189
OF HAWKS AND HOUNDS IN ESSEX IN
THE OLDEN TIME.
By J. E. HARTING, F.L.S., F.Z.S., (Member of the British Ornithologists' Union).
[Read at Writtle Park, Essex, on May 11th, 1889.]
Assembled as we are here to-day in an old English home, in the
largest parish in Essex, and (as Morant says) one of the finest in the
county, we see much to remind us of the past; much that is sugges-
tive of that complete enjoyment of country life which results from a
healthful participation in field sports, and a quiet contemplation of
Nature in all the beautiful and varied aspects of an English wood-
land landscape. Whether the picture is viewed as we see it to-day,
framed in the pale and delicate foliage of spring, or more massively
surrounded, as it will be anon, by the deepening tints of autumn,
a sense of repose is induced which calls up visions of the "makers" of
English homes, their tastes, their mode of life, their pleasures and
pursuits. Our thoughts wander back to the time when, at this
season of the year, the hawks' nests in the great woods were being
anxiously watched by the falconer of Writtle, who looked forward to
securing the eyesses in June, and training them for his master's
pleasure; when the huntsman, with his young hounds "at walk,"
impatiently awaited the time when he might enter them to marten,
once a common animal in the Forest of Essex, and thus, teaching
them to "pack" well, prepare them for the more arduous pursuit of
hare, or fox.
Many lands in Essex, as in other parts of England, were held of
old by the serjeanty of keeping hawks or finding hounds for the king,
when he should come that way upon a hunting tour, or for the use
of the lord of the manor, as the case might be.
At Tey Magna, the tenants of the manor were formerly bound to
maintain a number of hawks for the lord's use till they were a year
old, a service which was afterwards commuted into an annual pay-
ment of thirty shillings, which in 1782 was paid to, and received by,
Thomas Astle, Esq.
At Saling, in Edward the First's time, Ralph Picot held land by
the serjeanty of keeping a Sparhawk (Sparverium) for the king, and
mewing it at his own proper cost.
At Ardelay, Baldwin Fillot held certain land in the town by a
similar tenure, per serjant. servandi nisum.