Note 22 — Chapter III · SHERWOOD FOREST.

A curious fact is apparent on the face of “A Vewe taken by special commandment from his Majesty to the Lord Warden of his forest, of all the Red Deer in this forest, 1616.” The warden was obliged to maintain 100 head of red deer in each of the twelve walks—1200 in the whole. In this inquiry there proved to be 1260; but in Annesley, the property of the Chaworths, and Newstead, the property of the Byrons, there were only ten deer altogether. These Byrons and Chaworths were always notorious Nimrods, and suffered none to escape them. In Papplewick too, the adjoining parish, there were only two! The keepers indeed affirmed that “some days” there were twenty in Annesley Hills, and fourteen in Newstead Woods, but they did not appear to the Commissioners. In another “Vewe,” taken in 1635, though the deer had increased in other walks, so that the total numbers were 1367, in Newstead and Annesley there were only 19!