ckmoor, in this parish, is obliged to find the posts and brush-wood
for the former; while the farms at Greatham, in rotation, furnish for the
latter, and are all enjoined to cut and deliver the materials at the
spot. This custom I mention, because I look upon it to be of very remote
antiquity.

LETTER VIII.

On the verge of the forest, as it is now circumscribed, are three
considerable lakes, two in Oakhanger, of which I have nothing particular
to say; and one called Bin's, or Bean's Pond, which is worthy the
attention of a naturalist or a sportsman. For, being crowded at the
upper end with willows, and with the carex cespitosa, it affords such a
safe and pleasing shelter to wild ducks, teals, snipes, etc., that they
breed there. In the winter this covert is also frequented by foxes, and
sometimes by pheasants; and the bogs produce many curious plants. (For
which consult Letter XLI. to Mr. Barrington.)

By a perambulation of Wolmer Forest and the Holt, made in 1635, and the
eleventh year of Charles I. (which now lies before me), it appears that
the limits of the former are much circumscribed. For, to say nothing of
the farther side, with which I am not so well acquainted, the bounds on
this side, in old times, came into Binswood, and extended to the ditch of
Ward le Ham Park, in which stands the curious mount called King John's
Hill, and Lodge Hill; and to the verge of Hartley Mauduit, called Mauduit
Hatch; comprehending also Short Heath, Oakhanger, and Oakwoods--a large
district, now private property, though once belonging to the royal
domain.

It is remarkable that the term purlieu is never once mentioned in this
long roll of parchment. It contains, besides the perambulation, a rough
estimate of the value of the timbers, which were considerable, growing at
that time in the district of the Holt, and enumerates the officers,
superior and inferior, of those joint forests, for the time being, and
their ostensible fees and perquisites. In those days, as at present,
there were hardly any trees in Wolmer Forest.

Within the present limits of the forest are three considerable lakes,
Hogmer, Cranmer, and Wolmer, all of which are stocked with carp, tench,
eels, and perch: but the fish do not thrive well, because the water is
hungry, and the bottoms are a naked sand.

A circumstance respecting these ponds, though by no means peculiar to
them, I cannot pass over in silence; and that is, that instinct by which