_Pokership_, (_antè_, pp. 185. 218. 269. 282. 323, 324.)--I am sorry
to see that no progress has yet been made towards a satisfactory
explanation of this office. I was in hopes that something better than
mere conjecture would have been supplied from the peculiar facilities
of "T.R.F." "W.H.C." (p. 323.) has done little more than refer to the
same instruments as had been already adverted to by me in p. 269.,
with the new reading {370} of _poulterer_ for poker! With repect to
"T.R.F.'s" conjecture, I should be more ready to accept it if he
could produce a single example of the word _pawker_, in the sense of
a hog-warden. The quotation from the Pipe-roll of John is founded on
a mistake. The entry occurs in other previous rolls, and is there
clearly explained to refer to the _porter of Hereford Castle_. Thus,
in Pipe 2 Hen. II. and 3 Hen. II. we have, under Hereford,
"In liberatione portarii castelli ... 30s. 5d."
In Pipe 1 Ric. I. we have,
"In liberatione constitutâ portarii de Hereford, 30s. 5d."
Again, in Pipe 3 Joh.
"In liberatione constitutâ portario de Hereford, 30s. 5d."
A similar entry is to be found in other rolls, as well printed as
inedited. I could indulge some other criticisms on the communication
of your correspondent in Spring Gardens, but I prefer encouraging
him to make further inquiries, and to produce from the records in
his custody some more satisfactory solution of the difficulty. In the
meantime, let me refer to a Survey of Wrigmore Castle in the Lansdowne
Collection, No. 40. fo. 82. The surveyor there reports, that the
paling, rails, &c. of the park are much decayed in many and sundry
places, and he estimates the repairs, with allowance of timber from
the wood there, "by good surveye and oversight of the _poker_ and
other officers of the said parke," at 4l. The date of the survey is 13
May, 1584.
Comparing this notice of the office with the receiver's accounts
tempore Hen. VII. and Hen. VIII. (_antè_, p. 269.), in which the
officer is called "pocarius omnium boscorum," I cannot doubt that his
duty, or at least one of his duties, was that of woodward, and that,
as such, he assigned timber for repair of the premises. How he came by
his local title and style of poker is a mystery on which we have all
hitherto failed to throw any light.