68 A HISTORY OF PEAK FOREST. 



the county north of the Wye (west of Litton Mill), was afforested. 

 Of the character and extent of this vast territory at that early 

 period Domebday affords the most accurate and invaluable 

 testimony. The Hope district then comprised the seven 

 Berewites of Edale, Aston, Shatton, half of Offerton, Tideswell, 

 Stoke, and " Muchedeswell ; " whilst Langdendale included 

 twelve manors: — Thornset, Lud worth, " Chevenesworth," Chis- 

 worth, " Coelhal," Hayfield, Padfield, Dinting, Glossop, 

 Whitfield, Hadfield, and Kinder. The Hope district contained 

 eight-and-a-half square miles of forest : whilst the territory of 

 Longdendale comprehended no less than thirty-two square miles f 

 Altogether an area of forty-and-a-half square miles. 



It is an interesting fact that whilst the names of these two 

 original parishes, Hope and Glossop, indicate a British origin, 

 the names of their hamlets have an unmistakeable Saxon ring 

 about them, except perhaps " Kinder," which derived its appel- 

 lation from the crowning elevation of the Peak Range, from 

 the British " Cynderyn" a chief, or head ruler. All these vills 

 (for the most part lying on the more fertile border-land in the 

 valleys and along the lengthened slopes of the Wye, the Goyt, 

 and the Eiherow) were in existence at the time the district was 

 afforested. The population was prob.ibly not very numerous, 

 but every man unquestionably among them was a "bom sports- 

 man," and we shall see presently that when the "Forest Laws " 

 came into operation, the guardians of the forest themselves were 

 almost as notorious infringers of these legal restrictions as those 

 who were detected, "dog-drawn," "stable-standing," " back- 

 bearing," or "red-handed." 



In the Rolls relating to Peak Forest at the Record Office, 

 dated 13 Edw. I, (1285), the boundary of the Forest is thus 

 described ( translation) : — 



"The metes and bounds of the Forest of Peak begin on the south 

 at the " Novum Loaim " (" New Place ") of Gwit (Goyt), and thus 

 by the water of Gwit as far as the water of Ederou (Etherow): 

 and so by the water of Ederou to Lanedicroft at Ix)ngdenehevid : 

 then by a certain footpath (semitara) unto the head of Derewente. 



