THE DEER OF EPPING FOREST. 53
there serving God, granting that their woods at Harlow, Stapleford,
and Werketon, should be for ever free from regard, waste,14 and view
of the Foresters and Regarders, and that the abbot and monks
should have the use of the same woods at their own will, except
always driving forth the game. And on the same day, under another
writ to De Montfitchet, free warren was granted for ever to the Bishop
of London and his successors in his manor of Clackington, and that
of Walton-cum-Thorpe, which is the manor of the Chapter of St.
Paul's, London. Also that the said bishop and his successors for
ever had full liberty to take stags and hinds, and all sorts of wild
animals within the limits of the said manors. The Forester was also
commanded to make two deer leaps15 in his great park at Ongar, as
he had right and custom to have. And also about the same time
Montfitchet received the following mandate :—" We command you to
allow the Abbess of Barking her reasonable estovers16 in her wood at
Hainault for her firing, her cooking, and her brewing, if she has been
accustomed so to do in the time of our Lord King John our father ;
also to permit the same abbess to have her dogs to chase hares and
foxes within the bailiwick if she was accustomed to have them in the
time of our aforesaid father."
The Forester also had charge of the venison ; as may be shown by
a few examples from the close rolls. "The King to Richard de
Montfitchet (1217), greeting:—Know ye that we have given twenty
deer to our faithful and beloved Hugh de Nevill, to re-stock his park
at Halingbury." In December, 1223, Robert Fitzwalter was to have
ten live deer to stock his park at Royden. The next day an order
was issued to give ten live deer to Henry Fitz-Archer, to stock his
park at Epping. Another time Geoffrey, Bishop of Ely, was to have
ten does and two stags.
Another duty of the Forester was to accompany, either in person
or by deputy, those who had a right to kill deer or other game in the
royal forest. By the first forest charter of Henry III. it was granted
that "whatever archbishop, bishop, earl, or baron shall be passing
through our forests, it shall be lawful for them to take one or two
deer, by the view of the Forester, if he shall be present, if not, he
shall cause a horn to be sounded, lest it should seem a theft."
14 Waste of the forest is where a man cuts down his own woods within a forest without license
of the king, or chief justice in eyre.
15 For an explanation of this term see an article by the present writer on '' Deer-leaps, their
Signification, Position, and Construction," in The Field, 10th Jan. 1884, P. 83.
16 Estovers, a law term signifying necessaries or supplies, from O. Fr. estoveir, estovoir, to be
needful.