190
OF HAWKS AND HOUNDS IN ESSEX
At Hallingbury Walter de Hauville held land by the serjeanty of
falconry, which he had of the grant of King Richard I.
In 1304, Cicely, the widow of Humfrey de Hastings, held the
manor of White Roding by the service of keeping two lanner falcons
for heron-hawking, and a greyhound trained to make a heron rise,
from Michaelmas to the Purification, for the king's use.1
At White Withings, Thomas de Longeville and Beatrice, his wife
(daughter and heir of Philip de Hastings), kept two of the king's
lanners for the same period of the year, that is, from September to
February.
Similarly were other lands in this county held by the service of
maintaining hounds for the king ; or, as at Wodeham Mortimer,
taking puppies in to nurse, and keeping them till they should be fit
to run. Sometimes, as at Upminster, greyhounds (canes leporarios)
were kept for the king's use when he came coursing.
In Edward the First's time, William de Reynes held land at
Bayton by the serjeanty of keeping for the king five wolf-dogs,
whose occupation in England was not gone until the later reign of
Henry VII.
Richard I. gave Henry de Grey, of Codford, the manor of Turrock,
in Essex, which grant was confirmed by King- John, who gave him
the privilege to hunt the hare and fox on any land belonging to the
Crown, except the king's own demesne parks; a special favour in
those times.
Lands at Writtle were at one time held by the serjeanty of the
forestership and 20s. rent.2
When James I., who was a great sportsman, journeyed from London
to hunt and hawk at Newmarket, he used to go by way of Waltham
Cross and Royston, and the Exchequer accounts show the great
expenses which were incurred in these journeys. In 1624, for
example, the king went to Newmarket against the advice of his
physicians to see some hawks flown.
A French falconer had arrived in London with a present of hawks,
horses, and setting dogs from Louis XIII. Chamberlain, writing to
Sir D. Carleton on January 17th, from London, says :—"He made
a splendid entry with his train by torchlight, and will stay till he has
1 Morant's "Essex," vol. ii, p. 469.
2 Blount mentions one or two customs of the Manor of Writtle, which are rather curious,
though they have no connection with hunting. One of these is a payment to the lord of the
manor by the tenants for their pigs. On St. Leonard's Day (November 6th) every tenant paid
for pigs, under a year old a halfpenny, for every yearling pig a penny, and for every hog above a
year old twopence, for the privilege of pawnage in the lord's woods. This payment was called
avisagi.