1 62 THE LOST HISTORY OF PEAK FOREST. 



comprise a perfect series for about loo years of a very interesting 

 period of history — the thirteenth century. 



It is well known that nothing can be seen at the Record Office 

 unless the searcher can produce a reference from some Cartulary 

 or Index deposited there, and known to the officials — a general 

 search being an impossibility, owing to the rules of the establish- 

 ment, which require the desired documents to be specified. These 

 Records have not been thoroughly calendared, hence they have 

 never seen the light, and, if any persons have seen them, they 

 have never given the public the benefit of their knowledge. In 

 gathering material for his " History of Derbyshire," the author 

 made many unsuccessful attempts to discover any Records relating 

 to Peak Forest, and he had despaired of finding any, until the dis- 

 covery of an Inspeximus by Queen Elizabeth, of a portion of an 

 early roll relating to the Foresters of Fee of Peak, in the 

 muniment room of Mr. Westby Bagshawe, of The Oaks, a 

 descendant of one of these foresters, convinced him that the 

 Records must be in existence. 



The only trace of a Peak Forest Roll given by the Record Ofifice 

 is a mere fragment of the date of 13 Edward I., of a very similar 

 character to the Roll inspected by Queen Elizabeth, but which 

 latter, from comparison, was very clearly of an earlier period. In 

 Queen Elizabeth's reign it was deposited at Westminster. How, 

 or why, or when, since that period, this record had strayed, can 

 be only conjectured ; but in some way it had found its way to 

 Lancaster, and although a Royal Record, which should have been 

 deposited in the King's Court, it had become incorporated 

 amongst the Duchy Records, and was described by Sir Thomas 

 Hardy, in his report upon the Duchy Records, as of that character, 

 and of the date of King Edward I. 



The Rolls are of two separate dates, one set clearly dated 

 the 13th Edward I., when the Forest was the property of the 

 Duchy of Lancaster, and the other being only dated by a Saint's 

 day ; but many of these rolls contain references to King Henry HI. 

 as the then King ; and a further search showed that they must 

 have been recorded after the 35th and before the 37th of that 



