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



that, as the land of Duffield Frith is richer than the land of 

 the High Peak, that is the reason why we hear much more of 

 cows and less of sheep. It is interesting, also, to be told with 

 certainty that in Ravensdale Park stood the chief lodge of 

 Duffield Frith, which was the hunting seat of the Earls and 

 Dukes of Lancaster when in this part of their estates, and which 

 was occasionally honoured by the presence of royalty. 



In the receipts of John Hulleson, the Receiver of the Ward 

 of Hulland, there is an account of very considerable repairs 

 being done to the lodge and park of Ravensdale during one 

 year. Even the price of the painted glass for the windows of 

 the Manor Chapel and the iron for making the bars for the 

 support of these windows is mentioned. It seems a pity that 

 beyond a stone or two of the foundations of this lodge touched 

 now and then by the plough, and the name, Ravensdale Park, 

 which is still attached to that particular hamlet, all memory 

 and all trace of this ducal residence should have long since 

 so absolutely disappeared. 



The word forest, we all know, does not necessarily apply 

 to a wild space covered with timber, but all who have read 

 these accounts of the two Derbyshire Royal forests will realise 

 that in these forests, at any rate, even supposing they were 

 not all covered with trees, there must have been a noble 

 display of timber. This timber in Duffield Frith, as anyone 

 can realise who has wandered through some of the remaining 

 indigenous woods of Alderwasley, or along the now enclosed 

 valley of the Ecclesbume, must have been principally oak, 

 with birch on the more sandy and higher ground. 



If any reader of the histon,- of the Forest of the High Peak 

 should doubt the probability of the oak growing in any pro- 

 fusion in the valleys of the higher part of Derbyshire, let him 

 go and explore the Baslow and Beeley ends on the east side 

 of the river in Chatsworth Park, where he can still get a faint 

 idea of how beautiful the rocky valleys of Derbyshire must have 

 been when full of oaks of noble size, and he will then also, 

 perhaps, begin to wonder why greater efforts are not now being 



