Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 29.djvu/269

rORTIOX OF EXGr.AND. ;219 it against the Saxon iiivaflers, wo cannot cloubL. In 495, Cedric and his Saxons invaded tliis part of the country, land- ing somcwlicrc at the moutli of the Itchen. Dr. Guest has j)ut it on record that sliortly after, in the 3ear 501, a Saxon named Port landed at ])rtsniontli, — perhaps affording a double derivation of its name, lie is said to have engaged the liritisli prince or king, Natan Leod, the prince or cliief of Natan or Netlc}- (not the Netley whoso graceful I'uins adorn the shores of the Southampton Water, but Netley Marsh, a large district in the parish of Eling). This Natan Leod is supposed to have been no other than Ambrosias, tn'Iio has given his name to a farm still called Ambrose Farm at that remarkable camp formed by Vespasian, Avliich still exists near Lymington, and is known as Buckland Rings. Driven to the westward, and making a stand here for the grand forest district which extended in those days from the Hamble to the Avon, he was killed at Chardford or Charford on this latter river, which takes its name from Cedric's ford. Nume- I'ous burrows attest that the fight must have been severe in this district, and that the inhabitants had learnt the art of sepulture by incremation from the Romans. But to come to the later period when the forest was enlarged, as enlarged it only was by William the Conqueror, we now know how much exaggerated was the account given to us by monkish historians of its formation by that king, and the story of Rufus's death, while hunting in the forest which was his father's ruthless woik, has often — to use a hackneyed quota- tion — served " to point a moral and adorn a tale." .Man}' of you will visit the actual spot where the fatal arrow from Tyrrell's bow struck him down, and you doubtless know of Tyrrell's ford, and the fine paid to this day Ijy the owners of Avon for lettino- the regicide i^ass. The name of the charcoal-burner in the forest, Purkis, who bore the king's body by the King's Lane (still known as such) to Winchester in liis cart, is still leprcscnted by some who claim an un- broken descent from him. For many a year the kings of England were not however deterred by the ill-omen of Rufus's death from repairing to the forest to enjoy the plea- sures of the chase. The Normans have left us many a relic both of their piety and their i)owcr, and perhaps the greatest of the former class is one which has been least spared by the hand of the destroyer, i.e., the lovely Abbey of Beaulicu,