192 AN EPISODE IN THE HISTORY OF THE RIVER LEA.
and that the Old Lock was about three-quarters of a mile beyond
Waltham, and had been stopped up by force, Sir Edward Dening
having recently made a new one.
Another Inquisition, dated 1512, gives the boundaries of the
Abbot's manor of Waltham. It extended from Smalleigh Bridge, on the
borders of the counties of Essex and Herts, along a small stream there
called the Smalleigh, which is of the west part at the end of Waltham
Common Marsh, to the meadow called Frithey, of which thirty-four
acres lie in Cheshunt and sixty-four acres in Waltham, divided by a
small lake, called the Sherelake, which is on the borders of Essex
and Herts, half of it being in one and half in the other. Thence
the manor extends northwards to Slatysholme ditch, which divides
Hallifield Marsh in Essex and the meadow called Stratissholme in
county Herts ; so the same manor extends along (per) the lake to
the great river called the High Leigh by Woodhey Shelpe, a place
well known to be in the main navigable river, and along the river to
Nasing Manor. Moreover, one, William Bedell, Esq., had diverted
the water of the Abbot to his mill at Cheshunt more than he ought,
to the damage of the king and his lieges passing in their boats.
The summary of these Commissions ends with the expression of
a hope that the proofs "may suffice to satisfy Sir Edwd Denny,"
and "move him to desist from these wrongs and yield to right."
But the upshot of the whole matter remains to seek, and it is quite
possible that the search may prove a long, and perhaps, after all, a
futile one. However, I hope to return to it later, nor will I fail to
communicate the results to the members of the Club.
The document has, by way of pendant, a note touching certain
vessels called "shoutes," which were proved of ancient times to have
passed down the river, but alleged to have been small. In answer to
this, it is said that in Edward III.'s time three carried twelve load of
timber, or four tons a piece ; and in Henry IV.'s time one carried
twelve tons. The barges, too, in recent times, were of six or seven
tons burthen. The question of riparian rights is also touched on,
and Bracton is cited to show that by the jus gentium the use of the
banks is public, as are the rivers themselves. It appeared, also, that
in Edward IV.'s time the owners of the land on either side were
expected to take away all trees, bushes, and hedges growing upon
the banks, and that similar duties had recently been enjoined on
them, together with the making of bridges over mill-streams for the
bargemen's use.