletone; thence as the Avene flows to Northchardeford and Sechemle; and so in length by a ditch, which stretches to Herdeberwe.” It is this old natural boundary which, as stated in the preface, we have adopted for the limits of the book. A copy of the original may be found in the Journals of the House of Commons, vol. xliv., appendix, p. 574, 1789.
[45]This may also be found, with the perambulation made in the twenty-second year of Charles II., in the Journal of the House of Commons, vol. xliv., appendix, pp. 574, 575, 1789. It is also given in Lewis’s Historical Enquiries upon the New Forest, appendix ii. pp. 174-177.
[46]This is not the place to say more on this most important chapter of English history. See, however, on the subject, The Great Charter: and the Charter of the Forest, by Blackstone, Introduction, pp. lx.-lxxii. 1759. For the oppressions which still existed under the shelter of the Forest Laws, see the preamble to the “Ordinatio Foreste,” 34th Edward I. Statutes of the Realm, vol. i. p. 147.
[47]“Quid et quantum temporibus cujuslibet regis nullo modo eis constare potest.” The conclusion of the perambulation. Some little difficulty attends these perambulations. From Domesday, it is certain that the Conqueror afforested land on the west of the Avon at Holdenhurst, Breamore, and Harbridge. And amongst the MSS of Lincoln’s Inn Library we find a copy of a charter of William of Scotland, dated, curiously enough, “Hindhop Burnemuth, in meâ Novâ Forestâ, 10 Kal. Junii, 1171.” (See Hunter’s “Three Catalogues,” &c., p. 278, No. 78, 1838.) It would seem, from what Edward’s commissioners say, that these afforestations, which had taken place since Henry II’s time, were all made inside the actual boundaries of the Forest. It has been generally supposed that the perambulation in the eighth year of Edward I. was the first ever made of an English forest. This is not the case, for in the Record Office, in the Plita Foreste de Cōm. Southt LIIItio R. H. III., No. III., may be found the perambulation of a forest in the north of Hampshire.
[48]For a good account of all details connected with the history of the New Forest, see the Sub-Report by the Secretary of the Royal New and Waltham Forest Commission, Reports from Commissioners (11), vol. xxx. pp. 267-309, 1850, and also the Fifth Report of the Land Revenue Commissioners in 1789, published July 24th of that year, to be found also in the Journals of the House of Commons, vol. xliv. pp. 552-571.
[49]See “The humble petition of Richard Spencer, Esq., Sir Gervas Clifton, Knight and Baronet, and others, to enter upon the New Forest and Sherwood Forest,” &c. &c. Record Office. Domestic Series, Charles II., No. 8. f. 26, July 21st, 1660.
[50]MSS. prepared by Mr. Record-Keeper Fearnside, quoted in the Secretary’s Sub-Report of the Royal New and Waltham Forest Commission, Reports from Commissioners (11), vol. xxx. p. 342.
[51]See Grant Book at the Record Office, 1613, vol. 141, p. 127—“4th October, a Grant to Richard Kilborne, alias Hunt, and Thomas Tilsby (of) the benefitt of all Morefalls within the New Forest, for the terme of one and twenty years.”