INTRODUCTION. 7 
forest of Macclesfield, the Peak forest, and the high 
Derbyshire moors uniting together constitute ‘“ that 
mountainous and large featured district which in 
ancient times had been well timbered and formed 
part of the great midland forest of England.* And 
a part only; for we have seen that this midland 
forest district, of which the Peak was the centre, 
included towards the south the greater part of 
Staffordshire, while towards the east an imaginary 
line only separated it from the mighty forest of 
Sherwood. From Nottingham to Manchester was 
one continuous forest, and far into Yorkshire the 
ereat moor extended to join other and more northern 
forests there. From the Peak northwards, through- 
out West Yorkshire and East Lancashire, the forests, 
moors, and mosses connected with this mountain 
range were immense.t Some idea of their extent 
may be gathered from the remarks of the learned Dr. 
Whitaker, who, describing Whalley, in Lancashire, in 
late Saxon and early Norman times, says :—“ If, ex- 
cluding the forest of Bowland, we take the parish of 
Whalley at a square of 161 miles, from this sum at 
least 70 miles, or 27,657 acres, must be deducted for 
the four forests, or chaces, of Blackburnshire, which 
belonged to no township or manor, but were at that 
time mere derelicts, and therefore claimed, as 
heretofore unappropriated, by the first Norman lords. 
There will therefore remain for the different manors 
and townships 36,000 acres or thereabouts, of which 
3,520, or not quite a tenth part, was in a state of 
* Robertson, ‘‘ Buxton and the Peak,” p. 41. + Storer, p. 66. 
