A REVIEW OF "the ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND." I77 



impanelled to consider the question of the towns within the 

 purlieus, and they represented that the King, in view of the 

 largeness of the commons belonging to the towns of Chelmorton, 

 Flagg, Taddington, and Priestcliffe, might reasonably have 

 for improvement and enclosure one-third, and the remaining 

 two-thirds for the commoners and freeholders. 



Both Crown and inhabitants were well pleased with the result. 

 The commons were measured, and surveys made that divided 

 the land into three sorts — best, middle, and worst — and the 

 King's share was staked, and maps showing the results were 

 drafted. 



The surveys were not completed till 1640, and all the 

 preliminaries having been adjusted, the King caused all the 

 deer to be destroyed or removed; and since that date, the 

 report expressly states, there were never any deer whatever 

 within the High Peak Forest. 



"The extirpation of the deer was almost immediately 

 followed by the beginning of the 'troublous times' that 

 preceded the actual outbreak of the Civil War, and hence 

 further proceedings came, for* a time, to an end." 



We may here remind our readers that by referring to 

 vol. xxiv. of this Journal they will find some account of the 

 enclosure of Peak Forest, taken from original MSS., showing 

 how various Peak families obtained a considerable part of their 

 estate. 



Duffield Frith, the other Royal Forest in the county of 

 Derby, was, as is well known, for a considerable time the 

 property of the Ferrers family, until, in the reign of Henry HI., 

 in consequence of the rebellion, their estates were forfeited to 

 the Crown. These estates were then granted to Edmund, Earl 

 of Lancaster, in whose family they remained till, on the acces- 

 sion to the throne of Henry Duke of Lancaster, they again 

 became Crown property. 



Here again, as in the High Peak Forest, we find that great 

 use must have been made of the Royal Forest both for horse 

 and cattle-breeding and for dairy purposes. We may presume 



