Warrens

The Crown could also grant the right of free warren to manorial lords. This means they could hunt small game, such as fox, rabbit, hare, wildcat, badger, squirrel, marten and otter, as well as partridge and pheasant, on their own land. Rabbits were brought to England in the 12th century by the Normans, who thought they were a useful source of meat.

In fact, the rabbit corbel at Kilpeck Church (HER no. 715) is thought to be the earliest depiction of a rabbit in England (Oliver Rackham, The History of the Countryside, 1986). Many of the corbels at that church are pictures of animals related to hunting.

Rabbit warrens were enclosed areas of up to a square mile which were under the supervision of a warrener. In Herefordshire, there is evidence of a medieval warren at Norton (HER reference no. 4718). Archaeologists believe that pillow mounds - little bolster-shaped hillocks - could have been built specifically as rabbit warrens.

[Original author: Toria Forsyth-Moser, 2002]