Chapter XXVI: Part 26

1216, 4th March, of the prisoners sent by Lady Nichole de Haya to Nottingham four are to be transferred to Rockingham. The custos of the castle seems to have been trespassing on the powers of the sheriff, which the king sets right. Probably there had been a disturbance at Rockingham for John directs the Constable of Nottingham to liberate on a fine a prisoner taken there. Later in the year the garrison must have been discontented, for the custos is ordered at once to pay their arrears of livery to the men who garrison the castles of Northampton and Rockingham, so that they may have no excuse for desertion. The constable is to retain for the use of the castle the manors of Geddington, Cliff, Brigstock, and Corby. He is to act as escheator in order to give seizin of Blaston and Weston to Ralph Fitz Peter. This is one of the first orders made in the new reign, and is witnessed by the Earl marshall “teste Comite.” Henry III. was probably at Rockingham many times, certainly in 1220, 1226, and 1229.

1217, the Abbot of Peterborough asks not to be distrained for his castle guards. This is granted, but the knights who hold the abbot’s fees are to do the service. In 1218 Richard Trussell was fined for taking his dogs through the forest. In 1219 to Hugh de Nevil is restored the bailliage of the forest and of Clyve, Gettington, and Brigstoke. The offices being connected with land, the constable is to give seizin. 25th June the king sent his huntsman, Richard de la Hunt, to chase in the forest, and during his stay the sheriff is to provide for him and his two horses, two valets, a swordsman or “sicarius” (bernarius), a whipper-in (veltarius), four greyhounds, and fourteen _chiens de meute_ (canes de mota necessaria). He is also to have salt for salting the venison which he may take, and a carriage to convey it to the king as needed. Occasionally an order is given to allow some great man to take three or four bucks or does, but it is evident the number named are not to be exceeded. 19th July, Walter de Preston is sent to take forty bucks for the king’s larder. In November, William, Earl of Albemarle, in charge of the castles of Rockingham, Sauvey, and Biham, had refused to give them up, on which the sheriffs are warned that he had been excommunicated by the legate, and no person is to aid him in holding the castles. The earl, however, resisted, and this castle was actually besieged and taken by surprise 28th June, 1220 (“Hist. Anglor.,” ii. 242). Henry was here in person, and allowed William de Albini three, and William de Insula two, bucks. William de Preston and Richard de Watervill are also allowed twenty each, probably for the king’s use. A little before this, in May 1220, Isabel, the king’s mother, wrote to inform him that on his account rather than her own she had married the Comte de la March, and requested that her husband might be allowed her dower, which included Rockingham Castle (“Letters of Henry III.,” i. 115). In July the bailliages were returned to Hugh de Nevil, who had a charter from King John, and in November, Fulk de Breauté had one hundred pounds for his expenses during the siege of Rockingham, which he seems to have conducted. Sauvey and Rockingham when taken were found to be utterly bare of provisions, not three loaves of bread being found in the two.

Henry seems at first to have granted his mother’s request, but 2nd September, 1221, Richard de Ripariis had the custody of the whole land which the Comte de la March had held in England of his wife’s dower, and the good men of Rockingham were to answer to Richard for the rent of the vill, as they had done to the earl and his wife.

Other entries relate to the same year. The constable is allowed large timber for the repairs of the king’s houses and the “turris” of Rockingham, and the sheriff is to allow twenty marcs for the same. Also Hugh de Nevile is to take a forest verdurer and good men “de visñeto” [from the neighbourhood; hence “venue” as applied to a jury] of Cottingham and Carlton, and measure the assart which the Abbot of Peterborough had licence from King John to make. If 100 acres or less, the abbot is to be left in peace; if above that area, Hugh is to take possession and report.

16th April, 1222, the men of Rockingham are informed that Queen Isabel and her husband are again allowed the dower lands. In May the Earl of Albemarle had made his peace, and under King John’s charter touching the lands of Hawise, his mother, he is acquitted of relief and other charges for his farm of the manors of Rockingham, Clyffe, and Brigstoke, from the day on which he took charge of the castle to the 18th November, 1219. In this month the king sent ten marcs for the repairs of his houses, and the same for the castle, to be applied as far as it would go.

1223: the abbot is not to be distrained in time of peace for more than four shillings, castle guard, according to the tenor of the charter of Richard I. 13th September, it appears that Alianor, the king’s aunt (grandmother), formerly Queen of England, had the fair of Rockingham as part of her dower, and, she being dead, Isabel and the Comte de la March are to have it, with all the dues. 31st October, the custos has five marcs from the sheriff for the repairs of the gutter of the king’s chamber. 1224: in this year ten casks of wine were sent to Rockingham, and the carriage from Southampton to be paid by the sheriff, and later on ten dolia more. Walter the Miller has an oak for the repair of the bridge; one conveniently situated is to be chosen. In 1225 the sheriff was to take with him proper men, skilled in carpentry and masonry, and see to the repairs of the king’s chamber in the castle, and for this sufficient timber was to be allowed. The Bishop of Ely had an order for ten bucks from an Essex forest, but because they were hard to take he had a similar order on Rockingham, to be used should the first attempt fail. A certain Ivo de Dyen taken in the forest had fined to King John eight marcs and a palfrey for his freedom, and paid it to the constable, for which he now has a quittance. William de Cantilupe has two bucks and two does from the forest to put into his park at Eston. Martin de Patishull has ten bucks. Some timber allowed for the castle is to be selected by the foresters and verdurers, who are to take a receipt (talliam) for it from the sheriff.

In 1226 ten dolia of wine were sent to the castle. In this year Ralph de Trublevill was to have timber from some convenient spot where the forest would not be injured, for the bay of the king’s vivary at Brigstoke and the repair of his houses. The custos has twenty marks from the sheriff for works at the chapel and other parts of the castle. The Sheriff of Beds is also to supply twenty marcs for these works; a load of lead is ordered for the gutters of the roof. 15th August, the constable is to have two bucks in season [in horis]. 24th July, 1227, the constable is to pay over his receipts for the past and present year from Rockingham fair to Thomas de Cyrene, or his bailiff of that vill, and he is to leave them with him in future. William de Cantilupe is allowed to take two bucks in season. In 1230 three casks of wine were sent to the castle from Boston.

After some lapse of time an inquisition of 34 Henry III., 1249–50, states that the castle was left ruinous by Sir Robert Basselewe, the last constable. It mentions the tower, the walls, and their battlements. The chapel was destitute of fittings for divine service.

1250, Geoffrey de Rokingham, who probably held the Weyte fee _in capite_ under the castle, had died, and his executors were allowed administration on giving security for the debts due to the king. 1284–6, the estate was not wound up, and Master Henry Sampson brought before the Barons of the Exchequer the pieces of a tally for £4 levied by the Sheriff of Rutland, which tally was by mischance broken. Sampson seems to have been an executor. 1251, the sheriff is allowed 8s. 2d. for the carriage of the king’s venison from Rockingham to Westminster, and Elias de Hanvill is to take sixty oaks from the king’s woods of Clyve, Brigstoke, and Cottingham for works at the castle.

In 1253–4 Ernald de Bosco, justice of the forests south of Trent, had charge of Rockingham forest between the bridges of Stamford and Oxendon, excepting the castle and its appendages; and he was directed to make “Trencheyns” where it seemed most expedient in the forests of Rockingham and Clyve. Two years later Hugh de Goldingham had the same charge, and four men were imprisoned in the castle for trespass. They paid two marcs to be allowed bail until the advent of the justice in eyre.

1260–1, the king committed to Alan la Zouch the castle and the forest from bridge to bridge, and John de Oxindon and Walter le Butiller were his attorneys to account for the issues of the county and forest to the king.

1269–70, Henry Engayne had licence to impark ten acres of forest, probably near Blatherwick. In 1271, at the close of Henry’s reign, Edmund, Earl of Cornwall, his nephew, had the manor of Rockingham, and obtained a grant for the town of a Friday market.

Edward I. was at Rockingham in 1275, 1279, 1290, and 1300, on the last occasion for eight days in April.

3 Edward I., 1274–5, the jurors of the Hundred found that, when the king came to Rockingham and stayed there, he used to have grass (herbagium) in grazing time for all his horses in the Abbot of Peterborough’s meadows on the Welland, and the constable claimed the same, but it appeared that since the time of Abbot de Cauz these rights had been lost, as well as a right to take large timber for the repairs of the castle, and wood to burn and for fences from the abbot’s wood of Cottingham. Also, about twenty-five years before, the abbot by “pourpresture,” or unlawful enclosure, had encroached upon the king’s common of pasture in Estiburg, to what extent was not known. Also Robert Oliver had appropriated a slice of the king’s meadow, 20 rods by 2 feet, to enlarge his mill-race, and Geoffrey FitzPeter had built a wall in the king’s highway in Rockingham, and enclosed land 80 feet by 8 feet. Another entry states that the abbot, who held the manor of Cottingham _in capite_, had enclosed an assart there, on which was formerly common of pasture attached to the castle, and worth 40s. per acre. Also for three years Berenger le Moyne and the men of Henington had ceased to do suit in the Hundred court of Polebroke, worth 7s. 4d. per annum, and castle guard 20s. It appears also from the same Hundred rolls that it had been the custom from ancient times to celebrate divine services in the chapel within the castle, for which 50s. was allowed annually by the sheriff. The celebration had ceased for eight years before 1268. The vill of Rockingham had been in the hands of the king’s predecessors, and was given by King Henry to the King of the Romans, whose son, Edmund, Earl of Cornwall, inherited it, and had the manor. The advowson of the parish church of St. Leonard was wont to be in the Crown, but the jurors were ignorant, “Utrum data esset domino Regi Alim’ cum manerio de Rokingham an non.” Manton chapel was attached to the manor, and Henry had given it to the last pastor, who was still alive. The abbot, on his side, but half a century later, had counter-complaint to make (“Plac. in Parl.,” ii. 22).

1276–7, the Abbot of Pipewell was relieved from the toll for chiminage, or right of way through the forest. Thomas de Blatherstone had 9d. for his expenses with the king’s greyhounds and 2d. for bread for them, and another 5½d. for bread when Master Richard de Holbroc stayed at Rokingham, and for the greyhounds of the Abbot of Laund for nineteen days, 19d., in all 8s. 6½d. for greyhounds.

In the year 1279 was an outlay on the castle, the details of which are preserved.

1279–80, Lawrence de Preston, one of a family who held Gretton Manor, complained of Roger de Hollande, constable, for “estovers,” or wood for the use of the house, taken from the woods of the Abbot of Peterborough in Cottingham, from William de Latimer in Corby, and from Preston’s own wood at Gretton, “pro nimia oppressione,” in taking more than were due to him. Ralph Basset was allowed to assart and cultivate thirty-eight acres in Weldon in the forest.

1280–1, the king granted to Robert Fitz-Roger of Wanton that part of the bailliewick of Bulay in the forest which is in the king’s hands, and the charge of the wood of Fernes for life, saving to the king the rights of vert and venison. 1281, 8s. 2d. are allowed the sheriff for carriage of the king’s venison from Rockingham to Westminster. 1282, Richard de Holebroke has the custos-ship of the castle and seneschalship of the forest, with the king’s rents of Whytele and the manors of Saham, Oveston, and Silveston, for three years, and, 1285, Holebroke is again constable, and has £637. 17s. 8½d. for moneys expended by him in repairs of the castle during the past seven years. It is, therefore, probable that Holebroke held office before 1282. As he was by far the most active person who held the office, and as most of the older part of the castle is his work, it will be convenient here to quote from the Miscellaneous Rolls for 9 and 10 Edward I., a translation of the instrument by which Holebroke was appointed constable, which may be taken as the general form, and may thus be rendered:

“Concerning the castle of Rokingham and the office of the
seneschalcy of the forests and the divers manors committed.

“The king commits to Richard de Holebroke the custody of the king’s
castle of Rokingham and the office of the seneschalcy of the
king’s forests, between the bridges of Oxon and Staunfford, with
the king’s rent from Whitele, and with the king’s manors of Saham,
Oveston, and Silveston, to be held with all their appurtenances
from the feast of St. Michael in the year of the king’s reign the
ninth, until the end of the three complete years next following,
unless in the meantime the king should be induced to order
otherwise concerning the aforesaid castle. Rendering thence to
the king annually at the king’s exchequer from the issues of the
aforesaid castle and seneschalcy 80 pounds. From the manor of Saham
56 pounds, and from the manor of Selveston 15 pounds, that is to
say, one moiety at the feast of the Holy Trinity, and the other
moiety at the feast of St. Martin next following. So, however, that
the aforesaid Richard shall take nothing in the aforesaid forests
or in the king’s park of Silveston, except a reasonable estovery
(what is necessary) for constructing the houses of the aforesaid
castle, and for maintaining those and other houses which are in the
king’s aforesaid manors and, should it be necessary, for repairing
them. And he may have herbage in the aforesaid park, preserving
sufficient pasture for the king’s beasts there. And should it
happen that in the meantime the king should retake that castle into
the king’s hand, he shall preserve the aforesaid Richard without
loss. In witness, &c. Witness the king at Westminster, the 16th day
of November” [1282].

1288–9, Walter de Langton was allowed to impark his wood of Ashley and twelve contiguous acres, all in the forest. 1289–90, Holebroke, still constable, was allowed £8. 11s. 11¼d. for the expenses of the funeral of Walter de Levy, one of the suite of John de Brabant, who died at the castle and was buried at Pipwell. His bowels, however, were left at Rockingham, and there was a feast at his funeral. 1290–1, Elias de Hamul succeeded Holebroke, paying the same rental. In this year great complaints were made to the king of Holebroke’s conduct. William de Latimer, who held Corby and a wood _in capite_ at 10s. per annum, complained that Holebroke had cut down great oaks without number, destroying his wood, taking cartloads of underwood and branches, and had quartered charcoal-burners upon it for six years at £10 per annum each. Also, that he had kept about eighty swine and one hundred goats there for a year in all seasons, and contrary to the charter. Lawrence Preston of Gretton made a similar complaint. Both accused him of converting public funds into his private property. Holebroke denied the charges, and the king promised an inquiry (“Plac. in Parl.,” i. 36).

1291–2, Thomas de Lodington was allowed to impark five acres in Maleswood in the forest. 1293–4, Elias de Hamul was sent to Germany, and Thomas de Hamul appointed in his room. 1295–6, the constable is to take charge of William, son of Sir John de Moravia, Herbert de Mirham, Alexander de Fitz-Gley, and Gregory Fitz-Owen, prisoners taken in Dunbar Castle. Money is allowed for their sustenance. 1296–7, William Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, holds the castle and forest during pleasure, and, 1298–9, is succeeded by Adam de Welles.

In July, 1299, Edward I. settled the dowers of Margaret the sister, and Isabella the daughter, of the King of France, on the marriages of himself and his son, and, in the places settled on, the latter occur: “Geytington, Eston, Torpeyl, Brikstok, Clyve, and the castle and vill of Rokingham, with its forests, &c.,” and the schedule gives the following interesting particulars of their value:—Geytington, farm of the vill, £48; of the market, 6 marcs, total, £52. Eston, £40. Torpel, £100. Brikstok, with park and wood, £104. 13s. 4d. Clyve, with the forest, £110. 6s. 3d. C. and V. of Rokingham, with forest, &c., £80, being the farm of the castle and seneschalship between Oxon and Stamford bridges. (Mise Roll, 27 Edward I.) Queen Eleanor’s dower settled on her marriage was £4,500 per annum (“Cal. Rot. Chartarum”).

1301, John, son and heir of Richard de Holebroc, was allowed £614. 10s. 6d. for extensive repairs to the castle in his father’s time.

The entries during the reign of Edward II. are also tolerably numerous. 1307–8, Baldwin de Manners became constable on the same terms as Welles, as did Alan la Zouch 1311–12. In the next year Roger de Norwich had the vill of Rockingham and the manor of Little Weldon. 1313, Aymer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke, was custos, &c., on the usual terms, and Richard Edward had little Weldon. De Valence himself, or by his deputy, was to provide munition for the castle out of the issues of his custos-ship.

1314–15, the Abbot of Pipewell was allowed 5 acres 3 rods 10 perches, at a perch of 20 feet, for ever, from the king’s waste in the forest, at a rent of 2s. 11d. 1315, the king being lord of the manor of Rockingham, the Saturday market was confirmed. 1319–20, John Gifford, clerk, had a grant of 85 acres 3 rods 9½ perches in the forest in fee at the south side, in Tottenhowe, to be cleared and built upon. Also he has “common” for his animals. 1323–4, beside a number of castles, the vill of Rockingham is committed to Humphrey de Walden and Richard de Iken, and next year to Iken and Richard de Wynfarthing. 1324–5, John de Mosteyn was constable. Edward III. is known to have been at Rockingham four times, and he here tested a score of documents, many of which are diplomatic instruments of great importance, and drawn up with much care. Queen Philippa probably had the castle in settlement on her marriage in 1327, for in 1329 Edward granted her 60 acres in the forest, in aid of the repairs of the castle, then a ruin. William la Zouch was allowed to make a “saltatorium,” or deer-leap, within his manor of Haringworth in the forest, and next year Simon de Drayton had leave to impark Elsdale, Neusdale, and Lappe, containing 60 acres, also Wynescross of 10 acres, the latter outside the forest. Drayton was also constable and seneschal, paying yearly £80. He was of Drayton, now one of the best preserved and charming old manor places in the forest, and which has never been sold or alienated. An order was issued for inquiry into the oppressions done by Robert de Veer while constable, and the Bishop of Lincoln had leave to add 60 acres to his park of Luddington, county Rutland, but within the forest, and to enclose the same within a stone wall. 1335–6, Master William de Nassington had a pardon and fined a marc for “pour presture” and encroachment of 13 acres 3 rods at Kaluhey, occupied by John of Kyngeswood, parson of Hakebourn. 1336–7, Walter de Basley, the king’s clerk, had a grant of two oaks in the forest from the queen, and had taken four, for which he is in prison. John de Verdon, constable, is to release him on bail. Verdon held office by the queen’s grant for life, paying £80 per annum to the king’s consort when alive, and on her death to the king. 1338–9, the king took the homage of Hugh, son and heir of Margery de Nevill, deceased, for 6 acres of arable, one of meadow and pasture, and 20s. rent in Medbourne, held by the service of giving a barbed arrow whenever the king came to the castle.

1339–40, the forest wastes were to be measured; and two years later were to be inquired into in the forests of Rockingham, Salcy, and Whichwood. 1345–6, Thomas Wake of Blisworth had licence to assart 250 acres of land and pasture within the forest for which the præpositus and brethren, chaplain of John Gifford’s Chantry in Cotterstock and their successors are to pay annually 1d. per acre. They also pay a fine of £5. The lands are “nuper arentatis.” 1347, the Lieutenant of the Tower of London is to send ten Scots prisoners to John de Verdon, Constable of Rockingham, or his deputy, Thomas Stone. 1348–9, Simon Simeon has leave to enclose his wood of Grafton in the forest with a little ditch and a low hedge, and five years later he has permission to impark it.

20 Edward III., 1346–7, the king, in aid of the repairs of the castle, “qui noviter dirutus est et prostratus,” grants to the queen 60 acres of wood in his park of Bukelestrode within the forest on lease for her life (Abb. Rot. Orig.). The queen, however, had it not all her own way, for 1356–7 is a memorandum for staying her assarts in the forest. In this year the Abbot of Pipewell has the advowson of Geddington, and is to restore to the king in fee his lands in Benefield.

1371–2, and again in 1375–6, the king confirms the queen’s grant to Walter de Wright of pannage, herbage, dead wood, “copreneo,” brushwood (cablicio), bullrushes (cirpos), and all fallen branches, within the park of Brigstoke, and the bailliewicks of Geddington and Bulay, within the forest of Rockingham, also timber for the park pales for life, at £10 per annum. 1371–2, Henry Mulso has a lease for five years, at £42 per annum, of all the king’s “rentes d’assart” in the forest. 1375–6, Almaric de St. Amand, chivaler, has the castle and fortress at the old rent of £80. 24th August, 1375, the truce of Bruges between England and France was confirmed by Edward, “Don’ a noster chastel de Rockingham.”

In 1381, Sir John de Clyfton claimed to hold the manors of Rockingham and Wymundham by the service of butler at coronations, which service he complains had been usurped by the Earl of Arundel.

The importance of the castle and the exclusive jealousy of encroachment on forest rights were now on the decline. Encroachments were made upon the woodlands both for private parks and for cultivation, and the castle was neglected. The forest offices were, however, still coveted, and continued to be so for some centuries. 1387, Sir William de Thorpe had the bailliewicks of Brikestoke, Gettington, and Bulay for life. 1396, William Brancepath has the charge of the lordship of Rockingham for twelve years at £4. 2s. 1d. At this time it was under the Duchy of Cornwall.

The reign of Henry IV. opens upon Rockingham with a grant of the charge of the park of Clyve for life, and early in that of Henry V. is an appointment of itinerant judges to hear pleas in Rockingham forest.

1439–40, Henry VI. granted to the master of the College of Fotheringay 20 acres of waste in Shortwood, near Southwick in Kingscliff bailliewick for 3s. 4d., with permission to assart. In 1440, the vineyard mentioned in the reign of Henry I. was extant, and worth 4s. per annum; and 1442–3, Sir Robert Ross, one of the king’s carvers (trencheatorum), and much employed in diplomacy, has a grant in tail male of the castle and lordship of Rockingham, and the seneschalship of the forest from Stamford to Oxendon bridges, the supervisorship of the parish of Brigstock, pannage, &c., at £75. 16s. 8d. per annum, which was held by Henry, his son, in 1450. 1445, the tenants of Southwick manor are allowed common of pasture in the forest. 1450, Richard, Duke of York, is constituted justice in eyre of the southern forests, and of Rockingham between the bridges, and of the king’s parks of Cliffe and Brigstoke for life. An entry in the “Inquisitiones ad quod damnum” shows that, between 1448–55, the “men and tenants” of the town of Northampton held the office of king’s escheator. In the long list of crown revenues enumerated in the proceedings of Parliament, 28 Henry VI., 1450, the farms, rents, pasture, and profits of assarts in Rockingham forest are set down at £26. 3s. per annum. In 1454, Henry settled upon Queen Margaret, with much other property, the castle, lordship, manor, and forest of Rockingham, with its assarts, rents, &c., the vill of Brigstoke, and the bailliewicks of Brigstock and Clyffe, &c.

Edward IV. first appears in the forest by a concession in 1462–3 to the tenants of his vills of Nassington and Yarewell of an annual tax called Woodhallmarc exacted by the officers of the forest; he also granted them free common for their beasts in Seveley, and generally in the forest.

1462–3, the king made an ample grant to William, Lord Hastings, and Ralph Hastings, Esq., to be constables of the castle and forests of Rockingham, and bailiffs of Clyve and Brigstoke, &c., for their lives; Lord Hastings also had the manor of Stoke d’Albini. 1467–8, Edward settled the manor upon his queen, Elizabeth Widville, with the castle and forest, for life.

One of the old forest laws forbade those who held woods of their own within the forest boundary from enclosing them after felling the timber, for the protection of the rising wood, for more than three years. The king in Parliament, 1482, 22 Edward IV., extended this time to seven years.

Henry VII., soon after his accession, confirmed to John, Lord Welles, the office of constable and steward of the castle, lordship, and manor, of Rockingham, and of master forester of all the parks within the forest. He seems, however, 4th March, 1498, to have settled the whole upon Elizabeth his queen for life. In the schedule attached to the king’s declaration, pro hospitio Regis, 1485, 1 Henry VII., the revenues of Cliffe, Brigstocke, Geddington, the Forest, Corby, and Gretton, are set down at £208.

Edward VI., 1551–2, granted the manor, as part of the Duchy of Cornwall, to Edward, Lord Clinton. 27th June, 1553, occurs a grant to Lord Robert Dudley and William Glaseour of tenements in Rockingham, and in Eston, co. Leicester, late parcel of the lands of the late William Lord Parr, and late in the occupation of Edward Watson. This was Sir Edward Watson who had the manor of Rockingham, 28 Henry VIII., and was father of Henry Watson, æt. 16, 16 Henry VIII. Probably, however, that was a sub, or mesne-manor, for the castle and manor of Rockingham were in the crown in the reign of Philip and Mary.

In 1570, 21st April, the Earl of Northampton informs Cecil that Edward Watson of Rockingham has been required by the Council to contribute 100 marcs to the loan. Probably this should be 1,000, or £337. 10s., for, he adds that in his opinion not more than £50 should be required of him (“State Papers,” Dom.).

In 1571 Sir Walter Mildmay has a grant of forest land, probably near Apethorpe.

In 1592, the Lord Treasurer Burghley has the keepership of the forest for life, excepting Great and Little Brigstock parks, as the late Lord Chancellor had it. When Lord Burghley died the keeper or wardship was given, 1598, to his son. From this time the grants of bailliewicks, forest walks, lands, and forest offices are very numerous.

In 1601, 23rd December, Elizabeth granted the forest in free socage to be held of the manor of Hampton Court to Edward Watson and William Whitock, for £96. 1s. 4d. What this grant meant is uncertain: not the whole forest, for the keepership of this was granted to Lord Burghley, Sir William Cecil, and Lord Roos, with survivorship.

26th October, 1604, the deer had become scarce, and Lord Burghley was restrained from killing any for three years. In this year an inquisition was directed into the forest lands held by the king’s tenants, the crown interests having evidently been much neglected.

In January, 1605, notice was given that James intended to visit Rockingham, and commissioners sat, probably to check abuses, before whom, 14th June, Sir Thomas Tresham was summoned for his discourses on the misgovernment of the forest under Edward VI., Mary, and Elizabeth, matters which he hoped James would reform.

In 1609 the commissioners were prepared to agree to compositions from the holders of assarted lands, excepting, however, in Clyffe, and probably some other parts of the forest. They were also selling the woods, but as the game had been diminished by unlawful hunting it was ordered that for three years no claims for deer should be allowed save under the sign manual. At that time Sir C. Hatton was keeper of the Launde of Benyfield in the forest.

29th October, 1609, Sir Edward Watson wrote to Lord Salisbury that the king’s tenants in Cotingham and Middleton desired to purchase these lands, and he himself offers to purchase his court leet and view of frankpledge.

2nd June, 1610, John Browne has £170. 0s. 4d. for the repairs of the lodges of Geddington, Morehay, and Gretton woods.

In 1611, 19th September, Sir Lewis Watson, of Rockingham, had licence to travel.

1615, 12th June, Sir Robert Lane was proceeded against by the attorney-general for encroachment on the forest.

1616, Sir Edward Watson, whose effigy is seen in the church, became possessed of the manor of Rockingham. 1619, 20th June, George, Marquis of Buckingham had a grant of Rockingham Park, which, in the same year, he conveyed to Sir Lewis Watson; and 1621, 23rd March, Buckingham, then Lord High Admiral, had a grant of 200 oaks from Westhay walk, to be selected by himself. 1624, 14th May, the Earl of Exeter, then Lord Warden of the forest, mentions the land of Murie as one of the prime walks. The verdurers seem to have been country gentlemen of consideration in the neighbourhood; Sir Thomas Tresham was one. 20th July, Robert Lane, who had been displaced by the Montague interest with the Earl of Exeter, asks Lord Salisbury to replace him as keeper of Geddington woods. In 1625, 23rd March, a warrant is issued for the repairs of the chief lodge in Corby woods, and £16 and 10 tons of timber are allowed.

1628, 29th January, John Lord Mordaunt has the forestership of Farming woods at £10 per annum, with a fine of £1,150, and Edward Lord Montague has that of Geddington at £10, with a fine of £850. Soon after he purchased the timber, and is mentioned as having the revenue of Rockingham bailliewick. Nicholas Pay and others had a grant from Lords Peterborough and Westmoreland of all timber trees in the walks of Morehay, Westhay, and Farming woods for £2,000, and Lord Montague that of Geddington walk for £1,000. He also had a grant of the office of master forester and keeper of Rockingham bailliewick for three lives. These two lords seem to have been in favour with Charles I., and on the death of the Earl of Exeter in 1629 to have managed the forest in their own interests. In 1630–1 Mary, Countess of Westmoreland, seeks to have her son made justice in eyre for the forest, of which it will give her the command. In 1635 Sir Christopher Hatton claims Gretton and Weldon woods in the Forest Court, by grant from Queen Elizabeth, as does Sir W. Tresham Geddington by grant from James I. In this year, 11 Charles I., was held an “eyre” for Rockingham forest. Certain tenants claimed “Suite-Thornes,” by the custom of the manor, in addition to house-bote, hedge-bote, gate-bote, and common of pasture.

In 1637–8, 13 Charles I., a new perambulation was ordered, to settle the bounds, which were finally agreed to as those of 20 James I., and made the subject of an Act of Parliament, 17 Charles I. Deafforestation was allowed on reasonable composition, only the Surveyor General was to set out the bailliewick of Rockingham, Clyffe, and Brigstock, to be retained for the king’s sport. Lord Treasurer Juxon was president of the new commission, which met in London, at London House, in 1638. At that time Henry, Earl of Holland, was justice in eyre, and seems to have had much to do. Richard Lane was his deputy. In 1638 Sir C. Hatton applied for leave to fell a coppice. The verdurers are to certify the acreage to the chief justice, and whether the wood may be felled without injury to the game. The certifyers are Sir Lewis Watson and Charles Cockayn. Thomas Dove, a verdurer, has leave from the chief justice to hawk in moderation. There are great complaints of poaching. In this year, William, Earl of Salisbury, had a release for two fines of £1,400 and £6,000, inflicted by the justice, probably for serious encroachments, and his park at Brigstock, which had been laid open, is to be re-parked. 1638–9, John Norwich of Brampton pays £400 for encroachments, and Brampton is disafforested.

In 1639 the troubles had commenced, and 29th June the manor of Rockingham was confirmed to Sir Lewis Watson, who held the castle for the king. In 1643 the tide of civil war flowed towards Northamptonshire. 5th April, the castle had been besieged and taken, and Lord Grey of Groby was in command for the Parliament. He fortified it strongly with palisades, and therein sheltered his troops and certain of the disaffected clergy. 7th May, the castle contained a strong garrison and was used to preserve the peace of the district. 19th May, Sir Lewis Watson was captured by Colonel Hastings and taken to Stoke Albini. The colonel was active throughout the forest. 5th June, Sir John Norwich was the parliamentary governor of the castle, and had engaged and routed the king’s guards. 9th June, 500 horse appeared before the castle, and a party blockaded it while the rest rode to Weldon. The garrison, however, were too strong, and captured nine or ten of the king’s chief officers who came that way from Oxford. 29th December, Lord Grey proposed to dismiss Colonel Horsman, then in charge of the castle, but the Parliament upheld him.

In 1645 Norwich was in command, and took many prisoners, lodging them in the castle. Sir Lewis probably distinguished himself in the field, for, 1st June, he was created Baron Rockingham of Rockingham Castle. 7th June, the king marched from Harborough to Daventry, and on the 14th the battle of Naseby was fought, whence many prisoners were sent to the castle.

In August, 1660, with the Restoration, Lord Rockingham appears, and, finding a scarcity of deer, begs the usual warrants may be restrained. In 1661, at the coronation, Edward Lord Rockingham, as tenant _in capite_ of Little Weldon, claimed to be keeper of the king’s dogs. This was referred to the king. The manor was held by the service of keeping twenty-four buckhounds and six harriers. With the Civil War the value of the castle as a place of strength ceased, and it became the residence of the Watson family, as it has since remained.

Some years ago the late Mr. Hartshorne drew up an account of the castle, which, with copious notices of its descent, and of its connexion with the forest, was printed in the first volume of the “Transactions” of the Institute. Since then, the Rev. H. J. Bigge, for many years rector of Rockingham, has paid much attention to the subject, and has made collections concerning it, for the use of which the present writer is much indebted.

OLD SARUM, WILTSHIRE.

The Wiltshire Avon, which shares that well-known name with her Somersetshire sister, and rises in part from the same ground,—that “Eastern Avon,” which

————vaunts, and doth upon her take
To be the only child of shadeful Savernake,—

is one of the coldest and clearest streams in the south. Whether its source be taken from the high land of the Devizes, or from the skirts of Savernake, it runs about fifty miles to the sea at Christchurch, and, in that distance, itself, or by its immediate tributaries, traverses a tract very rich in sylvan beauty, and crowded with material traces of the old inhabitants of the land, and of their severe struggle in the sixth century with the fiery deluge by which they were at last swept away, but which brought with it those seeds of civilisation which have nowhere grown more abundant fruit than along the banks of this celebrated stream.

Much of the upper course of the Avon lies across Salisbury Plain, where it cleaves that table-land of the chalk by a valley full of sudden but not ungraceful bends and secluded nooks, each bright and rich with vegetation, and in almost every bend a village and its church, there being twenty of the latter in the same number of miles between the entrance of the Avon into the chalk at Beaching-Stoke and the expansion of its ravine at Salisbury. The lower valley is broad and flat, and the waters flow freely in many inosculating channels. The lowlands are laid out as rich water meadows, the uplands studded with masses of oak, elm, and beech, the skirts of the adjacent New Forest. Nothing can be more wild, more natural, nor yet more indebted to the labour and taste of man.

For antiquities, every part of the broad plain of the chalk is dotted over with marks of human habitation, warfare, or sepulture. Almost every headland is crowned by a camp recognised as British by its outline following the irregularities of the ground. Upon its northern frontier may be seen Easton and Pewsey, Lidbury, Sidbury, Chisenbury, Casterley, Broadbury, and Bratton; and, on the southern, Durrington, Amesbury, Quarley, Ogbury, Winterbourne, Grovely, Belbury, and Old Sarum, a few only, though the most considerable, of the defensive earthworks. Lower down the valley and nearer to the sea, the ground is rather less strong, and the earthworks of the British age perhaps less numerous, but there are not wanting examples of large area and great strength, such as Clearbury, Whichbury, Chiselbury, Tisbury, Winkelbury, and, still further south, Dudsbury, Badbury, and Spettisbury, which remain but little altered. Stonehenge, the grandest of British antiquities, and probably the only one in this immediate district neither military nor sepulchral, stands on the right bank of the Avon, scarce a mile from its waters, and only six from the fortress of Old Sarum.

The Roman remains of the district are considerable, and characteristic of the people. They consist almost wholly of roads. Old Sarum, though certainly of British origin, is the centre of several great roads, which radiated from it towards the Roman settlements at Bath, Marlborough, Winchester, Silchester, Ilchester, and Dorchester, and upon these and between them are various works of the same people, though their camps, being rarely defended by formidable works in earth, and being usually on low and accessible ground, have very frequently disappeared before the ploughshare.

The English, the scourge of the later Britons, and their successors by the right of many a hard-won contest in the Wiltshire territory, notwithstanding their pagan ferocity, have left traces which speak but of law and order. Their dragon’s teeth have grown up, not, as might have been expected, in armed men, but in waving cornfields, enclosed pastures, parochial boundaries, and those various subdivisions of the land the very existence of which implies peace and private property. To these later invaders may be attributed such earthworks as Downton, the Devizes, and Ludgershal, and such ecclesiastical foundations as Wimborne and Christchurch. The Norman remains in and about the valley of the Avon differ in no material respect from those in other parts of England, being grafted, where circumstances admitted of it, upon the existing works. Thus the grand earthworks at the Devizes, at Marlborough, at Ludgershal, at Twynham, all probably of English origin, were crowned with keeps of masonry, as was the central mound at Old Sarum, and on the borders of the district the very curious work at Wareham, and the natural, but early occupied hill, at Corfe.

Old Sarum is a very noteworthy place; in some respects the most noteworthy in Britain. Selected at some remote period and fortified with appliances of a simple character, it is the principal stronghold of a district very rich in military earthworks, and which at one time was the resort of inhabitants whose huts and wigwams, and the monuments of their superstition, covered the adjacent downs, and whose sepulchral monuments, ascending to the stone age, point, by their contents, to an early, and, by their number, to a long-continued population. The earlier and later Britons, Celtic or Belgic tribes, the Romans, and the English, have each here left traces of their rule; the Celt, partly in the fragments of an ancient nomenclature, but chiefly in mere material works, curious, indeed, and grand, but which are in no way connected with the later inhabitants of the country; the Romans, in those marvellous public ways, many of which are still in use; and the English in those names, boundaries, and customs, which are associated with our religion and our civilisation.

Nevertheless, the mound of Old Sarum is a spot on which the descendant of the Welsh-speaking Britons has a right to feel pride. All around it savours of the remote antiquity of his race. The Norman fortress, the city, the cathedral church, have all vanished; their very ruins have perished, and the knowledge of their arrangements has only been recovered by the accident of a rainless summer. Even the traces of Roman and English residence within the vast enclosure are uncertain and obscure. The seats of spiritual and civil authority were removed in the thirteenth century, and the military sway did not long survive. Political power, indeed, by a strange anomaly, lingered there until our own day, and is redeemed from oblivion only by its accidental connection with the name of the elder Pitt. But this also has departed. The bare and gaunt banks and mounds, the skeleton of the past life, are all that is left, and here, as at Stonehenge, the memory of the Briton is once more predominant.

Wyman & Sons, Gᵗ. Queen Sᵗ. London.]

Old Sarum is a rudely circular and concentric earthwork, of unusual height and area, and of more historic celebrity than is attached to any other mere bank of earth in Britain, however stupendous. Moreover, though really as much a natural knoll of chalk as Windsor, its sharp outline and obviously artificial finish invest it, to the ordinary observer, with the character of a work of man, and thus prodigiously enhance the admiration with which it is wont to be regarded. Old Sarum is really a knoll of the lower and flint-bearing chalk series, of which advantage has been taken to scarp and elevate the highest and central part into a steep flat-topped mound, round which is excavated a formidable ditch, very broad and very deep. Beyond the ditch is a broad and comparatively level annular area, sloping slightly from the centre, and in its turn girdled by a second and still more formidable ditch. Of this the counterscarp is a steep bank, outside of and beyond which is the natural slope of the base of the hill, forming what, in military phrase, would be the glacis of the place, and which, on three sides, descends into the ordinary valleys of the district, but to the west is continued downwards until it dies into the meads of Stratford, rendered bright and well wooded by the fertilising waters of the Avon. The whole height of the knoll above the river may be 300 feet, and perhaps 200 feet above the other valleys, and the fortified area is above 27 acres, so that the fortress is one of great strength and magnitude.

Commencing with the interior, the central mound is, at its top, about 500 feet across. The sides are as steep as the rubbly chalk soil will well admit of, and the material removed in scarping seems to have been, in part, placed on the crest of the scarp so as to raise the edge of the mound by an artificial bank, about 20 feet above the central platform. This bank or parapet, now crowned with thorn-bushes, is about 100 feet above the bottom of the ditch, and about half that height above the level of the counterscarp. The ditch is about, at its broadest, 150 feet. This ditch was the inner fosse of the fortress, and surrounded its keep or inner ward, or the castle proper.

The annular space beyond formed the outer ward, the girth of which was about 1500 yards, and within which were the city and the cathedral. This ward is not quite circular, but, measuring from the inner to the outer ditch, averages about 370 feet. It is parted nearly equally on the north side by a bank, and on the south by a bank and ditch, the former being on the eastern side. These run as radial lines, but do not reach the interior ditch, neither does the cross ditch communicate with the exterior one. In fact, the cross ditch, in its breadth, depth, and irregularity, much resembles a quarry, and very probably was opened to supply material for the hearting or substance of the castle walls. Besides these is another bank, pointing to the south-east, so that the whole area is divided into three sections, of which two lie in the eastern half. Of course, the object of these banks was to shut in the church, and to prevent the whole outer ward being taken by a _coup-de-main_. They are all evidently additions to the circular works, and probably of the Norman period. With these exceptions the surface of this ward is nearly level, but round its outer edge runs a low bank, and in places, in its rear, a slight ditch, no doubt caused by the removal of the wall.

Outside this ward is the outer ditch, about 106 feet deep from the crest and about 150 feet broad. The bank, which forms the outer edge of this ditch, was evidently formed from its contents. It is about 40 feet above the bottom of the ditch, and about 15 feet above the level outside, and it is very steep. This forms the outer line of defence, and in modern warfare would be considered a weakness, as affording cover to the assailants. Thus the fortress is composed of an inner or castle ward, and an outer or city ward, with a bank and ditch defending each, and a third bank beyond and on the edge of the outer ditch. The outer ditch and bank are those attributed to Alfred. The diameter of the whole place is a mean of 1,700 feet. These defences are much stronger than those of the adjacent camps; Barnbury and Amesbury banks, for example, are about half their strength. The earthwork most worthy to be compared with Old Sarum is Badbury, in Dorset.

There are two entrances into the outer ward from the E.S.E. and W.N.W., nearly opposite. These are formed by a direct cross-cut through the outer bank, and the filling up the ditch so as to carry a roadway, which enters the outer ward in a cutting, as a hollow way. At the eastern or main entrance this way is shallow, and speedily dies out, but at the western, called the Postern entrance, though narrow, the roadway is much deeper, and runs far into the ward. In each case the way forks at the outer bank, and in the angle is placed a barbican of earth, a sort of cavalier, commanding both branches of the road as well as their combination. The eastern work is nearly rectangular, sharply defined, and has an independent ditch of its own towards the field. It is, probably, in its present form, Norman. The original entrances seem to have been here, but the present arrangement is evidently later, and possibly altogether Norman.

The inner ward has but one, an eastern entrance, opposite to that of the outer ward. This also is formed by a notch cut in the scarp, the ditch being filled up to carry a footway. This must always have been very steep. It was evidently always the entrance, the bank elsewhere being uncut. Fragments of masonry show it, in its present form, a bridge being substituted for the causeway, to have been the entrance to the Norman castle.

Besides these earthworks are certain remains of masonry, parts evidently of very extensive and solid works, due to the Norman period.

At the entrance to the inner ward, on the scarp, are two masses of chalk-flint rubble, with occasional blocks or lumps of sarsden stone, evidently the core of a gatehouse and contiguous curtain once faced with ashlar. The _enceinte_ wall seems to have crested the mound all round, the present bank forming a ramp behind it. In the enclosure, on the north side, are lines of foundation, obviously those of the principal buildings, and opposite is a bold depression in the soil, no doubt marking the place of the well, which must have been deep, and was possibly large. The filling up of the ditch at the entrance is clearly modern. This central mound may be original, but it is rather more probable that the British work resembled Badbury, which has no central citadel, and that this latter was added, and the ditch excavated in the eighth or ninth century, to make a fortified residence for the English lord. This, however, must always be a mere speculation. By whomsoever made, the Normans found the mound here, and built upon it a shell, of which the ditch was the defence, and the interior bank the ramp. If the whole area be regarded as a castle, this was the keep, but if, as is more probable, the outer area represented the city, then the interior would be the castle, which in that case must be held to have had no keep. It is a question of names only.

The other lump of masonry is on the line of the wall of the city ward, towards the north-east. This is part of the curtain wall of the city, about 10 feet thick and 12 feet high, and 25 feet long. It is pierced by two holes, 18 inches high by 12 inches broad, placed about 6 feet apart and 8 feet from the ground. They seem to have carried two beams, for what purpose it is vain to conjecture. The fragment is of chalk-flint rubble, with occasional chain courses of sarsden stone rudely dressed. The inner face of the wall retains its original facing of dressed sarsden ashlar. Though placed, as indeed, with such a weight, was prudent, 3 feet or 4 feet within the edge of the ditch, it was evidently a part of the general _enceinte_ wall, described as having been 12 feet thick, and strengthened with twelve towers. This could not have been less than 20 feet high, and about 1,566 yards long, a prodigious work, even without considering the radial walls dividing the city from the cathedral. Unfortunately, these walls have all been removed down to and in most places somewhat below the level of the soil, the materials having been needed for the new city.