49 



The Stallards suflFered for their loyalty in the troublous times of the Civil War. 

 It is stated by Mr. Cooke in the History of Herefordshire, Vol. iii., that "Richard 

 Stallard had to compound for his lands in Koss and Weston for having adhered 

 to the forces raised for Charles I. against the Parliament " (Royal Comp. Papen, 

 2nd series, Vol. xlviii., p. 7). In 1869 the estate was again sold. Sir Christopher 

 R. Lighton, Bart., who has succeeded his father in the possession, has erected a 

 commodious residentiary mansion upon it ; and it is by his kind permission that 

 the Club now visits the Camp. 



Caplar hill, and indeed all the Woolhope district, is classic botanical 

 ground. Mr. John Stackhouse, a descendant of an old Cornish family, succeeded 

 to the Manor of How Caple in 1764. He was a Fellow of Exeter College, the 

 author of the Nereis Britaniiica and other works, and moreover an excellent 

 botanist. He was a Member of the Linnaean Society, and a friend of Dr. 

 Withering. He made the first synoptical arrangement of British Agarics, as 

 given in Withering's great work on British Plants. In this work the name of 

 Mr. Stackhouse is often quoted as the authority for funguses and other plants 

 found in the Caplar or Woolhope woods. Thus Caplar is given as a locality for 

 the fungiases, Clavaria Herculaneum, the "Club of Hercules"; Polyporus peren- 

 nii, on " the charcoal heaps of the Dean and Chapter grove " ; the elegant little 

 Nidularis campamdata ; Russula integer; Agaricus ovalis ; piperatut, terreus, &c., 

 and many others are named as found in the Woolhope woods. Mr. Stackhouse's 

 son, Mr Thos. Pendarves Stackhouse, who graduated at Jesus College, Cam- 

 bridge, M.A., 1807, succeeded his father in the manor of How Caple, married 

 Mr. Thos. Andrew Knight's eldest daughter, and getting the manor and estate 

 of Acton Scott in Shropshire, added the name of Acton to his own. His widow 

 was the highly gifted lady, Mrs. Stackhouse Acton, who has so often aided the 

 enquiries of the Woolhope Club, and who died only last year, 1882. 



Badgers are still to be found in the recesses of Carey wood, and they wander 

 Btill to Brockhampton occasionally. Vipers are still to be found here, as they 

 are in places throughout the Woolhope District ; but they are not so numerous on 

 Caplar hill since Mr. Stallard destroyed the gorse bushes, which formed their 

 stronghold. Insects exist in great variety, and the more rare plants of the dis- 

 trict will now be mentioned to you by the Rev. Augustin Ley. 



