8
woods, forests, and land revenues of the Crown.* These
Commissioners stated that they found in the office of
the Surveyor General of Crown lands an ancient plan
of the Forest, delineating the bounds according to the
perambulation of the 17 th of Charles the First, and
according to a computation made from the survey they
arrived at the figures given above, so that as late as
1793, we have an authentic statement relating to what
the Forest consisted of.
These Commissioners further ascertained that the
Crown had an unlimited right to keep deer in the unen-
closed woods and wastes within the perambulation, that
the owners and occupiers of lands within the bounds
of the Forest, (the 48,000 acres of enclosed land before
referred to) had a right of common of pasture for horses
and cows, and that the cattle were sent in as early in
the spring, and remained as late in the winter as the
owners chose, but that the Forest was constantly cleared
of them during the fence month, that the cattle were
marked by the Reeves of the respective parishes with
the particular forest mark for each parish, and that the
general rule was to admit one horse or two cows for
every £4 of rent. The fence month consisted of
fifteen days before old Midsummer day and fifteen
days after.
* Mr. Gardiner the Solicitor to the Department of Woods and Forests in
his examination before the Committee of 1865 on Open Spaces, says (5131)
" Those Reports, which are most elaborate reports, I take as my text book.
They are compiled with extreme accuracy, with a reference in every instance
to documentary evidence."