ESSEX PRE-ORNITHOLOGY.
9
As this is the first allusion to the Crane it is a suitable point
to introduce the views of W. Palin. In his More about Stifford
and its Neighbourhood, Past and Present, he writes "Cranes, of
the same family (Herons), until the country was disforested
and drained abounded in the neighbouring village of Cranham,
giving it in fact its name of Cranham or Craneham=Crane-
village, as Herons gave a name to the Heron manor at Horndon,
and other places in the neighbourhood."
12TH CENTURY.
E. A. Fitch, writing on Essex heronies in 1888, refers to a
number of old names which he associates with the Heron. He
states that one of the bounds of the borough of Maldon, men-
tioned in the charter of Henry II (1155) is Buherne, which
Fitch suggests meant the protected heronry or herons' habitation.
The present writer contributed in 1921 a paper, entitled
The Sparrow Hawk and the Goshawk in Litigation in the 12th
and 13th Centuries. This article was based on Feet of Fines for
Essex, published by the Essex Archaeological Society. A fine
may be described as a document recording the amicable settle-
ment of a dispute made with the consent of judges in courts.
When a fine dealt with a conveyance some service or rent was
mostly reserved by the grantor, either a payment in money, or
some nominal rent, such as a soar Sparrow-Hawk, a pair of gilt
spurs, a pair of gloves, a pound of Cummin, a rose, a gillyflower,
etc. These fines extend over a period of ninety years, from 1182
to 1272, during which the Sparrow-Hawk is mentioned on 131
occasions and the Goshawk on nine occasions. The author
illustrates by dividing the period how this custom increased
and deduces that this alteration was related to the progress of
falconry in Essex. The relation between falconry and the birds
of the County is not so clear but the references suggest that the
Sparrow-Hawk was more plentiful in the 12th and 13th centuries
than it is today and that the Goshawk may have bred sparingly
in the County.
13TH CENTURY.
R. S. Charnock, writing On Ancient Manorial Customs, etc.,
in the County of Essex, mentions that in the reign of Henry III
(1216-1272) "Ralph Picot held one carucate of land in Saling
by the serjeanty of keeping one Sparhawk at the King's cost."