32 THE EPPING HUNT.
professing to give information as to the rights of the citizens over
Epping Forest, it practically furnishes only a confirmation of Mr.
Fisher's statement, that no documentary evidence could be found to
support the right of hunting in the Forest traditionally held to
belong to the Corporation of London, and to have been yearly
exercised on the occasion of the Epping Hunt.1 The Memorandum
contains extracts from various ancient documents, with translations
appended. The earliest is an undated letter, in Saxon, addressed
by the Conqueror to Gosfrigth, the Sheriff, and to all the citizens of
London, bidding them to take neither hart nor hind, nor game of
any sort, on the lands of Lanfranc, the Archbishop, that belonged
to his manor of Hergan (Harrow), unless by his command or with
his leave.2 This is followed by an extract from a charter of
Henry I., who, in 1101, confirmed to the citizens of London their
sporting rights, as enjoyed by their predecessors, in Chiltre
(Chiltern), and Middlesex, and Surrey. Rather more than half a
century later on, in 1154, Henry II. confirmed his grandfather's con-
firmation ; and subsequently, Richard I., John, and Henry III.
followed the example of their predecessors.
The printed Hundred Rolls of 1275 are next cited, and there
we find a jury of inquisition stating that the citizens might run, with
their dogs, at hares, foxes, rabbits, and wild cats (murilegos) as far
as the bridge of Stanes, and to the gate of the park of Enfield, and
to Stratford-le-Bow, and to Waltham Holy Cross—a liberty im-
peded, however, by the Earl of Cornwall's warren at Isleworth, and
that of William de Say at Edmonton ; by what authority the jurors
find themselves unable to say.3 A marginal note, in Mr. Barclay's
hand, tells us that it was suggested, on one side, that there was, in
the bridge of Stanes, an allusion to the Staneway near Colchester
To this the other side retorted that such a contention was absurd,
and that Staines in Middlesex was evidently meant. In view of the
warren at Isleworth, and of the remoteness of Colchester, the latter
view seems indisputably correct. Also, as against the City's claim
it was urged that deer were not mentioned, and that the boundaries
given were eminently calculated to keep the citizens out of the
Forest. The City, it is needless to say, interpreted the documents
differently, and showed a course of chase right through the Forest
1 W. R. Fisher : "The Forest of Essex," p. 202.
2 Dugdale's "Monasticon," I, Part 3, No. xxxix.
3 Hundred Rolls (1812) ; pp. 403-423.