Page:VCH Surrey 1.djvu/268

 A HISTORY OF SURREY the Surrey side of the Thames valley, and many horns and bones from the London clay (in lit.). Mr. J. E. Harting gives us some very interesting information relating to the introduction of roe deer into Surrey in the reign of Charles I. He says : ' The king had expressed a wish to have some turned out at Wimbledon in one of the royal parks, and application was made to Lord William Howard of Naworth Castle, Cumberland (where we may presume the roe deer was then common), to have some caught and sent up.' Directions for the> purpose were accord- ingly given, and what followed may be gathered from the following entries in the Household Book of the Owner of Naworth : 1633, June 29. To severall persons for Takeinge 31 Roekidds as appeareth by bill vijV;. xi. and vjV. They were no doubt taken in a haie with nets and kept there according to the ancient custom until they had become more tame and accus- tomed to confinement, and were ready to be removed to London. 1 This was accomplished by means of three carts, as we learn from the next entry : July 1 6, 1633. To William Lancaster the Smith For binding three payre of wheeles with iron which conveyed Roes to London v/f. xvjV. 1 ' Haie ' signifies fence or hedge enclosing a forest or park, and after a time came to mean the enclosed space into which deer were driven, having outlets across which nets were placed for their en- tanglement and subsequent capture. A picture of a boar hunt, attributed to Velasquez, in the Hert- ford House collection, gives a good idea of the haie. and subsequently on the return of the carts : For repairinge three cartes sent with Roes to London to King Charles thether and home again xv*. *J. Mr. Harting goes on to say : ' How far these animals fared in their new home in Surrey we are not accurately informed, but it may be surmised that they throve and did well, for a few years later, viz. January 1 7, 1639, a warrant was issued to Sir Henry Hungate for the preservation of roe deer, broken out of Half Moon Park, Wimbledon, and now lying in the wood adjoining thereto, and to take care that no person hunt, course, or use any net or gun within four miles of the said park.' 2 In recent years the roe deer does not seem to have done well in Surrey, as it is very shy and the county has become too thickly popu- lated for an animal of such retiring habits. Mr. H. Sawyer, the junior ranger of Rich- mond Park, says : ' At one time a few roe deer were kept in Richmond Park, but they never did well ' (in lit.). Mr. John Millais, in his British Deer and Horns, writing in 1897, says: 'There are a few roe in the woods by Virginia Water as well as at Pet- worth in Sussex, and there were certainly some in the heather and fir country near Swinley in Surrey as late as 1894, for Mr. Garth's hounds killed two bucks in that year, whilst another was seen.' 8 J. E. Harting, Essays en Sport and Natural History. 226