ffences.

At the forest Eyre, a sort of assizes, held at Pickering in 1334 to deal
with a great accumulated mass of infringements on the rights of the
forest, the first case is against Sir John de Melsa, Lord of Levisham, who
was, according to the jury, "in the habit of employing men to make and
burn charcoal out of browsewood and dry sticks in his woods at Levisham,
which are now within the bounds of the forest, and he exposes the charcoal
for sale, injuring the lord and annoying the deer, by what right they know
not. Sir John is summoned, appears, and pleads that he and his ancestors
and the tenants of the Manor of Levisham have from ancient time taken the
browsewood and dry sticks in the said woods and burnt them into charcoal,
and afterwards exposed them for sale, and given them away at pleasure as
part of his and their manorial rights. He asks that the officers of the
forest may try the question. As it clearly appears to the Court by the
answer of Sir John that he is making a claim to take a profit in the
forest which he did not claim on the first day of the Eyre, as the custom
is, and as proclamation was made, judgment is given that the liberty be
seized into the Lord's hands, and Sir John is to answer for its value in
the meantime. Afterwards Sir John appears, and prays that he may be
allowed to pay a composition for making his claim, and a composition of
6s. 8d. is fixed. Surety, Richard de Naulton. The jury also present that a
bridge called Friar Bridge, beyond the Costa, across which people are wont
to pass on horseback and on foot going from Pickering to Malton, is in
such bad repair that people cannot pass over, but have to make a
divergence of about a mile and a half in the forest, treading down and
injuring the pasturage of the deer. The Abbot of Rievaulx and all Abbots
of that place are bound to repair it. He is summoned, appears, and does
not deny that he and they are bound to repair it, but he says that the
bridge is not in such bad repair that people cannot pass over it as they
are wont and ought to do without doing harm to any one. He asks that an
inquiry may be made by the officers of the forest. An inquiry is directed.
The foresters, verderers, and regarders, sworn and charged, say on their
oaths, that after the summons for the Eyre was issued, the bridge was in
such bad repair that people being unable to pass over it made a divergence
into the forest, annoying the Lord's deer and treading down their