The Rhyne Toll and the Chetwode Boar

Passing Chetwode: once a horn blew here every autumn sunrise, and every cow on the road owed a toll, all thanks to a giant boar.

For centuries the lords of Chetwode claimed a strange right called the Rhyne Toll. Each autumn, horns were blown at the manor house at sunrise and at set points as far as Buckingham, and for several days any cattle or pigs driven through the old forest district could be charged or impounded. Tradition says the privilege was granted because a Chetwode ancestor killed a huge, ferocious wild boar that terrified the farmers. Around 1810 a ditched mound called Boar's Pond was levelled nearby and the bones of an enormous boar were reportedly found, kept by the family. The toll ran from 30 October to 7 November, lapsed about 1884, then was revived.