The family of Burnett of Leys, with collateral - Electric Scotland

APPENDIX. 293
Confessor, and it is not impossible that the horn of Leys may have been somewhat
of the same character as the English Charter and other horns, some of
which are still in existence.
Amongst the best known of these ancient horns are :
The well-known horn of Ulphus, preserved in the Cathedral of York, by
which the Chapter hold lands in Yorkshire, granted to them in the time of Canute.
The horn of Pusey, by which the family of Pusey hold the manor of that
name, given to them by the same monarch.*
The horn presented to the Cathedral of Carlisle by Henry
enfeoffed it with the tithe of lands in the forest of Englewood.f
I. when he
The horn of Tutbury, by which certain offices connected with the Manor of
Tutbury were conveyed, and about which there is no reference in Charters or
letters patent, as the offices passed solely by possession of the horn. J
Lord BrucJs horn. This horn is supposed to have descended to its present
an alliance of the
owner, the Marquis of Ailesbury, through the Seymours, by
latter family with the Esturneys of Chadham, in the County of Wilts. ; which
family, Camden says, "had been, ever since the reign of Henry II., hereditary
bailiffs and keepers of the neighbouring forest of Savernake." There does not,
however, appear to be any evidence of this in the records of the family.
The Borstal horn. This horn, although undoubtedly a Charter horn, bears
perhaps the closest affinity to the Leys horn, having been granted by Edward the
Confessor in connection with the custody of a forest, and is borne in the coat of
arms of its possessors in the same manner as that of Leys in the Burnett coat.
The history of this horn is narrated as follows : King
Edward the Confessor had
a royal palace at Brill, or Brehul, in Bucks., to which he often retired for the
pleasure of hunting in his forest of Bernwood. This forest was infested by a wild
boar, which was at last slain by one Nigel, a huntsman, who presented the boar's
head to the King ; and for the reward the King gave to him one hyde
land called Derebyde, and a wood called Hulewode, with the custody
of arable
of the
forest of Bernwood, to hold to him and his heirs per unum cornu, quod est
charta praedictae forestae. For proof of this, in a large folio vellum book
(supposed to have been written in or before the reign of is Henry VI.) a rude
delineation of the site of Borstal house and manor, and under it is the figure of a
man presenting on his knees to the King the head of a boar on the point of a
sword, and the King returning to him a coat of arms, Argent, a fess gules between
* Brit. Berks., p. 203, ed. 1607. t Archaologia, Vol. III., p. 22.
J Derbyshire Arch&ological Transactions. Archaologia, Vol. III., p. 24.